Della Duck has faced every danger the moon has to offer to reunite with her family, but her greatest challenge is one she might not be able to fight her way out of: being a proper mom to her children and reintegrating into her family.
Tropes for this episode include:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The Gilded Man of El Dorado, when activated, is shown with cel-colored CGI.
- Accidental Misnaming: Della had intended on naming the triplets Jet, Turbo, and Rebel and struggles to call them by their actual names until the end.
- Ancient Artifact: The Cartographer's Quill, which is able to find and draw a map to any treasure. Scrooge drops it once Della makes her return known, shattering it.
- Artistic License – Biology: Della had spent more than a decade under the Moon's gravity and the only thing different is that she can't jump over Scrooge's front gates like she could on the Moon. If this was realistic, her muscles would have adapted to the Moon's gravity and Earth's gravity would be pinning her to the ground, feeling heavier than before. Though when Huey asks if she adjusted to Earth's gravity, Della simply answers "Kinda". This is mitigated, maybe, by her have spent the majority of that time doing heavy lifting while repairing the Spear of Selene.
- Awesome Mc Cool Name: Della wanted to give her sons the Totally Radical names of Jet, Turbo and Rebel, respectively. Dewey is loudly upset to learn what he missed out on.Dewey: I coulda been TURBO?!
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: In the final scene, we see Donald gasping for air on the moon. He did know about the special gum, as he is scrambling through the wreckage to find some. Once he does, he inhales as much of the stuff as he can.
- Berserk Button: Della doesn't like being replaced by anyone, given how she reacted to a photo in Donald's houseboat of Launchpad being Scrooge's new pilot.
- Big Damn Reunion: Just as the main group is going to go on a new adventure, they immediately find out that Della has returned.
- Big Eater: After spending a decade on the Moon with nothing but black licorice-flavored gum, Della gorges on a ton of real food set up for her.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The inventory of Della's faults.Dewey: So she's not the best with cooking, or age-appropriate stories, or child endangerment, but nobody's perfect.
- Call-Back:
- A few to the pilot:
- The boys getting up on the table around Della asking her many questions, like what they did with Scrooge when they first met.
- Scrooge checking up on the havoc going on in the garage asking "What in Dismal Downs is going on in here?!".
- One of Donald's instructions to Scrooge for keeping the boys overnight was "No sugar after seven." When Della bakes them all cakes, Huey remarks that he usually doesn't indulge in late-night sugar, but decides to partake as it's a special occasion... and immediately goes into a jittery sugar-high.
- Della calls Mrs. Beakley "Agent 22" when she first sees her.
- The way Della tells the boys the story about the Gilded Man of El Dorado is structured the same way as the story Dewey attempts to tell in "Sky Pirates... In The Sky!". It also seems to be the same story she told the Moonlanders in the previous episode.
- Della looks for the relics of the Deus Excalibur (from "Woo-oo!") and the Ferryman's Flame (from "Treasures of the Found Lamp"), with Scrooge admitting those were used up.
- Webby's crossbow (from "McMystery at McDuck McManor!") and the Geosternbergia skeleton (from "Woo-oo!") both play a role in revealing the Gilded Man's main weakness.
- A subtle one to "The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!" There, Scrooge was accused of being too greedy to search for Della, but flashbacks showed he nearly bankrupted his company funding rescue missions. Here, Scrooge is all set to use the Cartographer's Quill to find all sorts of riches, but he has a Dramatic Drop upon seeing Della at his doorstep and doesn't bat an eye over how much money he presumably just lost out on.
- A few to the pilot:
- Chekhov's Gun: The airhorns Della gave as a present to her kids are later used to defeat the Gilded Man.
- Chekhov's Lecture: Della tells her boys about the Gilded Man of El Dorado. Naturally, it comes back to life in the third act.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Scrooge tells Della fighting the Gilded Man isn't the way to bond with the boys, she agrees and suggests adding in treasure hunting.
- Company Cross References: The Sword in the Stone is depicted looking much like its counterpart in the eponymous Disney classic, anvil and all.
- Cutting the Knot: When the Gilded Man is unable to pull the sword from the stone, it simply pulls the sword, stone and part of the ground up and smacks that around.
- Description Cut: Whenever Donald is mentioned being on a relaxing vacation, we cut to Donald in the Spear of Selene as it hurtles through space and crashes on the moon.
- Didn't See That Coming: Scrooge and the kids are stunned when they suddenly find Della on the doorstep.
