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immaturityofthomasastruc · 2 years

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IOTA Reviews: Evolution

Well, here we are again. Season 5, originally meant to be the last season of the show before the network decided to pull a Kim Possible and give it two more seasons. Although to be fair, this season will mark the end of an era, as Astruc won't be as involved in future seasons. Either way, this season has a lot to live up to, mainly the fact that it has to actually wrap up the plot after spinning its wheels for the past six years.

But for those who have just discovered my blog (in that case, welcome, stranger), or haven't caught up on the show yet, allow me to provide a brief recap of the fourth season. After being made Guardian thanks to Master Fu's incompetence, Marinette reveals her identity as Ladybug to Alya in order to have help dealing with the stress of her new responsibilities, eventually giving her the Fox Miraculous full-time. Of course, Cat Noir isn't happy that Ladybug is starting to rely on other heroes for help, and whines about it for the entire season because he's an idiot. On the villain front, Gabriel begins to use the newly repaired Peacock Miraculous with the Butterfly Miraculous, adopting the new alias Shadowmoth. Aside from the introductions of new heroes and a few minor identity reveals across the season, not much really happens until the season finale. After revealing she's working undercover when she supposedly stopped being a superhero to Nino, Alya loses her Miraculous because she's an idiot. Felix, Adrien's cousin and walking middle finger to anyone who was interested in one of the show's earlier drafts, manages to trick Ladybug into giving him the Dog Miraculous, which he uses to steal her yo-yo with a connection to where she stores her other Miraculous, but decides to trade all fifteen Miraculous to Gabriel in exchange for the Peacock Miraculous (which he may or may not be an artificial creation of) instead of beating his uncle up himself because he's an idiot. After nabbing all the Miraculous from Ladybug's yo-yo, Gabriel acts like this was his plan the entire time, even though he just lost again, because he's an idiot. And even though Ladybug was literally under the influence of an Akuma that made her take more risks, she gets blamed for everything going wrong because the writers want us to believe she's an idiot. The season ended on a cliffhanger where Cat Noir decided to actually help Ladybug without complaining because he actually has to do his job now.

So now that we're caught up, let's get into the first (chronologically the first) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Evolution

We start off right where the previous season ended, with Ladybug and Cat Noir staring down an illusion created by Hawkmoth, now calling himself Monarch. Not even the civilians really fear him anymore, as they just boo him while still supporting Ladybug, even though she's supposedly the reason why Monarch is like this in the first place. Sure, we could have had the public start to turn on Ladybug while she desperately tries to stop Monarch to signify how dire the situation is, but that would actually imply the writers know how to write serious story arcs.

Ladybug and Cat Noir easily get rid of the illusion and reaffirm their trust in each other.

Aw, isn't that sweet? Cat Noir spent most of the last season complaining about the other temp heroes, and now Ladybug has literally no other choice but to rely on him now. This really is one of the best superhero teams of all time.

We cut to Gabriel, wearing all the Miraculous (which are all now gray to remind the audience that he's evil), doing what he does best, monologuing to his wife's comatose body about how he stole most of the Miraculous from Ladybug, neglecting to bring up that Felix did most of the work for him. What's really weird about this scene is how it goes back and forth between Gabriel and the two heroes. When Gabriel says his victory is almost complete, Ladybug tells the public that Monarch's victory will never be complete. When Gabriel orders a concerned Sass to stay silent, Cat Noir tells the public not to be silenced. When Ladybug says that they won't be prisoners of Monarch, Gabriel makes it clear that the Kwamis are in fact, his prisoners/slaves. Is this meant to be funny? Is this meant to set up the conflict of this season? The tone is very vague here.

For once, Gabriel decides to do the obvious and use the Rabbit Miraculous to try and travel through time first, giving us a good look at his new form.

Monarch's design is... his design is... Oh my fucking God... It really looks like the animators have some kind of bet for who can make the worst unification design going on. The purple skin looks ridiculous, the vest has a really weird design, and I don't get why the Rabbit Miraculous' umbrella the and Turtle Miraculous' shield are purple while the other Miraculous are the same colors as when they're used by their normal wielders. I just... I just can't even begin to describe how utterly atrocious this form looks. And this is supposed to be the most menacing form Gabriel has taken to date! I had all kinds of jokes written as soon as I got a glimpse of this design, but wasn't sure which ones to go with. So I decided to put down all of them. Enjoy!

He looks like a fusion of Joe Biden and Grimace.

I've seen better designs from video game character creators... which were intentionally made to look ridiculous as a joke.

So are you supposed to be a supervillain or a cartoon character meant to teach kids about colors?

This is exactly why Pretty Patties didn't last too long.

Ivan Ooze called, he wants his look back.

So I take it you're a Poison-type Gym Leader?

Tonight, the role of Gabriel Agreste will be played by Henry the Octopus.

How did Gabriel even get his hands on some of Kaos' Petrified Darkness?

I think Gabriel heard about how cool Mayura looked, so he thought changing his skin color would help his new design. It really didn't help at all.

We've heard of Ursula's crazy sister, but how about Ursula's crazy brother?

Gabriel's Lotor cosplay could really use some work.

“Fun isn't something one considers when trying to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous, but this does put a smile on my face.”

Is this a character from that Rainbow High show I've heard so much about?

“What the hell is that?” “Well it ain't a well designed character model!”

I'm pretty sure even the Ginyu Force has better fashion sense.

This is a weird sequel to Home.

