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immaturityofthomasastruc · 1 year

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IOTA Reviews: Destruction

Well, I'm finally back. After saying some pretty stupid things about four months ago, I'm ready to get back in the saddle and review the rest of Season 5. And honestly, it's kind of funny that as soon as I announce a hiatus, we get an influx of new episodes that, for the most part, were actually in chronological order. So I'm going to have to play keep up and review all the episodes I missed, which is about fourteen of them.

So let's just dive right in and get into the third (chronologically the third) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Destruction

We start off with Marinette looking over the Ladyblog reminding the audience that Monarch still has all the other Miraculous. While Alya gets her some tea, we get a nice little bit of visual storytelling showing how nervous Marinette is when she sees a video of Alya telling Ladybug and Cat Noir to be careful. Even if Alya already knows Marinette is Ladybug, it's easy to see the pressure she's going through now that the odds are stacked against her and Cat Noir.

We then cut to... Good lord, how many times do I have to say this? We cut to Gabriel monologuing to Emilie's corpse, saying he's totally going to get the Miraculous for realsies this time. He actually thinks of something smart and decides to order Orikko, the Rooster Kwami, to give him the power to travel in time again. Instead, we get one of the most confusing explanations for how the Miraculous work, and totally isn't something the writers made up to justify how overpowered they made the Rooster.

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Oh goody, not even two minutes in, and the writers are already retconning stuff to justify the conflict happening.

First off, you can't grant a power that belongs to another Kwami? Then how the hell did Rooster Bold multiply Ladybug's Lucky Charm at the end of Season 4? That wasn't a form of creation? Even if you go along with the dialogue saying it was a form of multiplication, that still won't fly because the Mouse Miraculous already has the power of Multiplication, and Polymouse was part of the team during that episode. Also, what about Caprikid, who can also create stuff with Genesis? Is that not creation either? And does this rule apply to just the Rooster, or all Miraculous? Because all the way back in Season 1, we got three separate Akumas with the powers of other Miraculous (Copycat, Antibug, Volpina), and in Season 3, we got an Akuma with the ability to copy a Miraculous user's powers (Chameleon) and a Sentimonster copy of a different Miraculous user (Ladybug).

Second, mind explaining what exactly the difference between a power and a wish is? It was already confusing when Astruc explained it, and you repeating the “explanation” isn't clearing anything up at all.

What even is the difference between a power and a wish when the Rooster literally gives you the power to get any power you choose? That was literally how Rooster Bold described it in “Penalteam”.

Rooster Bold: Actually, my power is to choose a super ability, and I choose to score a ball anytime I shoot.

How is asking for the power to score a goal in soccer whenever you shoot the ball anything but a wish?

Okay, fine, the phrasing of wanting to locate the Miraculous of Ladybug and Cat Noir can be seen as a demand, not a power, but there are plenty of ways to work around it here. You could ask for the power to teleport certain objects to you when you're near them. You could ask for the power to sense the energy of the Kwamis associated with each Miraculous. You could ask for the power to teleport to any place you know a Kwami has been, like where the Miracle Ball is. These can all be powers and not wishes.

Finally, you already broke the rule about not being able to disrupt the powers of other Miraculous a while ago, as there have already been Akumas and Sentimonsters specifically created to fight Miraculous users (Miraculer, Kwamibuster, Ephemeral, Strikeback).

I get it, the writers needed a way to explain why Gabriel couldn't use the Rooster Miraculous to automatically win, but they wouldn't need to resort to these mental gymnastics if they didn't give the Rooster the power to use any power the user wanted.

Gabriel decides to get to Ladybug another way, by ordering the Kwamis to reveal Ladybug's identity, but because Ladybug never technically renounced their Miraculous, they can't tell him thanks to the failsafe that prevents Kwamis from revealing their holder's identity, something previously established in “Sandboy”. Gabriel has another idea: He makes the Kwamis tell him where the Guardian lives. This is honestly a really clever battle of wits here. If they did something like this when explaining why the Rooster had limits, I don't think I'd be as harsh to the use of that Miraculous as I normally am.

Marinette tries to go to sleep to get the recent events off her mind for now, but Monarch, currently unified with the Butterfly, Horse, Bee, and Turtle Miraculous, breaks in using Voyage. He asks for a “gift” Ladybug gave her, since the Kwamis didn't tell Monarch she's Ladybug. Monarch takes out the Bee Miraculous' top, essentially holding Marinette at gunpoint while she tries to get the “gift” for him. It's a very tense scene with the main hero in a helpless situation... so obviously, we need to throw in some Unfunny Marinette Slapstick to ruin the mood. It's brief, but I still don't get why the writers think this is the only kind of stuff they can tell jokes with.

Rather than a killer robot belonging to the Deathgalians, the “gift” is a key. Since the Kwamis technically don't know the Guardian's address, she supposedly set up a treasure hunt for them to follow in case they get lost. As Marinette lies about Ladybug not trusting her that much, Alya comes in with some tea and snacks. Monarch assumes Alya knows who Ladybug is, and right after he demands she tell him, Alya decides to cancel him on social media—I mean, broadcasts Monarch in Marinette's room, potentially exposing him to the world. Monarch simply breaks the phone and takes the key, breaking the Ladybug-themed keychain to reveal a piece of paper with a little note on it.

