[Review/Recap] Miraculous Ladybug Season 2 Episode 16: "Troublemaker" (SPOILERS) · 7:29pm Jun 17th, 2018
When the stress of being Jagged Stone's assistant pushes Penny Rolling past her breaking point, Hawk Moth Akumatizes her into Troublemaker; an embarrassing live TV reveal leads to a decided change in the way Adrien perceives Marinette.
Managing a rock superstar isn't easy. Penny Rolling is super stressed every day. This episode focuses on a day in the life of Penny Rolling that just went completely off the rails.
Fang is annoying the mayor and the hotel staff. Jagged Stone's eccentric requests are befuddling the gofers and butlers. The label exec, Bob Roth, is up Jagged's butt to be on a reality show that Jagged wants no part of. Jagged would be happy to do a reality TV show if it was something he himself would actually watch.
Penny comes up with a solution, and manages to work things so Jagged does a live reality show from Tom & Sabine Boulangerie-Pattiserie, where Tom Dupain teaches Jagged a little bit about how a baker works. All Marinette's friends know about the show. At the Agreste mansion, Adrien is eagerly watching--more in anticipation of seeing Marinette on TV, which amuses Plagg greatly. The face Adrien makes when Marinette comes on says everything:
Aside from some on-set shenanigans and silliness typical of a reality show, things are going great until Penny asks Marinette for directions to the bathroom so Jagged can clean up after a flour spill. Marinette's vague directions end up in Penny and Jagged finding themselves in Marinette's room--
Okay, seriously, exactly what made them think the bathroom would be in the attic?!
--anyway. So they're up in her room and Jagged is having a good time looking all around a 14-year-old girl's bedroom (YIKES). The TV crew decide they've been off air too long and go looking for Jagged, which leads them to resume the broadcast from Marinette's room. Adrien is stunned to see her walls plastered with photos of him!
Marinette sees the show has come back on air and they're broadcasting from HER BEDROOM and her STALKER SHRINE TO ADRIEN is out there for all of Paris to see and she FREAKS and runs upstairs. She yanks the cord so the camera goes dead, a huge shouting match erupts between the TV crew, Marinette, and Penny--who, realizing what a MASSIVE invasion of privacy the whole thing is, is on Marinette's side. Ultimately, the entire incident explodes into a massive ball of stress that overwhelms Penny, leading her to lash out at everyone and throw the entire crew including Jagged out of Marinette's room and downstairs.
Hawk Moth senses Penny's frustration and stress and sends out an Akuma, transforming her into Troublemaker.
Marinette is freaking out in her bedroom, and Tikki is NOT helping. Marinette's freakout is disrupted by the TV, which shows things going completely caca down in the bakery. At first she's bewildered by what appears to be her parents losing their shit and starting a fight with the TV crew--but then she realizes there's an Akuma afoot, which snaps her out of her own personal hell.
Adrien, likewise, becomes aware of the Akuma and rushes to the scene as Chat Noir. Troublemaker has locked down the building and is resisting Chat Noir's attempts to enter. Before Chat Noir can make a third attempt, Ladybug hauls him up to the roof and they enter through the terrace. Ladybug keeps Chat Noir on task (since they're fighting the Akuma in HER bedroom after all!) as Troublemaker keeps them on their toes. Troublemaker can become intangible, making her difficult to fight, and her tricks enable her to remove one of Ladybug's earrings. With Ladybug slowly transforming back into Marinette, Chat Noir has to distract Troublemaker so Ladybug can recover her Miraculous. Once she has her earring back and her suit reforms, Ladybug uses Lucky Charm, which gives her...a broken plate. It takes her a few minutes to figure out what it means: she finds a tube of glue on the floor, and comes up with a plan.
Ladybug uses the glue to secure her Miraculous to her ears (OUCH!), then uses herself as bait to draw Troublemaker in. When Troublemaker goes for her earrings again, Chat Noir is able to destroy the pen containing the Akuma, ending the battle.
The next day, Marinette is in full stealth mode when she arrives at school, going out of her way to remain unnoticed by her classmates after the embarrassing debacle of the TV show. Just when she thinks she's safe at her locker...Adrien is right there lying in wait. Adrien draws her into an interestingly trap-laden conversation, far more reminiscent of his Chat Noir persona than his usual bashful and honest self. He tells Marinette that he's lucky he has her as one of his fans and invites her to hang out at one of his photo shoots.
