DuckTales Episode 15 Review: The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!

This DuckTales review contains spoilers.

DuckTales Episode 15

It’s amazing to think it’s been fifteen episodes into the new DuckTales and we’re only now getting a 100% Scrooge focus episode. Sure he’s had some time to shine (especially in The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest) but this is the first time a whole episode been from his POV.

It paints a fascinating picture of the man, especially in the big emotional beat after the flashback when Goldie gets out of the ice. Scrooge remembers exactly why he fell in love her and why he also had to break up with her.

“You loved gold more than you loved me.” – Scrooge“And that’s why you loved me.” – Goldie

Those two lines speak so much to Scrooge’s character. Scrooge loves wealth. He was a poor boy who fought tooth and nail (and skewers) to obtain his fortune. He loves money and he loved that Goldie needed it as much as he did. 

Somewhere along the way though he realized that wasn’t enough. It got him to fall in love with Goldie but deep down perhaps Scrooge wanted something more. He wanted someone who loved him more than gold. Who treasured him more than well, any treasure.

It’s a dichotomy Scrooge still hasn’t quite addressed even this late into his life. He can’t separate his material wants from his emotional needs. He can’t put one before the other. He’s entranced by Goldie because she reminds him so much of himself but he’s repelled for the same reasons.

I wonder if this hints at a larger character arc for Scrooge in the coming DuckTales seasons (this show should run for at least as long as Supernatural). Digging into those emotional needs and learning to put them before his material wants could sustain this show for quite awhile, especially with how stubborn Scrooge is in just about every area of his life. 

Maybe the presence of the nephews is the catalyst for that change. Even if they often annoy him, Scrooge’s growing affection for these kids will ultimately make him a better person. It’ll help him work through that dichotomy.

You know it’s an amazing episode of DuckTales, and television in general, when I can look that deeply at a character. All of Scrooge’s plot was of course enhanced by Goldie, played by the perfectly cast Allison Janney. The moment she uttered, “not bad, but let the lady lead” I was in love with this character. Her chemistry with Scrooge was electric, aided once again by the top-notch animation team.

As I mentioned last week, it’s easy to write “sparks fly” but it’s another to make the audience truly believe these two anthropomorphic ducks both hate and love each other at the same time. The dance sequence alone was beautifully done but all the adventuring sequences were exhilarating.

Every moment of those two going through the caves made me so thankful we have DuckTales in our lives. In cartoons these days pure adventure series are becoming a rarity. DuckTales often balances its adventure with a lot of comedy but it was nice for this outing to lean more into the derring-dos. 

It of course gives us a better idea of what Scrooge’s early years must have been like but it again keeps the DuckTales format fresh. It’s not limited to one kind of story and it doesn’t always need to be filled with zinger lines (although this episode had many.)

Sometimes we can just go an adventure and dig really deep into what makes our characters tick.

And also have Glomgold be flawless, like always. I can never get enough of that guy.

DuckTales Quotes To Make Your Life Better

 – “Aren’t you rich, why do you need free food?”

– “Somebody dance with me! I need to make her jealous.” 

– “Please, stop flirting in front of the children.” 

– “Wait, are those my teriyaki skewers?”

– “I get it, I make you sweat. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

– “I remember it like it was yesterday.”“It was yesterday!”

-“Hey, I have a pickaxe to!”

Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter!