Collusion

**Collusion**

**Season 5, episode 22 (Production order); Episode 126 (Overall)**

> People of Paris, until we find a "detromatic" solution—I mean, a solution that will work—I will be your new Mayor of Paris. Power must return to the people! And I am of the people. Which is why as of today, the super offenders Monarch, Ladybug and Cat Noir are outlawed.
>
> Chloé Bourgeois, "Collusion"

**"Collusion"** is a Season 5 episode of the series, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. As based on the series' production order specifically, **"Collusion"** is the 22nd written and produced episode of Season 5. It is also the 126th written and produced episode of the series, overall.

## Synopsis

The end of the school year is approaching, and the revolution is rising. Monarch decides to set up a dangerous plan for his secret identity... but also for Ladybug and Cat Noir. Without knowing it, the villain will get help from Lila, who is controlling a meaner ever Chloe behind the scenes. As for Marinette, she doesn't know that Adrien does not dare to tell her a dreadful secret that could jeopardize their relationship forever.

## Plot

The episode opens with Gabriel at the Crypt talking to Emilie that he will get the Miraculous of Ladybug and Cat Noir and that he has not much time left before the cataclysm turns him into dust. Meanwhile Nathalie watches Emilie's video on how Gabriel should stop obsessing over the Miraculous and bringing her back while he watches from behind. Marinette and Adrien speak to each other. While getting ready for school, Adrien gets pancakes from Gabriel, who asked him if he told his girlfriend about his departure for London, Nathalie retorts that being his vision of happiness and not Adrien's. Gabriel states that he is Adrien's father and he knows what's best for him, Adrien, resisting the ring's control on him, said that he should have listened to Marinette's advice he tells Nathalie goodbye and told the Gorilla that he will be walking to school to take his mind off of things.

Marinette and Adrien meet at Collège Dupont as they're about to kiss, they giggle for a bit. Rose who is a bit angry about them waiting for the big moment forces the duo to kiss, but Marinette and Adrien decided when it will be a good time for them to kiss. Inside Ms. Bustier's classroom Sabrina walks to Chloé without speaking a single word and scoffs at her as Sabrina desides that she'll now sit next to Nathaniel. Chloé is upset that her former ex-BFF and underling is no longer friends with her. She sees Marinette and Adrien and makes fun of them by comparing them as "How to go from magazin paper to toilet paper". Marinette tells her enemy that she can still be mean while she still can, that her old friend Lila is no longer at College Dupoint due to her lies after Marinette stoped her, and Marinette warns Chloé that she'll do the same thing with her. The bully states that she would love to see that.

Cerise who is in her hideout at the Catacombs communicates with her via an earpiece to, let Marinette thinks she is the best and they're not done with her yet. While Ms. Bustier was teaching about the aristocrats, Chloé decides to play loud music. Ms. Bustier tells her to stop, but Chloe refuses causing her to tell the new principal Olga Mendeleiev about this sending Caline to the Principal's office and Mayor André allows this. Caline leaves to the office. Marinette scolds Chloé for causing unnessery stress for their pregnant teacher. Ivan is mad that Chloé made fun of Mylene. Marinette tries to help but Chloé pretended to be slapped by her. The other students come to Marinette's defense but it is futile when Chloé calls Olga Mendeleiev to order Caline and Marinette to the principal's office anyway. Tom and Sabine are called over and try to help their daughter not get expelled before the end of the school year but Chloé shows "proof" of what happened as Ms. Bustier tries to reason with Chloé by showing her the birthday gift Chloé gave her from "Zombizou". When Chloé's plan to expel Marinette doesn't work, Chloe believes Ms. Bustier is blackmailing students and manipulating them so Cerise & Chloé asked Olga Mendeleiev for her immediate dismissal. This shocks everyone in the office. Caline pleads to Olga that she can't do it to her old friend, but Mendeleiev sadly has no choice due to obeying Mayor Bourgeois' orders. Cerise removes the pictures of Marinette and Caline on her board and smiles evilly.

