Protection

**Protection**

**Season 5, episode 16 (Production order); Episode 120 (Overall)**

> I've always seen Marinette acting funny in my presence. I thought that was just the way she was. I thought it was sweet. I thought it was just her charm. But now that I know it's because she loves me and she freaks out about telling me, I feel bad. Because it means that this whole time she's been uncomfortable around me, and I haven't done anything to help her.
>
> Adrien Agreste, "Protection"

**"Protection"** is a Season 5 episode of the series, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. As based on the series' production order specifically, **"Protection"** is the 16th written and produced episode of Season 5. It is also the 120th written and produced episode of the series, overall.

## Synopsis

As the gang comes up with yet another overcomplicated plan to bring Marinette and Adrien together, Lila uses her talent for manipulation to persuade Kagami that Marinette is a liar who abuses everyone else's kindness. Shocked, Kagami is akumatized into Riposte Prime. She lays into Marinette at the very moment when Adrien had managed to finally make her feel comfortable around him. Will Lila's poisonous lie ruin the friendship between Kagami, Marinette and Adrien?

## Plot

The episode begins with Lila sitting with Kagami in the park resting and drinking while she has her fencing practice. As she receives a notification on her phone, Lila lets Kagami go to meet with the other girls. Meanwhile, the boys and Rose and Juleka are in front of the Ferris wheel, at Jardin des Tuileries trying to help Adrien with his feelings by setting a romantic scene between him and Marinette. The girls and Nate are also helping Marinette with the scene with Adrien. They go over the plan and tell her what will happen. Both groups believe the moment will be magical and Marinette and Adrien will kiss.

It is sunset. Adrien and Marinette are in the same pod in the Ferris wheel. Rose is singing one of the Kitty Section's song with the rest of the band in another pod. After Mr Ramier releases the pigeons and they fly towards Adrien and Marinette's pod which is almost at the top of the Ferris wheel. They both ask if they can leave simultaneously leave to which the group says no. Adrien and Marinette's pod is at the top of the wheel and the pigeons release the roses. When Adrien and Marinette leave the Ferris wheel, the group is disappointed their plan didn't work and they apologize. Marinette believes the problem is her and runs off in tears.

Meanwhile in the Agreste mansion, Gabriel and Tomoe are having tea and she asks Gabriel why he feels anxious about moving the date of the Diamonds' Ball. He tells her he doesn't have much time left and reveals her his cataclysmed arm. In the kitchen, Adrien and Kagami are talking about how he is feeling guilty about Marinette's strange behavior and how he hasn't done anything to help her. Adrien realizes how to help her and Tomoe and Gabriel listen on in on their conversation, they get excited, believing Adrien and Kagami are in love with each other. They become disappointed when they find out it is Marinette not Kagami who Adrien is talking about.

In Marinette's bedroom, Marinette receives a message Adrien who invites him for a picnic in his mansion. She accepts the invitation and decides to go in her pajamas. Meanwhile, Gabriel and Tomoe are arguing over who's child's fault it is. Tomoe tells Gabriel to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses before Mr Agreste runs out of time. Adrien tries to tell his father about how he feels about Marinette and why he likes her but his father forbids him from having any sort of relationship with Marinette. In the car, Kagami tells her mother that Adrien loves Marinette and that she is her friend. Adrien texts Marinette by saying that she isn't allowed to come, much to disagreement.

In Nathalie's room, Adrien talks to Nathalie and she tells Adrien to not listen to her father and that he can love whoever he wants. This inspires Adrien and he texts Marinette she can come over again when she arrives back at her room. When Marinette arrives at the Agreste mansion, he sneaks her in and Placide I.T. gives Adrien a picnic basket. Adrien notices Marinette is wearing her pajamas and changes so he too is wearing his pajamas. They go outside to the garden where there are pillows, blankets, flags and food. Adrien and Marinette start to play video games. Gabriel is working and hears their laughter. He looks out and sees them playing video games in the garden. He realizes this is a result of Nathalie giving Adrien a counter-order.

Meanwhile, Kagami and Lila are talking about Adrien and Marinette's relationship on a bench when Gabriel calls Lila, reminding her she was supposed to look out for Adrien and protect him from Marinette. She replies him with that Adrien and Marinette's relationship is breaking Kagami's heart and that she is a prey to Monarch. She tells Gabriel that all he needs to do is wait. She hangs up and uses her manipulating skills and persuades Kagami that Marinette is a lying and cunning manipulator.

