Pretension

**Pretension**

**Season 5, episode 19 (Production order); Episode 123 (Overall)**

> "When you bring a living being into this world, you have a responsibility towards them. Your duty is to protect them, love them, help them discover the true meaning of their existence. To deprive them of that... is monstrous."
> "Are you talking about... yourself?"
> "I'm talking about... us."
>
> Félix Fathom & Kagami Tsurugi, "Pretension"

**"Pretension"** is a Season 5 episode of the series, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. As based on the series' production order specifically, **"Pretension"** is the 19th written and produced episode of Season 5. It is also the 123th written and produced episode of the series, overall.

## Synopsis

Convinced that Gabriel's coldness towards her stems from a misunderstanding, Marinette decides to have a heart-to-heart with the father of the boy she loves... and her outstanding courage inspires her friend Kagami! She too would love to open the door to her ever-commanding mom's heart! Alas, the conversation comes to a sudden end when an unexpected guest returns and spirits Kagami away! Who is this mysterious guest? Will Ladybug and Cat Noir save Kagami? And will Marinette and Adrien ever have a chance to love each other freely?

## Plot

The episode begins with Tatsu telling Kagami her schedule while going to fencing class. At the same time Adrien is talking with Marinette via call. She tells him that they'll at least four minutes to see each other. Kagami and Adrien both hop out of their cars unaware that Argos is watching them from the school's rooftop. In Monarch's lair, we see Gabriel in a bed being fed power by the energy of the kwamis. Nathalie is seen operating the controls. She begins to increase power and as she's doing it the cataclysm burns begin to fade away. But the machine begins to malfunction therefore returning the marks on Gabriel's chest. Gabriel screams in pain with Roaar saying that it's not nice to steal other people's power. Kaalki says that it's impossible to heal a cataclysm and Gabriel states all he needs is time to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's miraculous. Gabriel also says that once he has the Miraculous all he needs to is to wish to heal himself, Nathalie and bring Emilie back. Tomoe then says he is forgetting their deal. She says that she won't let anyone like Marinette or Félix to put a glitch in their plan. Gabriel gives Tomoe, Felix's device that he used in Risk.

Adrien and Kagami are leaving fencing class when they see Marinette on her scooter and telling Adrien that they should tell Gabriel that they're a couple. Marinette joins Adrien to his house. They enter the kitchen and find Gabriel cooking pancakes as a snack. Adrien says that they need to tell him something. Gabriel orders Adrien to leave and go upstairs, to which Adrien argues. Gabriel says that he is his father and he is asking him to go to his room. Adrien reluctantly goes upstairs and stands at the door while Plagg states that they almost had to endure another serving of pancakes. Adrien says that he should be down with Marinette, but that he can't disobey his father. Marinette finishes talking to Gabriel with him responding that she could have everything she wants, but not with Adrien. After a heated argument, Gabriel gives Marinette two options: 1. She eats the pancake and has everything except Adrien or 2. She has nothing at all. Marinette chooses option 2 and leaves the kitchen with Gabriel following her. As she approaches the front door, she looks up to Adrien's bedroom door and runs up to tell him that she loves him and won't ever abandon him. Before leaving, she tells him the thing that's wrong with his pancakes: too much flour, not enough butter (as she proves it by saying that she doesn't even need to try his pancakes).

Kagami is having a talk with her mother, telling her that she and Adrien are no longer a couple. Argos then lands on top of Tatsu and begins to eavesdrop on them. Tomoe points at Kagami's family crest and says that it shows her behavior. Argos then cuts through the roof of the car, using his hand fan and kidnaps Kagami. Tomoe then feels a peacock feather, opens a secret compartment containing multiple alliance rings, and communicates with Monarch. Monarch uses Kaalki, teleports his mega-akuma, and akumatizes Tomoe into Matagi Gozen. He then transmits the powers of Pretention, Multiplication, Migration and Action. Matagi-Gozen then grants herself the power of super smell so she can follow Argos' trail. Argos takes Kagami to the Eiffel Tower, detransforms and starts talking to her as she chastises him for lacking social skills and for taking her against her will. While Félix *does* apologize and promises to never do that again, he assures that he doesn't want to hurt her but to protect her from her mother and also because he feels that both of them have so much in common since the last time he saw her. Matagi-Gozen finds them with Ladybug and Cat Noir arriving as well. Félix transforms and jumps off the tower with Kagami. Matagi-Gozen creates copies of herself and splits them up all over Paris. After a brief battle, Cat Noir hides in the sewers, while Argos and Kagami hide in an alley, where she suggests him to leave her to calm her mother and save himself, but Argos refuses to abandon her, Kagami tells him she can free herself and gets out where she's spotted by one of Matagi's clones who tries to strike her daughter with arrows charged with Venom, but Argos jumps in the way and blocks them with his fan and takes Kagami away again, and once safe again, he snaps his fan and spreads its feathers and scent all over Paris, much to Matagi's anger.

