Friendship Hates Magic! is the fourteenth episode of Season 2 and the 37th episode overall of DuckTales 2017. It first aired on May 15, 2019 on Disney Channel.
Synopsis[]
Stuck as a shadow, Lena tries to protect Webby from her suspicious new friend Violet during a supernatural sleepover, while Launchpad and Beakley try to "Bond" together.
Plot[]
In the morning, Webby caught a bus to the Duckburg Public Library. As she enters the library, Lena appears out of Webby's shadow in her shadow form, unseen by anyone else including Webby. Webby makes her way towards the front desk as Lena continues to follow her, intending to ask the librarian on duty about books within the supernatural reference section. She soon realizes that the librarian is Mrs. Quackfaster, who claims that while she isn't maintaining Scrooge's archives, she works a second job at the library to pay for a retirement Condo in Birbados.
Webby asks for a book called Spirits of the Shadow Realm, but Quackfaster can't lend her the book because another girl at a nearby table has already checked it out. When Webby approaches the girl, she believes the book would be too advanced for the girl as the book is written in an ancient language. However, this soon leads Webby to start a brief conversation with the girl in ancient languages, after realizing she has met someone who is also fluent with them. The girl then introduces herself as Violet Sabrewing, but is also surprised to notice she is talking to Webby herself, knowing that she has recently been going on many of Scrooge McDuck's legendary adventures. This leads Violet to believe that Webby has a vast and fascinating perspective on the supernatural, much to Lena's annoyance. With Violet's suggestion that she and Webby review the book together later that night, Webby is thrilled to be having another sleepover, but Lena continues to grow her own suspicions.
Later that evening, Mrs. Beakley is in the dining room serving herself a small meal of tea and English muffins, knowing she has the house to herself as Scrooge and the boys are at the money bin for Binventory Day, cataloging treasures for the remainder of the evening. Webby rushes into the room out of excitement for an upcoming sleepover, much to Beakley's joy for seeing Webby move on from all of the other sleepovers she had involving supernatural disasters. With Webby comprehending that one of those disasters led to losing Lena to the shadow realm, she refuses to allow another horrible incident occur, and instead decides to make the sleepover as normal as she can. She makes her way around the mansion attempting to cover up anything involving the supernatural, but Beakley attempts to calm her by telling her she simply needs to be herself.
Even so, Webby states to Beakley she isn't her, and that she needs friends, much to Beakley's surprise while nervously claiming that she did, in fact, have her own friends. As Webby leaves, Launchpad approaches Beakley about having just fixed the gate he broke on the way to the mansion. This gives Beakley the opportunity to make a real friendship with someone else, so she invites Launchpad to join her for dinner. Meanwhile, Webby is rushing towards her room and stuffing everything she can find involving supernatural into the attic just above her. As Webby hears the doorbell ring, she calls for Duckworth to answer the door, but immediately realizes her mistake of Duckworth being a ghost. She rushes down the stairs and jumps through Duckworth to get to the door first. Webby apologizes, much to Duckworth's disdain as he disappears through the roof.
Webby greets Violet calmly and leads her through the mansion, but Lena still continues to have her doubts about Violet's presence. She introduces her to her room, with Violet then expressing her interest in mystical creatures known as Tulpas from the Spirits of the Shadow Realm book. She states that they are manifestations of powerful emotions, including hatred, jealousy, and greed, which live in a dark realm adjacent to their own. She reveals the main reason she has an attraction toward these creatures is that she is researching what happened the night the shadows attacked Duckburg.
Desperate to stay away from a conversation involving supernatural, Webby suggests they play games such as Baggle and Ice Breakers instead. When Violet asks what she knows about Magica De Spell, Webby throws off the conversation once more and instead shouts to have a makeover session. Meanwhile, as Beakley and Launchpad are having pea soup for dinner, Launchpad begins to get anxious about which spoon is the right spoon to use for the soup. Instead, he uses a swirly straw, but one of the peas in the soup clogs the straw, leading Launchpad to hyperventilate and fall face-flat on his soup.
With Violet and Webby gone from the room, Lena begins to investigate a mysterious glowing light coming from Violet's backpack, only to realize the light is from the same amulet she lost when Magica had escaped from Scrooge's dime and taken it. She searches the mansion to find Webby and warn her about the amulet. She finds her in the bathroom with her face all bruised, but realizes she and Violet are still playing makeover. Webby believes Violet has made herself look exactly like the demon Rakshasa, but when Violet comes into question about the fangs, Webby accidentally admits she has proof in the attic about the demon having a crooked fang.
Violet and Webby go up to the attic. Webby worries that the things she sees would scare her, but Violet instead claims to be fascinated by many of the artifacts, and suggests they try to contact any ancient shadow spirits using dice. Meanwhile, Launchpad and Beakley are sitting together in the living room, with Launchpad believing the reason she is being so nice to him is because she plans to fire him. Beakley insists she is intending to establish a bond of friendship, and tries to see if they share any similar interests, but none can come to mind for either of them.
Launchpad notices the masked hero on the cover of the book Beakley was reading, originally believing it to be Darkwing Duck. Beakley explains the hero of the story is the Scarlet Pimperbill, a masked man protecting the city from harm, similar to Darkwing Duck in Launchpad's mind. After Beakley claims she's never heard of Darkwing, Launchpad shows her an old VHS tape featuring Darkwing Duck episodes. Meanwhile, Webby and Violet begin the séance as Violet reads aloud a poem to summon dark shadow spirits. Lena originally believes Violet has little knowledge of the shadow realm, but realizes the poem Violet read gave her the ability to move objects.
