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

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Other Doctor Lives: DuckTales: Season 3, Episode 5 – “Louie’s Eleven!” (2020)

More genre play. This time around, we’re doing a big heist movie homage. It’s light on Scrooge, but this is a great episode.

The Three Caballeros are trying to raise money to go on tour, but they’re not having any luck with investors. Louie has a better idea for them to make it big: crash the exclusive annual It Gala and get themselves on tastemaker Emma Glamour’s prestigious It List. He assembles a crack team of experts with all the skills they need to infiltrate the gala.

The episode title is “Louie’s Eleven!”, but the It Gala setting means the story resonates even more strongly with Ocean’s Eight. Bebe Neuwirth is a hoot as the snooty Emma Glamour, and we get our first appearance in the series from Daisy Duck, coming on the scene as Glamour’s overworked assistant. Naturally, Donald is smitten at first sight.

We get plenty of hallmarks of a classic heist movie here. I like the recurring motif of checking on the board that details Louie’s complex scheme, bringing in his various experts at different stages of the game. We get Gyro supplying the tech and Webby doing wire work, and I like that Huey is brought in as “the forger” to make their fake invitations to the gala—“Ha! And you said calligraphy camp was a waste of time!” We also get the delightful line, “Yipee-Ki-Yay, Mr. Falcon!”

In among all the fun heist details, the episode also features a more personal story between Louie and Dewey. It’s Louie’s meticulously planned scheme, but Dewey is an enormous fan of the It List and insists his expertise will be needed. But to say their methods are at odds are putting it mildly—Louie is all about the careful plotting, while Dewey improvises with his gut. When it looks like Dewey might be out because the head of security is someone who will recognize him, he cries, “You need me, this is the Deweyest party in town! Ugh, why was I cursed to be so flashy and unforgettable?” The conflict between the two brothers is good, with Dewey eager to help and Louie trying to “manage” him by keeping him out of the way.

Scrooge only makes a brief appearance at the start of the episode, as one of the rich folks the Three Caballeros are approaching about making an investment. David Tennant delivers in his short scene—I love how he shifts on a dime from polite to aggravated on, “Sorry to interrupt, but why are you in my bathroom?!?

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