Gabriel didn't take his rejection from the Abomination Coven well.

You know, when I started watching Star Trek: Prodigy, I was curious to learn just what Dal's species was like. I really should have been more specific there.

So would this be considered blackface among Sinestro's people?

Man, Ebon really let himself go since Static Shock ended.

🎵I love you, you love me, how did this get on TV?🎵

Oh hey, here's something Monarch and my dad's Captain America costume have in common: The masks are both made of duct tape.

I'm starting to think the consequences for using multiple Miraculous at once are just really poor-looking suits.

See, this is what happens when you eat stuff without Willy Wonka's permission.

“Uh, Pim? What the... uh.. what the hell are you doing?” “Don't worry, Charlie. All I have to do is get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous, and our latest client will have a big smile on his face!”

Man, has Gabriel really gotten this many bruises from all the losses he's had?

I remember when the suit designs for Kamen Rider Revice were first revealed, I thought the color scheme looked ridiculous, but I slowly warmed up to it. I don't think that's going to apply to Monarch's design here.

Gabriel, your new form, woof!

I didn't know Gabriel was really a Moonshadow Elf. It certainly explains his poor impression of a human.

Who wore it better: Gabriel, or Percy in that one episode of Thomas the Tank Engine where his face was covered in jam?

Man, I know people have problems with Lightyear's animation, but I didn't know their version of Evil Emperor Zurg looked this bad.

You know, some historians say that the reason Gothic churches like the Notre Dame Cathedral had stained glass windows was to emphasize the beauty of these places and to teach the illiterate about stories from the Bible. What kind of message is Gabriel is trying to get across with the stained glass pattern on his vest?

Feel free to pick your favorites from this list, or even make your own. Although, let's be honest here. The fact that Gabriel thought he would look badass in this form is funnier than anything else we could come up with.

Just as Ladybug starts to tell Cat Noir about how she lost the other Miraculous, Monarch conveniently stumbles through a time portal, with another version of her and Cat Noir in tow, the latter unified with another Miraculous. Bunnix, the wielder of the Rabbit Miraculous in the future, AKA, Marinette's friend, Alix, comes to warn the present day Ladybug and Cat Noir about Monarch planning to screw up the timeline more than the average episode of Kamen Rider Zi-O. Seriously, Monarch didn't even think about being subtle and just barged into the events of Season 1's “Lady Wifi” where the titular Akuma had Ladybug at her mercy. He didn't even think to use the Fox Miraculous to disguise himself as someone who could have tricked Ladybug into a false sense of security. For a butterfly-themed villain, Monarch really doesn't get the idea of the Butterfly Effect. As for the how the present day Ladybug and Hawkmoth factor into this? Don't worry, the writers didn't care enough to add that in, not even a throwaway line expressing their confusion.

Having the power of time travel on their side, Bunnix obviously takes Ladybug and Cat Noir back to where Felix was about to steal Ladybug's yo-yo and make sure Gabriel never gets the Miraculous—I mean, she takes them to stop Monarch from stealing back Ladybug's Miraculous instead. Ladybug ties up Monarch with her yo-yo, and the three heroes take back every Miraculous in Monarch's possession—I mean, they just explain how Bunnix's powers work and say they're going to take back their Miraculous... which gives Monarch the opportunity to unify with the Bee, Fox, and Turtle Miraculous so he can escape, distract the heroes with an army of Mirage copies, stun Bunnix with Venom and trap her in a Shelter. Cat Noir uses his Cataclysm to break through the barrier while Ladybug ties up Monarch again, but Monarch uses the Dragon Miraculous' Wind Dragon power to escape again.

This scene is supposed to convey how powerful Monarch is with seventeen Miraculous, but when the heroes had a lot of chances to undo all of this with time travel and nab all the Miraculous obviously on display on Monarch's jacket, it makes them look more inept than anything else. I can't believe I have to use this clip again, but...

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Seeing how Future Alix isn't able to travel through time on account of having an unhealthy amount of magical neurotoxin flowing through her bloodstream at the moment, Cat Noir takes the other Rabbit Miraculous that Monarch failed to steal for some reason and offers it to Ladybug.

I'm... very mixed on this scene. On the one hand, as much as I hated Ladybug being forced to admit she screwed up through no fault of her own, I do like the idea of her actually trusting Cat Noir with something as big as this. This, as well as their partnership in general this episode, is a sign the two are far more in sync and bickering less than last season. On the other hand, it's pretty out of left field for Ladybug to trust Cat Noir with the Rabbit Miraculous when she herself was shown to use it no problem last season. Out of the three times Cat Noir has used other Miraculous (Reflekdoll, Desperada, Miracle Queen), he was only able to use it right one time, and that was a unification.

Yes, Snake Noir was able to turn the tide of the battle in “Miracle Queen”, but it wasn't really this triumphant moment of the pinnacle of a character arc for him. Because there was so much focus on the conflict with Hawkmoth and Miracle Queen as a whole, it just kind of... happened, and didn't really get acknowledged much. It's kind of weird how the first step Ladybug is taking to trusting Cat Noir with more responsibilities is to trust Cat Noir with the most dangerous individual Miraculous during a tense situation when she could have easily used it herself. It's a weird time to give him a new power like this when she could unify with the Rabbit herself, and after the conflict ends, then she could start to train Cat Noir to use other Miraculous like the Rabbit.

