Doofus Drake’s Birthday Party

Ducktales Season 2, Episode 18 Review/Recap

Sorry if I haven’t been posting enough. Ive been busy working on my review for Steven Universe: The Movie, so I had to put everything else on hold. So to make up, I’m doing a duck bomb- every new episode of Ducktales reviewed and recapped all at once. This one’s a family episode that shows off the bonds between parent and child; or parent figure and child. Or in the case of Doofus Drake, the lack of one.

Recap

In an effort to get rich without putting in the effort, Louie teams up with Goldie to pull a con on rich boy Doofus Drake. Posing as Louie’s aunt, they go to his birthday party to make off with the goody bags filled with actual gold and jewels. Turns out all the wealthy in Duckburg have the same idea and brought fake kids.

The party’s whittled down to only two groups: Louie and Goldie, and Mark Beaks and his “son”, Boyd. A son that’s actually a robot that shuts down when it realizes it’s a robot, leaving Louie and Goldie last ones standing. Twist is that the whole thing was an attempt by Doofus to find a replacement for his dead grandma, and Goldie gets picked. Even though every instinct tells him to take his loot and leave, Louie goes back with a reprogrammed Boyd to save the day. Drake’s parents adopt Boyd as their son, give Doofus the grounding of a lifetime, and everyone’s happy. Goldie takes the loot and leaves, though.

Review

While it would be awesome to see the whole “moon invasion” plot move forward, I enjoyed this episode far more. I may be reading too much into this, but it feels like the lesson here is that people don’t have to be related by blood to call each other family.

Case in point, we have Goldie. She and Louie only used each other at first, but by the end of the episode, it’s clear they’ve formed a genuine bond. Goldie may have left Louie without any loot, but the sight of her putting his photo in her wallet next to Scrooge’s shows she actually likes him. It’s a touching moment, even given the circumstances.

The family dynamics continue in the b-plot, as Huey and Della bond over an online game they enjoy. I love Della’s character, and I enjoy seeing her make up for lost time with her sons and help them grow as people. In this case, Della convinces Huey to venture outside the small comfort zone of his in-game farm to battle monsters. Bonus points for the obvious references to Dragon Ball Z that the show’s staff put in. Our generation now rules pop culture, and it is glorious.

I really enjoyed this episode as a whole, and I’d love to see more of Goldie in the future. Doofus Drake, though, is among the type of people that I can’t stand to be around. I hope we don’t see him again anytime soon.

I Give “Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake” a 3.5/5

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KAIO-KEN!