Recap / Scarlet Lady S2 E9: Kung Food

Episode 19 - Kung Food - Tales of Wang Cheng the Chef

Marinette is on the phone with Alya, stressed: her great-uncle, internationally famous chef Wang Cheng, has come to Paris to participate in a cooking contest and will be visiting his relatives—and he doesn't speak French. While Marinette knows enough Mandarin to greet him, she's so nervous that she's afraid she'll flub the pronunciation and accidentally insult him. Alya states she has an idea and hungs up on her, just as Wang Cheng arrives at the door.

Marinette nervously welcomes Wang Cheng with a bouquet of flowers, only to panic when the man begins to pluck the flowers, thinking he already hates her. As they wait for the car to take them to Le Grand Paris, where the contest is to take place, someone rings the doorbell: it's Adrien, who heard about Marinette's predicament from Alya and is more than willing to offer his skills in Chinese... only to be shocked when Wang Cheng reveals he speaks French, if only a little.

When they arrive at the hotel, the mayor welcomes the chef, and Adrien and Marinette are besieged by Chloé, who has been named a member of the contest's jury—and who intends to fail the chef just because he's related to Marinette. Marinette defends her great-uncle, and Adrien happily lets her call Chloé out. Afterwards, Marinette mentions what Cheng did with the flowers, but Adrien explains that the chef only did that because he intends to use the petals as an ingredient; he's certain that Cheng already loves her.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Chloé distracts Cheng by claiming Marinette's looking for him and takes advantage of him leaving to sabotage the soup he's making. Tikki tries to stop her, but Chloé unknowingly uses her power over Tikki to force the Kwami to stay silent.

When Cheng's Celestial Soup is served, it's an absolute disaster. Cheng realizes someone has sabotaged his soup, and both Adrien and Marinette immediately realize this was Chloé's doing. Cheng returns to the kitchen, devastated over losing his chance to become the world's greatest chef... until he sees Chloé's purse, which turns his disappointment into anger, giving Hawkmoth just the opening he needs to akumatize Wang Cheng into Kung Food.

Kung Food takes control of the jury members by brainwashing them through his soup and orders them to grab Chloé while he seals all the exits with caramel, preventing people from escaping. Adrien suggests Marinette split off so she can flag down Chat Noir; of course, his real reason is so he can hide and transform to help stop the akuma. When he returns as the hero, he tries to get her to safety, but Marinette insists on helping him—the akuma is her great-uncle, after all.

In the meantime, Chloé is left hanging over the rooftop pool, which has been turned into a massive pot to cook soup. Hawkmoth informs his akuma that Chat Noir and Marinette intend to foil Kung Food's plans and rescue Chloé before she becomes a soup ingredient. In response, Kung Food sends Jagged Stone to attack Chat Noir and Marinette, though Hawkmoth warns the akuma to defeat Chat Noir before going after Marinette: "Attacking the girl never ends well." Jagged tries to hit Chat Noir with a large seafood club, but Marinette manages to trick the rock star into falling face-first into a closet, with Chat Noir blocking the door shut with a chair. Kung Food then sends Mayor Bourgeois to stop them.

Chat Noir and Marinette take the elevator up. Chat Noir flirts with Marinette, only to become flustered when the flirting actually works. The elevator is stopped midway, upon which the duo is confronted by the Mayor of Paris carrying a string of smoked sausages like a nunchaku. However, Chat Noir takes advantage of the man's distraction to quickly knock him out and ties him to keep him from coming after them once he wakes up.

As Kung Food sends his last two minions (Alec Cataldi and Marlena Césaire) to stop Chat Noir and Marinette, Tikki, who had been left behind in the kitchen in Chloé's purse, finally reaches Chloé and attempts to untie her. Chloé stops her, though—if she falls into the boiling soup, it'll ruin her hair! Tikki reluctantly admits she's got something of a point.

With the elevators no longer an option, Chat Noir puts a hole in the ceiling and pulls Marinette up with him to the next floor. Alec and Marlena show up, armed with a cheese crossbow and a cake bow. Alec fires the crossbow and hits Marinette, making her eyes sting from the strong smell. An infuriated Chat Noir then proceeds to quick and short work of both brainwashed minions, which exasperates Hawkmoth to no end. Kung Food decides to start cooking Chloé, much to the latter's shock.

