Recap / DuckTales (2017) S3 E5 "Louie's Eleven!"

♫ Hear my voice... ♫

Louie plans a break-in at a high-class party so the Three Caballeros can play as Donald tries to get past the party's no-nonsense planner, Daisy Duck.

Full Recap

The episode begins with the Three Caballeros beginning to perform a song under a single spotlight in a dark room...which quickly goes awry when Panchito and Jose's desire to be the center of attention by showing off their respective singing and dance moves results in a scuffle that wrecks their stage in spite of Donald's attempts to deescalate them. As it turns out, the audience they are performing for is Scrooge. In his bathroom. While he is in the middle of a soak. When the irate Scrooge demands an explanation as to why they're interrupting his bath time, the guys reveal they are hoping to finally get the Three Caballeros the stardom they wish to have and would like him to finance their world tour. Obviously annoyed and unamused that he was disturbed just so his nephew and his friends could ask for his money, Scrooge promptly summons Duckworth, who then pushes them from the manor onto the front porch to signify Scrooge's disinterest in financially supporting their goals. Discouraged that Scrooge's refusal marks the fourth rejection they've gotten from someone they've hoped to sponsor them by auditioning in their bathroom, the trio worry that they'll never achieve their dreams if they can't get someone to listen to them. Only someone is listening to their hopes: Louie, who approaches them with the claim that he has a scheme that can get them the fame and recognition they so badly want. Jose and Panchito are immediately on board, and despite Donald's hesitance in being roped into one of his nephew's schemes, all three of the Caballeros are willing to hear Louie out.

Reconvening in the boys' bedroom, Louie declares to his uncle's band that the quickest way for the Three Caballeros to achieve stardom is by getting on the "IT List" of renowned tastemaker Emma Glamour. Emerging from his bunk, Dewey explains that anyone or anything that manages to impress Glamour enough to make it onto the IT list becomes instantly famous

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Tropes:

• Aesop Amnesia: Downplayed - while Louie does temporarily forget the lesson about how he can’t always see every angle when he gets caught up in his plan, he does remember that sometimes you need others to see the ones he can’t and bases said plan around the skill sets that other people possess that he doesn't, also applying the lesson about humility in how he deals with them. It's only Dewey's suggested contributions that he doesn't listen to, but he learns to do otherwise by the end.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In almost every medium Daisy has appeared in with Donald, their romantic relationship is already established before we see them interact. Here, we see Donald meeting her for the first time and falling in love with her. It’s also worth noting that in other media, Donald and Daisy’s relationship has been somewhat rocky and toxic (with the former being too temperamental and the latter being too nagging). Here, we get to explore their feelings for each other more and they actually do act like they could be a perfect couple.
• An Aesop: It’s important to listen to what people have to say, regardless of whether or not you want to hear it.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Donald and Daisy escape from the elevator to crawl through the air vents, until they learn that the party is being robbed.
• Amazon Chaser: Donald smiles dreamily upon seeing Daisy take down Graves.
• And This Is for...: Daisy shouts, as she beats the tar out of Falcon Graves, "That's for ruining our big chance, and the party I've been planning for months!"
• Angrish: Daisy grumbles, "Razzafrazzin' party! Razzafrazzin' IT list!" just before she enters the elevator.
• Appeal to Flattery: Louie labels Dewey as "The Specialist" because he knows he'll go along with the plan if his title has the word "special" in it.
• Arc Words: The topic of listening to other people repeatedly comes up in the episode. Louie refuses to listen to Dewey's ideas, Glamour wonders why she should listen to Louie's idea as he's a nobody, Daisy doesn't think Glamour listens to her, and Donald feels like no one listens to him.
• Battle Couple: Donald and Daisy quickly develop this dynamic when danger threatens.
• Beleaguered Assistant: This version of Daisy is the assistant to a demanding, high fashion celebrity who treats her like dirt.
• Benevolent Boss: Daisy compliments the party staff for good work and covers for them when they disappoint Emma.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Manny, who is part of Louie's scheme, breaks in to fight Graves. Subverted when Graves subdues him easily.
  • Played straight when Donald and Daisy burst in to fight Graves and his goons. This time they are more successful.
• Birds of a Feather: While they at first seem like they come from two different worlds, Donald and Daisy quickly bond over how they both have problems getting the people in their lives to listen to them. They're also both quite dangerous when they get riled up enough.