You know, if I actually knew anything about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy other than the significance of that number, I'd be all over this.

The number is actually the same one as a locker at the local ice rink, so Monarch uses Voyage again (even though he didn't recharge) to teleport there. Philippe, a figure skating teacher, assumes that Monarch is there for a skating lesson, and then takes a selfie with the dangerous supervillain. You know, Monarch, it's late at night, and there don't seem to be any witnesses. Just saying...

After opening the locker, Monarch finds another piece of paper with a picture of a wax statue of Cat Noir and the word “street”, making him realize the papers contain an address. Monarch heads to the Musée Grévin, a real life wax museum that we first saw in “Puppeteer 2”, and even has wax statues of Ladybug and Cat Noir on display whose creation was overseen by Thomas Astruc and Jeremy Zag themselves.

No joke here. I just thought that was really cool.

Monarch breaks into the exhibit with the in-universe statues of Ladybug and Cat Noir, only to reveal the entire treasure hunt was a trick to corner him. Ladybug ties Cat Noir's hand to Monarch's arm and uses her Lucky Charm, some kind of fire hose, to tie him up while the doors of the exhibit are locked down.

So Monarch is pinned down, and with one wrong move, he's as good as dead if he tries to escape. Obviously, Ladybug learned from her mistakes in “Evolution”, and now, she's going to take back all of Monarch's Miraculous.

… And now she's going to take back all of Monarch's Miraculous.

And NOW she's going to take back—Okay, you know where this is going.

Yeah, I'm not making this up when I say it takes 84 seconds, over a minute, to for Ladybug to explain her plan, once again say they're going to take Monarch's Miraculous, and casually stroll over to slowly take away the Butterfly Miraculous before Monarch decides to let Cat Noir Cataclysm his arm so the ensuing shock gives him the chance to use Voyage to teleport back. ARE. YOU. KIDDING ME?!

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You had him right there, you idiot! After you failed to take back more than a single Miraculous because you kept saying you were going to do it, you decided to waste time gloating like this was a Sherlock Holmes novel. Even in Scooby-Doo, they usually saved the explanations for after the monster was unmasked, which you should have done with Monarch.

It's framed as a crushing defeat for the heroes, but it only happened because they spent their time screwing around instead of nabbing every Miraculous littered across Monarch's body. Also, check out Cat Noir's response to accidentally Cataclysming Monarch.

Yeah, funny how you didn't act this way when you assumed Scarabella was a threat in “Hack-San”, isn't it? And spoilers for the next episode, he doesn't exactly let this affect him or the way he operates the next time he uses his Cataclysm on an Akuma.

Because Monarch ran off with Ladybug's Lucky Charm, Ladybug can't fix the damage, so neither of them really know what's going to happen to Monarch now. We then cut back to Marinette and Alya, where Marinette explains her plan... which is kind of redundant since the whole reason Monarch got away was because she took the time to explain it in the first place. Yeah, she explains the reasoning for it and how she prepared, but there's no reason for her to go into detail about this plan when we already saw it in action. She seriously explains all of this for almost four minutes, and I'm pretty sure it's just to pad the runtime.

We then cut to, of all things, Adrien telling Gabriel he doesn't want to model anymore. Yeah, in a pretty clever twist, this episode actually takes place during the events of “Multiplication”. We see that during that scene, Gabriel was still reeling from the Cataclysm wound, which somehow managed to go through his super suit and mark his skin.

And remember that suit that somehow manages to make him look like he has the worst traits of Colonel Sanders, Steve Jobs, and the Tumblr sword lady? That was to cover up the wound and go with his new Miraculous. Because yeah, a bright white suit is the perfect way to hide a dark purple splotch on your skin. Somehow, Gabriel managed to use some lasers to break down the Miraculous (even though “Queen Wasp” established they were indestructible without a Cataclysm as the exception) and through his new partnership with Tomoe, turned them into the high-tech Alliance rings he can use to safely channel the powers of each Kwami through. Also, he finally shut them up by putting them in cages where they can't fight back. All of this is building up to Gabriel transforming into his new Monarch form for the first time. Yeah, the Monarch we saw for the first three episodes? That was just the prototype meant to look ridiculous, so obviously, this one's going to look better, right? Well...

Yeah, this somehow looks worse. The purple bodysuit just doesn't look menacing, and once again, the skin being purple doesn't make sense. Also, I don't even know why the eyes are blue. It honestly looks like a worse version of Oblivio, but at least with Oblivio, the basic design was intentional. There's just too much purple, and it doesn't look as stylish as Hawkmoth's original design.

And of course, this means I have more jokes to make about his appearance.

He looks like a walking fiber supplement, and not kind you take orally.

Gabriel, you know you don't have to wear your swim cap outside of the pool, right?

Remember when the worst thing about Gabriel's villain form was the feather monocle? I miss those good times...

I wonder if this means Gabriel smells like grapes now.

My God, Gabriel's become an Anacondrai cultist, and a really stupid-looking one at that!

