[Review/Recap] Miraculous Ladybug Season 2 Episode 14: "Syren" (SPOILERS) · 3:44am May 6th, 2018
When a girl who's crushing on Kim is upset he doesn't return her feelings, she becomes Syren and floods Paris; Master Fu unlocks a new set of powers for the Kwami; Adrien finally meets Master Fu.
A bunch of animals break out of the zoo, and Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Rena Rouge make a training session out of rounding them up. Chat Noir is frustrated over being kept out of the loop--the very existence of Rena Rouge means Ladybug knows things he doesn't, and her refusal to trust him with certain secrets is getting on his nerves. He even tries to bribe Plagg to share the secrets Ladybug's keeping from him with cheese, but Plagg holds out.
Meanwhile, there's a girl named Ondine who has a major crush on Kim, but he's an oblivious idiot. They even have this cute little game they play together where they take turns putting little notes in a watertight bracelet and throwing it into the pool, then going in after it. Ondine was just about to throw a love confession into the pool when Kim ducked out to hang with friends, mentioning a girl he likes in passing. (He has STILL not given up his crush on Chloe. Ugh.) Dejected, Ondine falls prey to Hawk Moth, becoming Syren. As Syren, she plans to turn Paris into an undersea kingdom and take Kim as her mer-king.
At Master Fu's place, Marinette learns Master Fu has unlocked the secrets of giving the Kwami new powers, but he hasn't quite had success with the special magic potion that bestows these new abilities--he's missing one key ingredient, a "tear of real happiness", which he hasn't been able to figure out. Marinette also asks if it's maybe time to tell Chat Noir about him, but Master Fu says it isn't quite time yet--that they'll know when the time is right. Marinette heads off from his place to the movies to meet up with her friends, but their outing is disrupted by the flooding of Paris. Ladybug and Chat Noir meet up on the rooftops and investigate the situation, but when they realize they're out of their depth, Ladybug's Lucky Charm gives her a copy of Master Fu's alchemy cauldron. As she dashes off again, Chat Noir tries in vain to get her to let him into the loop, but she rebuffs him. Chat Noir sits down on the roof and waits angrily.
Master Fu is in despair--he simply can't get the magic potion to work right. Marinette realizes that the missing secret ingredient is tears of laughter, and tells a bunch of stupid jokes until Master Fu laughs so hard he cries. She adds the tear to the potion, and magic happens! A spoonful of the potion turns Tikki into AquaTikki, and AquaTikki transforms Ladybug into Merladybug. Before leaving, Ladybug stops and suggests to Master Fu that maybe it's finally time Chat Noir was brought into the loop.
Back where we last left Chat Noir, he's lost his patience and turned back into Adrien, and he's so frustrated with all the secrets being kept from him that he comes within inches of renouncing the Miraculous if Plagg won't tell him what's going on. Plagg pleads with him not to do that because he actually likes Adrien and wants to keep being his Kwami. Right after this, Master Fu comes along, and Adrien remembers him from the first day of school. Master Fu gives him some of the special potion for Plagg, who's...less than enthused about it, because he hates transforming.
Together, Merladybug and Catfish Noir defeat Syren and save Paris. Afterwards, Master Fu prepares several special potions to give the Kwami new powers, each color-coded depending on the desired effect. Since the potions aren't very easy to carry around (and highly conspicuous) in raw potion form, Marinette uses the ingredients to bake a special set of transformation macarons for Tikki. Master Fu pays Adrien a visit at home, going undercover as his replacement Chinese tutor, and delivers a care package of transformation cheese for Plagg--along with a long-overdue talk.
Meanwhile, Gabriel, who was caught off-guard by Ladybug and Chat Noir's new powers, angrily demands of Nooroo how he can gain new abilities, but Nooroo tells him, truthfully, that only the Guardian of the Miraculous knows how to decode the formula that unlocks this power. For the moment, the heroes have Hawk Moth outmatched in more ways than one, and he isn't remotely happy about this...
So. This is a pretty huge episode. Adrien is FINALLY in the loop, Master Fu has established an easy way to interact freely with Adrien, the Miraculous have new powers by way of magic potions that can be fed to the Kwami, Gabriel is furious about Ladybug and Chat Noir getting even stronger...
Man, it's a lot to take in! 10/10.
Nice that Ladybug continues to go to Alya and makes her Rena Rouge if the situation calls for additional support. And I do feel much better now that both Marinette and Adrien know of Master Fu on their own terms.
I think Marinette and Adrien should finally learn each other's identities now that they both know Master Fu.
Beautiful episode, and I'm just so relieved that Adrien is in the know. But wait, what if Marinette sees Master Fu with Adrien? Wouldn't she connect the dots and come to a realization?