Tear Jerker / DuckTales (2017) - Season 1

Main | Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3

---

"Well, you've successfully pushed your family and everyone who ever cared about you away... again.
I hope you're happy."
"I am."

Woo-oo!

Used to be a big Deal...

• After catching Dewey trying to hotwire the boat so that he and his brothers can travel to Cape Suzette, Donald loads the boys up in the car and tells them that "if [they] want to keep [their] home afloat, [they've] all got to do things [they] don't want to do", which makes it clear he's talking to himself when he sets a course for McDuck Manor. He quite clearly does not want to go anywhere near Scrooge but feels he has no choice since he can't trust his nephews to stay home unsupervised, something that gets worse when he tries to make sure the boys are dropped off before Scrooge returns home.
  • Donald's houseboat burns down. While Played for Laughs, it means the boys lost their home and their belongings. It's going to take a while to fix it.
  • Donald showing his nephews' baby picture to his "co-workers" and fondly reminiscing moments of them.
  "I miss them so much, but we need this job."
  • Both Scrooge and Donald "used to be a big deal" but Scrooge is still a world-famous businessman and renowned explorer, who exhibits trinkets and artifacts about his past in his home. Donald, however, is more or less forgotten, living in poverty, with nothing to show for his adventures, with his entire time taken in raising three kids who largely react with disbelief when Webby unearths the past about Donald as "one of the most daring adventurers of all time".f
• A sign of how far Scrooge has fallen shows up in his first scene. His accountants are going on about increasing profits, by downsizing his company's historical research and adventure-related departments. Scrooge is just disdainful towards them. Then he returns some coins to his money bin, looks at them forlornly, and struggles to close the door. The proud and driven duck who built his fortune up from nothing, this is not; he has more or less traded what he really enjoyed doing for accumulating money.
  • He’s not disdainful to them because of his money grabbing-ness. Episode 22 reveals that they forcefully pulled him away from searching for Della and shut down the department. He’s disdainful to them because any other emotion would make him lash out at them.
• It's painfully obvious that Webby has a Friendless Background based on how quickly she latches on to the triplets because of them treating her with just basic courtesy. She outright asks if they're friends after only a few seconds of interaction.
• The way Donald and Scrooge interact showing just how far their relationship has fallen:
  Donald: Mrs. B said you would watch the boys for a few hours! Can you do that without LOSING them!?
  Scrooge: (deeply offended) Of course I can!
  • It's not the usual "deeply offended" behavior exhibited by the McDuck-Duck Family where a member goes out of control with rage. Oh no, it isn't. Scrooge is offended in the way where his tone of voice painfully cracks in a "Why do you feel you can't trust me with your kids?" tone. After all these years, he is still stung by Donald's anger at losing Della.
  • While Scrooge didn't know who he was yelling at when he first calls Donald a deadbeat, he says it again right to Donald's face after a minute of forced pleasantries. Given that, unlike Scrooge, Donald has to work to support the boys, that's pretty harsh.
  • Later when trapped in a flooding room we get a possible hint as to what happened between them... an even bigger tearjerker with the later knowledge that the nephews' mom was also an adventurer with Scrooge and Donald, and even more so when you remember that Della, their mom, was Donald's twin sister.
  Donald: I KNEW IT! I KNEW I COULDN'T TRUST YOU WITH THE BOYS!!
  Scrooge: Not the time, Donald!
  Donald: Crazy old man! All you care about is your next adventure! This is the Spear of Selene all over again!!
  Scrooge: I was NOT responsible for the Spear of Selene!
  • When the group gets back from Atlantis, Donald says he's okay with Scrooge seeing the nephews... on birthdays and holidays.
  • The fact that the nephews had no idea that they were related to Scrooge until that day.
• Scrooge muttering that family is nothing but trouble, and Dewey throwing that line back at him, but to Scrooge's discomfort. Given we don't know what happened to Della, except that it involved the Spear of Selene, this is obviously a touchy subject.
• Scrooge gets so depressed when the triplets say that he "used" to be a big deal that he locks them in a room with marbles, goes to one of his cabinets showing his diving suit and pathetically puts on the outfit to relive his glory days. The famous "tougher than the toughies" line isn't a badass moment of self-affirmation but a weak self-motivating pep-talk.
  • After falling over he tries getting back up, only to be unable to lift his head from the floor with the diving helmet on.
  Scrooge: Maybe they're right.
• Donald in the flooding treasure room; he's plugging one hole with his butt and hands, but the water is still rising. He's still willing to drown to buy Dewey more time. It's a small wonder he blows up at Scrooge for endangering the boys.
• One word, never uttered in the original series, with it always being "Uncle Donald" or "Uncle Scrooge"...
  Dewey: Mom?!

Daytrip of Doom!

