YMMV / DuckTales (2017) S2 E3 "The Ballad of Duke Baloney!"

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Scrooge didn't necessarily shortchange Duke. Duke said nothing of the price for the shoeshine until after he was paid the dime, and appeared to add to the cost just to spite Scrooge (saying spats are extra, when he said nothing of the sort when Scrooge asked if he could shine spats). Considering this and the fact that from what we see Duke only even worked on ONE spat, Scrooge may well have had potential justification to not pay him full price for subpar and deceptive service (though Scrooge was the one who cut the shoeshine service short and said nothing to indicate he was dissatisfied with the service).
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Fisher and Mann, the two fisher people who take Glomgold in, prove to be rather popular thanks to their quirky behavior and general niceness. Their voices also help out.
  • Zan Owlson is also becoming popular, due to her potential as a foil to both Glomgold and Scrooge.
• Fourth Wall Myopia: It can be easy to forget that when Scrooge takes out a huge wad of cash tied with a gold money clip, visibly changes his mind, then tosses Duke a dime instead, while we the audience know Scrooge is reminded of his younger self and wants to inspire him the way he was inspired as a kid, Duke isn't privy to that background knowledge, so from his perspective it looks like an obviously rich duck with cash to burn made the conscious decision to short-change him (especially since a dime would be worth less due to inflation and unlike in Scotland, it's legal tender). Scrooge revealing he's "the richest duck in the world" (but still won't pay full price) just further hurts his case, and makes his gesture of "teaching you self-reliance" come across as Condescending Compassion. (How Duke reacted was still extreme, though.)
• Growing the Beard: For Season 2, the show in general, and for the writing team in general. Many reviews note that making Glomgold, a one-dimensional villain from the original cartoon and the comics, into a complex villain with a compelling motivation and characterisation while still maintaining his Laughably Evil persona was an incredible feat for the show. Keith Ferguson's voice-performance, the animation, and the storytelling is also seen on a higher level than the first two episodes of Season 2.
• I Knew It!: While not in a way that was expected, many fans correctly guessed that Glomgold's South African roots from the comics would addressed at some point.
• Jerkass Woobie: Seeing Glomgold's emotionally compelling backstory made many people feel sorry, not so much for Glomgold himself, but for Duke Baloney, the boy he was and the man he could have been, and which he is, during his amnesiac stage.
• Moe: Kid Glomgold, aka Duke Baloney the South-African shoeshine boy, is a really cute kid, and he had the capacity to be a good person if he didn't give in to The Power of Hate.

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