Webby and Violet notice the dice thrown on the floor moving into a particular shape. They assume the message from the shadow spirit involves the patterns shown on the dice, but in actuality it was Lena forming a message out of the dice saying "don't trust her." Seeking more clarity, Webby and Violet continue the séance, and Lena realizes that it is attracting more Tulpas towards them. She tries to intervene by covering herself with a nearby cloak and warning Webby to not trust Violet, only for Lena to recognize their inability to hear her speak, and thus leading Webby to believe she was an evil spirit.
Violet attacks the floating cloak and uses the amulet's magic against it, and Webby sees Lena for a moment as she shouts her name. This brings Webby to attack Violet instead, after having seen the amulet herself, and demand to know how she acquired it. Violet admits she found it on the beach in the midst of the Shadow War as she was fleeing from any shadows pursuing her. When the explosion at the money bin happened and the shadows disappeared, Magica's staff flew straight to Violet and reverted back into an amulet. Violet explains how originally she was never into the concept of magic, but when the shadows attacked her and she discovered the amulet that night, it opened an entirely new world to her that she was compelled to know further.
Although Webby begins to feel sympathy for Violet after hearing her words of living a sheltered life, she still warns her to stay away from the amulet after having already lost a friend to the shadow realm. However, Violet suggests that they use the amulet to try and bring Lena back from the shadow realm. She believes they could harness the amulet's power to pull her out of it, to which Webby willingly agrees. Meanwhile, Launchpad and Beakley are watching the episodes of Darkwing Duck. Beakley feels unsure of all the show's mythological aspects. Launchpad admits its minor density, but suggests they re-watch earlier episodes to help clear it up, much to Beakley's displeasure.
The next séance with the amulet proceeds as Lena continues to call out her pleas to Webby and how Violet is merely using her. When Lena notices Tulpas lurking behind the boxes, they come together to create a form similar to Magica's shadow. Panicking over the séance being a supposed trap by the sight of Magica, Lena grabs both Webby's and Violet's hands and drags them into the shadow realm. Once there, Webby embraces Lena after having finally found her, but their reunion is cut short as the Tulpas move closer to the three. Lena expresses her hatred for Violet, believing her to be a thief and a knockoff of herself, and shouts at her to stay away from Webby as she was hers alone.
This, however, leads the Tulpas to kidnap Webby, and Lena and Violet begin to chase after them. With Lena believing everything to be Violet's fault because of her magic meddling, Violet retaliates by reminding Lena Webby was taken because Tulpas are made of rich desire, and the desire is coming from Lena refusing to be forgotten by Webby. This is proven further as Lena realizes the Tulpas have now taken her form, and that her jealousy is what's causing them to take Webby away. Knowing that they both had the common goal of keeping Webby safe, they decide to work together and take down the Tulpas.
Meanwhile, Beakley and Launchpad finish watching the series of Darkwing Duck, with Beakley now having grown attached to the show. When Beakley requests to see the next tape, Launchpad says that the show was cancelled before the finale, much to Beakley's outrage. On the other hand, Launchpad shows her a fan script he had created for himself, with Beakley demanding they film it. Meanwhile, as Webby is about to be carried out of the mansion and possibly remain lost forever, Lena sings a magical poem with Violet similar to what she and Webby used to sing.
| “ | With the hand of my friend's friend, we bring bitter jealousy to an end. With the hand of my friend's friend, we bring bitter jealousy to an end. With the hand of my friend's friend, we bring bitter jealousy to an end. With the hand of my friend's friend, we bring bitter jealousy to an end! |
” |
As they sing, the form of the shadow realm and the Tulpas begin disappearing before them, and they return to the real world. Having taken away the jealousy and bitterness Lena was carrying, Lena herself also begins to dissipate. A downhearted Webby holds Lena's hand one last time with Violet choosing to join in, but Webby's friendship bracelet transforms into a magical swarm of blue misted particles swirling around the three. Once the smoke clears, all three realize that Lena has returned to her physical form, with Webby hugging both her and Violet out of joy.
After the group hug, Launchpad runs into the girls by the entrance, asking if they had any more of the smoke bombs he believes they just used. Beakley, meanwhile, is standing by the stairs in her own Darkwing Duck costume and suggests to Launchpad that they continue with the filming before the boys return home and spoil their fun. Lena, Violet and Webby give one another makeovers back at the bathroom, with Webby now realizing that Lena had been with her the entire time since the Shadow War to make sure nothing bad happened to her. With Webby considering the sleepover the best one she's ever had, Violet proclaims Webby should've stopped her when she had the chance, as now she will use the knowledge she learned to grim vengeance, with Lena seemingly melting right before her, but it turns out to be a prank set up by Lena and Violet using the makeup, and Webby calls them best friends.
Cast[]
- Kate Micucci as Webby Vanderquack
- Kimiko Glenn as Lena
- Toks Olagundoye as Mrs. Beakley
- Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack
- Libe Barer as Violet Sabrewing
- Susanne Blakeslee as Mrs. Quackfaster
- Jim Cummings as Jim Starling/Darkwing Duck, Paddywhack
Trivia[]
- Main Cast Absences: Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Donald.
- The title may be a reference to the show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
- This is Violet Sabrewing's first appearance.
- The episode of Darkwing Duck that Launchpad and Mrs. Beakley watch is based on the actual Darkwing Duck episode “The Haunting of Mr. Banana Brain”, but the footage shown here was redone to match the animation style of the DuckTales reboot and Jim Cummings replaced the late Phil Hartman as the voice of Paddywhack.
- This episode included the short version of the Ducktales intro.
- The Scarlet Pimperbill is a reference to The Scarlet Pimpernel, a story about a man named Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy fop who has a secret identity of a daring swordsman and escape artist. Darkwing Duck's striking resemblance to this character is likely a nod to how The Scarlet Pimpernel long predates common superhero tropes and serves as an inspiration for many modern day superheroes, such as Batman.