• Breaking Speech: Emma Glamour gives Louie a speech about the unoriginality of his scheme so potent that it sends him into a Heroic BSoD and he walks away in silence after she demands that he disappear:
  Emma: What is your plan here, exactly? Oh, let me guess, you had this whole elaborate scheme to get on the IT List and make yourself rich and famous. What do you do, manage a band or something? Happens every year. You're nothing new. You're not original. There is nothing IT about you. So tell me, why would I ever listen to you? Disappear now, goodbye.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Panchito and José make their first appearance since "The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!" and are trying, with Donald, to find a way to get their music career to a good start.
  • Falcon Graves appears for the first time since "The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks!", once again unknowingly working for Beaks himself. Graves's partners are the Smashnikov brothers and Gabby McStabberson (the latter with a speaking role again after a silent cameo in "Moonvasion").
  • Jane (the waitress from Funzo's Fun Zone) reappears in her first speaking role since her introduction.
  • Percival P. Peppington gets thrown out of yet another exclusive party.
• The Cameo:
  • Hyacinth Hippo appears as a statue.
  • Officer Cabrera makes a brief non-speaking appearance at the end, arresting the robbers.
• Call-Back:
  • Dewey mentions the last time he met Falcon Graves. Falcon himself refers back to that episode when he encounters Mark Beaks.
  • You can see the Waddle logo on Emma Glamour's phone.
  • Dewey brings back his "DJ Daft Duck" persona.
  • The Three Caballeros have apparently made good on their idea to reform.
  • Dewey's favorite band is the Featherweights, whose lead singer Lena got her striped shirt from. Said lead singer wears that shirt in the poster.
  • Gyro's portrait features a somewhat similar looking character to him in a containment tube. Seems like he's back to work on that clone army.
• The Caper: Louie's scheme to get into Emma Glamour's IT List. Unfortunately, he was unaware of a second caper perpetrated by Falcon Graves.
• Caper Crew: The titular Louie's Eleven. Some of them, like Huey and Gyro, appear to be unaware that they're part of a scheme. The 11, as they appear on Louie’s board:
  • 1. The Brains - Louie (Me)
  • 2 - 4. The Talent(?) - Panchito Pistoles, Uncle Donald, Jose Carioca
  • 5. The Specialist - Dewey
  • 6. The "Forger" - Huey
  • 7. Tech Guru - Gyro Gearloose
  • 8. The Inside Woman - Jane
  • 9. The Diversion - Harpy
  • 10. The Tactician - Webby Vanderquack
  • 11. The Muscle - Manny the Headless Man-Horse
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Dewey's boasting that he knows everything about these celebrity parties sounds like his usual ego, but it turns out the guests really are bedazzled by his "yo-yo tricks".
• Connected All Along: Emma Glamour is Mark Beaks' mother. Lampshaded.
  Dewey: Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Manny the Headless Manhorse is supposed to be the muscle used in case everything goes bad. Graves takes him out in a single move.
• Didn't Think This Through: Mark Beaks thought it was a good idea to hire Falcon Graves for another scheme, even though the last time ended with Graves nearly tossing him off a building.
• Didn't See That Coming: For Emma to claim to expect someone's always coming up with a scheme to get on the IT List and stop them in their tracks, someone she hires was part of such a scheme and blindsides her, which bites her in the butt greatly.
• Distinction Without a Difference: The Three Caballeros tell Scrooge they aren't asking him to give them money, but rather expensive stuff like a jet. Then they decide he's too busy to go jet-shopping and say they would just take the money to do it themselves.
• Dreadful Musician: On top of his singing voice sounding as strange as his speaking one, Donald appears to be Hollywood Tone-Deaf and bad at controlling his volume. Daisy, however, loves it.
• Elevator Buttons Mash: Donald "accidentally" trips and presses all the buttons to keep Daisy in the elevator.
• Elevator Failure: As part of the scheme, Webby cuts the power to the elevator so Daisy gets stranded. Unfortunately, Donald is stuck with her as well because Louie misunderstood Donald and gave the order to cut the power early.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: A hilarious variation. When Donald sings to Daisy, it's of the same quality as usual. But since Daisy can understand him, his voice transitions to a smooth, beautiful serenade to illustrate how she hears him.
• Epic Fail: Donald, being Donald, gets his sleeve caught in Daisy's bag while trying to grab her stage pass, and the ensuing chaos results in him being trapped together with Daisy by the strap of her bag.
