Intermission 2
- Tales of André the Matchmaker
As Kim and Max arrive at school, Nino intercepts them as he hesitantly starts to ask something about Alya. With a smile, Kim affirms that, yes, she totally interrogated him; Max asks if she did the same to Nino. Marinette looks on curiously, then spots her bestie and greets her. What's Alya been up to? Why, she's been busy talking to everyone who's met Scarlet Lady, gathering testimonies and writing so fiercely that her notepad is smoking. All the inconsistencies are glaring, and her quest for the truth is pushing her to do something she'd swore she'd never do again: ask Lila for another interview so she can get the full story about why she despises Scarlet Lady so much.
Lila is delighted, fawning over Alya while Nino requests that she switch off Ladyblog Mode after school lets out so they can hunt down André's ice cream cart. He invites Marinette to join, noting that Mylène and Ivan will also be with them. Marinette wonders if that would be awkward, given how they're all coupled up while she's still single. Adrien reveals that he's going too, reassuring her that it can be platonic. She then decides that since it's a friendly outing, they should invite Luka and Kagami as well. Adrien inwardly cringes and has to hold back tears, noting that he did this to himself.
Spotting Rose and Juleka, Marinette asks if they're coming as well. Both decline, explaining that André never acknowledges them as a couple. They're just "Gals being pals~" as far as he's concerned, something they both mock while Marinette realize that he must have some antiquated ideas about love. Alix agrees, bragging that her being aroace gave him a full-fledged mental breakdown.
Spying on them, Chloé scoffs about Adrien's tastes going downhill; how could he settle for street ice cream. Tikki suggests having some at the hotel, but Chloé cuts her off—street ice cream or no, she's still going to have that matchmaker ice cream with Adricheri.
Back at the manor, Nathalie casually informs Adrien that his father has forbidden him from going out and will be eating in his office. Adrien mock-gripes to Plagg about what a shame it is that Adrien (as opposed to Chat Noir) isn't allowed out due to having to practice piano and all that, all while casually setting up his phone to play music in his stead as he prepares to slip out. An annoyed Plagg sarcastically goads him to suit up already.
Kagami similarly makes a show of her "mistake" when she meets up with the others; she told her mother that she was attending a strategy meeting for her fencing team, but it seems she got the location wrong. Adrien scoffs, bragging that he snuck out behind his pére's back and that Gabriel thinks he's still back in his room playing piano. Kagami angrily concedes that he's bested her again as Nino questions why they've turned delinquency into a competition.
Luka asks Marinette whether she believes in "lovers' ice cream"; she admits that her father proposed to her mother with one, making it something special in their house. That said, she believes that "being in love forever" is more because it's her parents than due to magic ice cream. Laughing, Luka notes that it'd be pretty weird not to believe in magic these days, given recent events.
André happily greets Mylène and Ivan as the soft and the strong: a princess and her knight, symbolized by chocolate, praline, and white nougat. Alya and Nino are first timers, and he whips up a cone with lemon, banana, and passionfruit for them. Then he turns to face his next customers, Kagami, Adrien, Luka, and Marinette, and freezes; these four haven't paired off into obvious couples.
He asks Kagami for her name, which she dismisses as none of his concern; what concerns her is his lack of gloves. She also points out how inconsiderate it is that he never posts his location himself, expecting potential customers to track him down. Moreover, how does he handle allergies? Not to mention—
André frantically cuts her off, offering her a Marigold-themed cone from his secret menu, which she happily accepts, declaring that she does believe in magic after all.
Next, he turns to Luka, who requests some platonic ice cream. André tells him not to be so coy but is shocked when Luka admits that he doesn't believe in soulmates. Oh, he easily agrees with André's assertation that everybody has somebody, but all relationships take time, investment, and work, hence his desire for ice cream to share with his friends. André protests that his ice cream can guide Luka towards his true love, like Luka's parents... only for Luka to reply, "I don't have a papa," leaving the vendor to frantically assemble a friendship ice cream.
Watching all this unfold, Alya notes that maybe they should just bring couples next time while Mylène hopes that they don't wind up breaking André.
In sweeps Chloé, draping herself off of Adrien and showering him with kisses as she declares that lovers' ice cream is perfect for the two of them. As Adrien struggles against her surprisingly strong grip, Chloé goads André to fork over the cone. But the ice cream man's vision isn't what either of them expected; as he hastily presents a strawberry-lemonade with chocolate chips and blueberry, Chloé incredulously asks if that's a Scarlet Lady cone. Adrien angrily rejects it, much to André's dismay—and his day only gets worse when Wayhem pops up, forcing him to run for it.
