Ducktales, Season Three, Episode Four: "The Good Muddahs"

Webby's feeling unappreciated at home, but then she's kidnapped and held for ransom by the "Beagle Babes," and what with all the Beagle Boys behind bars, the only cops available are incompetent trainees. What is to be done?!?

Let me first say what would have made this by far the best episode ever: if Webby had gone rogue and joined the Beagle Babes for keeps. Seriously, how awesome would that have been?

Yes, I must admit, they're pretty great characters: the matronly one, Bouffant; the hot, ditzy one, Boom Boom; and the childlike, slightly insane one, Babydoll (according to the internet, anyway--I missed her name in-episode). Yes, there are certain sorta-sexist assumptions that went behind making them "softer" than their male counterparts, but they're also way better, and the way they bond with Webby is super-cool (the bit where they're telling her their own versions of "Cinderella" is priceless). Though I'm not gonna lie (I'm fully aware that "I'm not gonna lie [to you]" is a writing (also vocal) tic of mine; where did that come from, I wonder?): the bit at the end where she starts acting like a crazy gangster (with HDL and Bubba's help) in order to alienate them so they won't feel bad about losing her is pretty painfully stupid.

Also, I feel like they should've gotten away at the end. It's good that they choose jail over Scrooge's insulting offer of work at the "McDuck Daycare Center," but I think avoiding jail altogether would've been better. But no…the show just can't quite get over its firmly entrenched, bourgeois value system enough to make that a possibility.

Still, strong characterizations make for a mostly-strong episode. The Babes badly need to make a repeat appearance or three.

Stray Observations

-Are Babydoll's odd vocal patterns based on someone specific? It sounds like they must be, but I'm insufficiently culturally attuned to be able to say whom.

-I like the call-back to I-forget-which-first-season-episode of Webby's faerie-tale mangling.

"You couldn't keep me here this like this if I wasn't a little girl!"
"Butcha are, Webigail. Yuh are a little girl."