*Episode premise spoilers, which includes multiple season arc spoilers.*
Well, after a lengthy pause to cover season 6 of Big Mouth, Barbie, and season 2 of Good Omens, we’ve finally come to the end of DuckTales’ second season. Even though it took me a while to get through, however, I really enjoyed this season, and the finale takes us out with a bang.
Lunaris, the leader of the moon people, has turned his subjects against Della and whipped them into a frenzy. They now come to Earth with a fleet of ships to get revenge on Della and the other “Earthers.” Scrooge and co. gather all their allies to fight the invasion, but it might not be enough.
Much like the season 1 finale, this is an hour-long episode to pack in all the necessary action, emotions, and jokes. Also? Cameos and continuity references! While the season 1 finale mostly stays focused on the main family (plus Lena and Scrooge-adjacent folks like Launchpad) and gives quick nods to a bunch of other Duckburg residents, the season 2 finale makes space for a ton of characters to contribute meaningfully to the big showdown—everyone from Gyro to Darkwing Duck to Glomgold has a role to play. Part of this is because a big chunk of the main contingent, Della and the kids, are taken off the primary board when Della decides they need to jump in the plane and go off in search of further allies. From there, we get smaller but fun cameos from folks like the living mummies, Djinn, and the gods of Ithaquack.
Plenty of fun stuff here. A few quick favorites:
· When the moon ships land, anews reporter says, “Authorities urge everyone to remain calm.” As she looks down at the crawl below her on the screen, it reads, “EVERYBODY PANIC! AHHH!!!” She sighs and says, “Come on, Carl.”
· As everyone on Team Scrooge debates their plan of action, Gryo declares, “Simple solution: clone army. Why are we even still talking?”
· Fenton’s mom, a police detective, is not at all subtle about the fact that she knows he’s Gizmo Duck, jumping in to shield him during dicey situations and calling him pet names in Spanish. At one point, he simply whines, “Mom, secret identity!”
And yet, for all of the sprawling spectacle, the major characters don’t get lost in the shuffle. The side story with Della and the kids is a good one—not only does it feature some surprise characters, but it deals with some of the trauma Della’s been ignoring ever since she crash-landed on the moon all those years ago, and it brings the recent clash between Della and Louie to a strong resolution.
As for Scrooge, he’s tested pretty close to his limits here. He hits his first roadblock when he discovers that the moon folks have already destroyed all his flashiest defenses—he dramatically tells Gyro to deploy all manner of ominous-sounding weapons, only to learn they’ve already been taken out. But Scrooge is nothing if not tenacious, and he goes all out on rallying the troops. My man dons a kilt and rides into battle on a horse—Scrooge isn’t messing around! David Tennant utters the phrase, “You scurrilous space scoundrel!”, which delights me.
But for all his “smarter than the smarties” confidence, Lunaris manages to evade Scrooge’s plans. He reaches a point where, all but defeated, we see him muttering to himself as he plots out battle formations with salt and pepper shakers. The fight against Lunaris and the moon people eventually takes Scrooge way out of his comfort zone, and I just love how Tennant plays these later scenes. As he carries out the plan, his vocal deliver has an air of, “This might be the only way to save the Earth, but at what cost??”
I’ll hold off a bit on starting the third and final season. The new season of Sex Education came out recently, so I’ll get caught up on that and probably do a quick round with the other new Who Doctors before circling back to Tennant and DuckTales.
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