Inside the sewers, Kagami suggests that Félix creates a sentimonster in order for them to get out of there, only for him to instantly (and politely) decline and refuses to call them that. Since fighting is no longer his priority, Félix says that his priority is to protect those he cares about and help them find meaning for their existence. He also points out that he doesn't like creating beings for selfishness only to later destroying them (as he already had that experience in Emotion). Moved by his compassion, Kagami asks if he's also talking about himself, only for Félix to say that he's actually talking about *both* of them. Ladybug and Cat Noir catch up with them and orders Félix to release Kagami and surrender the Peacock Miraculous to them. Kagami stops them and defends Félix (which surprises him), saying that she isn't anyone's prisoner and Félix isn't her enemy and is just like her: he doesn't know how to express himself and that everyone is wrong about him, herself included as she smiles at him. Touched that she came to his defense, Félix returns the smile. Equally surprised and confused by this turn of events, Cat Noir speechlessly ask Ladybug if she understood what just happened, only for her to reply that she's not sure of anything anymore.

Matagi Gozen catches up with everyone and orders everyone to give her their Miraculouses. As Ladybug and Cat Noir protect Felix and Kagami, Ladybug realizes that they can help them and decides to trust Félix. Trusting them, Félix transforms back into Argos and escapes while Kagami helps Ladybug defeat Matagi Gozen. After restoring everything back to normal, Ladybug gives Tomoe a Magical Charm so that it can protect her from getting akumatized by Monarch (not knowing that she is working with Monarch). Ladybug and Cat Noir pound it as he points out that they let Felix get away with the Peacock Miraculous, as Ladybug says that she hopes they won't regret it. Tomoe calls Monarch and tells him that their plan was going perfect and they ended up failing, only for him to say that Kagami is the reason their plan failed. As Kagami gets into the car, she stands up to her mother and tells her that she can't let her control her behavior and that following her heart is *not* a weakness. Tomoe points out that she was wrong about Kagami and that she's not up to her family's ambitions. She also deems her as a disappointment as she orders her to hand over her family's crest ring, claiming that she's no longer worthy of it.

At the Agreste Mansion, Adrien is eating with his father and Nathalie, and Gabriel tells him he understands why he liked Marinette and advises him to enjoy their time together before he sends him to London after finishing the school year, which shocks and angers Adrien, who asks his father to excuse him and goes to his room, once he's gone, an upset Nathalie asks Gabriel if he really plans to send him to London, and Gabriel confirms it and smugly states no one will stop him, which angers Nathalie herself.

Adrien in his room videochats with Marinette but doesn't tell her about his father planning to send him away, and once they end their call. Plagg asks him how he and Marinette are going to be together with him away, to which Adrien sadly replies he doesn't know but that they'll think of something.

In the postcard scene, Félix arrives to the empty movie theater, where he secretly meets up with Kagami and asks her if she was followed, and she replies that her mother thinks she's in an Ikebana class and Félix puts her ring in her hand. He revealed that the ring she gave her mother was a fake and that this was the *real* one (as he somehow manage to use his pickpocketing skills to switch the rings). Kagami is surprised by this as Félix tells her that the last of the Tsurugis isn’t her mother but *her* and that her family's rules no longer have to be her ancestors' and she was free to create them now, to which Kagami smiles and holds his hand.