As for Rabbit Noir, Cat Noir's new form unifying with the Rabbit Miraculous... THANK GOD WE HAVE A UNIFICATION DESIGN THAT DOESN'T SUCK! It's simple, but it honestly looks amazing. The neon blue lights along Cat Noir's suit go perfectly with it, and it evokes a futuristic aesthetic, and those, along with the rabbit ears and cottontail, don't feel as intrusive as other unification designs which try to blend two hero suits together. This is what most of the unifications should be like: simple aesthetic changes that don't compromise the design of the suit while still reminding the audience that another Miraculous' power is being used. In general, Rabbit Noir does a good job with these powers and understands the severity of the situation, taking the conflict with Monarch very seriously. He's honestly the highlight of the episode for me.

Rabbit Noir uses Burrow to follow Monarch to the events of the Season 2 episode, “Riposte”, specifically, the scene where Cat Noir is helplessly watching Ladybug duel the titular Akuma. Monarch's plans to ambush the past Cat Noir are thwarted by the writers FINALLY remembering the danger that comes with using multiple Miraculous, giving the present day Ladybug and Rabbit Noir the chance to catch up. And once again, the present day Ladybug, Cat Noir, Riposte, and Hawkmoth are too oblivious to what's going on when he's right behind them. Monarch attempts to head to the events of “Heroes' Day” and ambush Ladybug and Cat Noir when they try to recover after escaping from the Scarlet Army, but the present day Ladybug and Rabbit Noir knock him out and through the events of “Animan” where Alya and Nino are kissing, and the two lovebirds can't even hear all the commotion going on behind them. Back at the events of the first act of this episode, Ladybug and Cat Noir notice the chase from earlier was actually the chase they were about to take part in.

Monarch travels to an unknown time, and even though he's visibly exhausted, Ladybug and Rabbit Noir once again fail to think beating the crap out of him right then and there is a viable option, thinking that if they tell him to return the Miraculous, he'll just listen. Monarch unifies with the Dog Miraculous in an attempt to tag the Rabbit Miraculous he has with the ball, intending to use Fetch if they ever get it, but because he's currently using seven Miraculous at the same time, his body starts to collapse.

HOW THE HELL DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT?! You were literally told about the dangers of using multiple Miraculous all the way back in “Kwamibuster”! Did the writers seriously forget that happened, and that this kind of negative reaction is a brand-new rule they just made up?!

Okay, whatever. Monarch is clearly unconscious, he's exhausted from the long chase through time, and his body is probably a wreck after using seven Miraculous, so the other Miraculous are ripe for the taking... How do they screw it up now? Well, my dear reader, rather than take the chance to steal as many Miraculous as possible, they only get back the Rabbit until they're distracted by the past versions of Master Fu and Marianne being targeted by the vague Nazi-esque military, revealing that they're currently in the prologue of “Backwarder”, so Monarch has the chance to use Fetch to get the Rabbit Miraculous back and escape.

Okay, I gave Ladybug flak for blaming herself during the Season 4 when nobody could have predicted Felix's plan, but this entire episode has been nothing but her and Cat Noir screwing up and failing to take back the Miraculous Monarch is wearing when he's gotten weaker and weaker. They're clearly trying to establish how powerful he is, but he's only getting this far because the plot is forcing Ladybug to not do the simple thing and take back the damn Miraculous. Hell, Cat Noir points out the obvious fact that even if he can use Fetch to get back the Rabbit Miraculous, Monarch will eventually detransform, yet this episode still insists that this buffoon I spent two pages making jokes about is untouchable right now.

Ladybug finally wises up and uses her Lucky Charm and gets a box meant to contain a single Miraculous in. This was the same Lucky Charm that Ladybug got during “Heroes' Day”, with the plan being to peacefully get Hawkmoth's Miraculous back. While thinking about what she can do, Ladybug's vision centers on the Miracle Box the past version of Master Fu has, and gets an idea.

Meanwhile, Monarch accidentally travels to the events of “Reverser”, right after Ladybug and Cat Noir took a taxi to the Eiffel Tower while under the effects of the titular Akuma. Of course, even though the taxi driver sees Monarch in his mirror, he just ignores him. Monarch tries to attack them, but is forced to retreat, with Sass revealing that because none of the Kwamis have gotten food through the Monarch's use of their powers, so Gabriel is forced to travel to right before he started his little mission through time by walking up to Nathalie, who was on the phone with him while still on the Startrain with Lila and Felix, demanding she give him food for the Kwamis. Yeah, that's the reason why Gabriel is having a hard time, because the writers really forgot the rule they established in “Kwamibuster”.

Ladybug and Rabbit Noir walk up to the past version of Master Fu right after he and Marianne went their separate ways and explains what happened, saying she needs to borrow a Miraculous. Even though the whole point of “Backwarder”'s opening was to show how paranoid he was to use the Miraculous in such a dire situation, Master Fu just goes along with this and lets her have the Dog Miraculous on the condition that she return it to him so the timeline doesn't get more screwed up than it already is.

