A Little TLC(w): The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Season 1, Episode 12 (1986)

*Episode premise spoilers, as well as some relevant spoilers for earlier episodes.*

Well, it’s a good thing that I took a break from A Little TLC(w) to get caught up on The Book of Rannells stuff, because Tony Leung Chiu-wai doesn’t appear in The New Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre until episode 12. IMDb entries for Hong Kong shows from the ‘80s don’t always have the most complete information, so I started the series flying blind. Leung was on the cover of the DVD, so I had to assume he was going to show up sometime, but I was surprised at how long it took. Let’s just say a lot of plot had to happen before he could make his entrance.

Before I get into this episode, I’ll give a brief overview on the show itself. The Dragon Sabre is a mythical sword of immense power, complete with its own prophecy about the person who wields it. At the start of the series, numerous martial arts sects clash over possession of it before the sword is ultimately lost. Xie Xun, the last warrior to claim the sword, is shipwrecked and ends up on a remote island with Fifth Brother of the honorable Wudang Sect and Yin Susu of the unscrupulous Heavenly Eagle Sect. The trio spends ten years on the island, during which time Fifth Brother and Susu have a son, Wuji. Eventually, the young family manages to return home while Xie Xun choses to remain on the island, but their return is immediately dogged by members of various sects demanding to know the whereabouts of Xie Xun—some seek him out over old grudges, but many are still after the Dragon Sabre.

There are old side plots that I’ll bring up as needed, but for now, those are the basics. In this episode, Master Zhang of the Wudang Sect journeys with young Wuji in search of healing for a severe poisoning he received in the previous episode. As I said, everyone is looking for Xie Xun and the Dragon Sabre, and that contributed to some devastating effects, including Wuji being poisoned and the tragic loss of both his parents. On their travels, Master Zhang saves a disciple of Demon Sect, who in turn offers to bring Wuji to a renowned doctor. But the healer is against treating anyone from Wudang.

Okay, so this is a lot of information thrown at you to start out with. The first eleven episodes cover more than ten years of ground, and this is a show with a ton of characters and plenty of interconnecting relationships. It can take a little time to sort out who’s who, which sects get along and which are enemies, but by now I can keep track of most of the major players so far.

Even though Master Zhang saves the Demon Sect disciple willingly enough, there is still a ton of animosity between the two factions, to the point where Zhang warns the disciple, “If Wuji becomes involved in Demon Sect, I’d rather see him killed by the poison.” And when the disciple brings Wuji to the doctor, this dude is totally prepared to let a literal child die in front of him because he’s affiliated with Wudang. Let’s face it, Wuji’s had a hard time of it—after spending most of his life on a deserted island and only knowing three other people, life back among society has been a near constant exercise in watching people hate and kill each other over reasons that have nothing to do with him.

Now, spoiler alert, the doctor does eventually treat Wuji, for his own reasons. He has to, because this episode ends with a time jump that reveals that the older version of Wuji is played by Leung! We get one solitary shot of him, with no dialogue, so there’s really nothing to say about him yet, but I’m glad that he’s finally appeared on the scene.

First impressions:

Recommend?

In General – Maybe, if you’re into martial arts sagas. There’s lots of fighting, lots of discussion of different styles/philosophies of kung fu, and lots of inter-sect politics. Some of the characters are pretty engaging.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Much too early to say. Again, he’s only been onscreen for a few seconds so far.

Warnings

Violence (including allusions to rape,) sensuality, drinking, thematic elements, and a few disabled characters played by nondisabled actors.

Favorite Characters: The Swede (Our Flag Means Death)

*Swede-related spoilers.*

It won’t be long before I run out of characters from Our Flag Means Death to talk about! When I get to that point, I’ll probably move onto other topics for a while—my hyperfixation brain has been glomming onto other things lately—but I want to finish covering the major cast first! While the Swede has a smaller role on the show, he can still be a lot of fun.

As a member of the crew, Swede doesn’t get a ton of focus in season 1, but he is featured prominently in a couple plots. First, when the crew is workshopping ideas for putting on a “fuckery” for a Dutch merchant ship, other folks offer up suggestions of scary things to do. The Swede, meanwhile, says, “I’ve always wanted to sing.” When he gets pushback on it, he mumbles, “Well, maybe it doesn’t always have to be scary.” But he does get to sing during the fuckery, and it’s both beautiful and scary. His solo leads into Stede’s “big finale,” with his siren song summoning the Kraken from the deep. Afterwards, Ed even compliments him on his beautiful voice—this is a big deal for him, because the Swede isn’t someone who gets to make too many valuable contributions.

Case in point, his other main plot in season 1? After the Revenge runs out of oranges, he’s the one who gets scurvy. This is used to kick off the trip to St. Augustine and explore Jim’s past, but the Swede’s predicament is compelling enough to get nearly everyone to agree with Roach’s insistence on getting more oranges. The Swede himself is distressed to learn that “the teeth don’t go back in” once they’ve fallen out.

Even though the Swede is in far fewer episodes in season 2, he actually gets a little more focus, which is cool for him. At first, it feels like an entertaining gag when he’s the one Spanish Jackie is attracted to, and I love Roach gleefully assuring her, “He’s single!” as everybody pushes the Swede forward. Jackie’s interest in him is what secures the rest of the crew jobs at her bar while they try to figure out their next steps.

But even if this story begins with the Swede as the newest eye candy for Spanish Jackie, it turns into a pretty nice story for him. He and Jackie are both into each other, and he’s happy about becoming her newest husband. Even betraying her to help out Stede and co. isn’t enough to come between them.

The next time we see the Swede, he’s had a major glow-up under Spanish Jackie’s influence, prompting Lucius to exclaim, “Is it just me, or did the Swede get hot?” Even on a ragtag ship full of misfits, the Swede was often a bit of a joke, so it’s lovely to see him find his best self in season 2, growing and getting a new look without needing to change who he fundamentally is.

To close, here are a few fun line deliveries from Nat Faxon!

·        His bashful reaction when Ed compliments his singing – “Me? Oh, come on. Don’t tease me.”

·        When Jackie threatens to sic all 20 of her husbands on Stede and the crew – “I know that guy! We had breakfast together.”

·        When we see that the Swede’s turn performing the “husbandly duties” means giving Jackie a massage – “Your back is really tight. Like, super tight!”

Other Doctor Lives: DuckTales: Season 3, Episode 22 – “The Last Adventure!” (2021)

*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.