• Evil Is Petty: The reason Mark Beaks hired Graves to steal Emma's phone? She's his mother and he wanted to get on the IT List after she told him no, so he wants to stick it to her.
• Failed a Spot Check: Falcon Graves can almost recognize Dewey even when he's wearing a mask, but stares face to face with Huey and Dewey's identical triplet without suspecting anything.
• The Fashionista: Daisy's been working as Glamour's assistant in the hopes of becoming a fashion designer herself. She even made her own dress for the party, which Donald finds stunning.
• Feet-First Introduction: Daisy's very first scene has her climbing down some stairs. Only her hands, legs, black shoes, and lower body are seen in that sequence before it cuts to another one with her white hair and black hair ribbon moving from one side to another.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Daisy is able to have a conversation with Donald when the two talk together in the elevator. Most people who first meet Donald are confused by what he says, but she never shows any confusion with him. This foreshadows that she can understand him perfectly.
  • Glamour being Mark Beaks' mother reflects how she owns a popular blog that focuses on trends, as Beaks has already established being obsessed with social media. She's also the only African Grey Parrot seen so far other than Beaks and B.O.Y.D., hinting their relation.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Emma Glamour’s website pages have full articles written on them.
    • Two of the trends from the last IT List are Hat-hats (hats for your hat), and Invisible Piercings.
    • The lead singer of the Featherweights, Jenny Karma, has taken a vow of silence apart from when she sings.
    • The percussionist for the Featherweights, Kat, has reinvented her identity several times already.
  • Amongst the possible distraction ideas on Louie’s board are "Explosion, Food Poisoning, Set Free a Wild Monster, Ghosts, Another Explosion?"
• The Friends Who Never Hang: This is the first episode to mostly focus on Dewey and Louie working together. Huey and Webby only make small cameos.
• Funny Background Event:
  • After Mark Beaks makes his appearance, he steps off his Segway scooter which keeps moving on its own. Later, it is shown catching fire and Slash is running away from it.
  • Emma Glamour at the end playing with a yo-yo with one hand while surfing the web with the other.
  • The bouncer who had kept The Three Caballeros off the stage throughout the episode playing drums for them when they finally get to perform.
• Gaussian Girl: Daisy gets this treatment when she unveils her dress to Donald in the elevator.
• Generation Xerox: Mark Beaks and his mother are both wealthy social media influencers. Ironically, it's implied that this only happened because Beaks resents his mother so much.
• Gilligan Cut: When they need to distract Graves away from Glamour, Louie announces that it's now Dewey's turn to do his job. Cut to Dewey struggling with a harpy.
  Dewey: This is my job?! Holding a monster?!
  Louie: Not monster. Team member.
  Dewey: I could be doing more! How is this the perfect job for me?!
  Louie: Because everyone else already has a job.
• Greater-Scope Villain: It turns out that Mark Beaks is the one who planned the heist to steal Glamour's phone, but The Reveal continues as it turns out that he's her son and wants it solely for the purpose of becoming a social media sensation.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Donald, as you'd expect, but also Daisy.
• Heist Episode: Seeing as the episode's title is a Shout-Out to the well-known heist film, Louie plans a heist to get Donald and his band can perform at an exclusive formal event. As you'd expect with any caper, things don't go 100% to plan, but with the unlucky Donald in the equation, the operation is botched terribly.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Huey is so talented at calligraphy that he can forge documents.
  • Jane the waitress reveals to Webby she's been saving up her money so she can attend college.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Donald's singing voice is, again, treated as pain-inducingly terrible. The only person who hears it as beautiful is Daisy.
• In-Series Nickname: Following the reveal that Emma Glamour is Mark Beaks's mom, "Mark" is revealed to be short for "Marcus".
• It Runs in the Family: With the reveal that Mark Beaks is Emma Glamour's son, he appears to have inherited her obsession with trends.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: After getting off relatively scot-free in his first appearance, Graves and his group are arrested at the end of the episode.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Though Emma Glamour doesn't press charges against Beaks for hiring Falcon Graves and his team to steal Emma's phone, she forces her son to stay for the rest of her party, which he absolutely hates and complains about.
• Locked in a Room: After Webby cuts the power to the elevator, Donald and Daisy are trapped inside. Sure enough, the two ducks fall in love afterwards.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Huey forged the invitation under the impression he was just showing off his calligraphy skills. Then when Louie and Dewey inadvertently mention the scheme, they refuse to tell him anything.