Meanwhile, in his lair, Monarch senses Kagami's strong emotions and agrees that Lila was right. He creates a megakuma and uses Kaalki's power to teleport the megakuma. It breaks through Ladybug's magical charm and enters the photo of Marinette and Kagami. Monarch then transfers the essence of the Miraculous of Protection to her by absorbing Wayzz to his ring and tapping it. Kagami then gets akumatized into a villain similar to her first akumatized identity as Riposte Prime.

As Adrien and Marinette tell each other what they see in clouds, Riposte Prime appears and creates a shield around Placide I.T. while he tries to protect Adrien and Marinette. They run to Adrien's room and Riposte breaks through it. She protects Adrien and goes to take care of Marinette. She creates a barricade around Marinette, setting Adrien free. He then transforms into Cat Noir and goes to where Marinette is trapped. He uses his cataclysm on the shield, setting Marinette free. She runs off and transforms into Ladybug and uses her Lucky Charm and receives a bottle of olive oil.

Riposte Prime slices the bottle of olive oil that Ladybug throws at her. It makes the sword slippery and Ladybug uses her yo-yo to destroy it. She purifies the megakuma and throws the broken bottle of olive oil in the air, repairing all of the damage created during the battle. Riposte Prime is deakumatized back into Kagami and turns down the magical charm Ladybug gives her. Ladybug and Cat Noir run off and detransform back into Adrien and Marinette. They appear and Adrien convinces Kagami that Lila is wrong about Marinette and that she is not toxic nor a manipulator. Kagami apologizes to the both of them while crying. Adrien and Marinette hug her as she cries.

Back at the garden in the Agreste mansion, it is sunset and Marinette says goodbye to Adrien. Gabriel watches Marinette leave from inside, becomes delighted and as he is calling Lila, he is confident that time will ruin their relationship. At the bench at the park, Lila pretends to apologize for lying to Kagami, as she is grinning deviously as the episode ends.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
* Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir
* Kagami Tsurugi/Riposte Prime (Ryuko mentioned)
* Gabriel Agreste/Monarch
* Lila Rossi
* Tikki
* Plagg
* Wayzz
* Megakuma

### Minor Characters

* Rose Lavillant
* Juleka Couffaine
* Marc Anciel
* Ivan Bruel
* Nino Lahiffe
* Zoé Lee
* Nathaniel Kurtzberg
* Alya Césaire
* Mylène Haprèle
* Xavier Ramier
* Tomoe Tsurugi
* Placide I.T.
* Nathalie Sancoeur
* Longg (background)
* Ziggy (background)
* Orikko (background)
* Mullo (background)
* Barkk (background)
* Xuppu (background)
* Sass (background)
* Stompp (background)
* Louis, Emma and Hugo (pictured)
* Emilie Agreste (pictured)
* Luka Couffaine (mentioned and pictured)
* Civilians
* Pigeons

