Donald reunites with his band, The Three Caballeros, while the family takes in the sights of a Brazilian town with a dark secret.
This episode provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: A tiny one for Donald; in the original Three Caballeros song, he couldn't stay up in the air for more than a few seconds as they flew. Here, Donald manages to keep flying.
- Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. The Three Caballeros have had their share of adventures in the comics and the original film, but here Scrooge refers to them as Donald's old college band. None of them were financially successful. Fighting a crazy, living plant was their first real fling to adventure.
- Amusing Injuries: While pretending to be old, Scrooge uses this an excuse to repeatedly slap Donald in the face.
- Becoming the Mask: Scrooge had been acting weak all day, so by the time actual action starts up, he feels genuine pain in his back and is unable to act.
- Big "NO!": Dewey when his phone gets eaten by the plant.Webby: I feel like the first "No" should have been bigger.
- Bilingual Bonus: As has been standard in the series, the writing on the statue is in Portuguese.
- Black Comedy: It's revealed that Donald once dropped one of the triplets' eggs... while attempting to juggle them.
Louie and Huey both look at a spaced-out Dewey and nod knowingly. - Blinding Camera Flash: The flash on Dewey's phone stuns the plant for a moment when he snaps a picture, which gives him, Louie, and Webby a moment to hide under a barrel.
- Bowdlerise:
- The song played in this episode is watered down from the original, most notably swapping "Three gay caballeros" with "Yes, three caballeros", as well as finishing the song one verse early, leaving out the part alluding to "When some Latin baby/says yes, no, or maybe". Panchito and José also don't threaten Donald with pistols when he asks, "Who says so?"
- It also waters down the Don Rosa comic starring the Caballeros; when José and Panchito describe Donald as the cool one, they don't allude to Donald being a major Chick Magnet and ladies' man in allusion to his amorous behavior in the original cartoon.
- Panchito, while retaining his last name "Pistoles" and his gun holsters, is not wielding actual guns - instead, he carries his cell phones in the holsters.
- José doesn't smoke cigars, something he did constantly back in the 1940s.
- Broken Record: A large part of what gives away the true nature of the festival. When Webby tries to interview one of the inhabitants of the village about the Festival, the woman can only repeat the same set of phrases over and over again, much to the unease of the increasingly creeped out Webby. This causes her to trip over the vines, and come to realization that none of the townsfolk are real people, and that the plant is sentient...and hungry.
- Brown Note: Donald's singing is so bad that it causes the plant to wither and die.
- Butt-Monkey: Scrooge becomes one in this episode, enduring the humiliation and hilarious gags which is usually Donald's lot. He doesn't even have anything to do with defeating the Evil Plant (though he does free himself on his own, using his cane like a sword).
- Chekhov's Gun: The photos Dewey takes help confirm to Webby that the whole village is a giant trap.
- Chekhov's Skill: Lack of skill rather; Scrooge disparagingly says that Donald is a terrible singer and accordion player. It turns out Donald's Hollywood Tone-Deaf voice is the exact weapon needed to kill a carnivorous plant.
- Chew-Out Fake-Out: Panchito seemingly tells off Donald and José for lying about themselves... right before he confesses that he lied as well.
- Childhood Brain Damage: It's revealed that Donald bet he could juggle the triplets when they were eggs and he dropped one, which is heavily implied to be Dewey.
- *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": Like most characters who are made fun of for their advanced age but don't look it, Scrooge finds out the hard way he really is getting old when he throws out his back. It's also partially justified because, to help Donald keep up his facade, Scrooge kept a bad, hunching posture through most of the episode, something definitely painful. As is commonplace with the trope, being thrashed around in the climactic fight is enough to crack Scrooge's back into proper shape again.
- Decomposite Character: The jam session between the Caballeros at the Fountain borrows from José's samba sequence in Saludos Amigos but where he does everything there, here José simply grooves and dances, while Panchito uses his Umbrella as a flute, and Donald unveils an accordion from his hat.
- Disney Acid Sequence: Happens when the Caballeros sing their theme song while taking down the carnivorous plant.
- Dreadful Musician: Scrooge claims Donald as this. From what we see, he seems passable on the accordion at least and can play the bass well, but he's a wretched singer, what with his famously incomprehensible voice.
