DuckTales Review - Season 1 Episode 7: The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks! (SPOILERS)

MegaSoulhero Alright! Time for another DuckTales review! By the way, apparently this episode was supposed to air before the Gladstone episode, but Disney XD mixed up the schedule. But this is still considered episode 7. Anyway, let’s get started with discussing (sigh) this episode.

It starts out with Scrooge and his rival Glomgold having a staring contest. And during this staring contest, a bird named Mark Beaks walks in. He is the founder and CEO of a company known as “Waddle”. Which is a parody of “Google”. Mark Beaks kind of reminds me of a more annoying version of Mark Zuckerberg. I really hate this character. I know he’s supposed to be annoying, but since we spend an entire episode listening to this guy, it becomes frustrating! He also states that he’s working a project called “Project Tah-Dah”. No one knows what it is but he claims it to be everything they think it is and nothing they’re expecting. Then he starts playing some dubstep and we hear the air horn sound. Yeah! THAT sound effect! This is an example of a problem I have with the episode. It tries too hard to appeal to this generation! It’s like “Hey! Kids love social media! So let’s reference social media by using terms like ‘hashtag’ and ‘selfie’!” They do so much of that kind of stuff in the episode! Anyway, Huey tells Dewey about how much he idolizes Mark Beaks. Dewey claims that becoming successful doesn’t seem hard and that he could do it if he tried. Of course Huey doesn’t think he can. Which again shows how different they from each other in this show. So then Beaks meets the two kids and allows them to come to his workplace for a tour and a possible internship. Yeah. He just gives them to chance to work there just because they like him. Okay then.

Meanwhile, Scrooge and Glomgold are still having their staring contest but are having trouble focusing because of the music Mark Beaks put on. And you can clearly see them blinking a few times in this scene. They then decide to get rid of Mark Beaks. Thank goodness! And Glomgold looks away and loses the contest. Again, Scrooge already blinked so he technically already lost! So Huey and Dewey walk to Beaks’ workplace and in this scene, we see a drone carrying a package. Yeah, the references to modern technology are really being forced in. We see Mark Beaks and he’s riding what almost looks like one of those hoverboards that were popular in 2015. (sigh) As Beaks is giving them a tour, they walk past some trampolines. High impact trampolines, low and impact trampolines, and no impact trampolines. This is the first joke I actually laughed at in this episode. They even have slides instead of stairs. But how do people go up? I guess they could climb up the slides but what if someone is sliding down while you’re climbing up? Seems kind of dangerous. Then Beaks tells the two that only one of them will get the internship while the other one doesn’t. And this leads to an argument between Huey and Dewey. So now they’re gonna compete to get the internship. Yep. It’s one of those episodes. But I must admit, I like that Dewey actually wants to make an effort to try to get a job there.

We then get introduced to a character by the name of Falcon Graves. A professional corporate saboteur. This guy I actually like! He’s able to fight security guards and look so chill about it. He also has a pretty menacing tone of voice. He showed to Waddle because he’s been hired to steal Beaks’ latest project. Then Beaks takes a selfie and updates his status to “Hostage”. “See? We’re cool! We’re referencing Facebook! Ha ha ha!” After that, it cuts back to Scrooge and Glomgold who are plotting to get rid of Mark Beaks. The scenes involving these two are most enjoyable parts of the episode. Since they’re enemies, it’s nice seeing them share a hatred for someone else and work together to deal with him. But that scene quickly finishes so we can get back to Huey and Dewey competing to become an intern. As we expected, Huey is the one who’s actually trying whereas Dewey is the one who kind of slacks off. Which is perfectly in character for them. Meanwhile, Beaks is giving Graves a tour. Graves gets impatient and reminds Beaks that he’s in a lot of danger. Then Beaks takes a selfie and posts it on social media and it says #killingit #killingme. I get they’re trying to make fun of real life companies, but they keep shoving these references down our throats! Huey shows Beaks his completed checklist and wants to know who’s in the lead for the internship. Beaks says it’s a tie. Even though he wasn’t paying attention to what they were doing. Then we hear that stupid air horn sound again and everyone has a mandatory dance break. What!? There’s even one guy twerking! What am I watching here!?

