"DuckTales" Reboot, Year Two

Spoilers ahead.

Well, I went and binged the second season, and I'm glad that I did. The second season of the "DuckTales" reboot is right up there with the first, though not quite as intense or emotional. This year is all about getting to know Della Duck (Paget Brewster), who has been stranded on the moon for a decade, and finally figures out a way to get back to Earth. And underscoring how the new "DuckTales" takes its material much more seriously than the '87 series, there's a lot of time spent on Della's inexperience and growing pains as a parent. The other big throughline is Louie's development as a wits-wielding "sharpie" as he tries to follow in Scrooge's footsteps, and gets himself thoroughly tangled up in Scrooge and Glomgold's (Keith Ferguson) latest contest to be the richest duck in the world. The show seems to be spotlighting one of the kids every season.

And because "DuckTales" '17 loves its references and callbacks to the long and storied Duck/McDuck history, the show devotes many episodes to other familiar faces. Season two introduces us to Cousin Fethry (Tom Kenny) from the comics, reunites Donald with his "Three Caballeros" buddies Jose Carioca and Panchito (Bernardo de Paula and Arturo Del Puerto), and even finds ways to get Ludwig Von Drake (Corey Burton) and Bubba the caveduck (Dee Bradley Baker) in on the fun. The Christmas episode is an absolute smorgasbord of references, including the 1983 "Mickey's Christmas Carol" featurette where many of us first saw the animated Scrooge McDuck, the 1949 Carl Barks story "Lost in the Andes," and the 1938 Donald Duck short "Donald's Nephews," which contains the first mention of "Dumbella" Duck. Oh, and we get to see a teenage Donald Duck as a wannabe '90s grunge rocker. Seriously.

As much as I'm enjoying the show, I'm also starting to see some of the downsides to the never-ending expansion of the "DuckTales" universe. There are so many, many characters that there really isn't the room to give everyone their due. Sure, the guest stars like Storkules (Chris Diamantopoulos) are only around for an episode or two, but I sure could have used more time with Lena and Webby's new friend Violet (Libe Barer). Or with Launchpad and Darkwing Duck. Or with Gyro and Fenton and Gandra Dee (Jameela Jamil). Conversely, I've never been a big fan of the primary "DuckTales" villains, namely Glomgold and the Beagle Boys. Glomgold gets a lot of screentime this year, and he's a big improvement on the previous versions of the character, but he's still the kind of single minded dum-dum who ends up being at the center of a lot of filler. He's great for comedy in small doses, but often outstays his welcome. Ditto Ma Beagle (Margo Martindale) and her brood of barely differentiated hooligans. And then there's Manny the headless man-horse…. horse-man?

As a result, the second season of "DuckTales" has a lot of highs and lows. It loses a lot of the sense of ongoing mystery and familial tension that shored up some of the weaker installments in the first season. Instead, there are a lot of more episodes that feel very disconnected and self-contained, and not always for the best. The Cousin Fethry episode, for instance, is one of the more tedious adventures because it just amounts to Huey, Dewey, and Launchpad bumming around an underwater science outpost with a few predictable monster hijinks. The whole thing is based on a misunderstanding, and Huey and Dewey learn some very half-hearted lessons (don't be greedy, don't be afraid of becoming a nerd). The only saving grace is that the show figures out a way to tie this encounter into the season finale in a nice way.

On the other hand, you do get some very high highs, like the wonderful characterization of Della as a spitfire adventurer who desperately wants to make up for her mistakes and still has a lot of faults. She gets individual episodes with each of the kids, a few skirmishes with Scrooge and Beakley, a wildly funny episode with Launchpad, and a great reunion with Donald. This is how you introduce a new character into your main cast and get everyone to love her. It's actually hard to think of Donald without his history with Della now.

And it'll be really interesting going into next season, because another of the Duck universe's big characters is finally showing up - Daisy Duck.
---