Okay, so... doesn't this mean that Ladybug and Cat Noir don't have to worry about not having any other Miraculous now? Yeah, they still need to get back the Miraculous from Monarch, but if the timeline wasn't bashed over the head after introducing themselves to Master Fu before they actually meet him in their time, and he's completely fine with letting them borrow some of the Miraculous, why the hell can't they just do that now? If they need the help of someone like Carapace or Vesperia, all either of them has to do now is use the Rabbit Miraculous, travel back to a period in time where Master Fu wasn't busy, ask for a Miraculous, get back to the present, beat whatever threat they're facing with the help of said Miraculous, travel back to the past and give Master Fu back the Miraculous, all while history mostly remains intact. If the original temp hero system where Ladybug had to haul ass to get a Miraculous from Master Fu worked before the Season 3 finale, why can't they just go back to doing that again, but with time travel? You could even argue that it's more efficient this way because they can travel back and forth from the Akuma fight to wherever they decide to get Master Fu's help. It's honestly unbelievable. The entire premise of this season is that Ladybug and Cat Noir are fighting an uphill battle since they don't have any of the temp heroes on their side, and how is the first episode of Season 5 going to be resolved? By using another temp hero for help. Seriously. The writers really didn't think this through, did they?

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Back in the present day Louvre, Alix and her father are talking until Ladybug and Rabbit Noir show up, the former handing her the Dog Miraculous. Because screw Sabrina, am I right? The difference is that once Alix gets the Rabbit Miraculous back, it's full-time, and she'll have to leave her friends and family to watch over the timeline until Monarch is defeated. Alix's father is surprisingly cool with all this because it turns out future Alix wrote letters to him to make sure he wouldn't be worried. After a quick embrace between the two Kubdels, Alix takes the Dog Miraculous and transforms into Canigirl.

Compared to Miss Hound and Flairmidable, I think Canigirl's design is a nice step up. There's a good balance of black, white, and brown, and it's a nice touch that her hair looks like Bunnix's, which makes sense given how eager Alix is to get the Rabbit. The only major problem I have is the beret. It honestly looks like it's about to fall off at any second.

Rabbit Noir opens a Burrow to the past for Canigirl to tag Monarch's Rabbit Miraculous with before Monarch himself can do it. Ladybug leaves the Miraculous box in the burrow while the three heroes decide to travel to the frozen Eiffel Tower in the climax of “Heroes' Day”. While all the Kwamis are recharging, Nathalie brings up the obvious fact that Gabriel could easily travel to before Emilie used the damaged Peacock Miraculous. Gabriel transforms into Monarch again and plans to travel back to the night he gave Emilie the Peacock Miraculous in the first place and give his past self a flash drive with the information needed to repair it. However, he gets distracted by the box Ladybug left in the Burrow.

This is supposed to be framed as a tough decision, but it really isn't. He's just trying to drop a flash drive onto the picnic blanket where his past self was eating at. Like with Ladybug, the only reason he's hesitating is to make sure we get a full season. Failing to realize fixing the Peacock Miraculous means Ladybug and Cat Noir won't “ruin” his future, he travels to when Ladybug first used the Lucky Charm, planning to ambush their past selves yet again, only for Canigirl to use Fetch and get back his Rabbit Miraculous, immediately unifying the two into... Canix? Bunnigirl? I don't think she ever got a name.

Whatever the case may be, the suit design is okay. It's pretty much the Canigirl model with bits of Bunnix's color scheme, but like with Rabbit Noir, the simplicity makes it work.

Monarch tries to get back the Rabbit Miraculous, but Canigirl/Bunnix uses Burrow to escape, and even though he collapses at the realization he screwed up his one chance to save Emilie via time travel, Ladybug and Rabbit Noir STILL don't think to take any of Monarch's damn Miraculous while he's distracted. They aren't even distracted by outside circumstances. They willingly leave Monarch in the past and don't think about how he could screw up the future with his knowledge. Yeah, they bring him back to the present in the next scene, but it's only because he doesn't move from the spot they left him in.

Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug to heal Future Alix, Rabbit Noir gives her back the future Rabbit Miraculous for her to use to transform into Bunnix again, while Present Alix plans to give Ladybug back the present day Rabbit Miraculous, but Ladybug tells her it's time, so she transforms into Bunnix herself.

Like her future counterpart, Past Bunnix's design is... decent. It's got a nice balance of blue and white, but it doesn't really feel like something Alix would wear. Both versions of Alix are snarky athletes with a lot of spunk, so seeing this form-fitting jumpsuit on either of them is kind of jarring. I still like both designs, but I still think they should have been changed a little to match their personalities more, because Canigirl looks more like it fits Alix’s personality.

Present Bunnix gives Past Master Fu the Dog Miraculous back, while Future Bunnix brings Monarch back to the present. Ladybug and Cat Noir capture him again, and for the fifth time this episode, fail to consider taking any of his Miraculous in favor of once again telling him what they're going to do, giving him the chance to escape via Wind Dragon again. Ladybug isn't happy at her own incompetence costing them the victory.

AT NO COST, DUMBASS! YOU CAN TRAVEL THROUGH TIME NOW! WHAT'S STOPPING EITHER OF YOU FROM PREVENTING MONARCH FROM GETTING ANY OF THE MIRACULOUS IN THE FIRST PLACE?!

So, surprise, surprise, the last scene of the episode has Gabriel talking to Emilie's body about how he failed, and how it's Ladybug's fault he couldn't drop a flash drive onto a picnic blanket. Even Nathalie has it up to here with the plot—I mean, Gabriel's behavior.