• The fact that Donald's pride keeps him from asking for Beakley's help since he's been raising the boys on his own for ten years.
• After he recovers from being clonked in the head, Donald goes Oh, Crap! on realizing that the boys and Webby have been kidnapped. He has a Freak Out and runs to both Scrooge and Beakley for help. Beakley realizes O.O.C. Is Serious Business.
• Webby just taking it as a given that she isn't invited on the day trip, turns to heartwarming when she’s invited and runs off to prepare.
• Webby's lack of social skills and common knowledge cause several problems for the triplets during their trip to Funso's and eventually leads to all of them being banned for life. Louie angrily tells Dewey they shouldn't have brought her, to which it pans to Webb who heard every word he had just said, leaving her crestfallen.
  • Later on, it's shown she can easily slip out of the ropes they're tied up in, but she didn't do it because she doesn't want the triplets to think she's weird. She even begins to tie herself up again before the boys reassure her that "normal's overrated".
• Earlier on, the employee at Funzone who gets yelled at by her boss for turning a blind eye to Louie sneaking free drinks. Gets very relatable if you've seen someone endure that, or have had to endure yourself over a well-meaning mistake.
• Bigtime Beagle just wants his mother's approval. When he sees Donald hugging his nephews, he questions why his family isn't like that.

The Great Dime Chase!

• Dewey goes to Webby to find out more about his mother. She has no information about Della beyond Scrooge refusing to speak of her. He gets more and more frustrated as he and Webby encounter multiple dead ends. Then after fending off the Archivist, the two open a secret room dedicated to Della. They find a note she wrote, claiming she took the Spear of Selene and apologizing to Scrooge for it. Webby wonders if that means Della betrayed Scrooge. Dewey is so horrified by the possibility that he tells Webby they can't tell Huey and Louie until they find more information.
• Louie mistreating Little Bulb. You can't blame LB for snapping and stealing as many dimes as he can (though admittedly he had an aggressive attitude even before this).
• All of Gyro's inventions turn evil, even though Little Bulb has him labeled as "Father". He notes this fact at the end sadly.
• While mostly Played for Laughs, Dewey's frustration about knowing next to nothing on his mother can be pretty poignant, especially for those who never knew their own parents.

The Beagle Birthday Massacre!

• Webby is envious of the close bond the triplets share, feeling left out when they mention in-jokes and go off kayaking without her (since the boat they use only has room for three, and she doesn't feel it would be right to accept Huey's offer to switch with him). She's happy to have the same sort of bond with Lena at the end, but we all know it's going to be a matter of time before she finds out Lena is using her.
• Ma Beagle is quite an Abusive Parent to her kids, as evidenced when she yells at them that "none of them are having birthdays this year" after they fail to capture the kids.

Terror of the Terra-Firmians!

• Huey reveals the true reason for his Agent Scully act is that he's terrified that there could be things out there he has no idea about and can't protect himself from, piling the full horror of Nothing Is Scarier onto the head of this little kid.
• Lena's reaction to Mrs. Beakley asking her who raised her, and when Webby rushes to her grandmother. And as we then see later in the episode, her relationship with her Aunt Magica is highly dysfunctional and argumentative rather than close.
  • When Beakley rants to Lena that the other kids have bright futures and good families unlike her, the poor girl looks utterly heartbroken.◊

The House of Lucky Gander!

• Poor Donald. Not only did he feel inferior to Gladstone, but he was pretty much belittled by his family throughout the episode. Dewey even calls him "the worst."
  • Donald's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Gladstone about how he knows his cousin was Born Lucky, and that Gladstone is the Cool Uncle while Donald is the harried, Butt-Monkey caretaker. He goes on to say that Gladstone doesn't have to rub it in that no one looks up to Donald. Gladstone actually looks really hurt by this, since it wasn't his intention to make Donald look bad.
  • The look on Louie's face when an agitated Gladstone snaps at him "I don't need you, I need him [Donald]!" Keep in mind, up until this point, all three nephews openly considered Gladstone cooler in comparison to Donald; this more or less confirms that Gladstone wasn't interested in any of them.
  • Donald even is ready to surrender to the near-overwhelming fatalistic depression this episode put him in and feels resigned when Gladstone keeps winning things effortlessly, and he keeps messing up even though Donald put his all into it. This culminates in Louie having to give Donald a Rousing Speech in the climax, when Donald is about to give up in a footrace against Gladstone and let a tiger maul him.
  • The Reveal that Gladstone was only using Donald because the latter's bad luck would break Gladstone's winning streak and free him from the casino. And he didn't bother to tell his family the reason for his distress signal and instead hope they'd figure it out thanks to Liu Hai's constant watching him—and making it worse if Gladstone said it straight out. It's even worse when Gladstone keeps insisting that he's not trying to make his cousin look bad, which is true, but The Reveal isn't much better.
  • Scrooge convinces the casino spirit to take Donald instead of Gladstone so that Donald becomes the prisoner of the casino. Louie gets furious and calls out Uncle Scrooge for sacrificing Donald. This gets mitigated when Scrooge reveals that a luck spirit wouldn't be able to handle Donald's luck and kicks out the duck, thus saving both of his nephews.
    • Also the fact that Scrooge didn't tell/hint to anyone about his plan (as it would have alerted Liu Hai). As far as Donald knows Scrooge really is trading him for Gladstone. And Donald just looks so resigned.
  • Gladstone's Ignored Epiphany when his family leaves him. He thinks that he's going to work hard for once... then a lady sells him her yacht for twenty dollars. His good luck is a gift and a curse.
    • Overall, one gets the sense that Gladstone does legitimately care about his family, and likes the triplets (especially Louie), but his easy life has left him largely unable to balance that against his general self-centeredness.
• The flashback showing Little Donald and Little Gladstone while cute, also suggests that growing up Donald had to rely on Gladstone as a childhood playmate and that he probably didn't have children of his age who supported and encouraged him the way the Triplets and Webby have each other.
• The triplets have met Gladstone and are pretty familiar with him, yet at the beginning of the series, they didn't even know they were related to Scrooge. Despite disliking Gladstone, Donald has still introduced him to the boys yet never even told them about Scrooge.