- Dramatic Drop: Scrooge's initial reaction to seeing Della for the first time in eleven years is to stare at her like he's seeing a ghost and drop the magical crystal Cartographer's Quill to the floor in shock.
- Everyone Has Standards: For all Donald's flaws, even he thought the names Jet, Rebel and Turbo were stupid names unsuitable for the heirs of the McDuck/Duck clan.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Tied in with a clothing change, Della goes from her Barbarian Longhair and torn-up outfit to a clean new flight jacket, and her more sensible shorter cut to show she's ready to tackle more normal circumstances on Earth after her big adventure.
- Failed a Spot Check: Scrooge states he searched the moon when looking for Della (we saw one of his ships surveying the surface in "Whatever Happened to Della Duck?"), to which Della responds he "didn't look hard enough".
- Fish out of Water: Besides the fact that she is adapting again to the Earth's gravity, Della doesn't know how to be a mother at all, making the kids sick with her food, telling them inappropriate bedtime stories and acting recklessly.
- Four-Fingered Hands: Della tells Scrooge she overheard him say she wasn't a good mom (yet) five minutes ago, while holding up all of her fingers in one hand. Due to this trope, she only holds up four fingers.
- Freudian Trio: The triplets in response to Della. Dewey is the Id; he is so thrilled that Della is back that he openly doesn't care when things get messy (even after getting food poisoning). Louie is the Superego; he's glad his mom is back, but he doesn't know how to interact with her and dislikes some of her actions, so he remains emotionally distant (until the end). Huey is the Ego, balancing the others by acknowledging Della's faults and asking rational questions but saying she deserves the benefit of the doubt just by being their mom.
- Funny Background Event: In the first moments of the episode, the Spear of Selene can be seen blasting off behind Della.
- Humongous Mecha: The Gilded Man of El Dorado is a giant humanoid clockwork robot built from gold.
- I Come in Peace: Donald tries to do this when he lands on the Moon and is threatened by the hostile Moonlanders, but they naturally can't understand his voice and he is captured anyway as they follow Lunaris' orders to seize him.
- Immediate Sequel: The episode opens up right where "The Golden Spear!" left off with Della arriving at the gates and Donald taking off on the Spear of Selene.
- Instant Expert: Averted. As Scrooge points out, Della can't be expected to just automatically be the mother they - and she - always dreamed of.
- Kiddie Kid: Played for Laughs - Dewey is apparently a little iffy as to how complete his toilet-training is.
- Loophole Abuse: The Gilded Man tries to draw the sword in the stone to use against Della, only for Beakley to inform it that only Britain's true king can pull it from the stone...so the Gilded Man just lifts the sword, the stone and a good chunk of earth beneath and proceeds with its attack.
- Maternally Challenged: Della has no idea how to take care of children, generally acting like One of the Kids more than the triplets' mother. The food she makes is so sugary they get sick, her bedtime story keeps them up all night, and she encourages them to pull dangerous stunts they won't admit to being unprepared for.
- Mythology Gag:
- The picture of Donald filling an inflatable raft with hot water to warm the triplets on a winter night
is a recreation of an artwork piece◊ made by Carl Barks. - "The Gilded Man" adventure that Della describes is the title of one of Barks' stories.
- The picture of Donald filling an inflatable raft with hot water to warm the triplets on a winter night
- No Indoor Voice: Due to going deaf from the airhorns, Huey spends a lot of time shouting.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Scrooge's reaction to Della inadvertently activating a cursed object in the garage? He needs to put a lock on the door.
- Only Sane Man:
- Louie, of all people, is the only one not swayed by his mother's thrill for action.
- Being an expert on parenting, Beakley doesn't approve of Della's shenanigans for the boys.
- Donald Duck was the one who made the decision to name the kids Huey, Dewey and Louie rather than go with Della's choices of Jet, Turbo and Rebel.
- Scrooge makes a point that gets everyone else in the room to calm down and look at things in perspective. Namely Della is in practice not a mother, not yet that is, and they need to judge her by that standard and help her figure things out rather than expect her to suddenly be what they imagine a mother should be.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: The sword in the stone from the Arthurian legends is in Scrooge's yard. As Beakley exclaims, only the True King of England may pull the sword from the stone. Too bad the legend says nothing about lifting the stone together with the sword and using it as a mace.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Scrooge (who is normally careful with his magic items) drops a magical artifact that can lead to any treasure when he sees Della again, not caring a bit that it breaks.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Sugar-high Huey eagerly eggs on Dewey as he prepares to eat Della's potentially-dangerous cake, letting it fall to Webby to point out the safety concerns.
- Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Della overhears the others talking about her, and shamefully leaves the instant Scrooge says "she's not a mom" before he can follow that with, "... not yet, anyway.", pointing out that Della still needs to figure out how she fits in with the new family dynamic.
- Open the Iris: After eating from Della's cakes, Huey's pupils get huge as he gets a sugar high and remain so for the rest of the scene.
- Palm on Cheek Pose: Della cups Dewey's face in her hands after he runs up and hugs her, and later does the same with Louie after the Gilded Man fight.
- Parents as People: Della is clearly trying to make up for lost time and be a good mom, but spending a decade in space kept her from naturally transitioning into the role. As a result, she screws up.
- Parental Substitute: Looking at the pictures in the houseboat, Della observes that Donald did a great job raising the boys.
- Parodies for Dummies: One picture at Donald's boat shows him with a book titled "Parenting for Dum-Dums".
- Pet the Dog: During the secret meeting, Huey and Dewey argue for Della. Scrooge does, too, but Della misses that part.
- Relationship-Salvaging Disaster: Discussed; when the Gilded Man of El Dorado reactivates, Della thinks it a good opportunity to bond with her kids, even telling Scrooge to bring the boys in so they'll see her save them. Although she does ultimately improve Louie's opinion of her this way, Scrooge makes a point that her relationship wasn't in danger, she just needed time to find out where to go with her life.
- The Reveal: It's low-key but here it's revealed that Mrs. Beakley didn't become the housekeeper and Launchpad didn't start working for Scrooge until after Della left; Della is surprised at the former, having known Beakley as Agent 22, and reacts with hostility at the latter over being "replaced" as pilot. It's also revealed that Duckworth passed away after Della left; Della asked where Duckworth was upon seeing Beakley as the housekeeper.Mrs. Beakley: He's moved on. Though, sadly, not far enough.
- Rule of Symbolism: Seeing his surrogate daughter on his doorstep causes Scrooge to drop and shatter a magic relic (specifically, one that directs its user to great treasures). Any treasure is worthless in comparison to his little girl home at last.
- Shared Family Quirks: Upon seeing Della calling her firework cake a "Della-cacy" and Dewey exclaiming, "How does she Dewey it?!", Louie snarks "Oh boy, now there's two of them."
- She Cleans Up Nicely: For the first part of the episode, Della is still wearing her worn and torn clothes from when she was on the Moon, alongside her hair being incredibly long. The next morning the triplets see her, she's switched back to her pilot jacket and blue scarf and even cut her hair to its normal length.
- Shout-Out: As the Gilded Man begins its rampage outdoors, there is a brief shot of a glass of water shaking from its footsteps.
- Sincerity Mode: When Louie is asked about his feelings for his mother's return, he gets very real:Louie: I've gone so long without a mom, I guess I don't really know how to have one?
- Sweet Tooth: The cakes Della bakes are loaded with sugar. The last cake she produces has fizzy rocks in the frosting. A moment after Webby mentions those aren't around because the government banned them for being dangerous, Dewey takes a bite and immediately proves that yes, those things are as dangerous as claimed.
- Tears of Joy: Webby can't contain how touching the reunion between Della and the boys is.Webby: My heart! It's too full!!
- Tempting Fate: Della says "Who do I have to fight to be a part of this family?" as she kicks the Gilded Man of El Dorado, inadvertently reactivating it.
- Theme Naming: Della wanted to name her kids Jet, Turbo, and Rebel all after aeroplane parts.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Mrs. Beakley stares in horror as a nonchalant Della all but sets the oven on fire and pulls out an extinguisher.
- Title Drop: Della says the episode's title several times throughout the episode.
- Two Decades Behind: Della is a child of The '90s and it shows. She uses a lot of slang from that decade, has an extreme sports junkie affect (complete with surfing a shield down a banister) and her proposed names for her kids (Jet, Turbo, Rebel) all reflect the trends of that decade.
- Wham Episode: Just to start off, Della is reuniting with her family after being eleven years separated from them. And it ends with Donald landing on the moon where he's taken prisoner by Lunaris.
- What Could Have Been: In-universe. Della wanted to name the boys "Jet, Turbo and Rebel". It seems Donald decided differently. It was... probably for the best... that he did.
- Womanchild: Della acts like a rambunctious child, tearing up the house with her antics. When her sons try to take the rap for her destroying a chandelier, Mrs. Beakley assures her that she's used to picking up after children.