Okay, while this isn't nearly as bad as the speech Plagg gave chewing Ladybug out in “Kuro Neko”, this still has a lot of problems. While Nathalie has every right to call out Gabriel for his stupidity, the show never made it clear that his problem was his obsession with beating Ladybug and Cat Noir. If anything, it's his determination to save Emilie, no matter how many innocent lives have to go. Pretty much every focus episode he gets highlights his dedication to his wife (Queen Wasp, Cat Blanc, Gabriel Agreste, Ephemeral, Risk), not his Captain Ahab/Moby Dick relationship with Ladybug and Cat Noir. If this was meant to set up more of a decline showing how his tenure as a supervillain had slowly been driving him insane, the show really didn't do a good job at it.

Also, it's pretty rich that Nathalie is the one calling out Gabriel for doing stupid things in the name of achieving his goal when she's just as bad. The whole reason she even needs those robotic leg braces in the first place is because she kept using the damaged Peacock Miraculous even when Gabriel told her not to. In general, she's one of the only people willing to help him without a question She's really not the bigger person this scene is making her out to be. If this partnership was more like a villainous version of Oliver and Diggle's relationship in Arrow, where the latter only went along with some of the former's schemes so he could act as more of an advisor and make sure he didn't do anything too stupid, this scene would work a lot more.

So Nathalie cuts off all ties with Gabriel out of frustraton, and let's hope unlike Kagami, this moment sticks. However, just as she breaks into a coughing fit, Lila approaches her. You remember how she was at the end of the previous season, right? She saw Nathalie starting to collapse and gave a devious grin, hinting she had something planned.

What did this moment end up leading to?

That. Just... that. Lila just offers to help Nathalie back to her seat, and that's her only line in the episode. What a payoff, am I right?

What was even the point of setting Lila up like that at the end of “Strikeback” just to have that amount to nothing? Was this even Lila genuinely showing concern for Nathalie's health, or is this just part of a plan she has? If it was the latter, kudos to the writers for actually writing a convincing lie for Lila.

After that, the episode ends with Gabriel letting out the wimpiest scream you will ever hear in your life. He's clearly supposed to be angry at Ladybug because he refuses to take responsibility for his actions (like father, like son, am I right?), but the scream just sounds so whiny, it's impossible to take seriously. The best way I can describe it is like that one McBain clip from The Simpsons where he screams someone's name, but even McBain manages to have more dignity there, and it's a parody of these kind of dramatic screams.

This episode was pretty mediocre, but as a season premiere? Honestly not that bad. The writers do a decent job setting up how unpredictable Monarch is now that he has more than a dozen Miraculous while also explaining why he can't head into the field and needs to go back to sending Akumas to fight Ladybug and Cat Noir. Granted, not once is the Rooster Miraculous' god-like power mentioned, even after Gabriel loses the Rabbit, but it still shows off all the powers he has now. As flawed as the execution was, the decision to remove the Rabbit Miraculous from the plot first was a great idea, as it answered the obvious question of why Gabriel couldn't time travel to save Emilie after failing to do so. Ladybug and Cat Noir are also shown to be on more equal terms now, which is good. Granted, the road to get there in Season 4 was bumpy as all hell, but hey, hopefully there's going to be less bickering between the two.

As for the episode itself, it's still a very convoluted mess. The idea of a race through time to stop Monarch sounds cool, and the action here is very fluid, but a big part of why the conflict fell flat was because both Ladybug and Monarch didn't think to use their respective Rabbit Miraculous to travel and undo the events that put them in their current predicament. The circumstances behind how Ladybug lost all of the extra Miraculous aren't mentioned at all, which is really weird, considering this takes place right after where Season 4 ended. Felix isn't mentioned once, and it's not explained why Nathalie and Lila are still on the Startrain if Gabriel canceled the commercial Lila and Adrien were going to be a part of. Hell, where was Alya in all of this? I get she isn't a key player, but you would think Ladybug would at least mention she's still in danger after her cover was blown in the previous episode.

So yeah, as far as this episode goes, it's passable at best, but not the worst way to start the fifth season. I'd say it's somewhere between “The Collector” and “Truth”, though it's closer to the latter than the former. And before I wrap this review up, I'm going to introduce a new segment on these reviews: The Biggest Idiot Award.

This is something that internet reviewer Phelous did during his retrospective on Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, where at the end of every episode, he would judge which character was the biggest idiot of the episode based on their actions, and I figured that since this show is no stranger to characters acting like morons, this formula could easily apply to this season. Let's just hope I don't get sued for doing this gag. For now...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS: LADYBUG

I get Ladybug was still shocked from everything that happened during the previous two episodes, but she and Cat Noir had five opportunities to at least try and take some of Monarch's Miraculous. Instead, they kept telling him that they won and that they were going to take his Miraculous and gave him plenty of chances to escape. It's kind of hard to take the show's claims that Monarch is this super powerful villain when the only reason he got as far as he did while suffering from the drawbacks of his new form was because Ladybug failed to do the simple thing and nab any of the Miraculous he had all over his body.

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judicious-loveless-brat · 2 years

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JLB Miraculous Reviews: S5E1 Evolution

(Obvious Spoilers for Miraculous Season 5)

Well, this is my first time doing this. For those who aren't familiar with my blog (that being the case, a warm welcome to you), I'm that one guy who makes Miraculous characters realistic using Artbreeder lately. And I'm planning to do other things at the moment. Since the first episode of the fifth season of Miraculous has already been released about almost a week ago, I figured that I should make a review about this episode. I might also make reviews of the other episodes this season if I have the time to do so. I would probably make a review of "Multiplication" since it has already been released earlier today.

