*Episode premise spoilers, which involves a few spoilers from the overall season 3 arc.*
Here we are, folks: the DuckTales series finale. As finales go? It’s honestly kind of a banger. It goes bigger and wilder than either of the previous season finales—and considering that those featured shadow demons, an alien invasion, and Donald Duck as voiced by Don Cheadle, that’s saying something! And yet, it doesn’t have the huge, overarching sense of finality that too many series finales do. When we close on the characters, we can see that their stories together aren’t over. They’ll continue on, it’s just that we won’t be seeing them anymore.
When the Duck family and friends stage a raid on F.O.W.L. headquarters, they don’t find Bradford, the organization’s nefarious villains, or the blueprints to their evil plan. What they do find is something stranger. It’s something deeply personal for Webby, it touches on secrets that have never been revealed, and it’s at the heart of Bradford’s quest to rid the world of magical artifacts.
I’ll try not to get more in-depth on plot stuff than that. Just know that, to paraphrase Stefan from SNL, this super-sized finale has everything. Again, the previous finales pulled out all the stops, but this one packs in as many familiar faces/voices as possible—everyone from old standbys like Lena and Gyro to fun callbacks like the Genie from earlier in the season and the Three Caballeros. The story uses a few different devices to pull this off, in ways that really make sense. The cameos don’t feel shoehorned in, and they don’t overcrowd the episode. Major recurring characters all get their moments, while our main heroes still take pride of place throughout.
I loved basically all of it. Darkwing Duck’s ongoing irritation with Gizmo Duck—I love him shouting, “Focus! No time for showboating!”, while shooting a grappling hook and then doing a backflip. Della spinning out when she learns of Donald’s plans to go off on a sailing adventure with Daisy, which she handles in a supremely Della way. Louie trying to fit in watching the series finale of Ottoman Empire before dealing with Webby doing something incredibly ill-advised—“That’s clearly gonna become a whole thing. Can I please just finish my show first?” Gyro saying “reverse the polarity” on a show starring a former Doctor! It’s all so great!
Within this, there’s also a really lovely story about family. The show excels at this theme anyway, but it’s especially poignant centered around Webby, who’s probably the most ride-or-die of the whole Duck family despite being introduced to it initially as “just” the housekeeper’s granddaughter. In this episode, the show’s use of the word “family” very intentionally encompasses a lot more than blood relations, and it’s all done beautifully. It’s only fitting that Webby says it best here: “Family would do anything to keep you safe and sacrifice everything to love you, no matter what or who you are.”
Before I get to the David Tennant of it all, I want to take a second to shout out the rest of the main cast. Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, and Bobby Moynihan simply are Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and each of the triplets is written and played with such specificity. Webby is a character that I didn’t know I needed in my life, brought to vivid and delightfully-unhinged life by Kate Micucci. This show has given me so much genuine appreciation for Donald Duck, currently voiced by Tony Anselmo. Paget Brewster took Della, a character with a build-up that’s all but impossible to live up to, and makes her work with boundless charm and wild energy. Toks Olagundoye has always been spot-on as Mrs. Beakley, and she turns in a very nice performance here. And finally, kudos to Beck Bennett, because there’s a real moment in the finale where I thought, “Oh my god, am I about to tear up over Launchpad McQuack?”
And as for David Tennant? Spectacular. His Scrooge is hilarious, swashbuckling, deeply caring, and so, so Scottish. For the sake of spoilers, I can’t get too deeply into everything he gets up to in the finale, but he’s excellent leading the charge against their biggest foes ever—by turns stalwartly leaping into battle and sighing in exasperation when directing his crack team becomes like herding cats.
Scrooge is cool in a crisis, taunting the baddie while he’s tied up. He experiences true disasters, threatened with the absolute worst and forced to make an impossible decision. And he fights fiercely to defend those he loves, ready to face whatever odds come at him. There’s a moment near the end where, in just a few simple lines, Tennant injects so much tenderness and feeling. It’s honestly a beautiful scene to watch.
Just as a quick display of Tennant’s range, here are two wildly different lines that he plays to perfection:
· “Beakley, I made tea! I didn’t even reuse the same old tea bag. You can really taste how much it’s costing me.”
· “Adventure is in our blood. It binds our family together, and nothing can tear us apart!”
Love it!
Final thoughts on DuckTales:
Accent Watch
Like I said—so, so Scottish!
Recommend?
In General – 100%. There was no reason this reboot of an afternoon cartoon from the ‘80s had to go this hard. It may take you a handful of episodes to really get into the swing of things, but once you do, it’s fantastic!
David Tennant – Absolutely. He is so good as Scrooge, and this show honestly gives him plenty of room to show off his range as an actor, entirely as a cartoon duck.
Warnings
Plenty of “don’t try this at home,” cartoon violence, probably some scary moments for kids, and thematic elements.
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