I thought this DuckTales reboot was just here for adventure. Sure, we might solve a mystery or re-write history, but not like this. I didn’t know we were going to rewrite and build on the mythology of the DuckTales Universe with depth like this. That we’d finally get the answer to what happened to Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s mother / Donald’s Twin Sister, Della Duck like this. *Fist over mouth* Why this show about mallards got me choking up, fam? Why these waterfowls got me in my “Keke, do you love me? Are you riding“?
Can you Woo-oo! (Woo-oo! Woo-oo!) with your fanboy right quick as delve into the incredible story elements, the latest episodes have to offer and deal with the reveal of Della Duck’s fate? I’ma give you the spoiler warnings before we get to that point. Now, let’s get into this. My feels are spilled drinking themselves all over me.
Ducks of Color back up in this
Your favorite Apple Genius bar technician Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera returns in the episode, “Who is Gizmoduck”. He ain’t alone though. We see more of Fenton’s life outside of the Gizmoduck suit and find out his mom’s a cop. A telenovela loving cop, that is also a duck of color. Oh yeah, best believe they had mad brown and Black ducks in this episode. Off the strength, we already know Duckberg is way more diverse with their fowls than the previous incarnation. I’m rolling. Fenton gains a fan in Huey and is shown by the young boy that he can be doing much more as Gizmoduck. Gotta see it to get it.
Bentina Beakley still got her license to kill
Look at young Mrs. Beakley getting knee-high boots deep in the spy game. We knew there was more to Mrs. Beakley than being Scrooge’s housekeeper and in the “From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22!” episode, what a pleasant surprise to see your girl was once an agent of S.H.U.S.H. Fans of Darkwing will remember this organization as the Duck universe’s version of Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. They’re a clandestine spy group that deals with the terrorist crime syndicate F.O.W.L. Your girl Bentina Beakly was a top agent back in her day. Look at the hoop earrings and that Mary Tyler Moore press, you can’t tell Beakley a damn thing.
My fault, that’s Agent 22 to you. She played strictly by the rules up until she met her new partner. You guessed it, Scrooge McDuck. S.H.U.S.H. is how and where they met. Years later, when a villain returns Scrooge teams up with Webby to get Beakley back. Beakley gets to be a well-rounded character her not only as an agent but as a caregiver/teacher to Webby. All that training she had Webby go through pays off in spades. Shout out to the female villain Black Heron that came to get her revenge and all the smoke with Beakley.
“Now that the tears dry and the pain takes over
Let’s talk this payola”
“The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!” is where the gritty shit starts to come into play. Scrooge takes the squad to visit his mother, Downy O’Drake and father, Fergus McDuck at Castle McDuck (who are alive by an accidental curse he placed on them). There are thousands of secrets hidden in the castle McDuck plus a treasure. Scrooge tries to be worthy of his father telling’em where it is but the animosity between them is timbs level thick. This culminates when Scrooge loses it on his father which searching for the treasure on his lonesome.
After being criticized one last time by his dad, Scrooge got in his father’s face and told’em, “I don’t need you. Everything I earned I earned through my own hard work.” He said that slick talk while holding his #1 dime the string like it was a Roc-a-fella chain. This culminates back to how hard it was for Scrooge growing up cause they were so poor coming up. Then Fergus dropped that real on Scrooge. my man pointed to Scrooge’s #1 dime and said, “I gave you that…” Hold up, stop the tape.
This is how you build upon decades of stories as a foundation for your revamp!
Scrooge done told us this story a million times. He tried to set his Daddy straight, like “Nah, fam. Burt the ditch digger gave me this dime” and his father hit’em with that behind the scenes DVD extra cut.
All this time. All these years. Scrooge never realized that dime was a gift from his father. He couldn’t provide for him, so he had to teach him self-reliance. Scrooge learned it so well that he stopped coming around. Fergus is hard on him because he missed him. OoOooOOoh my gawd! What? The story of Scrooge’s Number one dime dates all the way back to 1953. I love when writers and showrunners build on a mythos this way. What an incredible way to have Clan McDuck come together full circle.
Meanwhile, while trying to protect his brother’s from what he’s discovered about his mother, Dewey has to come clean. Huey and Louie are with Dewey on a seemingly random treasure map adventure but only Dewey knew that it was one left behind by their mother, Della Duck. They find her bag and Huey (as well as Louie) not knowing whose stuff it is, was about to use it as a distraction against the demon guard dog after them. When Dewey tell them the truth and that he has been researching their mom about them. Their mom who they know nothing about? The hurt on Louie’s face, the one who is always so non-chalant, said it all.
*All the spoilers ahead.