This episode follows the events of the Season 4 finale. After having almost all of the Miraculouses in his reach, Gabriel turns into Monarch (we'll talk about his... design later). He uses the Rabbit Miraculous to return to a moment in past Ladybug and Cat Noir's time to capture their Miraculous. Unfortunately, he somehow screws up even though he has literally EVERY MIRACULOUS IN HIS REACH (plotholes at it's finest, isn't it?)

And with that, let's dive into Evolution: the first episode of Miraculous Season 5.

The episode starts off where the Season 4 finale ended, with Ladybug and Cat Noir observing as the people of Paris cheer for them and preparing to face the new villain, Monarch. Monarch threatens to attack Paris ruthlessly unless they give Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses. Despite this, the Parisians still supports them and boos at Monarch while throwing stones at him, even though according to the show itself, she's to blame for Gabriel's supposed victory and not you know, the one who betrayed her? Because it's apparently one of the show's rules that Marinette makes a mistake in each episode, no matter how unrelated it is to her.

Huh, I wonder what "mistake" she will make in this episode.

Ladybug and Cat Noir destroys the shield containing the illusion message retriever with ease. Funny, I thought there would be some kind of intense fight between the duo and Monarch that would show how powerful he is now. But I guess they're still as strong as ever seeing how easily they got rid of his illusion.

Ladybug thanks Cat Noir and he reiterates how it's just the two of them now.

We then go to Gabriel doing his usual thing, talking to his about to be dead wife. The next scene goes back and forth between Gabriel and the heroes. When Gabriel tells her that their victory is almost complete as he has got almost all the miraculouses, Ladybug assures the people of Paris that Monarch's victory will never be complete. When Gabriel silences Sass, Ladybug and Cat Noir says they'll never be silenced. When Ladybug and Cat Noir says they won't be prisoners of Monarch, Gabriel makes it clear to the Kwamis that they're his slaves.

Gabriel then makes a great plan using the Rabbit Miraculous to go back in time and defeat the heroes at their more vulnerable state. He fuses it with the Butterfly Miraculous to transform himself into Monarch.

I... have no words. What the hell is this supposed to be? Just when I thought that I would get over Shadow Moth and Shadow Noir's horrible designs, the animators decided to bring me this. What were they thinking! Why does he look like he's naked without that vest thing on his chest? Why do his weapons change color when his Miraculouses don't? Why is his hair white? Why is his skin purple? He can't even pull of unnatural skin colors, unlike Mayura, as his looks hideous! He looks like as if Thanos joined the biker gang and suffered from sleep deprivation. Keep in mind, this is supposedly Gabriel at his strongest form. The only good thing that I can say about his costume is that the mosaic thing on his vest looks cool. But other than that, this is definitely not an improvement from the atrocious designs he had last season! Seriously though, how is this guy a so-called fashion designer?

Just when Ladybug starts to tell Cat Noir the possible reason of the loss of the Miraculouses, Monarch stumbles through a time portal. They notice the portal opening, from which Rabbit Noir and Ladybug from a few minutes to the future are chasing Monarch who is seemingly getting weaker using multiple miraculouses at the same time. Another portal opens from which Bunnyx, the Rabbit Miraculous holder of the future, warns Ladybug and Cat Noir of the present about Monarch possibly ruining the spacetime continuum. Trust me, it gets a lot more confusing as the episode goes on. Bear with me on this.

Seriously though, as soon as Monarch is inside the Burrow, he literally enters in the events of Lady Wifi without even having a second thought! He didn't even try to be elusive and use the Miraculouses as a way to avoid corrupting time itself (Fox Miraculous, Rooster Miraculous). Doesn't he know that just a minutes change in the past can have drastic effects in the future? And this is folks, why time travel should've never been introduced in this show at the first place!

The heroes are even worse! I'm not even joking when I say that literally everyone was dumbed down so that the plot wouldn't end in one episode! Instead of taking them back to the time were Félix was about to fetch Ladybug's yo-yo, she takes them to stop Monarch from taking Ladybug's Miraculous in Lady Wifi's time. Ladybug ties up Monarch with her yo-yo but instead of taking all the Miraculouses back, they... explain to him how Bunnyx's powers work and say that they're going to defeat him... Which gives Monarch the opportunity to unify the Fox, Bee and Turtle Miraculous to escape, conjure Mirage of Monarch clones to distract the heroes, paralyze Bunnyx with Venom and trap her in a Shell-ter. God, can you imagine how STUPID this scene sounds?

Not trying to salt on them though, this is the result of ridiculous plot armor. Thank you, writers.

Cat Noir uses Cataclysm to break Shell-ter while Ladybug ties up Monarch again, but Monarch uses Wind Dragon to escape through a portal.

Since future Alix is suffering a magical stroke at the moment, Cat Noir takes the Rabbit Miraculous from her and gives it to Ladybug for her to fuse. Instead of using it herself, Ladybug offers it to him.

It is an admittedly nice scene showcasing Ladybug's trust in Cat Noir. I like the idea of her trusting him something as big as this. It's definitely a far cry from her UNINTENTIONALLY keeping him in the dark last season. Granted, it does kinda give a weird feeling how Ladybug's first step in putting trust in Cat Noir is through entrusting him the most powerful and dangerous Miraculous in such a dire situation where she herself can use it. With that said, I still love that Ladybug is starting to let Cat Noir in with the much bigger responsibilities.

Cat Noir then fuses himself with the Rabbit Miraculous, transforming into Rabbit Noir.