The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks!

• Huey's (thankfully short-lived) breakdown is rather painful to watch. Especially for anyone who's ever had their hard work go under-recognized in favor of someone who didn't do any.

The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra!

• If the living conditions of the people inside Toth-Ra's pyramid don't pull your heartstrings, you might want to check and see if you still have them.
• Scrooge is clearly worried about the safety of both Webby and Louie during the time that they're separated.
  • When he first sees Toth-Ra, Scrooge makes a break for the mummy, obviously trying to ask where are Webby and Louie. When Toth-Ra ignores him and leaves the room, sealing off the gate, Scrooge slumps in despair.
  • When Amunet tells him that Webby and Louie must be trapped in Toth-Ra's chamber, Scrooge (along with Launchpad, Huey, and Dewey) starts banging on the chamber's entrance, screaming Webby's and Louie's names.
• Launchpad seems to have died from being flung into a wall, leaving Scrooge and everybody else heartbroken. Of course, he was just knocked out, but it was still a sad moment.

The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!

• While Huey has an unassailable point that finishing the climb is extremely dangerous and completely unfeasible, it's still kind of hard on poor Scrooge who absolutely hates to give up, especially when the goal is so close. Made more so by the fact that he's been waiting to try this again for 75 years and his last attempt ended with him getting an undeserved humiliating reputation.
• The fact that Scrooge took Launchpad, Webby, and the triplets on this trip for Christmas while leaving Donald and Ms. Beakley behind. So much for spending the holidays with family... Though of course, considering the dangers of the climb, it's possible it was for the best.
• It's over in a second thanks to Mood Whiplash, but Scrooge and Huey's panic over Dewey and Webby falling to their apparent deaths were darn heartwrenching. Thankfully, they turn out to be okay, having fallen through a wormhole to a safe landing.

The Missing Links of Moorshire!

• When Scrooge places the glory of being the best golfer ever above the priority of getting his family out safely, Dewey and Webby - the two kids that look up to him the most - angrily walk away from him.
  • Especially sad since earlier Dewey was overjoyed with the idea of spending time with his great-uncle playing golf together and improving his form.
• Not helped by the commentary of a young daring upstart surpassing their older mentor, Scrooge really seems irked by Dewey beyond normal reason. Is he seeing the rebellious and daring Della in him?
• As related to Technician vs Performer, one can understand that Scrooge who has worked and practiced his golfing skills for several years is being outstaged by a young kid who happens to be naturally good at golfing. That doesn't excuse his Green-Eyed Monster and Skewed Priorities moments but still...

McMystery At McDuck McManor!

• This episode finally shows where Duckworth has been and... it's not a fun story. He passed away some time ago and it's quite clear that Scrooge misses him.
  • This casts Scrooge's Birthday Hater tendencies in one of two lights and neither is a pleasant thought. Either he became one because none of the parties he was thrown could ever match Duckworth's in his eyes or he's always been one but Duckworth was able to throw parties he actually enjoyed but will never have those again.
• While Played for Laughs Louie figuring that Scrooge is a birthday hater because he hates being reminded that "he's literally the oldest person that he knows" is actually very harsh when you think on Scrooge's life at the start of the series. He doesn't seem to have many if any friends, he's been completely estranged from the family that he hasn't simply outlived, and had quite nearly given up on any more adventures in his life. Not much of a shock that he doesn't like celebrating his birthday.
  • Further, Louis said that the party was of the "richest and elite". Aside from his more average family and workers, the only people Louie got to come were Scrooge's Arch Enemies. It really says something that "the richest duck in the world" doesn't have anyone in town who even likes him who could relate to his life.
• Scrooge gets Duckworth back. The smile that almost rips Scrooge's face open when he sees the ghost of his butler is enough to make anyone cry ugly tears. If it doesn't — WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?!
• When Webby greets Duckworth after her and Beakley's "retreat", this seems to imply that not only did she know Duckworth when he was alive, but she also seemed very fond of the butler, even when he's brought back as a ghost.