• Love at First Note: Daisy starts to fall for Donald when he sings for her and because she perfectly understands him she hears a beautiful serenade.
• Love at First Sight: Donald falls for Daisy as soon as he sees her. It's cemented when he discovers that, unlike pretty much anyone else in his life, she perfectly understands what he's saying from the very start.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: Donald and Daisy both have some degree of Unstoppable Rage but use it in different ways when fighting. Where Donald fights like a berserker and relies on extreme speed and strength to do damage, Daisy is much more precise and tactical, aiming for weak points like joints to disable a stronger opponent and making heavy use of objects as weapons.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Daisy’s design and outfit originated from the classic cartoon, "Donald's Diary".
  • Daisy having a temper just like Donald is present in a few classic shorts, including her debut appearance in "Don Donald" (where she was known as Donna) and "Cured Duck" (where she kicks Donald out because of his temper only to lose hers at the end), the Mouseworks short "Donald's Dinner Date", (where Daisy gives Donald one more chance to take her out without losing his temper, but loses her temper again in the end), and more generally in the comics (where her moments of anger are also shown to be more precise).
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Emma Glamour is a bird version of Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, with similar hairstyle, giant sunglasses, fabulous outfits and alleged snobbish attitude.
• Noodle Incident:
  • After being thrown out of Scrooge's bathroom, the Three Caballeros lament that this is the fourth time they've been thrown out of a rich guy's bathroom.
  • After Webby compliments Gabby's dagger, she starts to talk about how it is a memento of her mother and the only clue she has to her heritage. Her story gets interrupted as Webby kicks a chair onto her.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • The Three Caballeros, when Scrooge calls Duckworth to kick them out.
  • Dewey and Louie when they see the party's main bouncer is Falcon Graves.
  • Falcon has this reaction when he learns Emma and Mark are mother and son.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Falcon Graves when he finds out his secret client is Mark Beaks once again, and also once again he's not involved in professional corporate sabotage, but merely Mark's trying to gain media hype.
• Only One Finds It Fun: Daisy is the only one who easily understand Donald's words and likes his singing.
• Only Sane Man: Donald has the most realistic expectations about how the band's plans will go and tries to keep Panchito and Jose from going through with outrageous ideas. To be fair, though, he knows Scrooge quite a bit more than Panchito and Jose do and doesn't have the most faith in his generosity.
• Papa Wolf: Donald, as usual, when he discovers "[his] kids" are in danger.
  Daisy: Wait, you have kids?
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The Three Caballeros sneak into the party by switching hats and wearing gaudy sunglasses. It works in part because the only one in the group that Graves has met in person is Dewey and he's wearing his DJ Daft Duck helmet
• Peacock Girl: Emma Glamour wears a peacock-inspired outfit, with a high collar and coat resembling a peacock's train and a hat decoration looking like a peacock's crest. Very fitting for a narcissist like her.
• Pet the Dog: After being talked down by Donald and Daisy, Glamour compliments the latter on her dress and puts it on her IT List.
• A Rare Sentence: As Dewey performs his yo-yo tricks to distract the villains.
  Louie: Good plan, Dewey! ...is something I never thought I’d say.
• Saved by a Terrible Performance: Dewey's ridiculous yoyo tricks not only distract the villains, but makes it to Glamour's IT List due to her considering it So Bad, It's Good In-Universe.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As soon as she sees the fight breaking out between Falcon Graves's team and the rest of her own team, Jane decides to cut her losses and flee the party while she can, declaring that she "really needs to get out of Duckburg."
• Shout-Out:
  • The title is a reference to Ocean's Eleven, and Louie's elaborate heist plot is inspired by said movie. At the end, Louie also suggests a sequel, "Dewey's Dozen".
  • The hostage situation at the party is an homage to Die Hard, with Graves's characterization recalling Hans Gruber. To drive the reference home, Donald says "Yippee-ki-yay, Mr. Falcon!" (a reference to a badly censored scene from Die Hard 2) after jumping out of the air vents. Additionally, Graves says "Welcome to the party, pal" when waving Dewey in.
  • Daisy as the Beleaguered Assistant to an Anna Wintour Expy is a nod to The Devil Wears Prada.
  • The IT List gala, which is set at a museum, is a reference to Wintour's annual Met Gala, which she throws at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in support of its costume institute.