## Trivia

* Internationally, this episode first premiered in Brazil on Gloob.
* The episode shares its name with the concept of the Turtle Miraculous.
	+ The concept of Protection can be seen with people protecting something/someone throughout the episode:
		- Gabriel tried to protect the agreement he has with Tomoe by trying to separate Adrien and Marinette so the former can be with Kagami instead.
		- Nathalie managed to protect Adrien's freedom to love whoever he wants by telling him that he is free to love whoever he wants and not let anyone tell him otherwise.
		- Motivated by Lila's lies and manipulation, Kagami, as Riposte Prime, tries to protect Adrien from Marinette by encasing her inside a barrier.
		- Similar to "Backwarder" and "The Puppeteer 2", Adrien used the same defense move to protect Marinette from Riposte Prime as well as how equally he is protective towards Ladybug as his alterego.
		- Placide I.T. stood guard for Adrien and Marinette as they snuck up to the backyard to have their picnic and then went in their defense when Riposte Prime attacked them.
	+ In other episodes, the concept of protection was applied there too:
		- In "Befana", Alya and her friends tried to protect Marinette from the titular villain.
		- In "Anansi", Nora was very protective towards Alya.
		- Tom in "Weredad" was willing to defend his bakery and his daughter's heart as the titular villain.
		- Both Master Fu and Marinette shared a protective desire towards the Miraculouses.
		- Marinette has worked hard to protect her secret identity as Ladybug in order to protect the ones she loves, regardless of whom she may have to lie to, such as her own family, or the people she deeply cares for, such as Luka in "Truth", her friend group in "Gang of Secrets", Cat Noir in multiple instances in other episodes of season 4, and other examples.
	+ This episode along with "Miraculer", reveals a new fact about the Shell-ter:
		- It seems that when the user (regardless of being a minor or not) activates Shell-ter more than once, they would only be able to materialize and maintain one barrier at a time.
		- However, it could be that was an adult ability as Sabrina in "Miraculer", could only use Shell-ter like that while under the effects of Akumatization, and even if Carapace or Jade Turtle could create multiple shields there was no need for them too as compared to Miraculer and Monarch they only needed one.
	+ The Turtle Miraculous represents how anyone and everyone deserves protection even if they don't, how it's not okay to go overboard, how it's not always helpful and used in an emotional point of view even with its dark side:
		- Like how Ladybug, Cat Noir and their team protect everyone even those who have harmed them.
		- Such as with Kagami, due to pressure placed on her by her mother to be perfect, she put up protective walls around her true feelings, holding them back until she couldn't anymore, causing the protection walls to crumble.
		- Lila formed a protective barrier through her lies and manipulation to cover up her true identity from everyone except Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir, as shown in "Volpina", Heroes' Day", "Chameleon", "Oni-Chan", "Perfection" and "Revelation". But once she was exposed of her true self in "Confrontation", she lost all of that protection.
		- Gabriel trying to protect Adrien from truth because he was afraid to lose him, but what he doesn't know is that he has actually risked losing him on multiple occasions by putting him through multiple detrimental, near-death or actual death situations, such as in "Timebreaker", "Style Queen", "Miraculous Shanghai", "Miraculer", Cat Blanc", "Lies", "Rocketear", "Strikeback" and "Intuition".
		- Expanding on Ladybug putting up protective walls between her and Cat Noir more in season 4, due to the intense pressure of being the guardian, combined with Shadow Moth's relentless hunting and wanting to protect him from being akumatized thanks to the Cat Blanc incident, she struggled to control everything, which led to her loss of the Miraculouses to Monarch.
			* Ladybug had also entrusted her teammates with the responsibility of protecting their respective Miraculous.
		- Gabriel's belief in himself and the power he had or desired represented his protective walls showing how little he believed, listened or trusted others to help with his problems.
		- As well as with Chloe in "Miraculer" and Luka in "Migration", because both the heroes and Luka knew due to their situation that Monarch would take advantage of the duo's desire to protect eventually lead to disaster.
		- Despite Tom and Nora's desire to protect was well intended, they went the wrong way about it, by turning the ones they cared about into prisoners which was usually presented as an emotional protection barrier for those who put them there.
		- Like how Gabriel and Nathalie came to each other's rescue in "Mayura" and "Ladybug", their form of protection led to further madness.
* This is the seventh time Kagami gets akumatized following "Riposte", "Catalyst", "Mayura", "Oni-Chan", "Lies" and "Perfection". This time however she gets akumatized into Riposte Prime, a new variation of Riposte.
