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Till
Nephews Do Us Part
Included on this DVD is the Season 1 finale to make this
series suitable for syndication, i.e. the 65th episode. There are more episodes to discuss after this
though. Marking such a milestone, you’d
expect this episode to do something big.
While the main plot does mark huge moments for the featured characters,
a few story decisions honestly don’t make it as grand as it could’ve been.
Scrooge goes to an investor’s office to buy
land in Malaria so he can search for the lost relish, that is to say land in
Malaysia so he can find its lost relics.
There, he meets Millionara Vanderbucks, who agrees to settle a deal while
getting intimate. Scrooge sees something
endearing in Millionara through their money conversations.
If sounding obsessed over money isn’t
suspicious, there’s Millionara’s behavior.
When she arrives at the mansion, she seems overly uptight especially
with disgusted looks to the kids. In
other words, Millionara is a bad person and everyone except Scrooge is aware of
this. Because of this, it’s a big
problem that Scrooge is too dumb to notice.
He’s greedy, but his good morality has always been key to his
character. Falling for Millionara and
being quick to propose to her does no justice for him, and it’s unfortunate
that this is the case to make the plot work.
If that’s not enough, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby discover she plans
to take over Scrooge’s fortune and get rid of the kids and mansion staff after
the wedding. This makes Millionara a
one-dimensional greedy antagonist whose possible depth is a lie. It makes it too easy to not want the marriage
to happen and frustrating that Scrooge easily goes along with her lies.
Since all the other characters agree that
Millionara is no good, the episode’s later direction is pleasing. The boys invite Millionara along on a quest
for the lost relics of Malaysia. In
classic Huey, Dewey, and Louie fashion, they pull off many hilarious pranks in
an attempt to coax her out of wanting to marry Scrooge. My personal favorite is when they try to
scare her as a made up tribe with fake masks, and an actual tribesman
appears. The pranks really stand out
because unlike instances like their classic Disney shorts and a few times in
this show, there’s a legit reason for them here. It’s for the greater benefit of themselves
and their friends.
Unfortunately, the
payoff puts all these pranks to waste. As
Millionara complains about the creatures and tribes, Scrooge is quick to find
that the names don’t exist and uncover the boys. For how resourceful they are, it’s
disappointing that they didn’t use real names for the pranks. It also begs the question why they don’t just
expose Millionara with what they heard right there. My best guess is so there could be a big
gathering of the main cast with cameos of nearly all the past one-off
characters for Scrooge’s wedding. That
at least makes this syndication marking episode something special. Scrooge also sees sense when at the last
minute. He deduces that Millionara only wants to marry him for his money and
calls the wedding off. This is capped off by a crazy ending where Scrooge is
chased away by his jealous old crush, Glittering Goldie suddenly appearing out
of the wedding cake to chase Scrooge.
In
all, while the episode is a little weak in parts of the story and characters,
it impresses significantly in areas and builds up to a fitting end scene for
the first season. It’s not the best way
to celebrate reaching the big 65, but it still feels like something special.
B+
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
- Ducky Horror Picture Show
- All Ducks on Deck
- Till Nephews Do Us Part
- The Status Seekers
The next DuckTales review is on the start of the "Time is Money" arc where we meet Bubba the caveduck.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews from Hey Arnold, it's "Big Gino" and "Jamie O in Love."
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