History Recap / DarkwingDuckS1E1DarklyDawnsTheDuck

* EverybodyKnowsMorse: When Hammerhead brings up that Bulba's trap for Darkwing won't work if he doesn't know Morse Code, Bulba is not concerned, believing that Darkwing is such a do-gooder he probably [[CrazyPrepared keeps a Boy Scout handbook under his pillow]]. Sure enough, as he's talking, that's where Darkwing is getting it.

* XanatosSpeedGambit: Bulba shows off he's a master at this at the certain points, particularly when he takes advantage of the police thinking Darkwing was behind the theft of the ramrod to get him captured and out of the way.

* AdultFear: Darkwing gets captured by cops while Taurus Bulba kidnaps Gosalyn for the arming code he thinks she has. Seeing Darkwing helplessly screaming out her name is pretty chilling for a children's afternoon cartoon show.

** No matter who is doing the breakfast routine, everyone forgets the milk. Mallard Drake references it while adopting Gosalyn so that she knows he survived.

* TrustPassword: While adopting Gosalyn, Mallard Drake explains his injuries as a breakfast injury where he "forgot the milk". Gosalyn realizes what this means and leaps into his arms.

* BatmanGambit: Bulba pulls off a brilliant one playing on Darkwing's ego by sending out a MorseCode surrender message for him, allowing him to learn the location of Darkwing's hideout, leave Gosalyn vulnerable, and lure Darkwing into a trap all at once, while at the same time, cause a bit of a rift between Darkwing and Gosalyn's growing bond.

* ChekhovsGun: Darkwing's breakfast routine. When Bulba's goons try to kidnap her, Gosalyn weaponizes it against them. It almost works; she didn't anticipate that Bulba's eagle would evade the traps and grab her.

* NoOneCouldHaveSurvivedThat: As Taurus Bulba's Ram Rod, a gravity gun, explodes violently in a gigantic fireball (large enough to engulf the top of Canard Tower, which is taller than the city is wide), both the villain and Darkwing are caught at ground zero. Gosalyn and Launchpad both believe that Darkwing has died, until he appears at the orphanage a few days later, having decided to adopt Gosalyn as his daughter.

Back in prison, Taurus Bulba notes that he cannot use the Ramrod without the arming code... and the original plan to get the code from the weapon's designer, Professor Waddlemeyer, before arranging a convenient "accident" to get rid of him fell apart when his henchmen did the second part first. Waddlemeyer's granddaughter, Gosalyn, is currently housed at the St. Canard Orphanage, and Taurus Bulba is convinced she knows the arming code, so he sends his henchmen to the orphanage to kidnap her. Though Hammerhead successfully convinces both the orphanage director, Mrs. Cavanaugh, and the feisty Gosalyn herself that he is a family friend, his kidnap attempt fails when Darkwing swoops in and grabs her. Gosalyn initially assumes he is another kidnapper and fights back, but is persuaded he is on her side when the henchmen open fire. He tries taking her to the police station, but the police believe ''he'' stole the Ramrod and also open fire on him. Darkwing finally escapes by riding the Ratcatcher into the harbour, convincing all observers - including a bicycle-riding Launchpad, anxious to make amends - that he and Gosalyn have drowned. The irate Taurus Bulba decides to go after Darkwing personally, and he instructs Clovis to activate the bullhead-shaped airship he has built into the prison, to the amazement of Warden Waddlesworth.

* RunningGag: It doesn't matter if he's in a plane, on a bicycle, on the Ratcatcher, or in a car, Launchpad seems to spend more time going backwards than forwards. His struggles with reverse gear lead to several CarMeetsHouse situations.

* KnightOfCerebus: Although it's not a particularly extreme case, Taurus Bulba was not funny. He had Gosalyn's grandfather murdered, and when he was trying to get the code for the Waddlemeyer Ramrod he threatened to drop Gosalyn off a building if Darkwing didn't get the code.

* UnhandThemVillain: During the climax, Gosalyn is being held high in the air by the villain's condor to force Darkwing to give up the code for a weapon. Once Darkwing caves to the demand, it drops her. She was saved by Launchpad, who was following the events and reacted appropriately.

* CarMeetsHouse: Launchpad crashes the Ratcatcher and a car through the walls of the prison and Gosalyn's orphanage, respectively.

Darkwing Duck is a vigilante superhero who spends his nights rounding up the criminals of St. Canard, although he finds the lack of press attention paid to his heroics frustrating. After capturing a group of street toughs and depositing them at the police station, he returns to his hideout at the top of the Audubon Bridge and, after running himself through the gauntlet of his breakfast machine, turns in for the day, wishing that he could take on a real criminal mastermind.

He crashes through the roof of an aircraft hangar, the owner of which initially mistakes him for a burglar. Said owner is revealed to be former Scrooge [=McDuck=] employee Launchpad [=McQuack=], who is ecstatic when he realises he is in the presence of Darkwing Duck; he introduces himself as the crimefighter's biggest fan. Darkwing, meanwhile, is delighted to discover that Launchpad is a pilot, and jumps in the nearest plane (ignoring Launchpad's attempts to explain that he has a better one in the next hangar) and offers an autograph in exchange for being flown after the airborne train car. After a wild flight (Launchpad takes off in reverse gear by mistake), they reach the car, but Taurus Bulba orders Tantalus to grab Darkwing and drop him back to earth; though Launchpad catches him, the plane crashes soon after, and an angered Darkwing storms off, dismissing Launchpad's offer to be his sidekick with "IWorkAlone".