Chat Noir manages to save Chloé in the nick of time (not that Chloé bothers to thank him) and jumps to fight Kung Food, allowing Chloé to transform. Scarlet Lady summons her Lucky Charm (a credit card machine), but to her shock, Kung Food brings out a huge pepperoni pizza sword. Marinette, however, grabs the Lucky Charm and realizes how to use it: dipping the paper roll into the soup makes it sticky enough that she can use it to entangle Kung Food, allowing Chat Noir to destroy the akumatized object.

With proof that Chloé sabotaged his dish, Wang Cheng is given a second chance to craft his Celestial Soup. Marinette asks Cheng if he's willing to teach her how to cook it, to which he happily agrees. Chloé attempts to bring down the mood, but Adrien tells her off by pointing out that she got kicked off the jury. She attempts to deny this and insist she resigned, only for him to point to the cameras that filmed her sabotaging the soup. In the end, the Celestial Soup is a success, Wang Cheng is proclaimed the winner, and the chef names the dish after a happy Marinette.

Sometime later, Adrien meets Master Fu, telling him about the events of the day. Fu ponders if there's a connection between Chloé being in danger and Scarlet Lady showing up late, but Adrien shoots down the idea. Fu mentions how Marinette helped Adrien, who admits how Marinette used the ring to become Maotif back in the Reflekta incident. Fu begins to consider if it's perhaps time to take a second look at Marinette...

This episode contains examples of:

• Achievements in Ignorance:
  • Chloé accidentally manages to make Tikki seal her own mouth.
  • Chat Noir using his cheesey pickup lines on Marinette actually flusters her. Even Chat Noir himself can't believe they worked.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Marinette helps Chat Noir defeat both a Brainwashed Jagged Stone and Kung Food without the Ladybug Miraculous.
  • Chat Noir curb-stomps Mayor Bourgeois, Alec Cataldi, and Marlena Césaire all on his own.
• Adaptational Explanation: The show simply stated that Chloé was removed from the judging panel; the comic makes it explicit that it was because she was Caught on Tape sabotaging a contestant.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Heavily downplayed, but unlike her canon counterpart, Chloé doesn't attack Marinette and Wang Cheng's race here.
• Adaptational Skill: Here, Marinette does know Chinese: the reason she's nervous is that she's afraid she'll flub the pronunciation and accidentally insult her great-uncle.
• Berserk Button:
  • Exploited by Marinette as part of her Door Judo plan when she tells Jagged Stone (who is still Brainwashed) that she thinks "XY is more rock' n' roll" than him.
  • Once more, Chat Noir's (harming Marinette) is pressed. When Alec hits Marinette with stinky cheese that makes her eyes sting, Chat Noir goes on a short-lived Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• BFS: Kung Food wields a pepperoni pizza sword that is several times larger than him.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Adrien arrives sweating and panting at Marinette's place and offers to use his Mandarin skills to help her, saying he was in the neighborhood when he got a call from Alya about Marinette's situation. However, an arrow pointing at him indicates he "ran right over."
  • Chloé attempts to claim she resigned from the jury instead of being kicked out for sabotaging Wang Cheng. Adrien points out the cameras that caught her red-handed.
• Brick Joke: Hawkmoth tells Kung Food to get his slaves to attack Chat Noir first rather than Marinette since "Attacking the girl never ends well." A few pages later, when Alec attacks Marinette first and makes Chat angry, Hawkmoth facepalms and laments, "Dammit, what did I tell you?"
• Bruce Wayne Held Hostage: Like in canon, Chloé gets captured by the Kung Food's minions. Tikki was left behind in her purse and flies to her, thinking, "I hope Chloé doesn't anger the akuma and get killed before I get there." It gets even worse when she is tied up and dangled over boiling soup, and Tikki can't untie her without letting her drop. It takes a rescue by Chat Noir before Chloé can hide and transform.
• Callback:
  • Hawkmoth warns Kung Food and the latter's brainwashed slaves to take out Chat Noir before attacking Marinette, obviously recalling from past experience that Marinette getting hurt is a major Berserk Button for the hero. The villain is then left exasperated when the brainwashed Alec Cataldi doesn't listen and gets curb-stomped by Chat Noir as a result.
    Hawkmoth: Dammit, what did I tell you?
  • Master Fu recalls that Scarlet Lady once claimed to be best friends with Chloé (in "Rogercop") and finds it strange that the Ladybug heroine showed up late to save Chloé despite that. He also begins reconsidering making Marinette a hero after hearing how she used the Cat ring to become Maotif in "Reflekta."
• Caught Monologuing: Happens to the mayor. Chat Noir quickly knocks him out as he's describing his weapon.
  Caption: When you don't let them monologue, you WIN!
  Tags: #lol that's why The Mime was actually so formidable
• Caught on Tape: Turns out a security camera filmed Chloé sabotaging the soup. She's kicked off the jury as a result.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: When Chat Noir saves Chloé from taking a dip in boiling hot soup, the latter doesn't even bother to thank him.
• Color Failure: Both Chat Noir and Scarlet Lady turn white when confronted by Kung Food and his giant pizza sword.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Seeing Wang Cheng pluck petals from the bouquet she gifted him, Marinette thinks her uncle's destroying her present because he already hates her. He was actually planning to use the petals as a soup ingredient.
  • Chloé tells Tikki to shut up and fails to realize the latter only obeyed because she's bound to.
  • Despite being dangled over a swimming pool full of hot soup, Chloé fails to realize the akuma intends to cook her until he outright states it. Additionally, while she does fear falling in, she only seems to be concerned that her hair will be ruined and not that she'll be boiled alive.
• Comical Overreaction:
  • Marinette freaks out when she sees Wang Cheng plucking off the petals of her bouquet, wrongly assuming it's a sign he already hates her.
  • Chat Noir goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after Alec Cataldi makes Marinette's eye sting using smelly cheese.
    Chat Noir: You'll %$#& pay for that!
    Caption: Marinette: Gets some dust in her eyes. Chat Noir: YOU MOTHER-!
• Continuity Nod: Hawkmoth complains about having to explain himself to another foreigner, following how he had to do it in "La Befana" to Gina.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Chat Noir quickly knocks Mayor Bourgeois out by hitting him in the face with his baton. He then quickly takes out both Marlena Césaire and Alec Cataldi after the latter pushes the Cat hero's Berserk Button by making Marinette's eyes sting.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Chloé sneaks into the kitchen to sabotage Wang Cheng's soup without considering that there might be video cameras in a fancy hotel kitchen.