Rabbit Noir has a very cute and adorable unification design I'm happy that he isn't bald again. The teal lightings in his costume goes perfectly with the black bodysuit. The rabbit ears and tail fits well with the costume. While I think that they could've added more flare fluff to his look, I'm fine with the simple aesthetic as it doesn't feel like there's too many things happening at once. In other words, Rabbit Noir is amazing and isn't like the atrocity that is Pennybug (she has a good hairstyle though).

Rabbit Noir uses his powers to follow Monarch to the Riposte timeline. Monarch plans to ambush a vulnerable past Cat Noir but fails because he is suffering from wearing too much Miraculouses. Ladybug and Rabbit Noir catches up but Monarch jumps into the Heroes Day timeline. It's funny how past Ladybug, Cat Noir and Riposte didn't see what's happening behind them. Monarch tries to surprise attack a de-transformed past Ladybug and Cat Noir in the sewers, but present Ladybug and Rabbit Noir prevents him. They knock him down the Animan timeline, where Alya and Nino had their possible first kiss.

Interesting.

Anyway, Monarch stumbles through the events of the start of the episode. Rabbit Noir and Ladybug catch up and chase Monarch who is seemingly getting weaker using multiple miraculouses at the same time. Deja vu, am I right?

Monarch travels to the Nazi occupation of Paris in World War II while Rabbit Noir and Ladybug catch up. Monarch unifies the Dog Miraculous and tags his Rabbit Miraculous with his ball in an attempt to Fetch it if the heroes ever got hold of it. But because he's been wearing too many Miraculouses, he collapses to the ground.

And instead of doing the obvious and you know, taking the chance and get all the Miraculouses back while he's still unconscious, they managed to do something even dumber. THEY STOOD THEIR SHOCKED FOR A FEW SECONDS, TOOK ONLY THE RABBIT FROM HIM AND GOT DISTRACTED BY PAST FU AND MARIANNE RUNNING AWAY FROM THE NAZIS, GIVING MONARCH THE CHANCE TO GAIN CONSCIOUSNESS AGAIN TO FETCH THE RABBIT MIRACULOUS AND ESCAPE.

Just... why. This is the one of the problems I have with this episode. Ladybug and Cat Noir have been represented with so many opportunities where they could've gotten the Miraculouses back as Monarch gets weaker and weaker and guess what? They still manage to screw up those chances! If this is the way the writers are trying to show that Monarch is so powerful and formidable, then they're clearly not doing their job very well. This is not the way in making a villain formidable! This is just adding more plot armor to the already heavy plot armored show. Dumbing down characters won't make other characters shine. This is just Lila Rossi all over again. God, imagine the salt fics that would transpire from this. Stop giving them ammo, Marinette and Adrien!

Ladybug then used her Lucky Charm, gaining a box that is used for storing one Miraculous. This is the same Lucky Charm that was failed to be utilized in the Season 2 finale. Ladybug then spots the Miracle Box past Fu has.

On the other hand, Monarch travels down to the Reverser timeline and sees past Ladybug and Cat Noir at the Eiffel Tower getting of a taxi while under the effects of the akumatized villain. Monarch tries to ambush them but is forced to de-transform due to his weakened state. Sass warns him that Kwamis need to eat or otherwise they and their powers become weak. If he destroys the Kwamis in the process, he will destroy himself too. So Monarch has no choice but to travel back to the time where he is about to start his plan and walks up to Nathalie, while still on the train with Lila. He asks her to give the Kwamis food.

Ladybug and Rabbit Noir pull Past Fu to an alleyway after he and Marianne separates ways. They explain to him why they're here and that they need a Miraculous. Past Fu surprisingly goes along with this and gives her the Dog Miraculous, even though he explains to Marianne that he doesn't want to fight the Nazis using the Miraculouses in Backwarder. She promises that she'll return it to him as soon as possible so that the timeline won't go bananas.

Back in the present, Alix, who is surprisingly absent last season, and her father Alim have an interesting conversation about her future (it is revealed that Alix wants to take engineering after she graduates). Ladybug and Rabbit Noir then show up to give Alix the Dog Miraculous meaning Sabrina got replaced again. She also says that once Alix gets the Rabbit Miraculous back, she will have to leave her family and friends behind to watch over the timeline (meaning she'll probably be absent again for most of the season). Alim is actually okay with this because future Alix wrote letters for him to not get worried. After a wholesome moment between the father and the daughter that Adrien would probably not get to experience with his own father, Alix takes the Dog Miraculous and transforms into Canigirl.

And...OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS DESIGN. It's absolutely better than what we got from Miss Hound and Flairmidable. The color scheme is appealing to look at. The cap she is wearing is cute and definitely suits her better than Miss Hound. The mask is also quite adorable and makes her blue eyes pop. And to be honest, Canigirl fits Alix's personality more than Bunnyx.

The three then go inside the Burrow, with Canigirl saying her farewells to her father. Rabbit Noir opens a portal to the past for Canigirl to tag Monarch's Rabbit Miraculous before he himself does. Ladybug leaves the Miraculous box in the burrow as a trap for Monarch. They then go into the frozen Eiffel Tower scene in the Heroes Day timeline discreetly.

While Nathalie is feeding the Kwamis, she advices Gabriel that there is another obvious way to use the Rabbit Miraculous. He can go back in time and prevent Emilie from ever getting sick from using the broken Peacock Miraculous in the first place by giving his past self a flash drive with the information needed to repair it.