* This is the third time Kagami's akumatization is caused by Lila's manipulations following "Oni-Chan" and "Perfection" (even fourth time if we count Kagami's first scarlet akumatization from "Heroes' Day" being caused by Volpina's illusion).
* Nathaniel and Marc's plan contains references to "Mr. Pigeon 72" and "Gabriel Agreste".
	+ At the end of their comic, Marinette and Adrien are shown with two sons and a daughter. It is possible these are Louis, Emma, and Hugo from "Stormy Weather".
* Both Gabriel and Tomoe learn that their respective children are no longer dating each other and that Adrien is in love with Marinette and Kagami is helping them to be together. This causes Gabriel to be determined (and pressured by Tomoe) to separate Adrien from Marinette and have him to be Kagami's boyfriend again.
	+ Ironically, Gabriel is unaware that he is partially responsible for his son being in love with Marinette. Despite Adrien starting to have feelings for her back in "The Puppeteer 2", he only started to see Marinette with new eyes in "Multiplication", when he, followed her advice back in "Risk", was able to tell his father he didn't want to be a model anymore, what caused him to realize how special she was and how she changed his life for the better. The only reason Marinette gave Adrien that advice was because both were under the influence of Risk's power, what led him to vent his frustrations to her.
	+ He unknowingly did this long before his son's and Marinette's feelings got this far. Due to him and Emilie using the Peacock Miraculous recklessly prior to the series and it resulting in her slumber, his father shutting him out but keeping him in making Adrien feel unloved. Which pushed his son's desire to leave the mansion and have friends. Starting his dark path as Hawk Moth back in "Origins", he set the stage for the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses to be released unaware that he is partially responsible for them ending up with the heroes leading them to develop feelings for each other.
	+ By preventing him from doing his duties as Cat Noir in "Ephemeral", Gabriel is also partially responsible for them ending up together because of his decision he unintentionally put fear in Su-Han which caused him to force Marinette to discover her partner's identity then later reveals her.
* This episode reveals that Lila and Adrien are no longer friends meaning that they officially stopped becoming one somewhere between "Transmission" and this episode.
* It's revealed that, similar to Adrien and Marinette, Gabriel and Emilie come from different social classes.
	+ Having in consideration that Emilie comes from an English aristocratic family, the Graham de Vanily, Gabriel originally belonged to a lower social class. This is further supported by what Audrey Bourgeois said in "Queen Wasp" about she being the reason why he became a famous fashion designer.
* Adrien prepares a picnic for Marinette in the Agreste backyard, which is exactly what Gabriel did to his love Emilie as seen in "Evolution".
	+ Coincidentally, Adrien asks Marinette the same as question as his father asked his wife, and both Marinette and Emilie answer with a simple "Yes.".
* It is hinted that Lila knows Gabriel is Monarch and is actively helping him claim victims. She tells Gabriel that Kagami's emotional instability regarding her conflictive feelings towards Adrien and Marinette would make a perfect target to Monarch once she gave her the little push, possibly being her way to manipulate Gabriel to akumatize Kagami.
	+ There have been hints in previous episodes that suggested Lila knew about Gabriel's identity as the holder of the Butterfly Miraculous:
		- In "Ladybug", Lila makes a devious smile that suggested she figured out the real intent of Gabriel of having her discredit Marinette before everyone.
		- In "Strikeback", Lila is seen smiling as she noticed Nathalie coughing while talking on the phone, possibly knowing she was talking with Gabriel about his latest plan.
	+ This is later confirmed in the post-end card scene of "Emotion".
* This is the second time Lila tries to turn Kagami against Marinette, with the first one happening in "Perfection". This time, she tries to make Kagami believe that Marinette is a liar and manipulator that pretends to be clumsy and awkward to win over her friends sympathy so they can do whatever she wants.
	+ Both attempts of Lila to break Marinette and Kagami's friendship resulted on the latter's akumatization, with the second being done on purpose.
	+ Ironically, the way Lila described Marinette to Kagami is precisely the way she (Lila) is, as she is the one that lies and manipulates the others to get what she wants, all while pretending to be nice.
	+ This is the sixth time Monarch's reason to akumatize someone doesn't have as a main purpose getting Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous or with that in mind, as Kagami's akumatization into Riposte Prime was meant to separate Adrien and Marinette or at least prepare the ground for their separation.
		- Following "The Collector" (where his main purpose was to prevent Ladybug and Cat Noir from figuring out his civilian identity), "Gorizilla" (where his main purpose was to track Adrien down), "Oni-Chan" (where her main purpose was to keep Lila away from Adrien), "Félix" (where his main purpose was to drive Félix and Amelie away from Paris) and "Gabriel Agreste" (where his main purpose is to force Félix to give back the ring he stole from him).