It's bad enough that the Rooster Miraculous' power makes no sense, but it can't even give Gabriel the power to have better sense of fashion?

Wait a minute, that's just a giant crayon!

This form looks like what would happen if you could wear a type of wine.

Okay, I know cartoon reboots are the hottest thing right now, but who the hell was asking for a reboot of the California Raisins commercials?

You know, it'd be funny if Gabriel's favorite color wasn't even purple.

When Gabriel said he was planning on cosplaying as a Klingon, I didn't think he meant the Klingons from Discovery.

Nothing says “sinister supervillain” like a suit that's the same shade as a ripe eggplant.

It's sad that this new form was upstaged by the main villain of The Owl House possessing a teenager wearing a wolf shirt a few days before this episode originally aired.

Just remember, Gabriel destroyed the other Miraculous to achieve this form.

Wow, this form looks just as badass and menacing as Kamen Rider Horobi... in that it exists, and has a slightly similar color scheme.

The more forms Gabriel gets, the more I hate the color purple.

From what I've heard, the Monster High reboot gave one of the main characters pink skin for some reason. To the people who are upset at the change, be glad she doesn't look as ridiculous as Gabriel does now.

So is this what happens when a chameleon only knows how to camouflage with a single color?

Even Dark Truder would think this guy looks like a dork.

He looks less like a supervillain and more like a caterer for a color-themed wedding.

Just when you thought the MCU had the absolute worst incarnation of the Mandarin (the Ben Kingsley one, not whatever Shang-Chi did with the character's magic rings).

This form looks like the kind of clothes used to test the power of stain removers during a commercial.

Okay, come on, guys. What does Gabriel's new form actually look like? This can't seriously be the final draft, right?

I'm pretty sure this form counts as a crime against anyone who likes the color purple.

This looks like one of the few disguises Robbie Rotten wouldn't wear.

To paraphrase Bill Corbett, “Gabriel, you sold us out to Big Prune, man!”

Apparently, Gabriel's eyes were originally going to be purple too, but he thought that would make him look stupid.

But again, the funniest joke is the fact that Gabriel thinks he somehow looks cooler in this form. Anyway, the episode ends with Monarch saying that he's totally going to beat Ladybug and Cat Noir this time and that he won't be fooled again, even though he’s barely gotten close to his goal after four seasons (not counting the recent victory that was given to him thanks to Felix).

Anyway, this episode was just okay. There honestly wasn't that much for me to talk about, as the plot was pretty straightforward and answered some questions as to why Monarch can't easily win now that he's arguably the most powerful he's ever been. Admittedly, the problems lie more in how those questions are answered, like how the writers went out of their way to explain why the Rooster Miraculous is the definition of having the power to do whatever the plot needs it to do and not do.

Ladybug's plan was also pretty clever, and while I chided her for letting Monarch escape, unlike the other times she failed to take action when she had the chance, I'm more willing to let this time slide. Sure, her explanation took long enough for Monarch to weigh the pros and cons of seriously hurting himself if it means he can live to fight another day, but sort of like the fight between Dr. Watts and General Ironwood in RWBY, neither Ladybug or Cat Noir really thought Monarch would go through with damaging his arm like that. They were in a position of power, and thought they had won. If the scene ended with Ladybug belittling herself for being overconfident instead of just moping about how Monarch escaped again, this whole setup could have worked more.

One thing I thought was pretty weird was that despite being titled after the concept his Miraculous is based on, Cat Noir barely gets to do anything here. Okay, sure, the title of “Destruction” could refer to the fact that Monarch was wounded by the power of destruction, but he doesn't get any scenes after Monarch escapes. You could have easily thrown in a scene where Adrien was sitting in his room and talking to Plagg about what happened, potentially even calling back to what happened with Uncanny Valley in the New York Special. But instead, I guess the writers thought it would make more sense for Ladybug to take even longer to explain her plan to the viewers who didn't understand it the first time it was explained to them.

Overall, this is easily the least offensive episode of the season so far. The problems I have with it are very minor compared to ones I had with the previous two episodes.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... XUPPU

Ever since Season 4, the Kwamis have all been relegated to annoying little mascots with the combined intellect of a kindergarten student, but Xuppu in this episode really took this to a new level. He generally kept screwing around even when he was basically being held hostage, and while the other Kwamis at least tried their best to calmly explain why Gabriel couldn't use the Rooster to get everything he wanted, he just went on this condescending little tangent about how simple the rules are for Gabriel. I get it's in his personality to be mischievous, but it was pretty dumb how he didn't seem to be taking things seriously.

While it might seem like Marinette should have won the award, I'm grading these characters based on their actions throughout the episode. Basically, if a character does something smart, it “deducts” points from their overall actions. For example, if Cat Noir did something reckless in a later episode when he came up with a pretty smart plan to defeat an Akuma early on, both actions would be balanced out, and it would be less likely that he would get the Biggest Idiot Award. Therefore, someone like Xuppu is more likely to get the award instead.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #ml salt #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #adrien agreste #cat noir #chat noir #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #hawk moth #monarch #monarch miraculous #alya cesaire #orikko #xuppu

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