Miraculous Ladybug Season 1 Episode 2 The Bubbler
Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Tikki are sleeping in Marinette’s room when Marinette’s alarm goes off. Marinette gleefully remembers that it’s Adrien Agreste’s birthday, practices saying “Happy Birthday” to her crush, and trips over herself. He then looks at the pictures of Adrien on his computer and says “Happy Birthday”. Marinette even accidentally says “Happy Birthday” to her mother, Sabine Cheng, as she leaves the house.
At the Agreste mansion, Plagg gives Adrien a piece of cheese as a birthday present, but because it stinks and is a “dirty piece of ermine”, Adrien doesn’t like it. Fortunately, Plagg eats it instead. While eating breakfast, Nathalie Sancoeur gives Adrien his schedule for the day. When Adrien asks if his father Gabriel Agreste has agreed to allow him to have a birthday party, Nathalie replies that Adrien’s father has decided against it and wishes a saddened Adrien his birthday before leaving.
At the beginning of the school lunch break, Nino Lahiffe and Adrien are talking on the stairs. Nino blows bubbles while talking to Adrien. Nino is surprised that Mr. Agreste won’t throw Adrien a birthday party and decides to talk to Mr. Agreste during his lunch break. Meanwhile, Marinette and Alya Césaire are hiding behind the railing. Alya encourages Marinette to give Adrien the gift Marinette made, and Marinette struggles to muster up the courage for the task. Marinette gets up, looks at Adrien, and immediately goes back into hiding, her emotions overwhelming her. Alya pushes Marinette over the railing and she trips in front of the boys. The boys immediately stopped talking and stared at her.
While talking to Sabrina Raincomprix, Chloé Bourgeois realizes that she forgot to get Adrien a birthday present. An extremely nervous Marinette stutters and babbles trying to say that she has a present for Adrien, but before she can spit it out, Chloé pushes her away. Chloé approaches Adrien, lies about getting him a present that wasn’t there on time by blaming it on the delivery company, and leaves, telling Sabrina to find him a present now. Adrien leaves for a photo shoot soon after, much to Marinette and Alya’s disappointment. Then Nino goes to the Agreste mansion to talk to Mr. Agreste.
Alya and Marinette stand outside the gates of the Agreste mansion. Marinette tries to pry the box open but can’t. Alya suggests ringing the bell, and while Marinette protests, a camera immediately pops out of the wall and focuses on Marinette. Marinette stutters and explains that she has a present for Adrien. After placing the gift, the box opens and quickly closes, releasing Marinette. Marinette does a little dance, hoping Adrien will enjoy the gift. Alya then asks if Marinette signed it and Marinette freezes when she realizes she forgot.
Sitting at her desk in Gabriel’s studio, Nathalie sighs and places the gift on the corner of the desk. When Gabriel calls her to ask who was at the gate, Nathalie explains that it was one of Adrien’s friends who came with the gift. This response leads to Gabriel questioning why Nathalie hasn’t given Adrien a present from him yet. After Gabriel hangs up, Nathalie worries about not getting Adrien a present before noticing Marinette’s present. She sees it and is relieved to decide to take it as a gift from Gabriel. Nino then rings the bell.
Nino and Nathalie are waiting in the foyer of the Agreste mansion. Standing at the top of one of the stairs, Gabriel assumes that Nino is there for Adrien. Nino says otherwise, saying he’s there to talk to Mr. Agrest. He tries to convince Gabriel to throw Adrien a birthday party, but his speech is full of colloquialisms like “dude”, giving Gabriel a bad impression. Gabriel tells Nino to drop the subject, but Nino doesn’t. Adrien walks in and hears the end of Nina’s speech. Gabriel declares that the birthday party will not take place and kicks Nino out of the residence, telling Nino that he is a bad influence on Adrien. Nino angrily leaves and Adrien tries to excuse his father’s strictness. Nino doesn’t believe it’s fair and says Adrien’s father is harsh and cold.
Nino sits on a bench in the Place des Vosges next to Marinette’s house, blowing bubbles to calm himself down after being handled. He sees the boy crying and his father dragging him away from the park because the boy still has homework and can’t play anymore. Nino grumbles about this, frustrated with his parents, saying “parents spoil all the fun.” Sensing Nino’s frustration in his lair, Hawk Moth sends an akuma at him. Akuma lands on Nino’s bubble wand. Nino agrees to take over the power to get revenge on the adults, and in return takes over the Miraculouses Ladybug and Cat Noir for Hawk Moth. He then transforms into the supervillain Bubbler.
Bubbler flies over Paris, purple bubbles flying from his bubble wand. These bubbles catch adults and turn green when they catch someone. They then rise into the air and fly into space.
Meanwhile, Marinette is having lunch with her mother. She dreams of Adrien’s reaction to her gift while her mother opens the window. Right before Marinette’s eyes, her mother is engulfed in a bubble. Marinette spots her father, Tom Dupain, in the sky next to her mother, too far away to reach, among the many other adults trapped in the bubbles. Tikki appears beside her and they both agree that they need to fix this immediately. Marinette then transforms into Ladybug.
Ladybug runs outside the bakery to find two children crying next to an older boy watching the adults in the sky. The bubbles act as projection screens and show Bubbler’s face as he delivers his message about parents stopping their kids from having fun and how they can have fun now. Ladybug comforts the children, promises to bring their parents back, and swings away to the rooftops with her yo-yo.
Adrien, who is eating alone, leaves the Agreste Mansion dining hall with the intention of returning to school. As he leaves, he finds a surprise in the courtyard: all his classmates from school have prepared a surprise birthday party for him. Adrien immediately realizes that Nino has been akumatized and runs back inside trying to figure out what to do. Plagg wrongly convinces Adrien that he should have a party first – it’s not like he’ll get another chance to do it.
