Karin

With the finale out now I think a central theme that I've recognized and really adore is "all of these characters are more complex than an audience would appreciate." They are all being squished into a child-friendly set of archetypes, be that by Caine, Jax, or metatextually, the fandom. Caine doesn't want them complaining, swearing or having sex, they just have to go on endless, mindless, youtube-monetizable adventures. He's the ringmaster, he puts them in a bright poppy's playtime ass stage and demands for funny to happen. Meanwhile, Jax doesn't want to address the dire reality of their situation and copes by playing along, treating himself and all the characters as flat archetypes with no internality, so that the elephants in the room can safely be ignored. The fandom, meanwhile, is quietly guilty of all the same things. "Why isn't my favorite character acting in accordance with my headcanon? Which characters are flatly evil so we can hate them? Will they achieve my perfect happy ending? Because if not I'll be mad about it."

It doesn't work. Because they're more complex than that. They're people, they need more, they have emotions and traumas and wants and needs. Ragatha isn't always cheerful, she's not just the mom friend, and she's not some manipulator either. She's a person, trying her best, and very often failing. Pomni isn't always anxious, she's a natural leader and she wants the best for everyone, but she's not perfect either. She's a person, trying her best, and very often failing. And Jax isn't just a villain, he's a very complicated ball of traumas whose consistent first instinct is to push everyone away, hurting others so that he won't get hurt himself. He's a person, trying his best, and very often failing. She might even be a girl. Zooble isn't just a grump, Gangle isn't just a wimp, Kinger isn't just crazy. They're humans. And humans aren't always good. They're messy, screwed up, complicated things. They're things that can't be flattened down to archetypes, no matter how much Caine, Jax, or the fandom wants it.

The fandom wanted a bunch of cookie cutter adventures with good guys and bad guys, but what we got is just a bunch of people, stuck together, their traumas rubbing up against eachother until something catches fire and explodes. And I think that's way more interesting. I'm glad the show is that. I understand not everyone feels that way, though. A lot of people wanted something less nuanced. But I don't think the show not matching your expectations is the show's fault. I think people just need to come at it with the right mindset. Meet the story where it's at.

Can you suggest me other incorrect quotes for my comics pls?

Frank, you weren’t kidding about how good this Donald episode was going to be. The inspiration he took from really enjoying A Goofy Movie, mentioned in a previous Tumblr answer toward an ask, shows in its true emotional beauty here, as we get a conclusive statement for why Donald has so much anger and it’s an excellent explanation for his behavior. Jones’ monologue overlapping with Donald’s build of anger was a real nice touch of poetic cinematography.

I found the source of his anger.

Donald’s anger issues stem from a fear that the world is out to get him and that no one understands him, quite literally.

His tendency to lash out was wildly unfocused, until you kids came along.

He came to me wanting to be the best parent he could, so he channeled that anger into protective instincts. Every outburst is Donald wanting to protect his family. 

He loves you so much the very thought of anything bad happening to you infuriates him!

This insight of Donald going to a therapist for his anger issues was great, as it adds another very interesting layer to his characterization from this takeaway. He’s lived a life of never feeling understood nor sympathized with for whatever bad luck gets dumped onto him in life. Besides that classic bad luck of his, losing Della in the process caused a mountain of strong insecurities for himself once the triplets were born, since Donald realized he can’t just be lashing out anymore carelessly, like back in the old days when him and Della were still hanging around with Scrooge at the mansion before the Spear Of Selene tragedy happened. Donald, no doubt, viewed himself in a more negative light from that day forward after Huey, Dewey, Louie hatched, struggling to keep his emotions under control and not throw it onto them in an abusive manner. Donald had to change for the better, despite the depression he was going through of trying to cope with Della’s “death” and extreme bitter anger toward Scrooge. I mean, I don’t see why I never stopped to think that Donald ever had therapy or not and I absolutely adore that DuckTales 2017 explored this concept of an idea because it opens the flood gates for so many things that happened off screen, while he raised the children. Just picture it, Donald had to take care of Huey, Dewey, and Louie for the past decade while seeing the mannerisms they inherited from their mother which crushed him internally. As much as Donald probably wanted to say something, he kept quiet because not only didn’t he want their hearts getting crushed by the painful truth, but also he was still obviously coping with Della’s “passing”. There were most definitely nights where Donald cried himself to sleep, once the boys finally went to sleep. He struggled with so much self doubt of being a reliable and caring parent that the thought of failing probably kept him up many nights, too. That’s another likely factor for why that bulky folder contains so many filed session recordings from him, which is beyond heartbreaking in hindsight for how insecure Donald is in general. Knowing that anger management sessions of this therapy magnitude aren’t cheap is another reason why Donald struggled hardcore with the boys financially to boot. He threw lots of money into ironing out these problems of his for their sake, equivalent to what Scrooge did for trying to track down Della with an expansive search team. 

Seriously, this episode deserves a large round of applause from Donald fans around the globe, for how poignant a new take it was on Donald’s struggles. It’s a perfect message for not only kids possibly struggling with anger issues, but ESPECIALLY adults as well. If I could ever meet Frank & the crew, I’d want to shake each of their hands for how much justice they’ve done for Donald’s character arc in this reboot. They keep finding new ways to surprise me with their writing and don’t want this joy ride to ever stop dead in its tracks.