Yes, folks. Adrien pounced.
OK so let's get the most important thing out of the way first:
Adrien BLATANTLY has a crush on Marinette. There have been little teasing hints of it here and along, but as of this episode, it's undeniable. The look on his face as he waited for Marinette to be on TV was pure crush.
And now he knows about her shine to him. While it's entirely possible he could interpret that as her being just another loony fan? There's...well...
That locker scene. Just...what the hell even was that? He went full Chat Noir on her in broad daylight! I mean, he wasn't even subtle about it. He was full on hitting on Marinette!
The way I'm choosing to interpret this: Adrien has been crushing on Marinette from way back when, even before the rejection by Ladybug. Now that he's not focused on Ladybug, his crush on Marinette has taken center stage. Once he saw that shrine to him in her room, he put that together with her whole breathless recitation of the fragrance ad and came to the conclusion that Marinette isn't just his friend, she's a major fan.
All that added together, with a hint of his less wholesome, more selfish Chat Noir side peeking through? Adrien's scented out something he can't resist.
IF that's the case, there's potential for this to turn...well...kind of ugly, especially once the reveal happens.
Anyway! This was an awesome episode from start to finish. Penny's awesome, Jagged Stone is awesome, this was a FUN episode, and all of the above was major huge STUFF. 10/10.
I just hope Marinette's Miraculous isn't permanently glued to her ear lobes. That would be bad for her skin.
As far as it turning ugly, I think that depends on which way the reveal happens first. I mean, this shift in Adrien's behavior - both as Adrien and as Chat Noir - is because Ladybug told him she has a boy she likes which is why she doesn't respond to Chat Noir's efforts, and Chat Noir choosing to respect that and value their partnership.
If he learns Marinette is Ladybug, and the reason Ladybug doesn't respond to Chat Noir is because the boy she likes is Adrien Agreste...
Not sure how it could go if the reveal happens the other way first, though.
In regards to my last comment...I just thought of a hilariously awkward way the reveal could happen.
What with Adrien now blatantly flirting, Alya would of course point it out to Marinette that's what's happening, and she and all her friends would encourage her to go for it...but Marinette would be freaking out, not knowing how to handle it. She needs someone to talk to about it that can give her an unbiased outside perspective, someone who will hear her out and help her think things through...
So as Ladybug, she talks to Chat Noir about it.
Oh wow... there are a like so many ways it could go... in show and out of show.... hell outta show the porny way alone, woof horny teenagers and all.
The full on chaos is on.
Ah, the French
Seriously, I think he was able to see enough of Marinette to know. We saw the color of her pants! Even if that's not the case, the ending was cold, especially Adrien's side-look. GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLll
4884248
I think Ladybug actually undid that part after all was said and done, much like how she turns things back to normal after the battle.
4884332
I don't think that's proof enough. But yes, Marinette had been partially detransformed before, but never that much.
Adrien you sly dog you =3
I am just waiting for the range of facial expressions the two of them will have in the reveal, when it happens. So many thoughts are going to rush through their heads, and they will look at things in a whole new light; it's going to be DELICIOUS.
4884368
I'm still just baffled how they still can't tell the similarities of Marinette and Ladybug. Even their hair is the same, Adrien at least has a leg up on that one
4885020
Okay, now you're on to something. I mean, how many girls with blue hair does Adrien even know?
4885028
Well, there's that new chick he got into a fencing match with that could be our red herring for Adrien, but besides that, come on son
4885020
4885028
It's magic called a glamour. It's the default explanation for EVERY transforming superhero/magical girl who looks exactly the same in costume as they do day to day (see also: Sailor Moon). Basically, they're protected by a magic that tricks the minds of other people. "Don't notice the resemblance."
4885074
I thought about that, but the thought kinda wavered with the last episode when the kids admitted that Marinette and Adrien looked like Ladybug and Chat Noir. Still, their minds can still be messed with somehow.
4886243
Noticing that they look like them is far and away from actually connecting the dots. Glamours and perception filters tend to work that way. "Hey, he looks an awful lot like...nah, couldn't be."
Hell, Superman does it without any magic at all--just a pair of glasses.
4886308
Good point. Must be another power of the Miraculous.
4886319
The Miraculous are simply the best...at protecting secret identities.
4886345
Or, alternatively, people are just idiots.
Another great thing I loved about this episode is the reminder of just how cool and FUN a guy Jagged Stone is. I wonder when he and Penny will hook up.