- Dull Surprise: Panchito, along with Donald and Jose, react this way to Scrooge smashing Panchito's guitar in response to their idea of performing again. Being that it was his guitar and he was the only one of the three currently trying to make a living as a performer, one would expect Panchito to be more upset. Instead, this probably happens to his guitars often, and doing only modest performing work means he can only afford cheap ones anyway.
- The End... Or Is It?: When the gang is leaving on the plane, the camera pans back down to the defeated plant....which has one of its "eyes" drop into the dirt, only to sprout a small seedling of itself.
- Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Everyone cringes at Donald's singing voice, including the donkey Webby chose as her steed for a tour.
- Exact Words: The Feast of the Flower is an event where a flower feasts on people.
- Failed a Spot Check: While the plant does make an effort to hide its roots behind vendor stands and such, it still takes a surprising amount of time for any of our characters to notice that they can't see any of the townspeople's feet.
- Fake Town: The townspeople are all puppets on the end of the tendrils of an intelligent, carnivorous plant. Turns out that it was inviting tourists so that the flower could eat them.
- Foreshadowing:
- At the very beginning of the episode Webby claims that the Feast of the Flower is a tradition she knows nothing about despite her encyclopedic knowledge - foreshadowing that the holiday is not actually real, just made up by the plant to lure its prey to the town.
- The vines and roots of the central flower spread all over the city, spilling out from its central potting ground.
- When the lunch bill is presented, all three Caballeros start whistling inconspicuously foreshadowing that all three have been lying about being wealthy and successful.
- Donald accidentally splashes some food in the waitress's face. Although everyone looks awkward at it, she doesn't actually react beyond thanking Panchito when he hands her the signed napkin. She doesn't even close her eyes.
- The genus given for the Man-Eating Plant is Drosera, commonly called the sundew, which is a carnivorous plant in the same family as the venus flytrap.
- Foul Flower: The flower in the middle of the village is a sapient Man-Eating Plant.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The Twitter-like website that Dewey and Louie send posts to have descriptions and hashtags, and they also name the plant ("Carnivora").
- Frustrating Lie: Huey and Scrooge agree to help Donald lie to José and Panchito about how successful he is, with Huey telling Donald to keep his lie small and simple. But of course, Donald's small and simple lie is telling them he's in charge of McDuck Enterprises and he's a billionaire, which naturally causes Huey and Scrooge to facepalm at the same time. With the damage done, Huey adds that Donald is taking over the family business so Scrooge can retire, and Donald adds that it's because Scrooge is very, very old, which angers Scrooge, but he plays along so he doesn't have to pay for their trip. Donald ends up making it more complicated when he and his friends decide to bring back the Three Caballeros, and he agrees to pay for their expenses using Scrooge's money, which upsets Scrooge even more, and Huey tries to talk Donald out of it and come clean to his friends.
- Garage Band: The Three Caballeros were a literal example back in the day, as they practiced in Scrooge's garage.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Who knew the Three Caballeros' theme song could be used in battle?
- Hidden Depths:
- It seems Huey isn't the only family member that can play the strings; Donald plays a bass deftly.
- While he does believe that money is the true measure of success, Scrooge still tells Donald that he shouldn't be ashamed of having sacrificed his dreams for music to raise the triplets, and that he is a proud boat-owner and family man.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Donald's voice is pretty scratchy, but he does stay in tune and keeps rhythm with the other band members. It's so bad that it starts killing the plant, and Huey yells at Donald to keep singing for that reason.
- Honesty Is the Best Policy: The episode's Aesop.
- Hypocrite:
- Huey is a mild example: he's the one suggesting that Donald pretend to be a Mock Millionaire to impress his friends (partly because he wanted to earn a Junior Woodchuck badge in improv theatrenote ), and he's the one convincing Scrooge to get into the act. Yet, when the truth comes out, he somewhat smugly tells the Caballeros that Honesty Is the Best Policy, not admitting he was also guilty of it.
- Panchito chews out his friends for lying to him, trying to impress him - and then confesses he lied too.
- Improvised Weapon: Donald uses his bass bow as an arrow to cut down the kids, and then smashes one of the plant-people with the bass.
- Incredibly Long Note: The "aaaah" part of the Three Caballeros' theme song as performed in this episode is held 6 seconds longer than in the original in order to temporarily paralyze the plant.
- It Can Think: The flower is not just a mere carnivorous plant. It is smart enough to create invitations to a festival and send them around the world, and to control realistic-looking (although uncannily grinning) puppets at the end of its vines, even making them say a few simple sentences.
