DuckTales Season 3 Episode 7 Review: The Rumble for Ragnarok!

This DUCKTALES review contains spoilers.

This is a beautifully fitting DuckTales episode to air before its hiatus because it sums up one of the best things about the series. It’s just so much so fun and uses that fun to really dig into the characters. As much as I love the more intense episodes of the show I love that it can be such a blast while also letting these characters grow and change.

This episode goes full in on wrestling and they get all the details lovingly right. The heel’s, the faces, the chanting, the booing, the over the top characters, it’s right on the money. Of course Launchpad would be the big fan of wrestling and it pairing him with Huey for announcing makes for a great callback to when they were giving commentary on golf way back in season one. Huey being Huey though can’t quite understand wrestling and, as only a casual observer of the phenomenon myself, I empathized with him.

From the outside wrestling is weird and strange and makes no sense and since Huey is so rules based, the entertainment mixed with sports aspect of wrestling would throw him for a loop. He doubts what he’s doing and wonders if he’s just embarrassing himself. Dewey feels the same way. Dewey, the main focus of this episode, wonders if they’re not cut out for taking over Scrooge’s legacy.

Legacy. The theme of the season. Can these they take over for Scrooge? It isn’t as easy as they thought it might be. They can’t just walk right in, as Dewey does early in the episode, and just expect everything to work out. Same with Huey, who gets bent out of shape when his ready-made puns are worthless.

They have to grow and change. That doesn’t mean completely alter who they are; they just have to try new things. Embrace the situation and just roll with it. Louie delivering this advice is so perfectly in character cause that’s what a schemer does, assess the situation and find the way to make it work to your advantage. Louie’s scheming is now for good!

I love the twist in the episode that Scrooge isn’t the hero or face in the tournament; he’s the heel. He’s intentionally acting like a villain because that’s what works and that’s what’s expected.  He tells Dewey, “doing the right thing is not always easy, or popular.”

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It’s true. Dewey has to set aside his crippling desire for validation and popularity for the sake of the Earth. It’s hard but when he does it he gets something that matters far more than the cheers of strangers. Scrooge says he’s proud of him. That’s what really matters. Not the cheers of boos of randos, but the admiration of those you’re closest to.

Dewey sacrifices the glory of appealing to total strangers for the greater good. Not just of saving the world but simply enjoying himself and getting personal satisfaction from his family. I love DuckTales uses a wrestling episode to get into that. It’s so delightful to watch. A wrestlers beard has muscles. Scrooge having complete faith in Webby to kick everyone’s ass. Beakley wrestling! The 80’s-tastic ending theme! The episode even gives a wonderful side lesson,

“You don’t have to understand something to love it.”

So true. As long as you’re having fun, that’s what matters.

Also, DuckTales keeps topping itself with its animation. Webby’s introduction into the ring especially showed off a lot of character but the moves of the matches were also spectacular. The team clearly knows wrestling or studied up because every frame of these fights has a lot of love infused into it.

DuckTales can’t come back soon enough.

DuckTales Quotes To Make Your Life Better

-“I have numerous science based questions.”

-“Merchandising. Guess Louie knows what Louie is doing today.”

“I watch a lot of wrestling while I fly.”
“Wait, while?”

-“I’ll use the dust of your bones as sweetener in my tea.”