Review: DuckTales “The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck!”

Overview

Scrooge’s enemies send him to a magical trial called “Karmic Court” and claim to reveal a secret history about Scrooge and prove that he is responsible for making them terrible people. This consequently forces Louie to defend his uncle against their prosecutor and Louie’s most recurring foe, Doofus Drake.



Our Take

Throughout the entire series, Louie has always been a scam-artist of sorts with high ambitions and desires to be as rich and successful as Scrooge. But here, he’s faced with what could be his final battle against a foe who’s been the bane of his existence since Season 1: Doofus Drake. While in the original 80’s cartoon he was a fat dopey Woodchuck scout, In the 2017 Reboot he serves as both a foil and a dark reflection to Louie on how material wealth could ruin a person if left unchecked.

The way the story was structured, kinda gave me flashbacks of a classic Batman: The Animated Series episode called “Trial” where many of Batman’s rogue’s gallery took over Arkham and put Batman on trial as they all supposedly blame him for being the villainous individuals they are which is heavily echoed during the testimony’s proceedings with three of Scrooges most recurring and memorable villains such as Flintheart Glomgold, Ma-Beagle, and Magica De Spell.

For what’s possibly the last Louie-focused episode before the big series finale, this felt like a respectable end for Louie’s character arc. It not only fleshed out Scrooge’s classic villains but also tied-up loose ends to make F.O.W.L. their only antagonists to deal with, along with Louie coming to a unique conclusion by the end of the episode that also gives him proper closure regarding his ugly rivalry with Doofus. If there’s anything meaningful I can take from this, it’s not only the obvious lessons about facing responsibility and holding yourself accountable to past mistakes but sometimes it’s the very foes and obstacles we face and how we handle them that shape and define us into the people we become.