Caline sadly packs up her things and the Resistance and Sabrina decides to figure out a way. Giselle, Caline's wife decides to speak to Olga Mendeleiev but Bustier pleads not to do that. Meanwhile, Monarch in his lair, senses sadness from the former teacher and sends a Megakuma after using Kaalki. The Megakuma lands in her cardboard box full of her belongings. She says no thank you and breaks free from control. Chloé watches from behind and contacts André about sending her to prison or exiling her from Paris but her André has an important meeting with Gabriel and Tomoe Tsurugi. Cerise calls Chloé to come to the palace and tells her that no one disobeys Chloé Bourgeois to speak to her father. Cerise puts on green contacts lenses and puts on a bun disguising herself as a maid/waitress without being recognized.

Meanwhile at the Palace, Gabriel, Tomoe and André are having a talk about Police Robots to replace the Paris police. Chloé comes barging into the place, still mad about not obeying her orders. Cerise (Disguised as a maid) tells Chloé to turn on her camera, Chloé then continues to tell her daddy to continue to do whatever she wants and everyone has to continue whatever Chloé wants that Ms. Bustier must go to prison and her classmates must not go to any high school i.e. meaning to repeat a year like what happened to Juleka. But André says that this is taking things a bit to far Chloé retorts that her mom Audrey is right and has no Authority and that if it weren't for Ladybug and Cat Noir, Paris would be run by supervillains. André states that Ladybug and Cat Noir are wonderful, and asks if Adrien would not go to high school but Gabriel states that the question is irrelevant next year Adrien would be going to London. Chloé hears that Adrien is going to London, André tells his daughter that he has to finish lunch first.

Meanwhile at the houseboat, Mylène is upset that Mr. Damocles has been fired and now Marinette expelled and Ms. Bustier fired because of Chloé and the Resistance aka Team Miraculous can't let it happen Alya knows it's never too late for justice. Rose still hopes the end of the school year dance/prom happens and won't be cancelled by Chloé's plans Marinette knows that no one can stop Adrien and Marinette from loving each other. Everyone smiles with a happily while Adrien is worried. Meanwhile Back at the palace Gabriel and André have a heartfelt talk about their younger days, and the police robot idea, André has some regret that Audrey barely respects her husband and Chloé is a selfish heartless daughter. The reason André got into politics was to impress Audrey, and Gabriel knows that he secretly records his words and maid Cerise is seen spying on the two of them. André has lied, cheated and abused his power on people. André wants to get back into doing what he loves directing and making movies, after a conversation Gabriel stops recording and Andre tells Tomoe to not use the police robots and City Hall is not for sale.

Back at his mansion, Gabriel reedits the video and sends it to make it seem André is a villain. At the café, Ms. Bustier and Giselle are having lunch until she receives a video from an anonymous source about Gabriel's video about André. Gabriel transforms back into Monarch, sends the Megakuma back to Ms. Bustier and akumatizes her into Miss Sans-Culotte and grants her the power of Jubilation who turns people into singing balloons. Giselle tries to stop her wife but to no avail.

Gabriel speaks to Tomoe that their plan is working. Miss Sans-Culotte turns Mr. Banana into a singing balloon and shows everyone in Paris about Andre's actions live on television. Marinette tells Adrien that the Resistance won't give up. They suddenly get a Megakuma alert, Marinette and Adrien speak to Tikki & Plagg about what's going on and they transform into Ladybug and Cat Noir to find the villain. Back at the Resistance HQ, Zoé sees the video of her stepfather and decides to go to City Hall to convince the people he is innocent. Back at the Hotel Palace, Chloé is shocked to see that her father has not been akumatized, until she receives a call from Gabriel about a special gift, but she told him he could have offered Adrien but now that he and Marinette are a couple she doesn't want him anymore due to what happened in "Derision". But Gabriel tells about another gift, of power that she can control, Chloe refuses at first but Cerise reminds her that her father might not be Mayor for much longer, and asks her about how she would answer to all the people she hurt. Chloé asks Gabriel what this "gift" is.

Back at City Hall, Officer Roger Raincomprix and the French police force are standing guard from Miss Sans-Culotte and she turns the rest of the police officers into singing balloons Ladybug and Cat Noir appear on the scene who witness Sans-Culotte turning everyone of Roger's Police force into a balloon and the French revolution, The dynamic duo spring into action and fight the akumatized villain, Ladybug summoned a Lucky Charm which is a paper crown. Cat Noir asks Ladybug too see if the villain can give free reign. Ladybug knows that the Lucky Charm means.

