Darkwing's got a girl-friend! Darkwing's got a girl-friend!
Well…only in a kind of notional sense at this time, but this remains a cool episode that adds a new dimension to the show. The idea is that someone--or something!--is stealing pizza toppings around the city. "The only toppings that haven't been grabbed are green peppers and mushrooms," Darkwing asserts, which suggests both that there are a LOT of toppings that were stolen off-stage, and that he has an encyclopedic list of every topping ever in his head. Well, that's superheroes for you.
Anyway, it seems a sinister horror-movie-ish cabal known as "Macawber Mushrooms Unlimited" is responsible for this deviltry, and there's a nice segment with DW exploring the house, complete with a physics-defying Escher-type room. And then, the head of the board, Morgana Macawber herself--a kind of Vampira (or Morticia Addams)-type--shows up. I like the way she glides rather than walking.
There's a convoluted and improbable plot involving the pizza thing, of course, but the main thing is the Darkwing/Morgana dynamic, which is surprisingly sexy for a show of this type. She's cool, she knows badass magic, and I very much like the fact that she isn't exactly reformed at the end--though we'll see how that plays out down the line.
In addition to just liking the idea, it seems to me that the writing on this episode was just more memorable than usual--I found myself jotting down a fair few lines as I watched. The show's never been exactly bad so far, but it has had some uninspired moments. Episodes like this represent the sort of thing it should be going for every time.
Stray Observations
-"You've got more fungus on your little finger than most people have in their whole heads!"
-"Perhaps we could get together again sometime! I could share facts about spores and slime molds!" "Ah, I'd like that! Sort of."
-"There is no market for grub and cockroach pizza!"
"Gee, DW--sorry about your girlfriend being a fiendish bloodsucking creature from the netherworld."
"Oh, Darkwing--if you insist on having principles, our relationship is doomed!"
Yeah... I always liked Morgana, but since the episodes were shown out of order, my introduction to her was as follows: First episode– Wait? Darkwing has a girlfriend? Well, she seems nice! Next episode– Hold on... we appear to be meeting her for the first time... and she's EVIL? Third episode– Here she is again, and she's good. Definitely good. Fourth episode– Wait... according to this opening dream sequence she still hasn't turned over a new leaf yet. All later appearances– She's unquestionably good now, and I hope she stays that way.
ReplyDeleteAnd "Gee, DW--sorry about your girlfriend being a fiendish bloodsucking creature from the netherworld" has to be one of the best Launchpad lines ever.
Yeah the episodes were shown out of order, but as long as you were watching the ABC episodes alongside the syndicated episodes you would have seen Fungus Amongus first anyway.
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