- It's All About Me: When the Three Caballeros talk about a reunion tour, the names Panchito comes up with for it include his own name but not José's or Donald's.
- Jaded Washout: Donald worries that he has become this and abandoned his dreams to raise the triplets when he sees José and Panchito appearing to have earned more success. Scrooge tells him that sacrificing his dreams to support his family is no small or shameful thing.
- Maintain the Lie: To make Donald seem more successful in the eyes of José and Panchito, he pretends to be the new head of McDuck Industries, while Scrooge has to pretend that he's old and feeble, which rankles him no end. It all comes to a head when José and Panchito decide to reunite the band, with Donald financing their reunion tour.
- Man-Eating Plant: The flower in the center of the village is one, which lures prey in with a fake village and festival.
- Meaningful Echo: When first berated that they were taking more pictures than actually experiencing the local culture, Louie says, "A wise man once said: Pics, or it didn't happen." At the end of the episode, Dewey deletes all his photos of the trips, saying, "No pics, so it didn't happen."
- Metaphorically True: Donald talks about how super old Scrooge is getting as part of his charade. He's not wrong. Scrooge is at least 150 years old (due to being in suspended animation in one instance, a dimension that slowed down his aging in another). And then Scrooge begins showing his age when he throws his back.
- Mock Millionaire: Donald pretends to be a millionaire to impress José and Panchito, who claim to be highly successful — José as a world traveler, Panchito as a pop star. Turns out all three were lying to each other; José is just a flight attendant, and Panchito performs at kids' birthday parties.
- Mythology Gag:
- While fighting off the plant in the climax, Donald, Panchito, and José sing a reprise of "The Three Caballeros", with visuals very closely matching those in the original movie, complete with Donald briefly returning to his regular blue sailor outfit and a G-rated Disney Acid Sequence. Donald also plays the bass, which he did in the song.
- José is introduced jumping from a plane with a parachute; in Legend of the Three Caballeros, Panchito is introduced in a similar way. Plus, while jumping down, José is playing his umbrella as a trombone, something he does multiple time in The Three Caballeros.
- Panchito greets the Duck triplets with "Saludos Amigos", which was the title of José's (but not Panchito's) debut movie.
- The jam session between the three starts with José listening to Samba music and grooving to it, similar to his appearance in Saludos Amigos where he teaches Donald the Samba this way. Donald after resistance even leans in with the music and samba's well.
- At one point, Panchito yells out, "The Three Caballeros ride again" the name of a famous Don Rosa story.
- Donald's bad singing defeating an Eldritch Abomination and a town haunted by a curse is one for "Silver Don
" a Danish Ducks comics story where Donald finds out that his ancestor is a local folk hero opposed by a Twin Peaks like town, and that he has inherited his Famous Ancestor's great gift, atrocious music. - The fact that the plant is posing as townspeople could be a reference to the "La Sandunga" and "Jesusita en Chihuahua" which involve plants taking on a more human form. In the former, it is mainly flowers, while the latter involves saguaro cacti. Unlike the one in the episode, the plants Donald met are either a Non-Malicious Monster, or part of Donald's drug trip.
- José being broke is a direct nod to his portrayals in his solo comics in newspapers, Brazilian and Dutch comic books, where he is usually trying to find ways to earn money.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Just like with Mr. Incredible, the plant while trying to eat Scrooge ends up fixing his back. This allows Scrooge to fight.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever happened at the Caballeros' gig in Acapulco, though it's implied that it got a bit violent considering that José uses it as an example of how they should fight the flower.
- Obviously Evil: The flower being evil is far from a surprise in hindsight, given its huge thorns.
- Oh, Crap!: The plant's eyes go wide when it hears Donald's singing, and cowers.
- The One Who Made It Out: Played with. Donald feels angst about being the only member of the Three Caballeros who became an unsuccessful and unhappy adult who didn't get to live out his dreams. José and Panchito later confess that they didn't get all that far either.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Scrooge is normally dismissive of Donald but he dislikes Donald's former band members even more. To elaborate, he tells Donald that he is proud of all the great things that Donald has accomplished, and that his nephew shouldn't be ashamed of his lot in life.
- Also for Donald, he doesn't like talking about when he took in Della's kids because that was when he lost his sister and his faith in Scrooge, and developed a sense of overprotective parenting. But he's happily reminiscing with his band mates how he juggled the eggs to show off for them and dropped one.