The singing balloons attack the superhero duo as Miss Sans-Culotte decides to go to City Hall to find Mayor Bourgeois, but Zoé comes in and says that her stepfather has made mistakes but is not a bad guy. Miss Sans-Culotte says the only thing that works is a revolution. Just as when Zoé is about to turn into a balloon, Ladybug and Cat Noir manage to save her in the nick of time. André sees his edited video, turns the TV off and tries to contact Gabriel but went straight to voicemail. André tells his old colleague that he and Gabriel are no longer friends, but it did however gave him the right decision. Miss Sans-Culotte, Ladybug, Cat Noir and Zoé came into the Mayor's office and the villain tells the mayor that he cheated, lied and used collusion and demanded him to step down as Mayor once and for all.

André decides by the powers vested in him to step down as Mayor and leaves with Zoé, Miss Sans-Culotte breaks free from her akumatization and turns back into Ms. Bustier who reunites with Giselle and leaves as Ladybug & Cat Noir does their pound it, and the heroine notices the Lucky Charm always knows to pick the right villain. Cat Noir tells her to repair everything with it, she fixes everything with a Miraculous Ladybug to turn everything back to normal.

Just then Chloé with police robots shows up with Clara Contard. Ladybug notices the Lucky Charm was meant for Chloé not André or Miss San-Coulotte, Chloé then states that duo has used their powers against democracy and declares them as villains. The heroes try to fight back against the robots but flee due after being overpowered, leaving Chloé smiling over her new plan. In the post-end card scene, Tom, Sabine, Marlena, Otis, Nora, Ella and Etta watch the news of Chloé becoming mayor of Paris on TV as she states that power must return to the people and declares all Miraculous holders, mainly Monarch, Ladybug and Cat Noir are outlawed as the episode ends with a cliffhanger.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
* Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir
* Gabriel Agreste/Monarch (Hawk Moth pictured)
* Tikki
* Plagg
* Daizzi
* Megakuma
* Caline Bustier/Miss Sans-Culotte
* Chloé Bourgeois (Queen Bee pictured)
* Cerise
* André Bourgeois

### Minor Characters

* Ivan Bruel
* Alya Césaire (Rena Rouge pictured)
* Nino Lahiffe
* Mylène Haprèle
* Max Kanté
* Lê Chiến Kim
* Juleka Couffaine
* Rose Lavillant
* Sabrina Raincomprix
* Nathaniel Kurtzberg
* Olga Mendeleiev
* Gisèle
* Tom Dupain
* Sabine Cheng
* Placide I.T.
* Nathalie Sancoeur (Mayura pictured)
* Emilie Agreste
* Tomoe Tsurugi
* Zoé Lee
* Kaalki
* Roger Raincomprix
* Théo Barbot
* Nadja Chamack
* Mr. Banana
* Clara Contard (background)
* Orikko (background)
* Sass (background)
* Xuppu (background)
* Ziggy (background)
* Longg (background)
* Stompp (background)
* Mullo (background)
* Roarr (background)
* Nooroo (background)
* Otis Césaire (background)
* Marlena Césaire (background)
* Nora Césaire (background)
* Ella and Etta Césaire (background)
* Audrey Bourgeois (pictured)
* Kagami Tsurugi (pictured)
* Denis Damocles (pictured)
* Civilians
* Police officers
* Students