The Spear of Selene!

• Storkules asks Donald where Della is. Donald doesn't reply but instead looks at his nephews sadly. Storkules realizes what has happened to her.
• Donald finally gives his reason for retiring from adventuring.
  Donald: I'm through with adventure! Someone always gets hurt!
  Storkules: But getting hurt is part of the adventure! What would fierce Della say if she could hear you now?
  Donald: Well, she can't! *gets taken aback by what he said* Someone always gets hurt.
• Dewey keeps trying to think of plausible explanations for his mother to have taken the spear while having good reasons for doing it. Say if she died fighting a beast, or to keep Scrooge from getting cursed. Webby's insistence on her theory that Della betrayed Scrooge in some way hurts him deeply.
• Dewey and Webby's argument.
  Webby: We're so close to the truth! Why won't you let us find it?!
  Dewey: Because...*his voice cracks* what if my mom was a bad person?
• We find out that, despite Selene being the goddess of the moon, she doesn't have a Spear. She has a Sphere that works like a crystal ball, but that's not what Della took. When Dewey gets frustrated about being back at square one, Selene assures him that Della was a good person, friend, and hero and that she always liked a mystery. Then she gives him an embrace as he starts crying, as well as her Sphere to help him find his mother.
• Storkules dithers over "stealing" the golden fleece from a child because that wouldn't make him a hero, even if that's what his father wants. Even Scrooge looks taken aback at how conflicted Storkules is.
• Storkules, while brainwashed, begs his father to not make him attack the Duck family.
• Selene hasn't seen her close friend Della in years. She never even knew Della disappeared/died.

Beware the B.U.D.D.Y System!

• Poor Fenton. Gyro doesn't really like him that much, never says his name (he either calls him 'intern' or 'dummy'), and tells him that the bathroom is his office because it's the perfect place for his work.
  Fenton: I'm just now realizing that remark may not have been entirely complimentary.
• Launchpad just wants Scrooge to congratulate him, but Scrooge doesn't even bat an eye on Launchpad.
  • In fairness, this is largely because Launchpad tried to make a grand display out of it rather than simply telling Scrooge that he got his license. At the end of the episode, Scrooge gives Launchpad a heartfelt congrats the instant Dewey tells him about it. Still, seeing Launchpad think Scrooge doesn't care is super sad.

Jaw$

• When Lena initially interrupts Webby's improvised spell charm to get rid of the shark (the spell requires a strong bond of friendship), a hurt Webby asks Lena if their friendship really matters to the older duckling.
• We learn that Lena is being forced to help Magica in exchange for her freedom, and in the end, she apparently forces Lena to remove the friendship bracelet Webby made her.
  • Really, by this point it's clear that Magica is an Abusive Parent, having no qualms about risking her niece's life to get revenge on Scrooge, and treating her as nothing more than a tool and a pawn to do her bidding. And how exactly does Magica force Lena to do her bidding? By imprisoning her with People Puppet control, so she couldn't even run away if she tried. In fact, Magica immobilizes Lena completely for several moments in the end for her failure and defiance.
    • Remember Lena's reaction to Webby attempting to pull a Heroic Sacrifice for her? Lena probably doesn't know that that’s normal and healthy behavior for friends and family to display to each other - she didn't expect Webby to rescue her after damaging their friendship earlier.

The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!

• Scrooge and Goldie's relationship.
  Scrooge: You loved gold more than you loved me.
  Goldie: That's why you loved me.
• The main reason Scrooge has trouble trusting Goldie: when they spent five years trapped in a glacier together, their hate toward each other turned into love. However, when Goldie finally thawed out enough to get free, she left Scrooge trapped in the ice, resulting in him believing that his feelings meant nothing to her.
• Scrooge is genuinely distraught when Glomgold causes Goldie to fall into the boiling-hot pool of gold. And when Glomgold has him tied up later, ready to force the same fate upon him? He doesn't seem to care.
• The implications of Scrooge's family all being gone but for Donald and the boys are confirmed here. Scrooge's adventures in alternate dimensions kept him from aging. Since he was an adult during the Gold Rush, he'd have to be almost a century and a half old by now, and the family members who weren't with him didn't get the de-aging benefits.

Day of the Only Child!