  Caption: How'd you forget CAMERAS exist?!
  • Tikki tries to untie Chloé while her holder is dangling over a pool full of boiling soup. Chloé rightfully stops her,
• Door Judo: Marinette tricks Jagged Stone into trying to rush her, only to dodge and open the closet door she was standing in front of. Jagged falls inside, and Chat Noir locks the door to keep the rocker from going on further attacks.
• Dramatic Irony: Fu notes how suspicious it is that Scarlet Lady didn't show up even though her "best friend" Chloé was in grave danger, but Adrien shoots it down by saying both Scarlet Lady and Chloé are big liars, not realizing how close Fu was to finding the wielder of the Ladybug earrings.
  Tags: #Fu's trying to have valid points Adrien stop shutting them down!
• Dumbass Has a Point: Tikki attempts to untie Chloé while she's hanging over the boiling soup. Chloé stops her because if she falls in, it will ruin her hair.
  Tikki: You almost have a point there.
• Everyone Has Standards: Mayor Bourgeois greets Wang Cheng with near Japanese Politeness. Moreover, the mayor doesn't shield his daughter from the consequences of her actions this time and kicks her off the jury for sabotaging a contestant's dish. Chloé getting Caught on Tape meant the evidence against her was just too irrefutable, even for him.
• Evil Is Petty: Chloé ruins Wang Cheng's entry into the contest just because he's related to Marinette and made soup (which Chloé hates).
• Face Palm: Hawkmoth's reaction after Alec hits Marinette, knowing the brainwashed minion just punched Chat Noir's Berserk Button.
• Failed a Spot Check: Chloé is so distracted talking on her phone that she doesn't notice Kung Food's brainwashed slaves sneaking up right behind her.
• Foreshadowing: After learning of Marinette becoming Maotif, Fu ponders about giving Marinette a second chance, hinting at her becoming Marigold in "Vanisher."
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The front of Kung Food's shirt has an emoticon that changes every time it shows up to reflect his mood.
• Gone Horribly Right: Played for Laughs when Chat Noir drops his "we could go places" flirting line. Marinette becomes so flustered that Chat Noir is also left a blushing mess.
  Caption: Anime didn't prepare him for when the flirting WORKS!
• I Warned You: Hawkmoth's response to a brainwashed Alec Cataldi attacking Marinette despite Hawkmoth saying it doesn't end well. He's soon proven right when Chat Noir goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Idiot Ball: Chloé has a firm grip on this when she sabotages Cheng's dish and leaves her purse behind at his station. Not only is this evidence of what she's done, Tikki is still inside, which makes dealing with the vengeful akuma a LOT trickier. The author comments, "Just because you treat the hotel as your whole ass house doesn’t mean you leave your stuff everywhere!"
• In Spite of a Nail: Chloé still gets tied up to be cooked in soup, and Marinette still helps Chat Noir rescue her and fight Kung Food's brainwashed minions, though as her civilian self since she isn't the Ladybug heroine.
  • Even without the Ladybug yo-yo, Marinette and Chat Noir defeat Jagged and lock him in a closet after he falls in headfirst, which is followed by one of them reclining on a chair while sliding it into place against the closet door before fist bumping the other. Here, though, Marinette stands in front of the closet door while pressing Jagged Stone's Berserk Button (by comparing him to XY), then steps aside and opens the door as Jagged charges at her, causing the rockstar to fall inside. Additionally, Chat Noir is the one who slides the chair in place instead.
  • Marinette's response to Chat Noir's flirting as they're in the elevator uses almost the same words as in canon ("Like up"), though since she reciprocates the superhero's feelings here, she instead says the words in a flustered tone as she awkwardly tries to flirt back.
  • Mayor Bourgeois doesn't attempt to imitate Ladybug's moves with her yo-yo since Marinette obviously doesn't have it here, meaning he presumably doesn't accidentally cause the chandelier to fall from the ceiling either. Nevertheless, he still ends up lying tied up in his own string of sausages, which here is due to Chat Noir giving an immediate Non-Lethal K.O. in the face with his baton before tying the mayor up with the sausage string. Moreover, Chat Noir and Marinette still end up climbing through a hole in the ceiling to get onto the next floor of the hotel, right before Alec and Marlena arrive to intercept them.
  • Alec and Marlena still get taken out by each other's weapons, though here, an enraged Chat Noir takes the two down on his own after seeing Alec make Marinette's eyes sting with a cheese bomb. He shoots Alec after seizing hold of Marlena's bow and arrows and then throws Marlena on top of Alec, causing the latter's cheese bombs to explode in her face.
  • Chloé is still caught by one of the original heroes (Chat Noir in this case) just as she's about to fall into the soup.
• Internal Reveal: Fu finds out about Marinette becoming Maotif during "Reflekta."
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Knocked unconscious in this case. Mayor Bourgeois tries to monologue about his weapon, only to get hit in the face by Chat Noir's baton.
