I'm here a little early this week, because if I don't use this forum to go nuts about this, I don't know what I'll do. It's all over, people. After three seasons and about 60+ episodes or so, DuckTales has come to an end. I fully expected the 90-minute finale to be emotional. I didn't expect it to be one of the best things I'll see all year, filled with wonderful character moments, all loose ends tied, and a newfound incentive to rewatch every episode again through a new lens.
Before going any further...
Yes, there are going to be so many spoilers here. SO many! Without any further delay, let's get into what I loved about the final episode of DuckTales.
The Darkwing crew are all heroes
I am a hardcore Darkwing Duck fan, dating back to the 90s. As I grew up, I realized that the original show didn't get the closure that anybody wanted. I was skeptical when I heard DuckTales was bringing the character back but, man, have they just nailed every single thing about this franchise that they've touched.
Having said that, everyone in the Darkwing sphere gets a big character moment, whether it's Drake being the inspirational figure everyone needs him to be, Fenton continuing to fight on even without the Gizmoduck armor, or Gosalyn going in totally outmatched and just barreling in headfirst anyway because that's who Gosalyn is.
But I won't lie, I nearly teared up for Launchpad. This is a character who in the original 80s DuckTales was portrayed as a bumbling pilot. In the reboot, he was portrayed as... a bumbling pilot, but one who always operated on the idea of what it means to be a hero. This was Launchpad's time to finally be a hero, taking everything he learned from Drake, from Fenton, and even from Gosalyn and getting his shining moment. Launchpad once wore the Gizmoduck suit in the 80s and he didn't know the first thing to do with it. When he donned the armor here, it was all instinct... mostly.
In an episode full of emotional character moments, there were few bigger than Launchpad looking around at a room full of captive characters who have been inspired by him. And they were all led by Drake and Fenton, who never would have grown into their hero roles without Launchpad.
Honorable mention to that aforementioned Gosalyn fight. God bless this show for running with the idea that this character will never back down from overwhelming odds.
The Gargoyles Easter Egg
DuckTales has been all about building a Disney Afternoon universe. Darkwing Duck is a recurring character. TaleSpin's Kit Cloudkicker got his own episode. There have been cameos from the Rescue Rangers. Even Goofy showed up at one point... in an episode referencing Quack Pack! But there's at least one person who was probably going, "If this show loves Disney Afternoon so much, where's the Gargoyles tribute?"
Here's your Gargoyles tribute! We finally get to see the true Manny the Headless Horseman, as the Phantom Blot unleashes the magic in him. And he's... voiced by Keith David, Goliath himself!
I don't have a lot of detail to go into here, but that was a super cool nod to one of the Disney Afternoon's cooler shows. Good on them.
Family means growing apart
I've always been fascinated by Donald's story arc from the beginning. He's a guy who's all adventured-out. He lost everything to adventure. And once everyone moved in with Scrooge, he didn't want to become his old adventurous self because of what it cost him before and what it could cost him now.
Since then, he got his sister back, he fixed his relationship with Scrooge, he's watching his nephews carry the mantle of adventure forward. The fire for adventure was rekindled. Donald was his old self again. But to carry on another major theme, people grow and people evolve. For Donald, he wasn't going to do this forever. Once he met Daisy, it was time to hang up the hat.
Nobody took this harder than Della, because lord knows she just got back from the moon! The idea of Donald leaving her behind is an understandably hard pill to swallow. But the thing to remember for both this show and for life as a whole is, even if your family moves on with their lives, they're still family. They're still a part of your life. They're still the same person. They're just in a different place and that's okay.
Like every other character on this show, Donald is not the same person he was in the pilot. And after everything he went through, the poor guy deserves a happy ending, so good for him.
I will miss Huey, Louie, and the Blue One
If there's one thing you can say about DuckTales, it's that it made Scrooge's nephews individuals. You know who they are now. You can identify them beyond their color scheme and I'll always appreciate that. Huey's hunger for knowledge is what drove him forward, Louie's ability to BS people made him a hoot, and Dewey was the daring one who just wanted to do cool stuff.
Dewey, I will miss you the most. And after a full series of him aspiring to be just like the people he looked up to (Scrooge, his mother, Launchpad, etc.), he finally got to "Dew" things his way. It all built up to Louie telling him, "Forget what everyone else would do. What would YOU do?"
These three grew up so fast, united by their love of adventure. Speaking of which, this show was never just the three of them. There was a fourth member of their kid squad and I guess it's time to talk about THAT moment.
Webby of Clan McDuck
There were very subtle hints about this big reveal throughout Season 3 and even throughout the show, period. And as the 90-minute finale went on, it was clear something was off. When Beakley told Webby about her family, you could smell the fake backstory a mile away. The more secretive Beakley was and the more you saw Webby interact with her clones, the more it was clear something wasn't right.
Then it all made sense and in a way I couldn't have imagined.
As it turns out, back in the day, F.O.W.L. turned out to be pretty impressed with one Scrooge McDuck. So they tried to make their own. They took a Scrooge DNA sample and created a child in a lab. That child turned out to be Webby. Beakley broke her out of the F.O.W.L. lab, went to go live with Scrooge, and raised the child on her own. And yeah, suddenly, Webby being such a reclusive, sheltered child in the pilot makes so much sense. A lot of things about her suddenly make a lot more sense, including her obsession with all things Clan McDuck.
(This is also where I take a moment to declare my continuing love for this show's Easter Eggs. Project 87 named after the year the original DuckTales premiered? Brilliant! And Webby and her clones being codenamed after months of the year? Somebody's knee-deep in Street Fighter lore! I always pictured Webby as the show's Cammy.)
What makes me happiest about this reveal isn't just that Scrooge suddenly has a daughter, it's what she's inherited from him. She's no capitalist warrior, she's not out there to amass a fortune, she's not out there to build a name for herself. She's always been about adventure and that's the one thing she's inherited from Scrooge. It was there all along. And for Webby, who started the show as a sheltered little girl who just wanted to experience the outside world, it's the happiest ending imaginable for her.
Heck, this episode is pretty much happy endings for everyone. (Okay, not so much for the villains.) And it's a happy ending for anybody who grew up with the old DuckTales and had high expectations for the new show. Because this show surpassed the original in almost every way. I'm excited to see what this writing crew has lined up next, because they've proven fully capable of taking something for kids and making it for everyone, including nostalgia-hungry adults. If you haven't watched DuckTales, make sure to catch up with the first two seasons on Disney+. And then get ready for Season 3, which should be dropping over the next month or so. Strap in and enjoy the ride.