• We get another glimpse into the life of the Beagle brothers' abusive upbringing. Bouncer mentions that he's never even tried his food without Bigtime throwing it in his face, and when Huey pats Burger and him on the back in a congratulatory manner, they're visibly flinching. It's no wonder they immediately latch onto Huey once shown a bit of kindness.
• Louie tries to make small talk with a butler and maid of Doofus Drake, only for them to reveal that they're not just servants. They're Doofus's parents.
  Louie: So, you're his butler, huh? My butler's a ghost. Yup. Yeah, he's dead.
  Doofus's Mom: We're dead inside.
• Webby, an only child herself who would give anything for siblings, is eventually driven to take over the new security drone just to lecture Dewey about how he should appreciate having siblings.

From The Confidential Casefiles Of Agent 22

• Scrooge wonders why he and Webby haven't hung out before, with Webby replying how Beakley told her not to bother Scrooge, and that Scrooge was basically too busy running his business and moping to come and interact with her much. Scrooge looks noticably guilty at that.
• Scrooge saying a bunch of unflattering things about Webby, like how she's a Damsel in Distress. Granted, it was to get Black Heron to underestimate her, but still.
• Amazingly subtle, but after Black Heron falls to her apparent death, Beakley places a comforting hand on Webby's shoulder, non-verbally trying to reassure her granddaughter that this was not her fault.

Who is Gizmoduck?!

• Poor Fenton. As he mentioned in his debut episode, all he wants to do is help people. And yet time and again, he finds that his good intentions get sidelined by cautious inventors or greedy business people.
• An upset Huey tells Gizmoduck to throw away a piece of paper for him. When Gizmoduck opens the paper, it reads "My faith in you!!"
• Fenton's mom sees him appear to get blown up.

The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!

• Huey and Dewey's reaction to their Bigfoot friend having to leave, even if he was just scamming them.
• Lena's nightmare sequence of Magica regaining corporeal form includes such gems as Lena crying in fear, and Magica taunting her with Webby's voice, including this breaking gem:
  Webby: I know what you really are. A monster... just like your aunt!
  • Culminating with Lena killing "Webby" unintentionally with a beam of magic from her amulet.
• Keep in mind, everything that happens in the nightmare is a product of Lena's own imagination, brought on by her growing fear and dread about setting her aunt free, her anxiety over her magical background, and her guilt about selling out her friends to a murderous psychopath. So everything Magica and Webby tell Lena in this sequence - about being a coward, a traitor and a monster - is what she truly thinks of herself at her most self-loathing. That's pretty depressing.
• Lena was SO close to telling Scrooge the truth, only to have her body fully taken from her. We don't even get to see her reaction beyond confusion as her voice stalls and body freezes as Magica takes over.
• Doubles as Nightmare Fuel. Remove the magical elements and this episode was a disturbingly good depiction of what it's like to grow up in an abusive relationship. You feel like a hostage, the adult in your life manipulates you and constantly shows you their disdain, you dig yourself in deeper and deeper with lies covering for them, and worst of all, you feel completely alone. Nobody but you knows how miserable you are because you feel like you can't tell them, in fear of retaliation. Ordinary kids do have the option of running away when they get old enough but Lena is magically tethered to Magica, and the final minutes take the abusive relationship one messed-up, supernatural step further when her aunt hijacks her body to ensure her silence. Out of the many antagonists in DuckTales 2017, Magica is the most loathsome one yet.
• Louie's subplot is the same: just turn Gavin from a bigfoot into an ordinary moocher-manipulator who turns violent when someone threatens to stop others from enabling them. Worse, Gavin's a good enough conman that within a day Dewey and Huey were siding with him over their own brother. The look of hurt on Louie's face when Huey at one point punches him over it is heartbreaking. Dewey also shoves him. In a way, the relatively easy resolution to the B-plot makes the A-plot sting more. Gavin threatens Louie and tries to bully the kid into silence, but Louie refuses to play ball and be trapped in an abusive situation. He out-manipulates Gavin and manages to kick the bigfoot out of his life by the episode's end, even getting in a smug taunt. Lena was... not as fortunate with her attempt to get rid of Magica.
  • Huey and Dewey never finding out the truth is sad in its own way. Unless future episodes change this, they will never know what Louie did to protect them.

Sky Pirates... In the Sky

• Dewey being ignored when he tries to tell his family about how he got his hat, giving him a textbook case of Middle Child Syndrome.

The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!

