*A few spoilers.*
My love of a good penultimate episode is well-documented, and this episode is surprisingly penultimate. I guess it’s just reflective how this series has defied my preconceived notions of how story-driven a nostalgic kids-show reboot would be, and how much it leans into the strong emotions of the character dynamics. Color me impressed!
On their latest adventure, Scrooge, Launchpad, and the kids are accompanied by Mrs. Beakley, who’s appalled at the poor condition of Scrooge’s plane and Launchpad’s shoddy flying skills. Naturally, while Scrooge tries to convince her that his expeditions never endanger the children, everything goes wrong in all sorts of dangerous ways. This coincides with Webby and the boys trying to piece together another part of the mystery involving the triplets’ mom. Both stories collide in just about the worst way possible.
This episode gets heavy. Whether it’s Scrooge’s increasing urgency to prove himself to Mrs. Beakley, the triplets’ drive to learn what happened to their mom, the immediate danger of their situation, or the revelations that come out about the mystery, the stakes are high for everyone. Disagreements or foolhardy actions that have been resolved happily in previous episodes come to a head here. Everyone’s hurting in different ways, and some of them hurt each other as a result. Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to the season finale.
But for all the conflict and drama, I don’t want to suggest that this episode is grim from start to finish. After all, if we started in the depths, how much lower could we go? As such, we get some good humor too. I love this exchange following Huey’s claim that the Third Law of Motion is from the Junior Woodchuck guidebook: “I thought that was Newton.” “Where do you think he got it from?” “Science?” And the kids’ transparently-obvious “innocent” routine as they’re sneaking around trying to uncover the mystery is too funny, especially Webby saying, “Inconspicuous whistling…. Just a casual whistle,” instead of, you know, actually whistling.
It’s a strong episode for everyone and that includes Scrooge. David Tennant continues to have a ball with the show’s kooky mythology—their newest expedition involves seeing an artifact from “Netherworld War II”—and his delivery is excellent throughout. I always enjoy Scrooge’s cranky nonchalance in response to stuff that’s a big deal, such as when he snaps, “Quit your havering. It’s just a teeny 10-thousand-meter speedbump.” But he has good dramatic material to work with too, and his performance, combined with the animation, is really, really effective.
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