Turn Back if you haven’t caught up!*
“Everyone I know
Goes away in the end”
I’ve been waiting to talk my talk right here. This right here goin’ be bars on that real rap raw we’ve been waiting for. “The Last Crash of the Sunchaser” finally has the readers and kids find out what happened to Della Duck. Getting there thought was not easy. Fam, the kids brought on all their Della Duck findings in hopes of finally solving the mystery. They had one piece of an old photo that kept escaping them throughout their time on the plane (the Sunchaser piloted by Launchpad). They were trying to get that last puzzle piece while keeping it a secret from Scrooge and Beakley out of fear that their investigation would be shut down.
Lemme tell you why is my guy, off the strength. Dewey chases this missing piece of paper the entire time and my man is fed up. He gotta deal with the plane being stuck on a mountain and one step making it fall over and having to balance the weight, while this piece of his mom keeps escaping him. Scrooge realizes he’s up to something and my man Dewey doubles down and goes all or nothing. My man risking everybody’s lives trying to get this paper then once it flies out the window and gets stuck on a propeller, he ain’t pump no quit in his heart! That boy a legend. Dewey was tired of all the dead ends, tired of the mysteries. Dewey said this all ends this episode. He Literally, could not be talked down off the ledge!
If you orphan enough, you understand
I don’t blame that boy one bit. Not in the least. Losing a parent is hard enough, losing them before you even got to know them? That a whole ‘nother pain. When Huey told him to let it go. That the family they got was enough, any other show would have him stop and let it go. But this that DuckTales reboot, my man Dewey chucked that walkie-talkie and I said “hell yeah!”. That’s the grit I want in my orphans. Don’t you tell that boy it’s enough. Don’t you tell that boy let it go, not when he so close. Dewey spiked that Walkie Talkie and I felt that shit. No more distractions. This ends one way or another. Scrooge saw promised to tell him about The Spear of Selene and what happened to his mother all those years ago and… Fam, just… just watch.
Louie: You’re the richest duck in the world! Why didn’t you send more ships to look for her?
Huey: Then you encouraged her to keep flying through a cosmic storm?!
You could have called her down! there were too many variables.
Dewey: Cheap old scrooge probably bailed the second it put a dent in his money bin.
Fam, them bars hurt. Even Webby called him out and Scrooge had enough. Told Webby this was a family matter and she wasn’t family and that set off a chain reaction. Beakley got in him and Scrooge hit’em all with the, “After everything I do for you, you’re all nothing but trouble” echoing how he felt about family way back in the first episode before the boys came into his life.
Scrooge been torture-racked with guilt for years of Della. They ain’t telling him anything he doesn’t already know. Plus, they’re kids. They need someone to blame or something to last out at and Scrooge is the easiest target. Just like Donald did all those years ago when they lost Della. The heartbreaking shit is they don’t believe or see how much Scrooge sacrificed and tried to get their mother back.
“And you could have it all, My empire of dirt”
We then start back at where it all started. The boys wanna go back to the marina, Beakley and Webby gone Even Duckworth bounced! When the ghost of ya Butler bounces, things are all bad man. That’s why I love this show. They aren’t giving you that happy it all works out okay tropes off the rip. Nah, these risky adventures have risky ends.
This show isn’t only giving us strong female characters, incredible story, layers of myth building (in just one freaking season mind you), people of color voice actors/ ducks of color, as well as dire consequences for the characters. We get real emotions and heartache occurring on screen. Very few cartoons are getting it like this on television. There are no kid’s gloves when it comes to this DuckTales reboot and I think the showrunners, writers, and creators for that.
Scrooge is going through it like never before right before the season finale. We ain’t seen him this low since back in his old days in the comics before the boys entered his life. Matter a fact, this closing image is a homage to those days and Carl Banks (Scrooge and Duckberg’s creator). Ya feels just turn into spilled drink’s as Beakey says before leaving, “Well you’ve successfully pushed your family and everyone who cared about you away, Again. I hope you’re happy”
“I will let you down… I will make you hurt”
ARghhhh! Come on man, that last line of “I am.” is dumb hard (especially since it’s a lie)! This show has no business being this good and making us feel all of the feelings. Good. Gawd. There’s one more episode to tie it all together for the final season. We know the squad is going to get back together on a high note. I hope they get renewed for a second season as well. This episode right here tho, this is what separates a cartoon from a freaking amazing show.
Make no mistake about it, DuckTales is am an amazingly incredible show. When DuckTales goes funny the nail it and as we witnessed, when they got for that rock bottom hurt and sadness to make you feel for these characters. They are the top of their game.
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