Darkwing and Gosalyn return to the Audubon Bridge, where Darkwing begins looking into alternate accommodation for Gosalyn, but when she threatens to reveal the location of his hideout unless he lets her stay, he is forced to put her up. Although she wreaks havoc with his crimefighting gadgets, she also proves highly adept at the breakfast machine test (though, like Darkwing, she forgets the milk, causing the fridge to be dropped on the hapless hero), and he quickly finds himself warming to her. As he puts her to bed for the night, he asks what she knows about the Ramrod; she is able to recite her grandfather's description of it, but understands none of it, and insists he never told her the arming code. She insists she cannot fall asleep without a lullaby, and gives Darkwing a cue by singing the song her grandfather used to sing, "Little Girl Blue", the lyrics of which seem to be a random string of colours. Darkwing improvises a second, more heartfelt verse that finally gets Gosalyn to fall asleep, then realises that the string of colours in the lullaby are the arming code for the Ramrod - Gosalyn knows the code, but doesn't realise she knows it.

In his holding cell, Darkwing is feeling sorry for himself, and the criminals he captured at the beginning of the episode are put off wreaking revenge by his almost aggressive self-pity. Fortunately, Launchpad crashes through the jail wall on the Ratcatcher (in reverse gear again), which he found at Canard Tower after Darkwing was arrested. When he hears that Taurus Bulba is in an airship, Launchpad shows Darkwing the plane he mentioned during their first meeting: the Thunderquack, which looks just like Darkwing's face. Darkwing is delighted, and Launchpad is even more delighted when Darkwing addresses him as "sidekick". Taurus Bulba is on his way to set up the Ramrod on top of Canard Tower; when he sees the Thunderquack approaching, he fires upon it. Darkwing notes that he and Launchpad need to blow an entry hole in the airship, and when Launchpad says that sounds dangerous, Darkwing utters his CatchPhrase for the first time: "LetsGetDangerous!"

Launchpad drops Darkwing through the entry hole on the Ratcatcher, but although he is able to fend off Taurus Bulba's henchmen, the arrival of Taurus Bulba himself leads to his capture. Gosalyn apologises for making Darkwing risk his life; he tells her that before he met her, he didn't have a life worth risking. Taurus Bulba suspects their affection for each other means that Gosalyn has entrusted the arming code to Darkwing, and gambles on this idea by having Tantalus fly Gosalyn high into the air, threatening to drop her if he isn't given the code. Darkwing initially refuses, but when Tantalus drops Gosalyn, he gives in, and Tantalus scoops Gosalyn up again. Darkwing recites the code, and Taurus Bulba arms the Ramrod and uses it to empty the federal gold depository into his airship. He announces his plans to rob every city in the country blind, and when Darkwing notes he no longer needs Gosalyn, Taurus Bulba agrees... and orders Tantalus to drop her after all.

Luckily, Launchpad catches Gosalyn on the Thunderquack, and Darkwing uses the resulting confusion to race to the control panel for the Ramrod and begin mashing random buttons, overloading the weapon. It fires on Hammerhead, Hoof, and Mouth, who are lifted into the air, and then on Taurus Bulba's airship, which crashes into the river (as Clovis ejects, she mutters that she should have followed her mother's advice and become a dental hygienist); meanwhile, Gosalyn gets revenge on Tantalus by getting Launchpad to bite off the condor's tail feathers with the Thunderquack, sending the bird falling out of the sky. But as the Ramrod continues to fire while Taurus Bulba and Darkwing fight just below it, the overloaded weapon finally explodes, leaving the top of Canard Tower a ruin as a horrified Gosalyn and Launchpad look on.

A few days later, Gosalyn is back at the orphanage, still mourning Darkwing's apparent death, and uninterested in the prospective adoptive parent who is visiting her... until she hears Mrs. Cavanaugh talking to said parent and recognises his voice. Sure enough, it's (a heavily bandaged) Darkwing Duck, who identifies himself as Drake Mallard but signals his true identity to Gosalyn by describing his injuries as a breakfast accident caused by forgetting the milk. Thrilled at seeing him alive again, she tackles him in a hug. Drake asks Mrs. Cavanaugh if he can take his newly adopted daughter house hunting, and when the director asks how he can drive in his condition, he explains that he has "help"... in the form of Launchpad, who crashes through the orphanage wall in a car (in reverse gear yet again).

* WouldHurtAChild: Taurus Bulba was perfectly fine with having Gosalyn fall to her death.

On the trail of criminal Taurus Bulba, Darkwing makes a vicious enemy and two friends.

* SecretIdentityIdentity: Darkwing was in fact Drake Mallard in high school before he (likely) gave up his identity to be a hero. He takes up the identity again just to facilitate the adoption but he's still unfamiliar with normal, day-to-day life.

* WouldHurtAChild: Bulba, ''good lord''.

* SecretIdentityIdentity: Darkwing was in fact Drake Mallard in high school before he (likely) gave up his identity to be a hero. He takes up the identity again just to facilitate the adoption but he's still unfamiliar with normal, day-to-day life.

* KnightOfCerebus: Although it's not a particularly extreme case, Taurus Bulba was not funny.

* InadvertantEntranceCue: In the second half of the episode, Darkwing is locked in prison and laments how he messed up and has no one to ask for help. Then Launchpad breaks in.