Launchpad’s Association With Della Duck: Okay, Now What?
Despite everything I’ve collected in the past three posts, there’s a part of me that’s still a little skeptical of what we can expect.
There are nine episodes left of Season 2. Three groups of three is so much, yet feels like so little. We’ve got Scrooge's bet with Glomgold, Louie's business with Goldie helping out, possibly another DWD episode, possibly something else starring Team Magic, Magica’s return, Della adjusting to motherhood, Webby supposedly joining the Junior Woodchucks according to the PhatMojo display, the upcoming Moonlander invasion...There’s a lot going on. Is there room for Launchpad to have a sudden identity crisis? If Launchpad truly is the father, it shouldn't take too long for Della to realize, right?
Hm, then again, perhaps it’s not as much as it seems. I'm looking at these elements separately, so, maybe some of them will end up tying in with each other in time for the season’s end while others are just being set-up so they can be elaborated on in the next season.
With Della taking over a majority of the plane duties now and Drake becoming a real hero, it’s inevitable that Launchpad will end up as his sidekick. But like I’ve said before, LP can’t leave. Dad or not, he’s considered family so why should Della moving back in suddenly change this? They didn’t run out of space for him in the mansion (or wherever that garage is supposed to be) and Scrooge still needs a chauffeur driver. It would be disappointing to find out that Launchpad was nothing but a placeholder in the show he originated from. With DWD integrating itself into DuckTales as a story element, it would be more fitting for LP to go on adventures with Drake more so on occasion instead of for now on. If we get a Darkwing reboot of some sort, maybe it’ll take place whenever LP isn’t around on DT. Maybe the family can join him at times too. Since Dewey’s been joining Launchpad in every DWD related episode so far, maybe he’ll tag along the most.
Another reason why Launchpad shouldn’t leave is that he and Della would work well as a co-pilot team. A number of us have noticed that LP’s flying is smoother than his landings while Della’s landings are smoother than her flight. They can use their strengths to help each other with their weaknesses, but in order for this to happen, Della will have to change her mindset. She currently sees Launchpad as another obstacle she needs to overcome (and well, nothing can stop Della Duck) but once it’s made clear that he was never meant to replace her, she can let her guard down and allow the opportunity for them to be friends.
I’m reminded a bit of Della’s quote towards Penumbra in “Whatever Happened”.
I feel like a life changing adventure will help to break the ice between the aviators. Maybe they’ll have to work together to save the kids or there could be something regarding Dewey specifically. He loves hanging out with both of the characters, so maybe he’ll end up bringing them together. The rival pattern seems to always have someone stuck in the middle:
Zan Owlson with Scrooge & Glomgold,
Webby with Lena & Violet,
And Launchpad with Drake & Jim.
Maybe this would be too early, but perhaps this is where the “Gander-Depths” pattern could come in. Both of these episodes were split between meeting up with a Duck Cousin and Launchpad going on an adventure with an ex. In “Gander” most of the action was in the cousin portion with LP’s part was extremely indescriptive. In “Depths” the cousin portion was less intense in comparison to “Gander” while LP’s portion was more descriptive and he almost joined the adventure. This seems to imply that the action will shift to Launchpad’s side, where he goes on a space-related adventure with someone he’s previously dated, to meet up with a Duck Cousin. Seeing how we’ve gotten one “Gander” styled episode per season, this seems more suited for the premiere of Season 3. There’s also a possibility that this could be worked into the Season 2 finale since the production code order gets higher on the season list and the mid-season trailer already implies the invasion will happen within the remaining episodes, but I think Launchpad and Della might already establish a bond before the show reaches either point.
When it comes to Della’s possible realization, a lot of interesting things could happen in the process. If Launchpad’s clone really was a reference to Della, I believe this will be emphasized the longer they interact. Maybe LP starts reiterating things from her even though he wasn’t present during the time she said them. Webby still needs someone to teach her how to fly; what if LP volunteers and his teachings involve the “feel the sky” quote Della said in “Doomsday”? Could it have stemmed from Della helping him with his piloting skills in the past? What if he retells some sorta disoriented version of the Gilded Man story? It seems to be Della’s favorite story to tell since she told the Moonlanders about it too; she could have told it to the father. Or maybe he’ll do the face stroking gesture Della did to her boys in “Nothing Can”.
Launchpad has yet to say Della’s name and we’ve never seen his immediate reaction when her name is said. What if this is being held off for a special moment? Maybe he continually keeps getting Della’s name wrong by calling her a bunch of other “D” names, including something over the top like “Ms. Dewey’s Mom”, but when he regains his memory somehow, he’s able to say it without any problems?
The mentions of both Fenton’s and Mark’s fathers in “Chemistry” made me wonder if Della might have any of the father’s belongings. What if Launchpad catches a glimpse of these items or maybe the father’s photograph and feels compelled to do things he wouldn’t normally do? If the family finds out about the invasion and they begin to blame Della for the situation, will Launchpad start to get stressed out like he was in “Shadow War”?
I’ve been theorizing that LP knows Della's Lullaby in some way. Towards the beginning of "Whatever Happened", Della was about to talk about how there was a song she used to sing to someone, but she's interrupted when the moon mite attacks. I was beginning to think that maybe I was too quick to believe this, but during my last viewing I studied her body language before she was attacked: Della keeps a steady gaze as she’s talking to her kids and only breaks it when there’s uncertainty about what she’s saying.