  • One of the statues in the museum is Hyacinth Hippo from Fantasia.
  • Before Manny charges Graves, he shakes his hooves as if "reloading" them. Similar to what Henry Cavill's character August Walker does before a fight in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
• Shown Their Work: The Tyrannosaurus skeletons flanking the IT stage are correctly in the horizontal bird-like posture, which Jurassic Park popularized, rather than the outdated tripodal stance like the Tyrannosaurus in the original series.
• Singing Voice Dissonance: Played with; as Donald begins to sing to Daisy, he does so in his regular (terrible) singing voice. It quickly transfers to a completely different, much more professional voice to show how Donald's voice sounds to Daisy, then briefly back to normal at the end.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: A gender-inverted example; Donald falls for Nice Girl Daisy, who is the first person in his life to literally understand him perfectly. It's also played straight when Donald defends Daisy from Glamour, causing Daisy to fall for him further.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Glamour highly resembles Beaks in a wig and dress as both are African grey parrots. Sure enough, it turns out they're mother and son. Graves even does a Double Take upon learning about it.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial:
  Gyro: These earpieces are definitely not experimental, I'm definitely not testing them on you, and they definitely won't explode in your heads if you wear them too long.
• Tears of Joy: Shed by Dewey when Louie presents his sequel scheme, "Dewey's Dozen".
• This Explains So Much: When Dewey finds out that constantly-tweeting Attention Whore Mark Beaks is the son of tastemaker blogger Emma Glamour, he comments, "Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense."
• This Is Gonna Suck: Donald’s reaction when he finds out Louie is planning a scheme to get him and the Caballeros to perform, as he knows Louie’s schemes end up being fiascoes.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: The Three Caballeros don’t make the IT List because of Donald’s terrible singing voice, but Donald does find love with Daisy, the one girl who understands him, and that’s as good a consolation prize for him.
• Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: The conversation between Donald and Daisy in the elevator starts this way.
  Donald: [after several moments of silence] Beautiful night, isn't it?
  Daisy: Kind of a terrible night, actually.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Emma gets livid at Daisy for turning her Gala into a debacle, but Donald rips at her for her behavior and tells her to stick it where it belongs, only for Emma to fire back at him for his disrespect. When Daisy joins in, Emma decides to back down, likely not wanting to suffer a round of combined wrath from both temper-filled ducks.
• Unwitting Pawn:
  • Huey helps makes the fake invitation, but thinks it was just a chance to practice his calligraphy.
    Huey: Hah! And you said calligraphy camp was a waste of time!
    [Louie takes the invitation]
    Louie: Hubert, that is perfect! Welcome to the scheme.
    Huey: What scheme?
    Louie: Nothing!
    Dewey: Tell no one!
  • Graves is also this to Mark Beaks, again.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Mark Beaks resents that his mother Emma doesn't find his work trendy.
• We Need a Distraction: Dewey's task in Louie's plan is to distract security... by putting a Harpy in the air ducts. Later, he provides another distraction by performing yo-yo tricks on stage.
• Wham Line:
  • A subdued example from Daisy, but one signifying beyond a shadow of a doubt that Donald and Daisy are meant to be together.
    Donald: Nobody listens to me, either. They don't understand me.
    Daisy: Well, that's weird. I understand you perfectly.
  • Mark Beaks brags to Emma Glamour after stealing her phone to get to her IT list, revealing his relationship to her. Also an in-universe one to Falcon Graves.
    Beaks: Ha! Look who's going to make the IT List now, MOM! Pyew! Pyew, pyew, pyew, pyew!
    Graves: [looks at Beaks, then Glamour, then Beaks again] Mom?!
    Dewey: Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense.
  • Emma's takedown of Louie effectively brings Louie's brilliant plan (and confidence) to a screeching halt.
• Wham Shot: Graves's client rolls onto the scene...and reveals himself to be Mark Beaks.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Deconstructed. The whole episode is based on Ocean's Eleven, and while there is no knowledge of whether the movie exists in-universe, Glamour tells Louie that elaborate plots like Louie's have been done before and that there is nothing special about Louie's attempt.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Falcon Graves has this reaction when he realized he was hired by Beaks again, in order to rob his mother. This time, he decides to keep what he was told to steal for himself to spite them, and even threatens to kill both of them before he's stopped by Donald and Daisy.

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