## Trivia

* Internationally, this episode first premiered in Switzerland on RTS Un, alongside the previous episode; "Confrontation".
* This is the fifth season 5 episode that is not named after the concept of a Miraculous.
* Through the concept of collusion, there are characters conspiring to do something:
	+ Lila and Chloé conspire to punish those who have stood against them at school: Marinette and Miss Bustier. After putting Miss Mendeleiev as principal (who is completely complacent to Mayor Bourgeois, who is in turn complacent to Audrey), they create a situation that results in Marinette being expelled and Miss Bustier getting fired.
	+ Lila also conspired for her own gain behind Chloé's back, manipulating her into throwing a tantrum at her father when he was in a meeting with Gabriel and Tomoe to give the former the idea of manipulating Chloé to take her father's role as mayor. Although it's still unknown what Lila's true objective is in doing that.
	+ Gabriel and Tomoe conspired to have Mayor Bourgeois replace the police force with security robots in order to replace Ladybug and Cat Noir's roles as peacekeepers of Paris. With the mayor's refusal, Gabriel manipulates Chloé into allying herself with him to take the role as mayor of Paris, after he causes a situation that forces André to resign as mayor that involves akumatizing Miss Bustier. With Chloé as mayor, all Miraculous holders are outlawed and the security robots replace the police force.
	+ This episode also shows how collusion was used in terms of people lives:
	+ André mentions that he and Gabriel were both happier in their earlier lives and wonders what went wrong, as André traded his life as a movie producer for politics and had nothing to show for power and wisdom; he had everything but he didn't have emotional wisdom.
	+ How Chloe continuously raved on how things wouldn't have happened if she stayed as Queen Bee but didn't gain the emotional wisdom or maturity to see the real outcome if she stayed, and how she deceived the public into believing Ladybug and Cat Noir were bad guys.
	+ Lila wanted to live or made her choice to live a life of lies while Ladybug and Cat Noir were forced into it.
	+ How Nino tricked himself into believing Alya and Cat Noir were together in "Rocketear".
	+ From "Representation", that Adrien was mad at himself for how hopelessly he fooled himself into believing that his father was grieving over his mother and by the time he realized Gabriel was doing something more it was too late.
* It is revealed that Lila has La Plage as her secret hideout located at the Paris catacombs.
* It is revealed that Olga Mendeleiev's first name is Olga.
* Following Mr. Damocles' resignation in "Confrontation", Olga Mendeleiev is the school principal and is pressured by Mayor Bourgeois to obey every command of Chloé, like allowing her to listen loud music during classes.
	+ In the aforementioned episode, Olga Mendeleiev once stated things would be different if she was principal and, ironically, she takes the position after Mr. Damocles' resigned.
	+ Using Mendeleiev's role as principal and pretending to have been slapped by Marinette, Chloé forces the former to expel Marinette and fire Miss Bustier.
		- Despite the episode showing an argument about expelling Marinette, it is not confirmed if she got really expelled, as Chloé turned her attention to Miss Bustier when the latter tried to reason with her one more time.
		- This is the third time Marinette almost gets expelled from school, following "Ladybug" and "Adoration".
			* Chloé and Lila are both responsible for two of those times, while Lila is solely responsible for the former.
			* Chronologically as this episode takes place after "Action" This is Clara Contard's Last apperance in Season 5.
* The frame of Cerise instructing Chloé exactly what she should say to Olga is similar to the frame of how the titular villain in "The Puppeteer" was controlling and instructing Lady Wifi to get Ladybug's doll.
* Miss Bustier gets akumatized for the third time overall, following "Zombizou" and "Ladybug ".
	+ However, unlike the previous two times, she is not akumatized into Zombizou, but into a second akumatized form - Miss Sans-Cullotte.
	+ She is also one of the few characters to be able to resist an attempted akumatization, breaking the proccess before being akumatized.
		- Miss Bustier is also the sixth character to not become fully akumatized after being infected by an Akuma, following Chloé in "Miraculer", Marinette in "Ladybug", "Elation" and "Derision", Sabine in "Ladybug", Félix in "Gabriel Agreste" and Luka in "Migration".
		- The way Miss Bustier was able to break Monarch's first attempt to akumatize her in the episode is an appliance of all her attempts to help her students control their emotions, like yoga and breathing exercises.
		- Miss Bustier is the tenth character to reject an akuma after being fully akumatized and reverting to normal on its own, following Alya in "Gang of Secrets", Nino in "Rocketear", Sabine in "Qilin", Gabriel in "Dearest Family", Chloé in "Penalteam", Jalil in "Reunion", Kagami in "Perfection", A.D.A. in "Intuition", and Lila in "Revelation".
* This is the sixth time in which an akumatized villain has specifically gone after André Bourgeois, following the events of "Rogercop", "Darkblade", "Frightningale", "Frozer" and "Determination".
* It is revealed that Miss Bustier is in a relationship with a woman named Gisèle.
	+ This marks the fifth appearance of an LGBTQ+ romance in the show, after Barbara Keynes and Olympia Hill, Zoé and Marinette, Nathaniel and Marc, and Rose and Juleka.
	+ However, this begs the question as to who her unborn child's father is. The possible reasons are:
		- Miss Bustier could have been in a relationship with a man (the child's father) before starting one with Gisèle.
		- Miss Bustier could have used in-vitro fertilization.
	+ In this episode, Caline and Gisèle share the first same-sex kiss in the series.
* It is revealed that André's father was also in politics.
* This is the eighteenth episode that features a post-credit scene, following "Miracle Queen", "Gabriel Agreste", "Optigami", "Sentibubbler", "Dearest Family", "Multiplication", "Jubilation", "Illusion", "Transmission", "Perfection", "Derision", "Intuition", "Protection", "Emotion", "Pretension", "Revelation" and "Confrontation".
	+ This is the tenth not to feature Gabriel Agreste, following "Multiplication", "Jubilation", "Derision", "Intuition", "Protection", "Emotion", "Pretension", "Revelation" and "Confrontation".
