DuckTales Season 2 Episode 21 Review: Timephoon!

This DuckTales review contains spoilers.

DuckTales Season 2 Episode 21

DuckTales. The only show that can include a cave duck jamming out on a keytar while wearing sunglasses AND a lesson in taking responsibility. ‘Timephoon’ uses its central premise of a time traveling tub gone wrong to highlight Della’s still shaky place in the family incredibly well.

Everyone is of course happy Della’s back, none more than she. She had tried for so long to get back to her kids and while she’s got a ton of love for them it’s not as if she learned any parenting skills up on the moon. We’ve seen in recent episodes that Della’s thirst for adventure doesn’t exactly include safety. She throws caution to the wind and that extends to her parenting. Even as the storm approaches in this episode she’s hands off, despite Beakley’s warnings. 

Since Della’s returned we’ve seen her get one on one time with all of the kids and DuckTales has done a great job showing how she bounces off them.  She most easily gets along with Dewey, his self centered attitude a pretty good compliment for her spunk. Huey was tougher to deal with but his methodical approach to things eventually caught up to her ways. Webby wanted to be just like (and better!) than her, so that was no problem.

Louie though was the most challenging. On the surface he’s an easy kid to deal with, since he doesn’t like doing much of anything. He’s lazy, which Della shouldn’t like, but she’s too hands off to really call this out. Being out of her kids lives for so long might mean she’s afraid of rocking the boat. As she tells Beakley in this episode, just let the kids be kids.

That doesn’t work. Without proper supervision Louie ends up nearly destroying time. DuckTales often engages in deep lessons about family but it never stops the fun train. The running joke of Huey’s inability to accept Bubba doesn’t match reordered history was great. Bubba himself was fun, although sadly he didn’t get a nice song and dance number. Even as the episode escalated in lunacy, the central theme was never lost.

Della sees exactly what her inaction caused and has to own up to it. In a clever twist, DuckTales makes you think everything will be solved with a standard hug. Not here. Della breaks this up and scolds Louie for not thinking about the consequences of his actions. She’s trying to teach him a lesson, sure, but she’s also learning it herself. In his mistakes she sees her own failures. Louie doesn’t take this lying down but Della doesn’t give in. She grounds him, leading to some resentment I’m sure will carry over until the end of the season.

‘Timephoon’ begins a deeper dive into how Della’s arrival has changed the family dynamics that seemed to be in place by the end of season one. While everything seemed fine there, rarely does a status quo like that exist in life. There’s always new challenges and obstacles, whether they’re out of our control or of our own making. Seeing how the family deals with them makes for wonderful television. 

Also, ‘Timephoon’ included a callback to one of best jokes DuckTales has ever done.  When people from the past start to appear en masse in the mansion, one of them gets locked in the chimney thanks to a Santa Trap. Scrooge’s hatred of Santa knows no bounds.

DuckTales Quotes To Make Your Life Better 

 – “It’s not a crime if it’s lost to time.”

– “He doesn’t understand your funky fresh ways!”

– “HE is offensive to the field of anthropology!”

– “Come here, you historical abomination!”

– “What am I complaining about? This is awesome! Go, you freak of history!”

Keep us with all our DuckTales season 2 news and reviews here!

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