• Lack of Empathy: After the mayor is knocked out, both Kung Food and Chloé declare her father useless.
• Lame Pun Reaction: When Jagged Stone shows up with a seafood club...
  Chat Noir: This scampi happening!
  Marinette: Chat, oh my gawd.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Chloé causes the akuma by sabotaging Wang Cheng's dish. The akuma captures her, keeps her tied up (preventing her from doing anything as Scarlet Lady), and almost boils her alive. Even after getting saved, she's still kicked off the judging panel and gets humiliated when she tries to lie about it.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Marinette is surprised when Adrien says he will go look for her uncle and asks why they shouldn't stay together. He suggests that she try to flag down Chat Noir. Foreshadowing Marinette's future hero role, the author says, "She's gonna miss these easy separations in the future."
• Late to the Realization: When Kung Food says, "...I'm gonna cook the girl now," Chloé exclaims, "Hah?!" It seems she only then becomes aware of the akuma's intention in suspending her over a pool of boiling soup.
• Moment Killer: Chat Noir is caught off guard when Marinette blushes and babbles in response to his Terrible Pick-Up Lines while they're in the elevator. Marinette's actually quite grateful when they're interrupted by the elevator abruptly stopping.
• Never My Fault: Chloé is unable to admit that she did anything to earn the akuma's wrath. Additionally, even though she was the one who left her purse in the kitchen with Tikki inside, when Tikki finally finds Chloé after the latter has been tied up by Kung Food's minions and dangled over boiling soup, Chloé angrily asks where the Kwami's been.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Fu might've come close to figuring out Scarlet Lady's secret identity if Adrien hadn't dismissed the man's observations.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Tikki sees Wang Cheng being akumatized and realizes he intends to go after Chloé, who left the Kwami behind in the kitchen.
  • Chloé has this reaction when she finally realizes the akuma intends to cook her.
  • Chat Noir and Scarlet Lady combine this with Color Failure when Kung Food brings out his BFS.
• Pet the Dog: Played for Laughs. Both Marinette and Adrien are put off seeing Mayor Bourgeois being so polite to Wang Cheng.
  Caption: TFW the local asshole's father is respectful and it knocks you off balance.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Hawkmoth tells Kung Food not to hurt Marinette. He could care less what happens to her, but he knows from experience that hurting her won't end well due to it being Chat Noir's Berserk Button.
• Revenge by Proxy: Because Wang Cheng is Marinette's great-uncle, Chloé tries to ensure his loss.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: Adrien asks who wouldn't love Marinette.
  Marinette: Uh, Chloé, Scarlet Lady, jury's still out on your dad...
  Adrien: I mean people with taste.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Adrien declares that Scarlet Lady didn't show up to rescue Chloé due to lying about being best friends with her. He's right, but that's because the two of them are the same person.
• Running Gag:
  • Hawkmoth is frustrated that he has to introduce himself to a foreigner, again.
  • As usual, Chloé exhibits Skewed Priorities over her hair.
• Skewed Priorities: When Tikki attempts to untie Chloé, the latter stops her—if she falls into the soup, her hair will be ruined!
• Sneeze Cut: Referenced but not shown: after Adrien says his father has no taste, the author notes in the tags, "Somewhere Gabriel is having a sneezing fit."
• Spotting the Thread: Fu wonders why Scarlet Lady didn't arrive to save Chloé despite claiming to be her best friend. Unfortunately, Adrien dismisses it as the two of them being liars before Fu manages to figure out Scarlet's secret identity.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Averted. When Mayor Bourgeois starts to monologue, Chat Noir quickly hits him with his staff and knocks him out.
• Taught by Experience: Hawkmoth warns Kung Food to go first for Chat Noir, knowing quite well how harming Marinette will not go well.
• Tempting Fate: Marinette finds comfort that at least her uncle can appreciate the bouquet she got him but then panics when he starts "destroying" it. Subverted, because everyone who watched the canon episode knows he actually plans on using the flowers as a soup ingredient.
• Terrible Pick-Up Lines: Chat Noir tells Marinette, "We could go places," while they're in the elevator. To his surprise, they work on her! She even mutters, "Uh, well, like, up?" in response.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • When Chloé sabotages Cheng's soup, not only does she forgets her purse in the kitchen, she doesn't even check for cameras.
  • The fact that she was tied up and hanging from above a large boiling soup wasn't enough of a hint for Chloé to realize the akuma intended to cook her alive.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Aside from not even thanking Chat Noir for saving her, when Kung Food calls her father (who constantly caters to her whims) useless, Chloé responds, "Tell me about it."
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Marinette's reaction when the Mayor greets Wang Cheng with almost Japanese Politeness.

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