Gabriel transforms into Monarch again and plans to travel back to the night he gave Emilie the Peacock Miraculous. Unfortunately, he gets distracted by Ladybug's trap box, because this show's plot armor is as thick as the mantle of the Earth. The only reason he didn't put the flash drive on the picnic blanket is because if he did, then the show would be over then.

Because his IQ is that of a brick, he falls for Ladybug's trap and travels to the Heroes Day timeline, planning to ambush their past selves. Unluckily for him, Canigirl uses Fetch and takes his Rabbit Miraculous, unifying the two Miraculouses she has.

And just like Rabbit Noir, [Insert Alix Dog+Rabbit Unification Name]'s design is also cute and adorable. Though I kinda wish they gave her more fluff. Petition To Give Rabbit Miraculous Holders Fluffier Costumes.

Monarch uses Fetch as well but Alix uses Burrow to escape. And even though he doesn't have time travelling powers now, Rabbit Noir and Ladybug still do nothing! They don't even try to fight him nor take any of the Miraculouses. They literally just... left him there, unaware of the major things that he could do in the past (yes, they brought him back but that still doesn't explain why they would even abandon him there in the first place).

Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug, healing Future Alix. Rabbit Noir gives to Future Alix her Future Rabbit Miraculous while Present Alix plans of giving Ladybug back the Present Rabbit Miraculous. But, Ladybug tells Present Alix that it's her time. She then transforms into Bunnyx.

Like Future Bunnyx, Present Bunnyx looks great. I like that her reddish pink hair contrasts well with the arctic blue and white costume. Although like I said, Canigirl definitely fits her personality more than Bunnyx. Also lack of fluff :(

Present Bunnyx gives Past Fu back the Dog Miraculous and takes a selfie with him while Future Bunnyx brings Monarch back to the present. Ladybug ties him up again and guess what? They fail to get the Miraculouses and Monarch escapes again through Wind Dragon. Ladybug is obviously unhappy that they managed to let Monarch escape again. Cat Noir reassures Ladybug by saying that they still got the Rabbit Miraculous but she says at what cost.

Look, just how incompetent can you two be? You literally have Monarch at your mercy and still manage to screw things up? For the love of God, AT NO COST! SINCE HE SAYS THAT YOU GOT THE RABBIT NOW, WHAT'S STOPPING YOU TWO FROM GOING BACK IN TIME TO PREVENT ALL OF THIS?! ARE THE WRITERS REALLY TRYING TO DIG UP THE DEEPEST PLOTHOLE IN HISTORY?!?!

And as usual, Garbage- I mean Gabriel talks to his wife again about how he lost and how it's all Ladybug's fault even though the both of them are so incompetent with what they're doing. Even Nathalie is fed up with his bullshit and tells him that he is crazy and that he doesn't deserve her help.

YEAH TELL HIM NATHALIE! You can’t imagine the huge smile I had on my face watching this scene unfold. Hearing Nathalie chewing out Gabriel for his incompetence is unironically one of the best parts of the episode for me.

Admittedly, once the satisfaction went away, I did have some major problems with this scene. While Nathalie has every right to call Gabriel out, it's also pretty hypocritical of her since she is just as bad as him. The whole reason she can't even walk properly is because she kept on using the broken Peacock Miraculous even though Gabriel forbade her to. She's one of the people who's willing to help him without question. She really isn't the bigger person between the both of them. But I just hope that unlike Chloé's "redemption" arc and Adrien's promise to let go of his feelings for Ladybug, this moment sticks.

Lila notices Nathalie in a sickly state and approaches her. She just offers to help Nathalie back to her seat, and that’s probably her only appearance in this episode. So much for the lack of Lila screentime last season.

After that, the episode ends, with Gabriel screaming like a baby.

If you ask me, this episode was just okay. I mean, it is good as a season premiere since it offers a lot of action and Alix definitely got the well-deserved screentime she didn't get last season, but the amount of plotholes and plot armor that Monarch has took it lower for me. As much as the execution was horrendous, removing the Rabbit Miraculous from the plot first was definitely a good idea to avoid the future plot contrivances that it can cause. Ladynoir also got some development in this episode and Ladybug is on the start of trusting Cat Noir more, which is good. Nathalie, as much hypocritical her scene was, definitely offers more opportunities in the future now that she isn't onboard with Gabriel's nonsense. RIP to the Gabenath fandom though.

The biggest problem of the episode for me was how Ladybug and Cat Noir were constantly dumbed down so that Monarch couldn't lose in this episode. Even Monarch was dumbed down (bro you literally have the Rooster Miraculous on you) so that he couldn't win either. If this is how things go this season, then it'll probably end with a bitter taste. I just hope the writers resort to better writing and not... create more plotholes and plot armor. This is literally the last season of the current storyline, so they better step up their game!

The time travel shenanigans was also a big part of why the episode is lower for me. A race around time is a good concept but the fact that Monarch and Ladybug didn't even consider to use their respective Rabbit Miraculouses to prevent the events that put them where they are now irks me.

Also, why the heck is Félix not mentioned in this episode, especially since he's the one who caused all of this? And why is Nathalie and Lila still on the train even though Gabriel cancelled the commercial? I guess those questions would be answered in the next episode. I just hope so.

So yeah, I'll rate Evolution about 6.5/10. It's definitely not perfect and has its flaws, but it's not a bad season premiere. I just hope that they improve their writing this season, especially for Garbage- I mean Gabriel Agreste.

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