Back at the manor, Nathalie checks in on Adrien, having seen a post online claiming he was outside. Adrien laughs it off, asking how that could possibly be true when he's clearly been here practicing the whole time. Nathalie lets it slide.
Chloé spots Luka sharing some of his friendship ice cream with Marinette and asks him to share with her, to which Luka responds, "Lord no." Kagami intervenes, telling Chloé to back off and declaring that anyone who comes uninvited shouldn't impose themselves upon others. Luka thanks her for stepping in; Kagami says, "That's what friends of friends do, yes?" only to be gently corrected; that's what friends do.
Finding herself properly ditched, Chloé complains to Tikki, who points out that she showed up completely uninvited again and tell her that she needs to stop; this is only making Adrien hate her all the more. Chloé scoffs; how could he possibly hate her when they're soulmates? Tikki tries to explain that ice cream doesn't make them anything, to no avail, as her holder decides that she should go see him right now.
Meanwhile, Hawk Moth contacts André, addressing him as Glaciator and offering him a chance for revenge. The target of the man's revenge takes the villain off-guard, though, as André declares that he'll freeze Adrien Agreste where he stands.
Up on her balcony, Marinette admits to Pollen that she can't stop thinking about Adrien's ice cream. While she admits that everybody deserves love, even Scarlet, it's clear that Adrien hates her. Pollen suggests that they might've misinterpreted the ice cream, but before they can follow that line of thought any further, they see Glaciator storming past, recognizing his voice as André's. Pollen observes, "Looks like he's not melting hearts anymore."
Scarlet Lady shows up at the manor, gloating about how she and Adrien are soulmates; Adrien angrily curses Chloé's name, frustrated that she spilled the beans to her "bestie." Glaciator announces his arrival, and the security windows slam down, shutting the startled Scarlet Lady out of Adrien's room. Duty calls, whether she wants to deal with it or not~
The trio meets up; Marigold explains that anyone struck by the akuma's power gets turned into ice cream, but he seems to be ignoring any couples. Scarlet Lady declares her disgust—her sidekicks would have to beg her to get her to pretend she's paired up with either of them. When only silence follows, she glances over to see that they've already left.
A quick peck on the cheek sells their story, and Chat Noir praises Marigold's acting skills, not picking up on her blushing. Glaciator is torn, unwilling to attack such a cute couple—Marigold swiftly darts in and tags him with Venom, freezing him in place and leaving them to search for the akumatized object while Scarlet Lady lazily "supervises." After being purified, André gives the pair a crushing hug, grateful to have been saved by a couple of superlovers. Marigold initally laughs it off but freezes when Chat Noir casually declares that she's just a good friend.
The next day, Marinette drops off a postcard from her Mémé for André, who happily greets her and gives her an ice cream, noting that she didn't get one of her own yesterday. He describes it as "Dark chocolate for his disguise, mint like his eyes, and peach for his lips"—along with two small cookies that perch upon the mint in a way resembling cat ears. Heavily blushing, Marinette wonders if this represents who she thinks it does; André bluntly replies that he doesn't have a clue, insisting that the magic chooses the ice cream.
When Adrien arrives later, André greets him just as exuberantly; no hard feelings, it seems. Still, Adrien apologizes, admitting that the cone from yesterday reminded him of somebody he... greatly dislikes. André asks Adrien to join him in looking at it with fresh eyes, explaining each component as he puts the ice cream together: blueberry for her eyes, lemonade mixed with strawberry to signify her fresh influence and hidden potential... and a bonus scoop of blackberry on top for her hair.
Adrien is spellbound; André asks if it reminds him of anyone, and he admits that it reminds him of two people, actually, catching the vendor completely off-guard.
This episode contains examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed for André the ice cream man, who appears to have more old-fashioned views about love and is less open-minded than his canon portrayal. He doesn't (or won't) recognize that Juleka and Rose are a couple, had a nervous breakdown when Alix revealed she's aromantic, and seems to neither support nor understand the idea of polyamory. In the show, while he's shown remarking that Marinette and Kagami as a pairing would be "unusual" through the description of their ice cream flavor, he was still fine with making it for them if they wanted it, and a flashback also shows him making ice cream for what appears to be a gay couple.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: André distracts Kagami from her rant about his questionable business practices by offering her a Marigold-themed ice cream and hastily assembles some "friendship" ice cream for Luka after accidentally hitting a sore spot regarding his (lack of a) father.
