This is a good episode. In addition to the usual hijinks and humor, it brings more serious moments and picks up on an ongoing arc. I’m around halfway through season 1 now, and while I’d say this is a family/kids’ show on the whole, it definitely has a sensibility that can appeal to adults as well. Given the nostalgia factor of the reboot, I’d say that was very intentional.
An ill-timed plane crash brings lands Scrooge, Donald, and the kids on Ithaquack, the lost island of the Greek gods. While Scrooge finds himself on the receiving end of a grudge from Zeus and Donald squirms under the chumminess of a friend from his former life, Webby and Dewey follow a lead that might give them important information about the triplets’ mom.
The riff on Greek mythology is entertaining, from Zeus’s aggravation at being constantly, casually one-upped by Scrooge to Donald’s old friend Storkules. The latter bears a super-heroic, overly-noble characterization, and Donald’s reluctance to pal around with him feels a little like snubbing a heroic Labrador (albeit one who can embrace you with his pecs!) But Donald’s storyline alludes to the arc about Della, the triplets’ mom/his sister, as well. He’s put his old adventuring days behind him, it seems her absence has something to do with that, and Storkules’s anecdotes about their wild exploits bring up painful memories for him.
I wouldn’t have guessed I’d be here in a post talking about Donald Duck’s painful memories, but that’s where we are. While this arc has only appeared in a handful of episodes so far, it’s proving to be surprisingly heartfelt. As Donald tries to put the past behind him, Dewey and Webby go searching for it, but as desperate as Dewey is for any information on his mom, he also begins to dread what he might find. The eminently-practical but socially-inept Webby plays well here off of the determined, shortsighted, and increasingly-sensitive Dewey. She’s got the knowhow to navigate the island in search of the clues they’re after, which Dewey definitely does not—I cracked up at, “Okay, stop assuming I know things. Like, baseline? Assume I know nothing.” But when those clues seem to point toward some less-than-pleasant revelations, she’s puzzled by Dewey’s willful insistence on spinning bad signs in positive directions, which generates a nice source of conflict between them.
While
Dewey, Webby, and Donald are holding down the more serious parts of the plot,
Scrooge is in a more amusing story about his one-sided feud with Zeus. Scrooge
is unimpressed by the king of the gods – I love David Tennant’s drawling
delivery on, “Ugh, leave it to immortals to wind about the good old days” – and
isn’t eager to get into an ego-driven contest with Zeus. Of course, when Zeus
insists upon just that, Scrooge isn’t exactly going to back down, either. This
leads to a fun series of challenges that play with different bits of mythology
and feature Zeus getting ever more incensed. In among the slapdash excitement
is this time-honored bit of advice: “Plug your ears! No good ever came from a
creepy child singing!” Ain’t that the truth, Scrooge?
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