Really fun ensemble episode, which takes a classic premise and explores it in a whacky way. Plenty of comedy and action, copious shenanigans, and a couple lessons as well.
Duckburg is hunkering down for an approaching hurricane. While everyone else readies for the storm, Scrooge notices that Louie seems to be up to something and sends Launchpad to investigate (that was your first mistake.) Louie’s latest get-rich-quick scheme, it turns out, involves a time machine he “borrowed” from Gyro. If he goes back in time and steals lost treasure that was never recovered, there’s no damage to the timeline! Everything’s fine, right? Right??? The caveduck currently running around the mansion would beg to differ.
There are a few things going on here. First, of course, we have Louie and his new business venture: “It’s not a crime if it’s lost to time! Any questions?” His scheme is admittedly fairly thoughtful for an unsupervised kid who’s trying not to disturb time, but since he doesn’t fully understand what he’s doing, it gets away from him pretty quickly. And unsurprisingly, time shenanigans get messy. The “all of time is my oyster!” part of the episode is soon given over to the “oh no, we have to fix my mistakes before anybody realizes it was me!” part.
One of the consequences of Louie’s blundering? The aforementioned caveduck. It just so happens that Huey has been researching them in hopes of writing an entry for the Junior Woodchuck guidebook, and his thrilled reaction to meeting a real-life caveduck soon turns to 1) horror at Dewey and Webby introducing him to anachronistic things and 2) an intense freakout at the caveduck’s behavior not aligning with his research. This plotline is full of terrific, anxious lines from Huey like, “He shouldn’t be exposed to wheels for another 10,000 years!”
The last major thread in this episode is a conflict between Mrs. Beakley and Della. The two have very different approaches to dealing with the kids, and Mrs. Beakley is increasingly concerned about Della’s lax, fun-loving parenting style. At one point, she asks Della, witheringly, “Is this your parenting strategy, or things you read off a bumper sticker?” Both of them are coming at the story from a believable point for their respective character.
Some good Scrooge stuff here today. We get prime cranky/irritated Scrooge content from a couple sources. I get a kick out of watching his nerves shred in real time as Launchpad clumsily attempts to board up a window against the coming hurricane, Scrooge’s eye twitching with each careless swing of the hammer. Later on, I love his aggravated response to Dewey giving him the old “where”/”it’s actually when” time-travel routine.
We also get more of Scrooge being nonchalant in the face of an absolutely bonkers crisis, which often provides some of my favorite line readings from David Tennant. As the results of Louie’s time meddling wreak havoc on the mansion, before the others have discovered the source of the problem, Scrooge asks, “Did anyone touch a cursed artifact or make some kind of improperly worded wish?” Later, he’s placed in a situation that, awesomely, allows him to mutter, “Ninjas! Worse than termites. Cannae ever get them out of the rafters.” Tennant always hits just the right note with these kinds of lines, and they never fail to entertain me.
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