* This is the sixteenth time where the Magical Charms don't appear since their introduction following "Sentibubbler", "Hack-San", "Ephemeral", "Kuro Neko", "Risk", "Evolution", "Destruction", "Illusion", "Passion", "Reunion", "Transmission", "Deflagration", "Intuition", "Emotion" and "Revelation".
* After ending her friendship with Chloé definitively in "Confrontation", Sabrina now sits next to Nathaniel's seat until the school year is over.
* This is the first time a character doesn't appear after they're de-akumatized since Season 1.
	+ This, however, happened in eight episodes of Season 1 ("Stormy Weather", "The Evillustrator", "Dark Cupid", "Mr. Pigeon", "Pixelator", "Simon Says", "Darkblade", "The Pharaoh", and "Horrificator").
* Gabriel is seen talking to Emilie in her repository for the third time in a produced twenty-second episode of a season, following "Cat Blanc" and "Ephemeral". However, this is the second time this has happened in the first scene of the episode.
* This is the twenty-ninth time where Ladybug's Lucky Charm is an object that appeared in a previous episode. This time, it is the paper crown from "Dearest Family". Unlike the first one, in which it served as a reminder, it also served as a warning as André gave up his position of power and Chloé immediately seizes it.
	+ With this in mind, it could be that a new ability of the Lucky Charm was revealed as it appears that depending on the situation that the object can be used to solve more than one problem or warn the holder of one problem being more dangerous than the other.
	+ Since this episode comes after "Confrontation", Tikki knew or was aware of Chloé's rise in hatred and desire for revenge, knowing she would strike back in retaliation, similarly to Félix in "Emotion".
* It is revealed that Alliance rings can transmit recordings and footage even when the person is akumatized and with the powers of the transmitted Miraculous.
* This episode is one of six that ended up different from the original storyboard following "Troublemaker", "Sandboy", "Cat Blanc", "Miraculous New York" and "Confrontation".
* This is also the first time someone who shows signs of pregnancy becomes akumatized, but it's unknown if it causes any ill effects with someone under those conditions.
* Before transferring the power of the Pig Miraculous to Miss Sans-Coulotte, Monarch shouts "Aux armes, citoyens, Formez vos bataillons" (To arms, citizens. Form your battalions), which is a direct quote from "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem.
	+ The balloons' song, "Ah! ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!", is also a popular song associated with the French Revolution.
* This is the second time Adrien and Marinette's Lucky charms appear together in the same episode, following "Befana".
* Chloé blows a bubblegum for the third time in a row in the series. This time the color of her bubble is green, as opposed to previous two episodes (in "Stoneheart (Origins - Part 2)" it was white and in "Animaestro" it was pink).
* Ivan attempting to assault Chloé is a reference to "Ladybug & Cat Noir (Origins - Part 1)", where he tried to assault Kim, but ended up going to the principal's office. This time however, Marinette prevented him from doing such, but Chloé made Bustier believe Marinette slapped her and got her send to the principal's office instead, despite her classmates claiming it is a lie.
	+ This also mirrors "Stoneheart (Origins - Part 2)" where Marinette tries to calm Ivan down after Chloé made fun of him to prevent him from being akumatized, but eventually ended up being Stoneheart later.
* Chronologically, this is the last Season 5 episode where the Miraculous Ladybug Superpower is used.
* Similar to "Zombizou", Caline Bustier was akumatized as a result injustice and the plot also revolved around Chloé:
	+ Marinette was vulnerable to being akumatized after believing she was being punished instead of Chloé, but Bustier got akumatized upon seeing the akuma after calming down Marinette. Bustier was almost akumatized after Chloé unfairly got her fired but manages to resist, but officially got akumatized upon Gabriel sending an edited video of André abusing his power.
		- Both of these incidents have the titular villain get revenge on those responsible for the outcome of the situation she is in.
		- Both the titular villains created an army; Zombizou created love spreading zombies while Miss Sans-Cullotte created an army of balloons.
	+ The main plot revolves around Chloé's behavior. "Zombizou" shows her an attempt to better herself but this episode shows her getting worse.
		- Miss Sans-Cullotte's akumatized object happens to be the bracelet Chloé gives her in the aforementioned episode.
		- After Cerise praises Chloé for her display of power in the BGM you can hear the Yamaha Tub Bells (The tub bells that was used in the 1997-2017 Toei Animation Logo and the Taco Bell Bong).
		- At the end of the episode parts of Spreader of Chaos (Frenzy) 4 notes from Fire Emblem Engage can be heard. This is the second episode since Strikeback where the villains won notably being Gabe Tomoe and Chloé while Ladybug and Cat Noir Runaway.
		- Coincidentally Chloé being mayor is similar to the end of Sonic X Episode 40 Sunblock Solution where Eggman is the hero/President Mike Pollock said this episode was a coincidence.
* There is a scene in the storyboard version where Andre divorces Audrey, gains custody of Zoé and disowns Chloe leaving Audrey in her care.
* In production and airing order, "Confrontation" comes before this episode. However, in chronological order, "Action" takes place before this episode.
* André lamenting to Gabriel about how he abused his power as mayor to please his wife and daughter, and suggested they should give up their privileges so they can be happy with how things they were before. Ironically, this contrasts with Gabriel's intention to obtain the Miraculous, as Gabriel is throwing everything away to bring his wife back, and is using his power and privileges to hide his identity and control everything he wanted his way.
	+ At the end, André resigned his position and divorced from his wife making him happy to be free and have custody of Zoé, while Gabriel, even if he wanted to stop being Monarch, especially with his Cataclysm wound, chose to keep pursuing the Miraculous while he is pushing everyone away.

