It is hard - Donald has his iconic voice in the series, and it’s always been border-line incomprehensible.
It pays off in the last episode, though. It’s essentially explained as a speech impediment. Don Cheadle voices Donald in the final episode after he (temporarily) gets a corrective gadget (the Barksian Modulator) from Gyro and it’s played to good effect. The final 3 episodes really made Donald my favorite thing about this entire reboot.
I recently binged the first two seasons of this while recovering from surgery, and holy cow - it’s fantastic.
It’s got great jokes (and not just, like, “funny for a kids’ show” jokes - it’s legitimately funny, due to the strength of the cast and insanely clever writing). Each season has six or seven metaplots that all resolve neatly. I love how all of the characters are made distinct from their original 1987 selves. They’re all given lots of identity and backstory, and each character evolves in a fulfilling way over time. It’s great TV.
The various family dynamics form this beautiful emotional core. When a certain character “returns” in the middle of the second season, that’s a legitimate tearjerker moment that only works because you’ve followed everyone involved in the reunion and understand the emotional stakes. Just amazingly solid plotting and writing.
In some ways, the show reminds me of Community, and not just because of the Jim Rash/Danny Pudi/Paget Brewster voice acting. The show is self-aware and subversive, and it both appreciates the intellect of the audience and shows reverence to the original series.
Also, Flintheart Glomgold is the best character.
I’ve only watched the first two episodes of the third season, but I’m trying to track down a family member’s cable login so I can watch the rest. The series has officially concluded but likely won’t be on Disney+ for a little while.
Thinking of watching this as I had to extend my sub to D+ to finish Gravity Falls, which I hadn’t even heard of before. I think it was only ever on satellite/cable here.
I can sorta see that they are trying really hard to differentiate the twins, but I can NEVER remember which one is which. One is a business freak, one a Woodchuck fan & one an adventurer I think? But I still can’t keep them straight!
Its a bit disapointing that Donald is still so far on the fringes and unintelligible as I really like him.
I felt the same way near the beginning, but they definitely “solidify” the triplets’ personalities more as time goes on. Huey the by-the-book cub scout. Dewey the self-absorbed mama’s boy. And Louie the lazy opportunist. All three grow and evolve, though - by the end, they’re fundamentally changed from who they were when they started. All of which is a far cry from the original series, where I’m not sure they were distinguished at all from one another or saw any character development whatsoever.
They give him more to do than in the original Ducktales (where he is completely absent), and he easily has the best character moments of the show. “What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?” is a brilliant, brilliant piece of writing that both fits perfectly into the show, but also honors the long, long comics history of the Ducks.
Also, everything @SadleyBradley said. Great show - just annoyed at how long time they’re taking to translate the final 15 or so episodes to Norwegian. Impatient to watch the final season with my sons (and after, I’ll be sad that there will be no more).
And done! What a great show. The enormity of the finale, with nearly the entire season building up to it in large and small ways from beginning to end, was a fitting end. I’m bummed that we don’t get more seasons, but I don’t think I could have capped it off any better.
Finally watched the last episode of this. Agree with @SadleyBradley - what an absolute triumph of a show. I’m glad they didn’t run the show into the ground, even if I could easily stand to have a couple of more seasons of this.