You kept a secret about Mom. That is not okay

• Scrooge and his father are not on good terms. If anything their estrangement is even worse than Scrooge and Donald. And they've been that way for centuries.
  Fergus: Jettison that jalopy from my driveway this instant, you deadbeat!
  Scrooge: Daddy.
• Huey calling out Dewey for not telling them about the quest to find Della. As Huey puts it, Della was also his and Louie's mother.
• Louie's reaction to finding out that Dewey's been solving the mystery of Della behind their backs. Unlike Huey, he doesn't react angrily, but sits in the corner cradling Della's jacket in his arms and looking like he's about to cry.
  Dewey: Louie? You okay?
  Louie: You kept a secret about Mom. That is not okay.
  • When Huey lashes out at Dewey, Dewey gets defensive and tries to explain why he did what he did. However, when Dewey sees Louie's reaction, he has no response and is forced to admit that he messed up big time. One can just tell that seeing Louie so hurt broke Dewey's heart into a million pieces. Dewey's devastated facial expression says everything.
  • The way Huey and Dewey react and treat him in this moment suddenly makes one painfully aware of the fact that Louie is the youngest of the triplets.
    • The way the scene sets it up only makes it worse. The viewer gets so engrossed in Dewey and Huey's argument that you almost forget Louie never says anything during the scene. Then, Dewey and Huey notice this as well and the heartbreak begins.
• The fact that Fergus and Downy have out lived their own daughter Hortense.
  • Beyond the taciturn response Fergus gave Scrooge about making his parents immortal, think about the ramifications. Not only have they outlived at least one of their daughters, rarely if ever see their son, and have only now met their great grandsons for the first time, but the nature of the castle means they can only be visited every five years, and presumably time passes the same on the inside of the castle as it does on the outside. Scrooge really did curse his parents, if only by accident.
• Fergus is the one who actually gave Scrooge his #1 Dime. He gave the American dime to a fellow citizen and splashed his boots with mud, then sent him to his young son (who never found out the truth until now) to give him the gift of hard work and self-reliance, because he and his wife were too poor to be able to afford a proper gift for their son. And then Scrooge learned the virtues too well, leaving the nest and his family behind to make a life for himself and rarely, if ever, visiting.
  • A subclause to this: The fact that Fergus had to learn and accept the fact that he couldn't provide for his own son himself, and effectively sacrifice his relationship with Scrooge for Scrooge's own betterment and happiness.
• The look on Fergus' face when his son angrily tells him that He (Scrooge) doesn't need him (Fergus) is just heartbreaking.
• The fact that Huey almost destroyed several of his mother's belongings, without knowing who they belonged to. Dewey is visibly shaken by this.

