"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Other Doctor Lives: DuckTales: Season 2, Episode 5 – “Storkules in Duckburg!” (2018)

Another Louie-centric episode. I came away from season 1 understanding him, but I definitely felt like I knew Dewey, Huey, and Webby better, so it’s been nice to get some more focus on Louie this season. However, so far season 2 feels pretty all-or-nothing with the main cast, highlighting a few characters an episode with the others relegated to minor roles (or not appearing at all.) After getting an episode last week that nicely utilized the main cast, I’m hoping for more ensemble stuff to come.

Louie is ready to follow in Scrooge’s footsteps and start his own business that’ll make him a mint. The only problem? He has yet to figure out what said business will actually do. However, he starts seeing dollar signs when a gaggle of Greek harpies descend on Duckburg, and he has the perfect first employee for his new monster-hunting enterprise: Donald’s old pal Storkules, who’s bunking on the house boat with Donald after a falling-out with Zeus.

Louie’s wheeling and dealing is on full display here. I love his investors’ pitch to Scrooge, which blatantly telegraphs the fact that he hasn’t figured out what his business is going to be yet. As he shouts, “Suits! Ties! Charts! Numbers! Yachts! Jet ski! You??”, I’m reminded of the fantastic “Jabberywocky” presentation from Better Off Ted. I also get a kick out of his transparent manipulations of his brothers and Webby to bring them on board. For instance, he enlists Huey’s help by commenting, “Yeah, gonna need a lot of charts. And checklists. Plus maybe checklists for those charts.” But in amongst the comedy, we see the ways that his business panache is leading him toward trouble, too. For most of the characters on the show, their most prominent trait can be either a blessing or a curse depending on the situation, and I appreciate those portrayals.

It’s fun to see Storkules from the Ithaquack episode return. His noble-hero routine is still amusing and pairs well with Louie’s cynicism. My favorite part of his appearance, though, is how much he adores Donald and how Donald begrudgingly puts up with this adoration. The odd-couple roommates bit is enjoyable, and I laughed out loud that one of Storkules’s moving boxes is labeled “Donald Fan Art.”

Not much from David Tennant this time around. Scrooge basically bookends the episode, sitting through Louie’s investors’ pitch at the start and circling back around to see how he did at the end. A couple good bits within his brief time—I get a kick out of him bursting into hysterics when he realizes just how much seed money Louie is after (Scrooge had pulled a quarter out of his change purse, bless him.) And I’m always here for the supreme Scottishness of Tennant saying “cannae.”

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