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Bubbeo and Juliet
Between the two supporting characters getting more of a push in the show at this point, Bubba the caveduck is probably the more divisive. His scrawny figure and voice aren’t exactly the best hook for audiences, and his personality mainly involves him causing reckless trouble. It also doesn’t help that the story arc that introduced him was pretty problematic to say the least. In being fair, it’s still best to go into his episodes with an open mind, including this one. It can have some charm and likability, but on the whole isn’t too special and like Bubba himself is problematic with its story directions.
The story features Bubba going to school for the first time, and in his expected primal fashion, he approaches all classes and activities in a destructive inconveniencing manner. In the process, he meets a girl named Julie, and is immediately taken in by her cute looks and likable demeanor. For a while, his attempts to win her over result in more destruction to the world around him and embarrassment to her. It gets somewhat frustrating to watch these attempts go nowhere and make Julie think less of Bubba, but everything is soon cleared up. Julie understands that Bubba was trying to show he likes her, and the two do end up bonding early in the episode. However, the story doesn’t make things too easy for this young couple.
Regarding Julie’s background, she’s the daughter of a family who has just won the lottery and moved in next to Scrooge. At first, the family seems friendly albeit oblivious to how much they’re inconveniencing Scrooge and his mansion staff. Since Scrooge usually lets his emotions get the better of him, it’s believable that he’d act irrational, constantly talking of having the wall between him and the neighbors rebuilt very high. It is jarring when the neighbors, after seeming incurably friendly, suddenly take a bitter turn when Scrooge is upfront with complaints of how they’re inconveniencing him.
The subject of the episode then turns to a feud between neighbors where they’re all irrational, mean, and kind of unlikable, which is hardly ever enjoyable. This also means that Bubba and Julie’s relationship is in jeopardy since their families can’t get along. They try to see each other through events like a costume party, but those attempts backfire badly. In fact, Scrooge and the neighbors double down on pranks and stunts to get back at each other in a manner similar to war. It gets even worse when Scrooge appoints Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby to help him even though they were very supportive of Bubba’s relationship with Julie.
Speaking of which, the young couple decides the only thing they can do to stay together is run away together. By the way, with story beats of love at first sight, meeting at a costume party, and running away together, the ties to the story this episode’s title references are very blatant. Now, it’s kind of dumb for them to run away to a carnival that’s right in Julie’s backyard, defeating the purpose. Even so, it is fitting that Scrooge and the neighbors saving the kids from an out of control roller coaster is enough to break the feud and bring peace. However, the episode seems to go to waste with the neighbors having to leave in the end due to spending so much in the feud. Julie and Bubba promise to keep up their relationship with letters, but since this is never shown in future episodes, there's still no point to this episode's existence.
It’s overall solid and nice by itself, but its story and characters don’t have a strong enough hook to make it stand out much.
C+
The Ranking
1. Allowance Day
2. The Land of Trala La
3.
Bubbeo and Juliet
The next review features Webby get captured by the Beagle Boys' female cousins.
Next time, from the reboot, is "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest."
If you would like to check out other DuckTales reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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