DuckTales Season 2 Episode 14 Review: Friendship Hates Magic!

This DuckTales review contains spoilers.

DuckTales Season 2 Episode 14

It’s been a long time but we’re finally back to the Lena plot! The stand out arc of the first season of DuckTales, when we last saw Lena she managed to free herself from Magica and attach herself to Webby. It’s a shame we haven’t seen her until now but we do learn that she’s been keeping watch over Webby this whole time.

That’s heartbreaking! Just picture it, Webby is off having adventures or bonding with the family and Lena is just quietly there. Happy for her friend but still so far apart. With that time though Lena grew closer to Webby in unexpected ways. While of course Webby had the family to lean on she never managed to find another friend. That made Lena feel important. Sure, Webby didn’t know she was there but maybe she’d be able to contact her someday!

That was enough for Lena. As with other episodes featuring the character, there’s a lot to read into here. Lena seemed perfectly content with her life as Webby’s unseen best friend. It was certainly preferable to having Magica as her shadow. Think about what that says about Lena’s life though. She’s used to such horrific treatment that being an UNSEEN best friend is perfectly fine with her.

There’s a lot of abuse coding with Lena and this episodes adds more credence to it. While Magica was, seemingly, never downright physically abusive the use of magic on Lena is a perfect stand in for it. It’s a great to deal with the subject and all the emotions that come with it in a safe way for kids.

When her friendship with Webby is threatened, Lena feels personally attacked. The one good thing in her life is at stake so she reads everything Violet does as evil. Not just bad, but evil. While on the surface it’s about her friendship? Deep down that feeling of being attacked is really her beating up on herself. She compares everything Violet does to what she did to Webby in the past.

Lena is confronting her own demons and, in a delightfully literal fashion, has to exorcise them. At first they appear as Magica but they quickly reform into her own image. While Magica is the one who hurt her, it’s up to Lena to deal with it. It’s not fair but it has to be done. Big credit to the music and all the chanting in this episode, which lent it a perfectly creepy atmosphere.

Lena can’t do it on her own and she can’t rely on Webby. She has to trust a stranger. The girl she thought was just as evil as she used to be. It’s a beautifully done moment of Lena taking one step forward in learning to deal with all the abuse she suffered by putting her trust in someone new.

By doing that she’s able to exorcise the demons of her fears and anxieties and free not only Webby but also herself. She learns she can’t hold onto Webby. She can’t rely on Webby the same way Magica “relied” on her. She has to let go of that jealously and trust that Webby will be her best friend even if she has another best friend.

Lena’s journey continues to be the most powerful and stirring of all the DuckTales characters. Now that she’s back in the real world I wonder how much she’ll be a part of the series. She doesn’t have anywhere to go, right? Will she stay with Webby? What will everyone else think?

Webby was of course wonderful throughout, barely able to contain her weirdness but learning that you should just be yourself. The Beakley/Launchpad B plot didn’t get much time but used every second effectively. Launchpad always delivers the comedy but seeing Beakley get in on his super fan antics was a treat. With the upcoming Darkwing Duck episode this was the perfect time to bring that element of the series back. Plus we learn that Launchpad keeps a Darkwing Duck VHS tape in his jacket at all times. Bless him.

DuckTales Quotes To Make Your Life Better

– “Mmm, the library. I love the smell of learning in the morning!”

– “That is the sweetest non creepiest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

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