## Characters

### Major Characters

* Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
* Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir
* Félix Fathom/Argos
* Gabriel Agreste/Monarch
* Tikki
* Plagg
* Duusu
* Orikko
* Pollen
* Mullo
* Kaalki
* Megakuma
* Tomoe Tsurugi/Matagi Gozen
* Kagami Tsurugi

### Minor Characters

* Nathalie Sancoeur
* Placide I.T.
* Roaar
* Barkk
* Trixx (background)
* Wayzz (background)
* Stompp (background)
* Xuppu (background)
* Longg (background)
* Ziggy (background)
* Daizzi (background)
* Sass (background)
* Philippe (background)
* Mylène Haprèle (pictured)
* Nathaniel Kurtzberg (pictured)
* Nino Lahiffe (pictured)
* Rose Lavillant (pictured)
* Juleka Couffaine (pictured)
* Lila Rossi (pictured)
* Tom Dupain (pictured)
* Gina Dupain (pictured)
* Rolland Dupain (pictured)
* Sabine Cheng (pictured/indirectly mentioned)
* Emilie Agreste (pictured/mentioned)
* Colt Fathom (mentioned)
* Civilians
* Pigeons
* Gorillas
* Giraffes

## Trivia

* Internationally, this episode first premiered in Brazil on Gloob.
* The episode shares its name with the concept of the Rooster Miraculous.
	+ Although the concept of the Rooster Miraculous was officially stated to be **Pretension**, it has also been given as **Pretention**.
	+ It's revealed that the user of Sublimation can transfer the power they choose to anything they possess, as Matagi Gozen was able to pass the power of enhanced sense of smell to her steed.
	+ Besides the use of the superpower, the concept of pretention is applied through its meanings:
		- Characters are shown expressing the right they think they have over something:
			* Gabriel expresses to Marinette how he has the right to show people how they should think or aspire to be through his creations.
			* Gabriel and Tomoe both express to each other their belief in their right to possess the Miraculouses of the Ladybug, Black Cat and Peacock despite having never earned them and intending on using them for selfish purposes rather than the greater good.
				+ This also applied to Chloé, believing that she alone was entitled to the Bee Miraculous, from the moment she received it from the end of "Style Queen".
			* Félix/Argos expresses to Kagami how sentimonsters have the right to be free to be whatever they want to be and that their creators should help them on that, denouncing the pretension the creators have in thinking they have the right to decide how their sentimonsters should act or if they live or cease from existence.
		- Characters are shown asking something to another, aspiring to do something or had their aspirations revealed:
			* Gabriel tried to use the power of the other kwamis to diminish the effects of the Cataclysm afflicted to him by Cat Noir, but fails to do so.
				+ This is episode also emphasizes how strong the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses are.
				+ He also aspires to bring Adrien and Kagami together by any means necessary, even intimidating Marinette to give up on her love for Adrien.
			* Marinette aspires to talk with Gabriel over her relationship with Adrien, thinking there must be some misunderstanding.
				+ Her aspiration to be a fashion designer is shown when Gabriel tries to use that to convince her to give up on her love for Adrien.
			* Kagami asks her mother to stop thinking of her and Adrien as a couple and to let her decide her own fate.
			* Félix aspires to get to know Kagami better by kidnapping her.
			* How bad Gabriel's influence as Monarch affected the people as due to him always feeding off of everyone's negative feelings. The people can't express themselves freely anymore fearing that they'll have to keep them buried as Marinette mentioned in "Transmission" and more.
			* How Lila mentioned of her importance being critical in the former episode.
		- Characters are shown expressing a boastful attitude:
			* Tomoe boasts about how she has control over her daughter without even controlling her. However, she comes to realize her control over Kagami is not as strong as she thought it was.
			* Gabriel boasts to Marinette how he can control what people think or aspire to be through his creations, what causes him to show his dark side to her.
				+ As well as how he misused it by keeping things hidden Gabriel made others think totally different including his son through Adrien's perspective he hid the full extent of his broken heart making Adrien believe it was no big deal when it was the opposite.
				+ As Monarch, since his interactions with people are limited he had no idea what he made the people of Paris think about him.
			* Despite not showing a boastful behavior himself, Argos denounces the pretension that is to call "monsters" to the beings created by the power of the Peacock Miraculous, as they are created to be what their creators want them to be, so, if they are monsters, then that's their creators' fault.
* This episode marks the introduction of a new background music, which is a piano cover of the show's full theme song.
* Gabriel applies the magic of the kwamis to another end that is not taking their superpowers for his own use or to give them to an akumatized villain, trying to use it to relieve the effects of the Cataclysm on his body in order to get more time to make his plans a reality. However, despite it seeming to work at the beginning, it ended up failing completely.
* Tomoe Tsurugi is seen in Gabriel's lair for the first time.
* This episode is able to evidence how Marinette and Gabriel's respective perspectives about fashion are complete opposite to one another, something that reflects their identity as each other's respective nemesis:
	+ Gabriel thinks that fashion is to create an ideal that people will want to achieve, not never be able to reach it. In this way, he can mold people's desires and force them into a choice of either abdicate everything they are in order to get his designed ideal or be "out of fashion". However, this causes his creations to lose all the fresh creativity they once had. This is a reflection of his identity as Monarch, as he preys on people's desires and, through Akumatization, he takes control of their actions and gives them a choice to give up on their identities to become someone he wants them to be. It is also a reflection of his obsessive nature towards his wish and defeating Ladybug and Cat Noir.
	+ Marinette thinks that fashion is one way to express one's true self. Her creations serve exactly to help people find who they are and/or help them become who they want to be. Because of that, her creations are always creative, inovative and ever dynamic, while also being always unique, as each piece is especifically designed to one person and/or group of people. This is a reflection to her identity as Ladybug, as she is an inspiration for everyone to become better people and also her creativity, combined with her Lucky Charm, is always the key to solve any situation.
* This is the third time Tomoe gets akumatized following "Ikari Gozen" and "Multiplication". This time she gets akumatized into Matagi Gozen, a new variation of Ikari Gozen.
	+ The name of the villain is likely from 'matagi' (又鬼) meaning "man of winter", who are traditional winter hunters from northern Japan, plus the honorific 'gozen' usually implying female nobility.
* Tomoe is the third person to willingly call out to be akumatized, following Chloé in "Penalteam" and Jalil in "Reunion".
* Matagi Gozen is the second villain to receive multiple Miraculous powers, following Kouki in "Transmission".
* This is the first time a certain person has been akumatized with the same Miraculous power for the second time. This is Tomoe's second time with the Mouse Miraculous, so Monarch doesn't explain Mullo's power to her.
* This is the seventh episode where someone who isn't Ladybug or Cat Noir breaks an object and yet Kagami is the eleventh person instead of Ladybug and Cat Noir to do so following Rhythm in "Kuro Neko", Jagged Stone, Anarka, and Purple Tigress in "Crocoduel", Polymouse in "Mega Leech", Marianne Lenoir in "Furious Fu", Fang in "Lies" and Queen Bee, Rena Rouge and Carapace in "Mayura".
* This is the fifth episode where a Magical Charm gets destroyed following "Dearest Family", "Penalteam", "Elation" and "Protection".
* Tomoe Tsurugi is the fifth person to receive a new Magical Charm following Sabine Cheng, Rolland Dupain, André and Kagami Tsurugi.
* Argos' idea of wanting to kidnap Kagami is a callback to what Juleka suggested Marinette do in "Backwarder".
* This is one of the few episodes where Alya does not appear.
* It's revealed that Kagami studies *ikebana*, a Japanese art of flower arrangement that follows extremely strict rules.
* It's revealed when a holder transforms and detransforms their scent changes.
* This is the fifteenth episode that features a post-credit scene, following "Miracle Queen", "Gabriel Agreste", "Optigami", "Sentibubbler", "Dearest Family", "Multiplication", "Jubilation", "Illusion", "Transmission", "Perfection", "Derision", "Intuition", "Protection" and "Emotion".
	+ This is the seventh not to feature Gabriel Agreste, following "Multiplication", "Jubilation", "Derision", "Intuition", "Protection" and "Emotion".
* This is the fifth time Gabriel is after another Miraculous that wasn't just the Ladybug or Cat, he sought to take the Peacock Miraculous back from Argos following "Sandboy", "Ikari Gozen", "Miraculous New York", "Miraculous Shanghai", "Sentibubbler" and "Reunion".
* This is the fifth time Sublimation is used in the series, following "Penalteam", "Strikeback", "Illusion" and "Deflagration".
* Gabriel intends to send Adrien to London after the school year is over.
	+ This likely foreshadows the beginning of Marinette and/or Adrien learning how the events of "Cat Blanc" happened.
		- Likewise, Gabriel gave Marinette an ultimatum between having everything by giving up on Adrien or having nothing is similar to the alternative future Gabriel gave by making Marinette break up with Adrien or no longer allowing him to attend school.
* This is the fifteenth time when the ear communicator was used following "Gigantitan", "The Dark Owl", "Gamer 2.0", "Lies", "Queen Banana", "Gabriel Agreste", "Optigami", "Glaciator 2", "Ephemeral", "Kuro Neko", "Penalteam", "Risk", "Strike Back", "Multiplication", "Intuition".
* This is the ninth time the staff was seen being split apart following "Lady Wifi", "The Evillustrator", "Horrificator", "Dark Cupid", "Chameleon", "Animaestro" "Cat Blanc", and "Miraculous New York".
* It is revealed that the Hand Fan can be intentionally split into multiple pieces just like Cat Noir's Staff. It is unknown if this can allow it to be used as a different form of communication than how Mayura used it in "Miraculer", "Feast", and "Heart Hunter".
* Matagi Gozen seems to use Clout to demolish the Eiffel Tower upon Cat Noir, but Monarch giving her that power is not shown on-screen. Later she also uses this power to attack Ladybug on the Arc de Triomphe.
	+ Despite her having six alliance rings, Monarch gives her only 5 powers, including Clout off-screen.
* This is the thirteenth time where Cat Noir uses his powers to destroy a previous object was the street following "Mayura" and "Dearest Family".
* The captured kwamis are now aware that Tomoe knows that Gabriel is Monarch and has become his ally.
* This is possibly the most metaphorical episode in the series.
	+ Gabriel uses the pancake he gives Marinette as a metaphor. She can have all she wants on the pancake, except sharing it with Adrien, or have nothing. (Meaning she can become a famous designer with Gabriel's help, and have all she wants but Adrien, or have nothing and be a nobody).

### Errors

* Monarch's face masks are miscolored blue throughout the episode.
* Barkk said that a Cataclysm can't be healed, which is technically untrue, as seen in "Miraculer" and "Destruction", in which it's made clear that the Miraculous Ladybug can fix it.
	+ However, it's likely that they were referring to the fact that it can't be healed using ordinary magic or modern medicine.
* When Monarch touches Mullo's cage to take her power, Mullo turns into a blue light beam instead of a pink one.
* When Monarch touches Mullo's cage to take her power, he touches it with his right hand, despite the Mouse Miraculous ring being on his left hand.
* At the end of the episode, when Gabriel talks to Tomoe, Gabriel's image is absent on Tomoe's alliance ring.
	+ It's possible that she likely just used voice call to talk to Gabriel.
* When Monarch transfers the power of Multiplication to Tomoe, the transferring sequence of the power is zoomed in.
* When Tomoe takes 5 more alliance rings from the compartments in her car, some of the compartments are empty.
* In the scene where Gabriel tries to use the kwamis' powers to heal himself, he has no Alliance rings on his hands.
* On top of the Eiffel Tower, when Kagami tries to throw a chair on him, Argos transforms back without saying the de-transformation phrase.
* On top of the Eiffel Tower, when Felix says "Uh... Yes.", Duusu is in T-Pose.
* Argos uses the phrase "Fold My Feathers" to de-transform rather than "Fall My Feathers" as he did in "Emotion".
	+ It is possible that the two can be used interchangably for the Peacock Miraculous, similar to "unify" and "metamorphosis/morphosis" can be used interchangably in unifying and transforming with multiple Miraculouses.
* When Adrien stands up, after Gabriel told him he'll be sending him to London, parts of his hair are blurred alongside the background.
* When Tomoe is dekumatized, she doesn't have the Alliance rings.
* When opening her yo-yo, Ladybug's left hand and the vfx are not correctly aligned with her yo-yo.
	+ Her yo-yo moves independently of her hand for a few frames.
* When Adrien transforms into Cat Noir and he leaves is room with his staff, the sound of the staff extending sounds but the staff doesn't extends.

## Gallery

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

## References

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

Template:Episodes
de:Überheblichkeit
es:Pretensión
fr:Prétention
it:Pretesa
pl:Roszczenia
pt-br:Pretensão
ru:Притворство