The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

• Dewey's determination to grab the piece of paper on the propeller, even if it means risking his own life. His family makes a slew of excellent points (including the one that the mystery of Della's disappearance isn't worth all of their lives) but Dewey is too frustrated to be placated by any of the things they say.
  Webby: Dewey, this is crazy! The mystery's not worth it!
  Louie: Look, I-I get it, but you can't give up the rest of us to find the one person we lost!
  Launchpad: Dewey! The Darkwing Duck video is still running! Do you want me to pause it until you get back!
  Huey: (grabs the walkie talkie) Give me that. Dewey, our family is amazing. We're enough! Let it go!
  Dewey: (angrily throws the walkie talkie)
  • Dewey has been searching for answers for months at this point, and has met with nothing but dead ends. This is where we see all those months of disappointment and frustration come out full throttle.
  • Dewey was afraid to find out the truth on Ithaquack because he feared finding out that the person he idolized so much could have been bad. In this episode his fears come true. But instead of it being his mom it was Scrooge, the man he had come to admire and love as a father figure over the past few months.
    • Not really. It's been pointed out that the brothers using Scrooge as a Scapegoat is their way of coping with the fact that Della more or less abandoned them. A comic ("Nightmare on Bear Mountain!") released post-finale has Dewey coming to terms with the fact that (as far as he knew), Della loved adventure over him and his brothers.
• Beakley, upon seeing the clip board, pulls the note from Webby's pocket and instantly realizes what the kids have been up to. From the tone of her voice, she sympathizes with them, but knows this isn't going to end well.
  Mrs. Beakley: Oh children, what have you been up to?
• Scrooge's increasing desperation to prove he can protect his family no matter what, because "he's Scrooge McDuck" culminating in him pleading with Dewey:
  Scrooge: Please! I can’t keep you safe, alright? How can I get you to listen to me?
• Scrooge, while going after Dewey, gains resolve with three words.
  Scrooge: No. Not again.
• Scrooge's Freudian Slip where he says that he can "protect her" [Della] when he means "protect them" [Webby and the boys]
• "Tell me about the Spear of Selene." Dewey finally corners Scrooge for answers, and both look like they're going to burst out crying. Heck, Scrooge even sheds a few tears seeing his greatest failure staring him in the face.
• The ending.
  • It's revealed that Scrooge nearly emptied his money bin building more rockets to send up after Della, only stopping when his executives physically dragged him away from the search because it was costing the company too much. And he recalls all of this while the boys' accusations of him being cheap and not caring echo in his head, finally ending with:
  Mrs. Beakley: I hope you're happy.
  Scrooge: (With bitter resolve) I am.
  • You can even see his chest heaving right before, showing that he's clearly extremely upset and only barely managing to hold all his frustration back.
  • When he sits down in his armchair, tears fall from his eyes as he says "I am" when Mrs. Beakley's parting words echo in his head.
  • Related to the above, Scrooge did indeed send other ships to search for her, but it cost not just billions of dollars, but very likely the lives of those he sent up, never to return and tell what they have seen.
    • The sheer desperation that was evident in Scrooge's search for Della. Seeing the Money Bin get drained bit by bit, the constant failures to make contact with her ship, culminating in the Board having to physically pry Scrooge away. Scrooge's face when they do so is desperate and full of panic, an expression that has never been seen on Scrooge's face at this point in the show.
  • It's a bit of a quick moment but if you look at the board that Scrooge's advisors are pointing to, the chart displays a red bar. Scrooge didn't just nearly drain the money bin dry but he came dangerously close to going bankrupt. He financed the search so heavily that he wasn't making any profit.
  • As the search for Della proves fruitless, Donald is seen angrily leaving mission control and taking her unhatched eggs with him. Now that their mother is seemingly gone, Donald feels the only thing he can do is take care of her babies while keeping them as far away from Scrooge as possible.
    • Remember Donald's words to Scrooge in the first episode? "Mrs. B. said that you would watch the boys! Can you do that without losing them?!"
  • After that, Scrooge looks at the photo he took of himself in the spacesuit in front of the ship he built for Della, with Della in the background. He promptly rips it apart in a fit of tearful rage, letting the stray pieces fall to the floor, the same pieces the nephews would find a few years later. He can’t take the tragic memories anymore, and this starts his shut-in behavior at the start of the pilot episode.
  • Even worse, look at Scrooge's posture when he slumps down in his chair: it's a match for his first appearance in the comics when he was still a bitter, villainous miser. It took the return of Donald and the nephews to turn him into the lovable adventurer we all know. Without them, he's back where he started.
  • Scrooge's pride and bitterness kept him from communicating properly, which makes his own perspective on the events all the more heartbreaking. He knows he gave everything, did everything he could think of and thought was right for his family, both back then and when the nephews entered his life. And to him the end result was everyone he cares about turning on him, blaming him for everything, twice now. He means it when he says "I am" at the end, as he finds the pain of being alone closer to "happy" than the pain being with his family has brought him. Or at least, that is how he feels at the moment, with so many old wounds reopened. And deep down he knows, as he admitted to Dewey, that for all he tries he can't always protect his family.
  Scrooge: You will not speak to me that way! None of you! After all I do for you, you're still nothing but trouble!
• The reveal also makes the lack of respect Donald gets from the boys even worse. Not only did he spend the last 10 years raising them himself but he was also the only one thinking about what was best for them. Yet despite this the boys spend most of their time treating Donald like a boring stick in the mud.
  • An even bigger tearjerker? Scrooge does not treat Donald like a boring stick in the mud. Sure, they don't get along because of the events recounted in the flashbacks with Della and Donald is as unlucky as anything in life, but apart from one insult in the first episode, Scrooge and Donald both know the truth of what actually happened. Scrooge treats Donald like duck-poo... because it means Donald won't be put in danger by being close to him.
• Scrooge saying Webby isn't a part of his family. This, after they had a bonding moment in "From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22!", and after Scrooge generously allowed her to call him "Uncle Scrooge" from now on instead of "Mr. McDuck". In doing so, Scrooge effectively revokes Webby’s Friendly Address Privileges. This clearly stabs the poor girl's heart.
  • This particular scene hits even harder after watching "The Last Adventure!", with The Reveal that Webby was actually part of Scrooge's family to begin with, specifically his daughter via cloning.
• Donald's reaction to finding out the boys knowing about the Spear of Selene.
  Donald: What happened to you?
  Dewey: We know about the Spear of Selene.
  Donald: *gives a heartbroken "Oh..."*
  Louie: (as the boys board the boat) Let's go back to the marina.
  • This has to be incredibly heartbreaking for Donald, because all he ever told his nephews was that their mother was gone. Now they know she, however unintentionally, abandoned them before they were hatched. He can't even pretend anymore it wasn't Della's own actions that took her away from her sons.
• After the bitter fallout from her granddaughter being disowned (metaphorically) by Scrooge during the crash, Bentina takes an extended vacation with her, but not without giving Scrooge a parting shot. And worst of all, just before all this, Scrooge had thanked Mrs. B for inviting the family back into their lives for the last 6 months. Now all of that is broken.
  Mrs. Beakley: Well, you've successfully pushed your family and everyone who ever cared about you away... again. I hope you're happy.
  • Webby's reaction to this is even more heartbreaking. Unlike her granny she isn't full of smoldering anger. She's in full sadness letting out a pitiful "Isn't he even gonna say goodbye?"; it's almost as if unlike everyone else she's regretted her part in chewing Scrooge out after seeing its effects — the surrogate family she's come to love and cherish is disintegrated and the man she's practically worshipped is now alone, bitter, and broken.
• Even Duckworth, Scrooge's most loyal servant who came back from the grave to help him, doesn't think this is a situation that he should be serving in directly. And he too walks away from the house.