### Errors

* In the beginning of the episode, when Gabriel looks at his Cataclysmed hand, his Alliance rings, which were supposed to be under the glove, are all absent.
* Adrien was not there when Marinette confronted Gabriel about pancakes and fashion in "Pretension", so there is no way he was able to refer to it.
* When Marinette confronts Chloé in the classroom, the wall on the side of the door is missing.
* Monarch's face masks are miscolored blue throughout the episode.
* Miss Bustier puts away a Maths textbook before her first akumatization, even though she doesn't teach math.
* In some scenes, André's hair is miscolored white.
* When André retrieves the *Solitude* script from the vault, the name "Anaximandre" is missing. But when he reads it again in the office, the name is there again.
* When Ladybug summons the Lucky Charm, in the moment of summoning and in the moment of when Ladybug catches it, the crown has different amount of Fleur-de-lis.
* Cerise's Romper was miscolored medium Pink/Magenta when she opens her duffle bag to disguise herself as a maid.
* Massive errors have occurred with kwami cages:
	+ Xuppu's cage is missing at one point.
	+ Kaalki appears in her cage after her power is taken away.

## Gallery

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

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/ladyofacat/status/1505600314103279621
2. ↑ https://www.programme-tv.com/television/937475478/miraculous-les-aventures-de-ladybug-et-chat-noir.html
3. ↑ https://youtu.be/UjhQhW0I8sY?feature=shared&t=25
4. ↑ Mike Pollock calling the ending a Coincidence Where Eggman is President.https://x.com/itsamike/status/1687926491282096128?s=20

Template:Episodes
de:Geheime Absprachen
es:Complicidad
fr:Collusion
it:Cospirazione
pl:Konszachty
pt-br:Conspiração
ru:Сговор