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Spies in
Their Eyes
An episode of this show is especially worth getting excited
about when it features one of the original Disney characters, Donald Duck. Sending him to the navy means he’s unable to
make many major appearances a lot of the time. When he does appear, the episodes seem to become all the more special.
Here, we get some development to Donald’s time in the navy, and it’s the
driving force of the plot.
The opening
scene shows off his timeless and relatable traits of never catching a break as
he’s knocked about a top secret navy submarine on mop duty without even getting
to operate it. This gives a light-hearted
character-driven edge to a usually action-heavy setup of naval target practice.
Then again, his boss, Admiral Grimitz, constantly showing his love of making
things go kablooey already makes this navy feel light-hearted on its own.
Anyway, that submarine connects to larger
matters since Donald and the crew have to keep it top secret from absolutely
everyone while on leave in Singapore. The
only person allowed to know about the submarine is Scrooge since he’s the one
who built it and sold it to the navy.
However, one remark from Huey, Dewey, and Louie about Singapore being
filled with spies turns out to threaten the secret. While heading back, Donald is won over by
Cinnamon Teel, a spy with the power to hypnotize people by convincing them to
look into their eyes. Donald falls for
this ploy and follows Cinnamon’s orders to steel the computer system of the
sub. He does still hold onto some of his usual mannerisms as he struggles to
follow the order to hide it under his hat.
As you could imagine, Donald looks like a traitor to the navy despite
the hypnosis and is busted and threatened to be court-marshalled the moment he’s
out of the trance.
Even if the navy
thinks he’s an all-out traitor, Scrooge and the boys have no such denseness.
They know Donald is far too loyal to put his country at risk and noticing
something off about his eyes in a photo of the crime scene. It goes to show how a lot of hypnosis
episodes could be resolved if people see how weird the victim’s eyes look.
They track Cinnamon Teel to a hideout for
spies, and the nature is felt through everyone offering money to ensure their
secrets aren’t spilled. There are also many random codes meant for other spies,
one of which Scrooge humorously guesses by chance. That code helps to track Cinnamon Teel, and
what’s done with her is a nice play on expectations. When Scrooge confronts her, she’s as villainous
as you’d expect by sending him down a trap door to be attacked by a big body
guard, but she then falls victim to circumstance. She was trusted to get documents revealing
her hypnosis charges that could get her arrested if she got that computer. However, she
gets double-crossed by her chauffer, Victor, who plots to have the sub destroy
the navy base.
When the truth is
revealed, Cinnamon becomes an active player in stopping Victor. She humorously reveals her hypnosis by turning
Admiral Grimitz into a ballerina. Then,
in an exciting climax, it’s Cinnamon’s hypnosis through a periscope on Victor
that finishes the job. All these events make
Cinnamon more than a simple antagonistic spy, although it’s hard to buy that
she faces no charges for her hypnotizing.
Yeah, she shreds the retrieved documents in the end, but there were
still witnesses, so it would make sense for her face some punishment.
Still, her role, an interesting look at the
navy environment, and Donald Duck’s classic charm thrown in for good measure
make this episode a great watch, and that’s no top secret.
A
The Ranking
- Once Upon a Dime
- Duck in the Iron Mask
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck
- Spies in Their Eyes
- Nothing to Fear
- The Uncrashable Hindentanic
- Dime Enough for Luck
- Duck to the Future
- Launchpad’s First Crash
- Jungle Duck
- The Status Seekers
The next DuckTales review is another one heavy on Donald as he gets help from his nephews to make it big in the navy. Also there's a mission featuring the Phantom Blot.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "The House in the Woods" from Hilda.
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