- Comically Missing the Point: André thinks that Rose and Juleka are just "gals being pals."
- Deconstruction Fic: The episode pokes fun at André the ice cream man's "antiquated" and narrow-minded views of love.
- Everyone Has Standards: André looks confused and alarmed when Chloé shows up and latches onto Adrien's arm, and is clearly at a loss over how to respond to her.
- Formula-Breaking Episode:
- Like the last "Intermission," the comic was posted in batches rather than one page at a time.
- Most headers feature one of the heroes or the Victim of the Week wearing an outfit based off their akumatized form. Here, however, Marinette is featured in a Neapolitan ice cream-themed dress rather than André.
- Godzilla Threshold: Downplayed for Laughs. As part of her plans to expose Scarlet Lady, Alya forces herself to ask Lila for another interview, something she'd sworn she'd never do again after falling for her Celebrity Lies.
- It's All About Me: Chloé, as usual. She complains about Adrien's taste going downhill when she learns he plans on going out for street ice cream while insisting on sharing matchmaker ice cream with him, even though she wasn't even invited. It's also heavily implied that the Scarlet Lady cone André makes for Adrien was actually Chloé's, pretty much marking how she only loves herself. She later also tries to get Luka to share his ice cream with her, gets incensed when everyone ditches her, and ignores Tikki when the Kwami attempts to scold her for inviting herself and explain that the ice cream doesn't actually make her and Adrien soulmates.
- Loophole Abuse: Adrien repeatedly emphasizes how Adrien has to stay inside and practice piano while planning to transform into Chat Noir to sneak out of the manor. Plagg tells him to stop milking it.
- Mistaken for Gay: Inverted. Rose and Juleka joke about André the ice-cream man, who thinks they are just "girly friends" as opposed to a couple.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: André has a bad habit of doing this, such as when he tries to convince Luka that soulmates exist and that his magic ice cream can help the teen end up in a relationship as wonderful as what the latter's parents have, only for Luka to reply that he doesn't have a father.
- Overly Long Gag: After Nathalie forbids Adrien from going out, he dramatically laments to Plagg how Adrien (as opposed to Chat Noir) won't be able to go hang out with his friends.Adrien: Man, Plagg. It sure sucks that Adrien isn't allowed out.
Plagg: U-huh.
Adrien: [puts on some piano music from his phone] And that Adrien has to practice piano.
Plagg: Sure.
Adrien: [clenching his fists as tears well in his eyes] And that Adrien—
Plagg: I get it already! Just suit up! - Plot Parallel: In the previous episode, Adrien learned that Marinette has feelings for Chat Noir. While he was eager to get together with her, he still listens to her concerns about dating while Hawk Moth is still at large, strengthening his desire to deal with the supervillain as quickly as possible. This time around, a misunderstanding results in Chloé thinking that Adrien is soulmates with her alter ego... despite how badly Adrien reacts to the idea.
- Poor Communication Kills: Through the medium of magic ice cream, no less. Adrien rejects André's concoction for him due to it reminding him too much of Scarlet Lady (not helped one bit by Chloé's presence and loud proclamation). André later gets a second chance to reassemble it, explaining his reasoning as he goes, along with adding an extra scoop for further clarification.
- Self-Serving Memory: Despite Adrien loudly and angrily rejecting the apparent Scarlet Lady cone, Chloé still latches onto it as evidence that they're meant to be together and gleefully shows up at the manor, expecting Adrien to welcome her into his arms.
- Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: Both Adrien and Kagami have Control Freaks for parents and resort to various deceptions in order to have fun behind their parents' backs. They've even turned their delinquency into a competition.
- Take That!: Many jokes and potshots are made about narrow-minded ideas about what are considered "acceptable" forms of love.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Adrien has this reaction when Scarlet Lady shows up at his window after he was seemingly offered a Scarlet Lady cone from André earlier.
- Scarlet Lady: Mon prince~
Adrien: [frowning] Oh, no.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Downplayed with Wayhem; by recognizing Adrien and immediately posting about the encounter, he forces Adrien to race back home so that his deception isn't uncovered. This removes any chance of André getting Adrien to accept his ice cream, causing the former's akumatization.
