Sunday, January 8, 2012

Darkwing Duck, Season One, Episode Eighteen: "You Sweat Your Life"

Sweat my youth away, with the rules we have to play...

In this here episode, DW and LP catch these two crooks, a big dog and little dog, robbing a museum. Transpires they're working for an old guy named "Jock Newbody" who runs a health club and is looking to obtain a feather from "a true and pure hero." Also, the hero has to be a bird, apparently. DW goes to investigate, but his plan is complicated when Herb and Binkie Muddlefoot insist on coming along.

This episode had its amusing moments, but it also had more than its share of "guh? huh? wuh?" moments. Like, if Drake's supposed to be undercover, why does he appear in full DW costume almost immediately after getting to the club? And shouldn't Jock have an actual evil scheme of some sort beyond "I want to be young. Also, I'm going to kill you, just 'cause?" And we're really supposed to believe that Herb remains blissfully unaware of DW's true identity after they've been welded together at the wrists? And how come they magically come unattached as soon as they fall into the elixir? And I thought you had to drink it to de-age, not just fall in it?

I dunno...you can attribute some of this to the plain ol' nature of the show, I suppose, but it just keeps piling up, and ultimately it made for a somewhat unsatisfactory viewing experience for me. I did like DW and Herb having to work together, though, unsurprisingly, this was rather underdeveloped. And Binkie plays almost no role.

At any rate, I think my thesis that quality of villain directly correlates with quality of episode has yet to be disproven. And Jock ain't much of a villain.

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