The Shadow War!

• Beakley reveals that the events we saw in the flashbacks regarding Scrooge's search for Della at the end of the previous episode took place over ten years. That's how long he searched for Della, nearly bankrupting himself, before he was forced to stop.
  • And keep in mind that the triplets are supposed to be about ten years old, meaning that they first entered Scrooge's life shortly after he was forced to stop looking for their mother. The financial problems Scrooge's board talks about in his first scene of the first episode are more than likely a result of his fruitless search. Now we know why Scrooge's Money Bin looks so empty for the size it is.
• After the events of the previous episode Scrooge is completely broken; Magica and Lena find him literally lying around in his home, wearing nothing more than his undergarments which are all dirtied up, and based on the amounts of junk food lying around on the floor has tried going for a binge on Comfort Food in a failed attempt to help his depression. He doesn't seem to notice, or even care, that she's there with him. He’s truly at his lowest right now.
  • Notice what looks like shadow straps around Lena’s beak. No doubt to prevent her from revealing her relation to her Aunt Magica and affiliation with her upon Lena almost ruining her plan of revenge upon Scrooge McDuck.
  • Even Magica is disappointed in her bitterest rival's state, and actually does a Get A Hold Of Yourself Man slap to him and tells him to suck it up when she realizes that he's not faking it. As much as she hates Scrooge she also deeply respects him and can't stand that he's actually making her feel pity for him.
• While it doubles as a Moment of Awesome, Donald having to mobilize the entire cast and be the leader to save Scrooge. He hates adventuring, he blames Scrooge for what happened to his sister, and he doesn't want the boys to get hurt. But when his uncle needs him to stop Magica and save everyone? Let's Get Dangerous!, Mr. Duck.
• Apparently the DeSpell family is really dysfunctional if what Lena says while trapped with Scrooge is any consideration.
• The houseboat being destroyed again.
• Gyro is a bit hurt when Scrooge says that he's just a work acquaintance (admittedly this may have saved his life).
• Manny saying farewell to Little Bulb when the shadows corner them, calling him his brother.
• Webby's rant against Magica. For the first time in her life, the little duckling finally got a family and friends, and Magica in one fell swoop took it all away. While the triplets were poking fun at Magica, Webby was livid and Magica, for a brief moment, was terrified of her. Leads into a Breaking Speech from Magica.
  Magica: Lena couldn't be your friend because she was NEVER REAL!
  Webby: I don't believe you!
  Magica: You had sleepovers with a shadow. You gave it a friendship bracelet. Honestly, it's embarrassing how pathetic you were.
  • Magica created Lena. For all intents and purposes, Magica is Lena's mother, and Lena is her daughter. But Magica doesn't see it that way. In her words, Lena was never real and was never family. And then you remember that Lena calls Magica her aunt - Magica most likely forbade Lena from calling her her mother (not unlikely considering that Magica scoffs at Lena calling her "aunt"), and she definitely doesn't see Lena as her daughter. Those familial titles exist only so that Magica can have some grasp of twisted authority over what she thinks of as a worthless creation.
  Magica: You're not my family, you are nothing!
• Lena's Heroic Sacrifice. She does later show up as Webby's shadow, thankfully, indicating that there's a way to bring her back.
  • After multiple episodes of Character Development, friendship-building and getting to know her as a character, Lena's Reveal as nothing more than a mere shadow is hard to digest. She was literally born different, has no parents, her creator holds her in contempt and views her of little worth, a means to an end, and it costs her everything - even her life... But her bond with Webby remains.
• Hooray, Della's alive! But she still missed out on the first ten years of her sons' lives, and looks close to tears at the evidence of how they've grown up without her. Since she disappeared before they hatched, this is literally the first time she's seen her children's faces.
  • Gets slightly better (or worse) with the knowledge of the events of "Last Christmas!". Della encountered Dewey before, and most likely never forgot him. When she saw her boys on TV, she most likely recognized "Bluey"... and realized exactly who he and his brothers were, and what "Bluey" was trying to prevent when she stopped him from revealing the future.
  • The simple shot of Della looking at the TV and seeing the triplets on screen. A small surprised shocked face and then...
    Della:...boys?
• Mrs. Beakley gives a speech on just how much losing Della broke Scrooge and the fact that the nephews turned against him because they lost one family member. Where are Webby's parents? Mrs. Beakley, it's implied, has lost at least three family members - Mr. Beakley, her son/daughter, and their significant other. It's brought her and Webby closer together. There has been a lot of death in this family.

---