Another super fun episode. This season has been off to a great start, plus we’ve been getting more ensemble stories—some characters might be more prominent than others, but everyone gets something to do. In this episode, we have a Louie-Webby team-up, which always makes for an interesting combo.
In the season premiere, Scrooge and co. didn’t find Isabella Finch’s hidden treasure, but they did find her journal, which is basically a bucket list of mystical adventures. Today, they’re after the eponymous lost harp of Mervana, a magical truth-telling harp that comes from a society of merfolk in a sunken city. Louie is down on the whole adventure, sure that it’s yet another that will lead to peril and disaster, while the mermaid-obsessed Webby urges him to have a more positive outlook.
This is just so much fun from start to finish. I love basically every detail of this story, from Louie keeping “a running tally of the number of times one of us has been offered as a sacrifice” (cue Dewey: “Dewey’s on top!”) to Della’s intense revulsion towards anything fishy. Oh, and did I mention that the lost harp itself is voiced by Retta (a.k.a. Donna from Parks and Rec?) I also like that the episode takes the city’s name, Mervana, to its logical conclusion, giving us hippie-dippie mermaids who swim around talking about inner peace and harmony.
As I said, the main “meat” of the story comes from Webby’s optimism vs. Louie’s cynicism. We’ve seen this clash from them before, arguing over whether Glomgold really has amnesia, but what makes this reprise especially interesting is the addition of Mrs. Beakley. While she’s a cynic like Louie, she’s also determined not to spoil Webby’s sunshiny worldview, so that makes for a neat dynamic. And just in general, Louie and Webby have such opposing personalities that it's always entertaining to put them in a plot together. I get kick out of the two of them running for their lives—Louie shouts, “I told you this was a trap!”, and Webby, still hoping it’s just a misunderstanding, clarifies, “No, no, no. This is a chase, not a trap.”
As for Scrooge, he’s also a ton of fun in this episode. It’s a little reminiscent of the season premiere, in that he starts out really excited about the adventure but quickly sours when it turns out differently than he expected. Beginning with the excited part, Huey briefs the rest of the family on their mission and Scrooge purports to hang back, saying that it’s Huey’s adventure and he gets to take the lead. But then he just can’t contain himself and starts tag-teaming Huey’s exposition—the two go back and forth for a bit before they end in unison, laughing and hugging as they jump up and down together. It is so cute!
But once he realizes that the mermaids are touchy-feely types who “give up all material possessions to live in peaceful harmony under the sea,” Scrooge changes his tune. He scoffs at the idea that life in Mervana is free from suffering, saying, “Nonsense, suffering builds character!” And when the mermaids go to prepare a drum circle for their guests, he flatly states, “I hate this.”
David Tennant does a great job with both aspects of Scrooge here, both the elated side and the cranky one. His delivery is spot on throughout, and we get an extra laugh from his transparent attempts to pretend he’s on board and has achieved enlightenment. It’s so blame funny—10/10, no notes!
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