DuckTales is back from hiatus to finish out the first season of the reboot, and now it’s made the jump from Saturday mornings on Disney XD to the Disney Channel proper. So, let’s dive in! In this week’s episode, Lena uses Webby to try and find Scrooge’s number one dime, while the boys try and hide their new house guest from Scrooge.
1. All the callbacks
This was a very reference-heavy episode, even for this show. In this case, I think it worked though since the main plot revolved around diving into Scrooge’s history and all his trophies. The hunt for callbacks and Easter eggs added a nice extra meta level to Lena and Webby’s quest for Scrooge’s dime. The reference I appreciated most was Lena and Webby needing to use Scrooge’s headless statue to find the entrance to the “other bin.” I hadn’t even realized that its head has been making appearances as Gyro Gearloose’s intern until last episode, so it’s nice to see it used in another way here. In a fun callback to the original series, Webby’s doll-form is her character design from the classic show, and significant since the great redesign is probably the biggest departure from her original depiction. I’m sure there were more Easter eggs on Webby’s Scrooge board, but I didn’t catch anything significant while watching.
2. Scrooge, the hoarder
If it wasn’t apparent before, I think Scrooge has a bit of a hoarding problem. We already knew about his money bin and the warehouse, but now there’s the other bin for more stuff. I got excited about all the new things the show could explore in there before realizing that they like to just throw out these crazy concepts and then never return to them a lot of times. So, it was a pleasant surprise that one of the doors housed a “sword horse” that Webby had just asked Scrooge about a couple episodes ago.
3. The disconnected B(igfoot) plot
As soon as I realized that the boys’ efforts to hide Bigfoot from scrooge weren’t going to connect with Lena and Webby’s plotline in a meaningful way, I was preparing myself for the show’s usual contrived way of converging the A and B plots. That moment never came, unless the whole point was to give Scrooge a false sense of security before Magica makes her move in the season finale. That kind of forced plot movement would be par for the course in DuckTales, but hopefully the writers find an organic way to resolve the Bigfoot Bros arc at some point (because it doesn’t feel like they’re going to let Dewey get the last laugh).
4. Bigfoot bros
I mainly want the show to resolve the Bigfoot Bros arc because I want to see more of the rest of them. I figured “Tenderfeet” wasn’t all he seemed, but the reveal that he’s part of a gang of con artists did catch me by surprise. The other Bigfoot bros seem like great characters just from their few lies, so I really want to see more of that interplay. Plus, a gang of con artist bigfeet is a great concept. It’s also always fun to see Dewey spar with other characters with similar traits.
5. Magica comin’
They’re really teasing out Magica as the show’s main big bad. I just hope the show can deliver. Other antagonists have had more screen time or at least the same amount, but the buildup to Magica freeing herself feels like it brings much greater stakes. It also helps that Magica’s anchor, Lena, reveals more about herself as the season has progressed. We really have a sense for her motivations and hesitations now, which makes her a much more sympathetic character. When Magica finally does escape, it will truly feel like a villain that poses a real threat to Scrooge and his family.
Also, the way the animators depict Magica interacting with Lena is really great. Magica as Lena’s shadow has always been a fun design choice, but the way that Magica envelopes Lena in a black, liquid-looking substance the couple times in this episode is a really cool effect.
Afterthoughts
- “I miss carnage!”
- “Definitely not collecting drool samples while he sleeps.” Continued below
- Scrooge’s admission that he was over a century old seemed like quite a surprise when he first mentioned it, but Webby seemed pretty casual talking about him being born in 1867. That seems like something she would have talked about at length before now, because it’s a pretty impressive fact about her main obsession.
- “Clever girl.”
- Why was there a sign that said “Worry Room” in the dream dime room? I’m guessing it had something to do with the dreamcatcher and cluing us in that it was a dream, but I didn’t quite get the reference or connection.
