After a Scrooge-less episode, we’re back with this “Far East” adventure that’s a little tropey but still does some interesting things. While the first handful of episodes kind of take turns spotlighting different characters, this one is a proper ensemble story.
When the triplets’ Uncle Gladstone sends word asking for help, Scrooge, Donald, and the kids fly out to the city of Macaw, China (get it?) But they arrive to find the incurably-lucky Gladstone living it up at a splashy casino, thoroughly irritating Scrooge. Scrooge has no patience for any of this nonsense, while the terminally-unlucky Donald feels inadequate in front of the boys beside his charmed cousin.
Before we get into it, I want to repeat that there are some tired “chop-suey” stereotypes going on here. We’ve got gongs and supposed ancient Chinese mysticism and characters dressed in outfits that don’t really fit in the 21st century. I’ve definitely seen far worse, and to my ignorant eyes, I think the episode mostly avoids dipping into offensive territory, but it’s lazy—cheap orientalism that doesn’t really add anything to the episode.
Donald is a character who’s been popping in and out of the series so far, not as prominent as I would’ve expected based on the pilot, but this is a good episode for him. It takes the shtick of him being comically disaster-prone and makes it a character trait rather than just an excuse for slapstick (although there’s still plenty of that!) If you know the character of Donald Duck in any incarnation across the decades, you know that his mishaps can send him into fits of exasperated rage, but here, they embarrass him too. Everything comes easily for “loose as a goose and ready to gander” Gladstone while everything goes wrong for Donald, and seeing Louie fawn over his rich uncle is hard for Donald to take. By the way, Gladstone is voiced by none other than Paul F. Tompkins, a.k.a. Mr. Peanutbutter from BoJack Horseman.
While, like I said, the episode setting leans into some lazy stereotypes, I do like the fact that our adventure stems from something very true-to-life. We take a real phenomenon—casinos designed to be deliberately labyrinthine, thus encouraging people to stay longer and gamble more—and extrapolate it into Scrooge’s tireless mission to escape the confounding maze of the casino. All the while, the mysterious, slightly-sinister owner (voiced by B.D. Wong!) tempts the kids with the casino’s delights. The water show, the menagerie, the buffet (I get a kick out of the wild fusion cuisine, from “taco dim sum” to “fettucine eclairs”)—anything to get them to stay.
Placing Scrooge up against such a seemingly-mundane obstacle is a lot of fun, as he tries to apply his swashbuckling experience to the problem but keeps passing by the same gift shop over and over again. David Tennant brings some good cantankerous energy to the proceedings; I’ve said before that this is a good role for him, but he really does make the most of every moment. Just for fun, here are my favorite line readings from him in this episode:
· (Utter nonchalance) – “If you’ll excuse us, we have an improbably-enchanted insect to inspect.”
· (Withering disdain) – “…Oh good, street magic.”
· (Exhausted exasperation, mixed with a dash of frank pragmatism) – “You can’t give a child a tiger! (Especially not this child.)”
Good, silly fun with just a hint of sharpness. Tennant is clearly having a blast throughout.
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