I’d planned on putting up a post about the Doctor Who Easter special today, but family wound up visiting longer than I’d expected, so I haven’t had time to write that up yet. So, with the Sunday Who Review being pushed out until Tuesday, have an Other Doctor Lives post instead!
The DuckTales reboot is doing a nice job of taking tropey situations and doing them in a way that’s fun and entertaining. Here, the “old flame/enemy” storyline is used to good effect, with a dynamite assist from guest star Allison Janney.
While taking the boys to a gala, Scrooge is bowled over when he runs into Goldie O’Gilt, his former rival and maybe girlfriend. He’s not ready to forget how Goldie betrayed him in the past, but Goldie is eager to rekindle one of their old unfinished expeditions.
Like I said, this is a familiar trope that appears all over—for me, I was most strongly reminded of the story of Emerson and his ex-wife on Pushing Daisies. Goldie, well played by Janney, has the femme fatale con-woman thing going on, albeit with quite a bit of Indiana Jones mixed in. Despite any noise she might make about turning over a new leaf, Scrooge is reluctant to trust her. Any attempt to resume the expedition with Goldie will mean keeping his eyes peeled at all times for her to stab him in the back. (And naturally, the plot contrives it so they both have one half of the map they need, meaning this can only be done together.)
Because this episode deals heavily with Scrooge’s past and involves an unpredictable former partner he doesn’t trust around the boys, the triplets don’t get a ton to do here. Mostly, they act very much like kids and loudly “Ooooooh!” over the realization that Scrooge has an old girlfriend, which leads to Scrooge delightfully shouting, “We weren’t smooching, ye wee numpties!” in exasperation. We also get Huey holding it down on the logic front. When Scrooge explains his past with Goldie to them, which he claims involves the Gold Rush, Huey was right with me in exclaiming, “Wait, how old are you?!”
No surprise, this is a great episode for David Tennant. He and Janney have a fun, combative spark together. The irascible, competitive Scrooge has his eye on Goldie, but he’s also less tricky to manipulate than he thinks, so they quickly establish a pattern of Scrooge throwing his guard up, Goldie easing it down, and Scrooge getting drawn in just enough, at which point either she gets the jump on him or he reveals he was intentionally baiting her. As much as Goldie angers Scrooge now, it’s also easy to see why he would’ve liked her in the first place.
An “adventure capitalist” like Scrooge was always going to be a better fit with someone who prefers hunting treasure to attending galas, and Goldie has both the guts and the brains to appeal to him. Even now that they’re more antagonistic towards each other, there’s something about the way Goldie challenges Scrooge that prevents him from fully quitting her. Tennant navigates that dynamic well, not trusting her but feeling a part of him that really wishes he could.
I should mention that the animation adds nicely to Tennant and Janney’s vocal performances. I love a scene at the gala, where the two of them are dancing. While doing the old “exes trade barbs as they do a dance that oozes chemistry” routine, there’s a great moment where Scrooge dips Goldie, she swipes a guy’s wallet, and Scrooge spins her so he can return it. Hee!
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