When she starts talking about the song, her brow becomes a bit furrowed as she looks up into...well, space, with the palm of her hand upturned.
It feels odd for her to pose like this if she was only referring to the boys. The lullaby could have started off as a special song between the couple that she later modified for her kids. This would give even more weight to the significance of the song. Something subtle that could support this is how the family sang “The Twelve Days of Christmas” before Della's solo episode. Right after the song, a piano version of Della's Mystery Theme was being played during her scene when LP was previously shown playing the piano.
Something else that could support Launchpad knowing the lullaby was how he was interrupted towards the end of “Depths”. Oceanika likes to sing, so was Launchpad going to say “Farewell, sweet, Oceanika. Whenever I put a conch shell to my ear, I won’t hear the ocean I’ll hear your song.”? If he knows anything about the lullaby, Della might use it to help him regain his memory. Interestingly enough, a couple of instances like this has already happened: Jim used the Darkwing Duck theme song to help the security guard to remember who he was while Launchpad snuck his way into the studio. In “Depths”, Huey tested Fethry’s claim about Mitzi by singing the Blue Krill song. Something else that can match this is how Violet and Webby were humming to help bring Lena back.
If Launchpad is the father and Della went after him with the Spear, we can definitely expect Donald to clash with them when he returns; Launchpad more so than Della. Their absence caused so many hardships for the family and his sister got injured. When all three of them become present, there's a good chance that their parenting styles will differ from his and cause conflicts. Donald may even feel that his role as a caretaker is being threatened. Eventually, I think Donald will learn to get past his bitter feelings and realize that the three of them are important to equation: They’re family. Things may have turned out badly with the Spear, but it's not too late for them to work together to better the situation. LP owes Donald so much and would appreciate him for stepping in to raise the boys. Perhaps both of the pilots could turn to him for parental advice.
On its own, I like the idea of Della and LP just becoming friends or LP becoming HDL’s step-dad but these things completely ignore the burning questions we’ve been wanting to know about HDL’s biological father. He’s always been a bigger mystery than Della; she had a good amount of solid information to work with before the reboot came about. The father is almost a clean slate. We’re a season and sixteen episodes in and yet no one has bothered to talk about him. If it’s just “he’s dead” or “he’s a deadbeat” and nothing more, why is this still lingering around instead of getting addressed to finally get it out of the way? It would be underwhelming to wait this long for a mention that goes nowhere, so there must be quite a story to tell with him. If the father is alive and completely separate from Launchpad, it’s hard to imagine him being added to the cast when it’s pretty full already. And since he also missed out on ten years of parenthood, it would be odd to have him as a reoccurring or minor character if he’s meant to make up for lost time with his kids.
As I’ve noted in a previous post, Scrooge was keeping her likeness under lock and key when Della went missing and went to great lengths to do this. After a piece of junk mail with her name on it was delivered to the mansion, he bought the post office and caused the mailman that delivered it, to never be seen again. The painting of Scrooge and the Duck Twins fighting with Captain Peghook’s crew was taken down and placed in the garage. A corner of the painting was ripped and covered Della up. When Scrooge went to look at his scuba diving gear in “Woo-oo!”, a newspaper lying on the floor with a front page article covering Della’s disappearance had a big chunk missing from it. Scrooge hid Della’s belongings in a secret room in the Money Bin's archives and possibly gave orders to Quackfaster to make it difficult for anyone to access it. In the same episode, Webby mentions that even Della's records are gone!
Launchpad just met her and yet he's been wearing an outfit reminiscent of hers this whole time. It was his own choice to wear a separate outfit for piloting. Even if he's heard of Della, that isn’t enough to explain why he’s wearing a green shirt like hers when she keeps it concealed at all times. That’s probably the most glaring thing in all of this: If some random guy is emulating her outfit, then how did he correctly guess the color of her shirt?
The first time Della's shirt was ever exposed to us was during her time on the Moon. In "Whatever Happened", her buttons are missing; giving an explanation to why she wasn't able to button up her jacket. In "Golden Spear", her buttons are back but she never uses them. It's possible that there could have been a designing error somewhere in this, but it's highly possible that her shirt was exposed for us to make a connection between her and Launchpad.
If Scrooge was hiding everything Della-related and if Launchpad didn’t know who Della was, how did he know that Scrooge had a plane? Or even where it was being kept? Scrooge wouldn’t keep the Sunchaser out in the open, it would have been somewhere in storage or carefully hidden. Judging by Scrooge’s reminder about LP’s salary, the first episode was basically his first day on the job. He wasn’t hanging around the premises that long. Was LP snooping around long enough for him to find it? Or was he recalling prior information before the Spear incident? I suppose it could be argued that Webby could have known where it was since she already knows so much about Scrooge and his belongings, but her fruitless search on Della before Dewey came along, makes this a bit hard to believe.
Of course, I could be wrong about certain things, but there’s a little too much potential here to brush off. The romantic element of the show has been increasing as well as the concepts of reunions after long absences, finding out someone else has an unexpected connection to your past, electrical manipulation and genetic mutation. Even when I do mislead myself, it helps me to catch on to things that might be worthy of attention. Then when the show challenges the explanations I come up with, I can look back at these notable instances and try to figure out alternative reasons that might be closer to the truth. Wherever this cargo plane is headed, it’s leading up to something special happening.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading! It means a lot to me. I glad you enjoyed my rambling as I try to figure things out.
TL;DR: These last nine episodes are gonna be nuts.
Oh, and stop sleeping on Launchpad. He’s important.
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