So after a scene so horrible that it caused me to throw my phone at the wall, we see Scrooge and Glomgold still plotting to get rid of Mark Beaks. Glomgold comes up with a plan where they send him on a yacht that sails into an active volcano. He shows it via slide show and it’s actually very funny. Scrooge doesn’t like the plan because all he wanted to do was kick him out of their club and not kill him. Since this is Glomgold we’re talking about, it’s no surprise that this is a plan he would come up with. That’s why he’s a great villain. Back at Waddle, Beaks tells Huey and Dewey to get him coffee. He doesn’t accept the coffee Dewey brings because it’s 2:14 and it’s supposed to be his 2:15 coffee. This is another reason why I hate the guy. He then accepts Huey’s coffee since it was exactly 2:15. As a result, he ends up giving Huey the internship. You know, I really like that they had the character who was actually trying be the one to win. Usually in these shows, they have the other guy be the one to... but then Dewey becomes vice president of business after Beaks sees that he has a briefcase. (facepalm) This leads to Huey having a mental breakdown similar to Frank Grimes from the Simpsons. Except this doesn’t end in death. Then Graves beats up more security guards while Beaks takes photos. I’d make fun of this, but in this day and age people that is exactly what someone would do in real life. Beaks finally takes Graves to Project Tah-Dah. After all this build up, all this anticipation, we finally get to see the latest invention that Beaks has created! And it is... nothing. Yep. Turns out it was a fake. It was a way for Beaks to become a billionaire! He even admitted that he hired Graves to steal it so he can say that it was stolen and he gets to keep the money! I get that the message here is “fake it ‘till you make it” which is an adult moral, but it’s kind of hammered in.

But at least we get back to a scene with Scrooge and Glomgold. And in this scene, we find out that Glomgold’s plan to get rid of Beaks is also a way to get rid of Scrooge. He oeven attempts to kill him by having a knight statue drop its axe on him. Classic Glomgold. Luckily, Scrooge moves out of the way just in time. These two are just very entertaining! After Scrooge leaves, Graves threatens to throw Beaks off of the roof. Okay. Why is it that these bird characters can’t fly? I’ve always wondered that. Anyway, Beaks posts about it on social media, ugh, then Huey and Dewey attempt to save him even though he’s a fraud. Dewey gets into a fight with Graves but they stop fighting after Huey mentions the briefcase. This makes Graves curious about what’s in it. After trying to figure out what the combination is, he opens it, and millions of dollars comes out of it. This causes Graves to fall off the roof but he lands on a trampoline. That seemed a little too convenient. Beaks decides to fire the kids because they know about Project Tah-Dah and then Dewey takes his phone and makes a post saying “My face looks like a butt” and he sends it on Beaks’ profile. Dewey throws the phone off the roof and Beaks jumps after it. Really? You’re willing to risk your life for a phone. And just when you thought things couldn’t get any dumber, he grabs the phone while falling in slow motion and sends a post that says #YOLO. (bangs head on wall) So after... that, he lands on a trampoline, again what are the odds? Then a postman shows up and delivers an invitation to for Beaks to go on a yacht and the postman is revealed to be Glomgold who is still going along with his plan. That is just hilarious!

So yeah, this is a pretty bad episode. It is the first one that I legitimately didn’t like. The amount of jokes at Google and Apple and all that stuff is painfully forced in! I didn’t like the character of Mark Beaks at all! This does not seem like the kind of episode that would come from a show like this! There are enjoyable moments like the Scrooge and Glomgold scenes as well as some occasional funny humor, but there wasn’t enough of that here! It was mostly just making fun of real life companies! Something that would be funny if they didn’t do it too much! Honestly, this is an episode worth skipping. Hopefully the next one is better.

Score: 4/10

Comments

Not as good as 50 shades of black - Frodomar49 (10/26/2017)

This episode was alright - visitor (10/26/2017)