*A few mild spoilers for an ongoing arc.*
Episode 14, according to IMDb. This episode features another ongoing season arc that, up until now, has mostly been relegated to the few Scroogeless episodes of the show, so it hasn’t come up in any of my reviews. But now, the two paths cross!
In her awkwardly-enthusiastic way, Webby has acquired a friend named Lena. Lena may or may not be as bad news as she seems at times, but she definitely has a secret and knows it’s something that would endanger her friendship with Webby. In this episode, Webby is thrilled to have Lena over for a sleepover, not realizing that Lena has an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, Scrooge is forced to address his less-than-stellar reputation around Duckburg.
The Lena arc has a few notable guest stars. Lena herself is played by Kimiko Glenn, who I first came to know as Soso on Orange is the New Black and who I’ve since gotten to know mainly through her voiceacting. Lena is a very different sort of character for her, so I’ve been enjoying this performance. I won’t spoil anything about her secret, but it involves another character who’s voiced by Catherine Tate! The character she plays is way posher than Donna Noble, but I still feel it’s been a wasted opportunity on the show’s part to have Tate separated from David Tenant for so long.
This is an enjoyable episode. I like edgy characters who are less impervious to feelings than they purport, and Lena fits that bill nicely. Webby is understandably a lot – I love that her slumber-party patter includes the factoid, “Did you know there’s a military-grade bedsheet tuck-in that’s often used as an interrogation technique?” – but she’s also so gung-ho and affectionate that I feel like anyone who’s at least a halfway decent person is bound to be drawn in by her eventually.
Webby and Lena take center stage here, but we do still get some fun stuff for the triplets. Namely, there’s a terrific scene of the three of them sneaking off to Scrooge’s vault to go swimming in his money. As Dewey approaches the “diving board,” Louie launches seamlessly into an Olympics-style commentary, and Huey invents a national anthem on the spot for the made-up country Louie says Dewey’s representing. The triplets spend a fair amount of time bickering or at odds, but scenes like this show you why they work so well together. We also get Huey frantically shouting, “Facts comfort me when I’m nervous!”, which, aww.
The Scrooge plot, while mostly divorced from the Webby-Lena stuff, is a lot of fun. It seems that battling monsters, awakening curses, and fighting giant robots in the name of treasure-seeking isn’t all that great for Duckburg’s infrastructure. (“Good news, Mr. McD.!” Launchpad calls. “The beanstalk missed the orphanage!”) As such, the town’s residents aren’t too fond of ole Scrooge. A TV interview is arranged for him to rehabilitate his image, which goes about as well as you’d expect.
This is grumpy, exasperated Scrooge at his best, which means Tennant has all kinds of delightful, curmudgeonly dialogue to work with. I’m going to end this write-up with a quick rundown of a few favorite lines.
· “Some find my scowl very appealing” – It’s how archly he says it, really funny.
· This next line isn’t actually Scrooge’s. As his housekeeper Mrs. Beakley tries to prep him for his interview, she’s not afraid to do for the jugular – “Now, Mr. McDuck, I can’t quite place your accent. Tell me, what part of Ireland are you from?” (Naturally, cue a smash cut to Scrooge delivering the most Scottish of rants!)
· “You can’t trust the word of my sworn enemy whose only pastime is plotting against me!” – This just tickles me. I mean, he’s not wrong!
No comments:
Post a Comment