This is a pretty misleading title. A better one would be What If Howard and Darcy Had a Magic Baby? Just in time for Christmas too!
Ummm... yeah. I still have no idea what I just watched. Anyone who has read my reviews can probably guess my general reaction to this episode. I was definitely not within the target audience. At all. Whatsoever. This felt like a fever dream. An egg killed essentially every single bad guy in the entire universe? An egg!
Okay, backing up a little. Of all the episodes to get a sequel, I did not expect Party Thor from the first season to be one of them. Or for it to follow Howard and Darcy The Duck as they try to protect their egg from being exploited by literally everyone, including but not limited to the Grandmaster, Dark Elves, Thanos, and Zeus.
I'm trying really hard not to linger on the logistics of how the egg came to be... or how it got out after nine hours of labor. Those are questions to which no one should ever know the answer.
There really isn't much plot to talk about. The episode really was just one chase scene after another. Howard and Darcy occasionally had some good banter and one-liners, but a lot of them also felt clunky. "They're trying to Rosemary's Baby our baby!" almost made me smile but it landed awkwardly in my ear so I ended up frowning instead.
I kept expecting their child to not actually be magical. Sure, it would probably be a half-human/half-duck monstrosity, but I was waiting for the reveal to be that everyone was chasing the The Ducks for no reason. Instead, we got confirmation that it absolutely is... and, alright, she was pretty cute too. They did good on Byrdie's design.
The end with Howard and Darcy holding each other and singing as they watch the horde slowly descend upon them was also shockingly sweet and emotionally resonnate. Given the rest of the episode, it was a very pleasant surprise.
Hopefully you enjoyed the episode a lot more than I did. For a light-hearted Christmas romp, it did its job. It's just not something that I personally enjoy watching.
Random Thoughts
For anyone wondering what the Convergence is or where it came from, it was a plot point in Thor: The Dark World. Which actually, now that I think about it, is fitting considering that this is a sequel to the Party Thor episode.
Byrdie herself is an original character.
The fact that their last names are "The Duck" is kinda hysterical. Not just Duck. The Duck.
The Watcher jumpscared me by appearing on the baby room's walls. Twice.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally manages to put words together in a coherent and pleasing manner.
Fangirl, I read this review thinking how kind it was for you to take this reviewing bullet for all of us. Thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's my Christmas gift to all of you! ; )
DeleteI thought this one was cute, but a touch shallow. The best moments were Darcy driving the ship and that ending with them huddled together with the egg. Anything having to do with Howard the Duck is going to be weird, it is one of the stranger properties out there. It is only through the power of the Lucasfilm buy out that it is even possible.
DeleteLuca held the film rights to The Duck for years after the bomb that was the movie. When Lucasfilm was sold to Disney, Marvel got them too, and since it was technically a Marvel property originally before being sold off, they brought him into the MCU as almost a sight gag.
Darcy was a great choice for this episode though, and she's proving to have way more value as a continuing character than I would've guessed back when Thor came out.
Totally agree, this episode was lovely, a real treat, and not falling into the traps of being predictable.
ReplyDeleteIt makes one wonder, could it be possible for Howard the Duck to actually have a GOOD film one day? It doesn't have to be great; it just needs to be the best piece of media that presents the best available version of the character, such as sticking to the comic book vibe as possible as well to avoid portraying certain aspects of the character that would be deemed weird, so that we would be able to focus more on the story and heart. While Howard might not be in the limelight a lot, he's certainly still a figure worthy of a proper film for the big screen.
Byrdie’s final design as both as a baby an adult was seen as a surpruise by many – the consensus seems to be that (ironically) most audiences were over by her apperance, for not looking uncanny or even that much "duck like" but yet more human somehow. Even critics were miffed Byrdie could easily have been looking duck like, but she’s not; he genuinely looks like a normal sweet kid, and thankfully does not demonstrate duck like qualites for the most part but is so human looking..
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