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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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