* Kagami is the third person to know that Lila is a liar following Marinette and Adrien.
	+ However, unlike the two of them who became very wary of her, she remains to be friends with her, still believing on Lila's desire to be her friend because she cares about her.
* This is the first time where both Marinette and Adrien are seen in their pajamas.
* Riposte Prime is a reference to the Optimus Prime from the *Transformers* franchise.
* This is the fourth time Ladybug and Cat Noir land on top of each other following "Stormy Weather", "Sandboy" and "Timetagger" but unlike the other times it was done in their civilian forms.
* There are some differences from the original "Riposte":
	+ Riposte Prime's sword wasn't merged with her hand.
	+ Adrien's willing to fight her this time.
	+ Her akumatization was set up.
* This is the fourth episode where a Magical Charm gets destroyed following "Dearest Family", "Penalteam" and "Elation".
* Kagami is also the first member of the French Miraculous superhero team to receive a second Magical Charm (and one with a different design).
	+ Like Chloé in "Queen Banana" and Bob Roth in "Migration", Kagami too rejected the Magical Charm at first but unlike Chloé who did it out of hatred and anger, she did it cause the first Magical Charm given to her in "Perfection" had failed her and she didn't think it could help her with her problems. But with the help of her friends she accepted the Charm.
* Similarities are seen between Kagami in this episode and "Perfection" and Chloé from "Miraculer" and "Miracle Queen":
	+ Both cherished the bonds they had with the main female protagonist: for Chloé, it was Ladybug and for Kagami it was Marinette.
	+ Both had their friendship with Marinette/Ladybug weakened by Lila that left them both vulnerable to akumatization.
	+ Both rejected their Akumas but Chloé did it before the Akuma transformed her in "Miraculer" while Kagami did after she was akumatized in "Perfection".
	+ Unlike Chloé in "Miracle Queen", Kagami and Marinette were able to make up and admit what they did wrong.
* This is the thirteenth episode that features a post-credit scene, following "Miracle Queen", "Gabriel Agreste", "Optigami", "Sentibubbler", "Dearest Family", "Multiplication", "Jubilation", "Illusion", "Transmission", "Perfection", "Derision" and "Intuition".
	+ This is the fifth not to feature Gabriel Agreste, following "Multiplication", "Jubilation", "Derision" and "Intuition".
* Cat Noir recalls Kagami's adventures as Ryuko referring to "Ikari Gozen" and other episodes.
* Adrien described Marinette to Kagami the same way he did when they first met in "Riposte".
* Similar to Nino in "Rocketear", Gabriel saw what he wanted to see but didn't hear what needed to hear.
* Even though, Kagami and Marinette didn't know it yet they both did the same thing to each other under their love trials.
	+ As both were jealous towards the other and hurt towards themselves through their love for the same person Adrien.
	+ In their bids to fix their egos or broken hearts they ended up hurting those around them.
* The way Adrien brought video games to a picnic with Marinette is similar to the Monster Buster Club episode The End of Everything Part, in which both characters have video games to their love interest.
* When Nathaniel talks to Marinette, he says "We kinda thought you could just use a little kick in the a-" This is one of the few times profanity is used in the show (although cut off).
* This is the eighth time where a Lucky Charm object breaks (excluding the broken plate in "Troublemaker") followed by "Robostus", "Weredad", "Miraculer", "Psycomedian", "Hack-San", "Miraculous Paris" and "Derision".
	+ This is the first time where an akumatized villain breaks a Lucky Charm object.
* This is one of the several times Cat Noir used Cataclysm to destroy the same object this time again it was Shell-ter shield which was in "Evolution" and "Reunion".
* This is the first episode of Season 5 in which Kaalki is absent.
* The screen where Marinette and Adrien play video games is a hologram with an identical display to that of the Alliance rings. This is likely another feature of the Alliance.
	+ This is further proven, when Socqueline mentions in "Jubilation" that Alliance has also games.

### Errors

 File:Protection 078.png
* When Marinette runs away the flower on Zoé's shirt is missing.
* Monarch's face masks are blue instead of purple throughout the episode.
* When Monarch absorbs Wayzz's power, the cage is silver instead of blue.
* Kitty Section and Nathaniel's cabin comes after Adrien and Marinette's, however, at the end of the ride, they are already seen waiting for Adrien and Marinette at the bottom.
* When Gabriel bursts into Nathalie's room after seeing Adrien and Marinette together, Nathalie's eyes are heterochromatic: One eye is green while the other is blue.

## Gallery

Click here to view the image gallery for Protection.
*Click here to view the gallery.*

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/ladyofacat/status/1505600314103279621

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