The show’s sense of adventure leads us to the Wild West this
time around and gives us an enjoyable romp through Texas with enough memorable
elements to make what happens a greatly-thought out episode. The occurrence that gets the plot going
relate a lot more to the Wild West than one might expect. It turns out that Scrooge’s oil company has
run dry, leaving everything as big as his business vehicles and as small as
Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s model planes immobile and him without any means of
work. The wells that mine Scrooge’s oil
are situated in Texas, just as most oil wells in real life are, so when he and
the boys head there to find the source of the oil depletion, that’s when the
story opens itself up for the perfect Wild Western feel. On Scrooge’s end, when he finds out exactly
how run dry his oil wells really are, he winds up betting his entire fortune
against another wealthy landowner, JR Mooey, in a cowboy contest. All we see of the contest is horseback riding
and gun slinging, but while it’s not much, it’s enough to emulate the feel of
cowboys. One thing that’s worth noting
is that even though JR Mooey gets by through unfair advantages, it’s still seen
as he’s a better cowboy than Scrooge making for a dramatic point of contention
with Scrooge having lost it all. That’s
enough to add onto the tension already built up from another plot point of the
episode. It features Huey, Dewey, and
Louie, as the mischievous little boys they’ve been known to be for decades,
decide to investigate a ghost town everyone says is haunted and should be
avoided. From there, they all further
show their appeal as their mischievous ways uncover a lot of useful information
such as the truth about the ghost of Jesse Jones and a ghost buffalo haunting
the town as well as whole shipments of Scrooge’s missing oil. Everything that happens and every new bit of
information obtained leads to a solid climax where Scrooge and the boys venture
back to the ghost town to face the supposed ghost. While there are some fun and enticing moments
like Scrooge being sent on the run by the supposed ghost’s guns and everyone
getting locked in prison with no apparent way out, there are some things you
have to question throughout the whole sequence.
Given that the ghost is handy with guns and challenges Scrooge to a gun
fight, that should be a major clue to who the ghost really is since it’s just
like a performer Huey, Dewey, and Louie watched earlier called Tex Doggie. Surely given how well they could solve
mysteries several times before, they’d see some connection. Also, while the boys did befriend the white
buffalo earlier, his appearance to break them and Scrooge out of jail feels a
little too convenient. Lastly, when the ghost does turn out to be Tex who’s
captured by our heroes, Scrooge just gets his fortune back when JR Mooey says
he’s impressed by how good of a cowboy he turned out to be after all. It’s nice that Scrooge got his wealth back,
but it’s really hard to believe, anticlimactic, and weakly reasoned for it to
happen because JR Mooey was impressed by him, especially since he outright said
he wanted to humiliate Scrooge earlier.
Even with those little flaws, this episode is still a strong enough Western
adventure in many levels. 9/10
The Ranking:
1. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 5: Too Much of a Gold Thing
2. Catch as Cash Can Part 2: A Whale of a Bad Time
3. Catch as Cash Can Part 1: A Drain on the Economy
4. Back to the Klondike
5. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2: Wronguay in Ronguay
6. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck
7. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 1: Don’t Give up the Ship
8. Catch as Cash Can Part 4: Working for Scales
9. Ducks of the West
10. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 3: Three Ducks of the Condor
11. Merit-Time Adventure
12. Catch as Cash Can Part 3: Aqua Ducks
13. Scrooge’s Pet
14. Horse Scents
15. The Golden Fleecing
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode which is a good old-fashioned Beagle Boys scheme when everyone becomes "Time Teasers."
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