- Papa Wolf: Donald uses the Three Caballeros's power of music to rescue the kids and Scrooge from the carnivorous plant. Namely, Donald shoots his bass's bow at the vines to sever them and then sings louder on realizing his voice is killing the plant.
- Polka Dork: Donald plays the accordion, which fits his dorky loser personality.
- The Power of Friendship: The Three Caballeros are unsuccessful and not very great talents as musicians, but that doesn't matter because they totally love each other and have a ball hanging out. Donald himself has never looked happier than he has here.
- Putting the Band Back Together: The Three Caballeros reuniting leads them to consider putting the band back together with Scrooge of course funding money for a tour, much to the latter's fury. After defeating the Plant by singing their famous song, they actually contemplate a reunion for true only for Scrooge to lose patience and break Panchito's guitar.
- The Reveal: Played for laughs. Donald builds up the revelation that he was a member of The Three Caballeros as another "dark family secret", only for none of the kids to have any idea what he's talking about and for Scrooge to dismiss the group as having been nothing more than a bad garage band from Donald's college days.
- A much more dramatic reveal is made near the end, when Donald finally confesses to his friends that he isn't a millionaire, and was just lying to impress them (and also because he can hear his family in danger outside). José ends up confessing that he's a flight attendant rather than a world traveler, and that he cashed in his flight points to pay for the trip. Panchito is seemingly outraged at his friends' deception...only to ultimately reveal that he too is a fraud, being a performer for children's parties rather than an international sensation.
- Running Gag: Dewey constantly taking pictures vs Webby trying to get him to actually experience the village.
- Saved by a Terrible Performance: Donald Duck is a terrible singer, yet his bad singing is ultimately what saves the day since it proves powerful enough to kill the carnivorous plant threatening to eat them all.
- The Scrooge: As you'd expect from Scrooge. He considers this trip a frivolous expense, and hates having to hand out R$251.47 (roughly a meager US$70) to pay for a meal. The only reason he agrees to maintain Donald's lie is so he won't have to pay for the trip.
- Secret Handshake: The Three Caballeros demonstrate one when the reunite in the beginning of the episode.Donald, José, and Panchito: "Squack, crow, quack, I've got your back!"
- Shown Their Work: Webby identifies the plant as Drosera acidendum. Drosera is a Real Life genus of carnivorous plants (although, obviously, no Drosera species is this big or this intelligent, and there's no species named D. acidendum).
- Skewed Priorities: Dewey insists taking a selfie even when he's about to get eaten by a carnivorous plant.
- Social Media Before Reason: Dewey keeps taking pics on his phone even as the carnivorous plant is about to devour him.
- Spexico: The city is not identified, it is described as being in Northeast Region of Brazil, there is a character dressed as "baiana", but the city is reminiscent of a Mexican city.
- Spotting the Thread: The villagers failing to respond properly is the first clue for Webby that something is not right in this town. Then she looks behind the fruit stand and realized she never saw any of the citizens' feet.
- Stepford Smiler:
- The villagers always have a smile on their face, no matter the situation. Turns out they're not real villagers at all, but offshoots of the main plant that mimic the appearance of people to lure victims.
- Donald, José, and Panchito are all unsuccessful adults who when confronted with their "cool" friends pass themselves off as more successful and happier than they really are.
- Suckiness Is Painful: Donald's singing causes the Man-Eating Plant to wilt.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Defied; Dewey pretends to eat a pastel for a picture and then refuses it and several other ones simply because they've gotten cold, prompting an irritated Webby to eat every single one of them after calling him out on it.
- Toilet Humour: Webby and Dewey find out the hard way that standing behind a donkey is not a good idea.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: The plant starts to die when Donald adds his voice to the Caballeros' battle music.
- Worf Had the Flu: While Scrooge has a very good showing in combat, all of the hunching around to act as a poor, old retired geezer actually threw his back out, and it takes the plant accidentally snapping his back into place for him to get into the fight.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: While dismissing the Three Caballeros as Donald's college band that played dreadfully in Scrooge's garage, Scrooge tells Donald that he should not feel ashamed about his present circumstances: he's a responsible guardian to the triplets, a proud boat-owner, and an honest worker. Donald isn't inclined to agree when it seems José and Panchito have earned success.
