"Duchess of Wails" will leave you on the edge of your seat. You'll catch several great references here, and a big battle--who shall become victorious?
As with most of my reviews, watch out for spoilers, if you haven't seen this episode yet
10
"Perfect"
"Duchess of Wails" bring us the very first episode to focus a great deal on Her Royal Duchess Diamond Persnickety the First, Last, and Only. As fans know, not very many individuals like Duchess at all.
"Duchess of Wails" begins when the gang grows sick and tired of serving Duchess. They were so fed up that they put up advertisements to have Duchess adopted, which was tried before in the Pilot movie--and ended up not happening. After several attepts at having her adopted, a very cheerful, I suppose you can call them a Brady-esque / Flanders-eque family--the Applebees (a very gleeful family) ends up adopting the stuck-up imaginary friend. As Duchess is taken away from Foster's, the entire gang throws a farewell party--celebrating the departure of Duchess.
When Mac returns to the apartment complex, he heard Duchess's voice and saw her. Mac became totally stunned, and shouted with disappointment. Duchess's loud and annoying voice kept Mac awake throughout the night. The next morning, Mac and Terrence are seen looking exhausted. For the first time since the Pilot movie, their mother was seen. The mom considered moving away, if things do not settle down. Leaving Mac disappointed, Terrence became excited--telling mac that they would be moving to Singapore--Wisconsin? Mac corrected Terrence saying that Singapore is in Malaysia, not Wisconsin (which was true decades ago, but not at the present time). That made Terrence even happier.
The whole Singapore = Wisconsin/Malaysia thing was amusing, even Bloo thought Singapore was in Wisconsin. Mac was explaining to Bloo about possibly moving away, which would mean the two boys wouldn't see each other again, and Bloo would be put up for adoption. So, Mac and Bloo decided to sabotage the Applebee's place. We witnessed Mac's more mischievous side again--which we saw quite often from Bloo. It was great to see that side of Mac again. The boys had succeeded on attempting to sabotage the place, and tried to frame Duchess for the chaos--or did they? Leaving Mac and Bloo surprised, the Applebees thanked Duchess for the mess the boys created for her.
Mac was ready to thrown in the towel believing that there's no chance in getting Duchess unadopted. Fortunately, Bloo wasn't ready to quit. He remembered the sign mentioning that every imaginary friend that enters the home shall be taken care of. Bloo kidnaps Duchess, and Mac joins Bloo--busting out of the apartment complex, and bringing her back to Foster's. Unfortunately for Bloo and Mac, Terrence went after them--beating them to the entrance. Terrence's entrance to the door was a whole lot like Aragorn's entrance in Lord of the Rings in "Return of the King." There are more LOTR references, yes. Even the music during the final scenes is very similar to the soundtrack of the LOTR trilogy.
The last third of the episode was the strongest portion of the episode. The entire battle sequence, the music--definitely a parody of "The Two Towers." Fruits and vegetables were use by Terrence's alliance (which consisted the entire Foster's gang, minus Bloo, Mac, and Duchess). When the gang pulled out the carrots, Madame Foster shouted out a phrase, consisting of "what's up, doc?" Can you say Bugs Bunny? Bloo and Mac tried many different ways to bring Duchess into the house--using the ladder, and using Duchess herself to bust the door open. Unfortunately, Bloo and Mac were hit hard.
Waking up moments later, everyone checked to see if Mac was all right. Realizing that he lost the battle, Mac said farewell to the Foster's gang. Frankie asked Mac where he's heading. Mac explained what he was told, and why he and Bloo brought Duchess back to the home--and wondered if Terrence told the gang about the move to Singapore. The gang was stunned, as they knew nothing about the move. They all became angry at Mac's bully brother. The gang apologizes that they would never allow something like that to happen--under one condition. The condition--to help out Duchess in the mornings. There were some great lines at the final scene with Bloo and Mac saying how Singapore--Wisconsin--um--Malaysia--may not be such a bad place.
The episode--perfect. This has been one of my favorite shows period, and without of a doubt my absolutely favorite show of this decade. Thank you, Adam and Amy for writing such a great episode. There have been a lot of great episodes in the past, but I have not given a 10 for any of them. This episode, however, is an exception. The music, the writing, the execution of the episode, the references--they were outstanding. This episode will lift up people's spirits, especially if you haven't been too impressed with some of the previous episodes. Although I enjoy Bloo's selfish behavior for many episodes, I do want to see some more episodes where he shows that he does care about Mac--his creator, his best friend. I'm sure we're going to see more of that in future episodes. Anyhoo, lots of action, lots of comedy, and a few dramatic moments. Also, it was great to give Duchess a lot of time here--the most she received since the Pilot movie and "Partying is Such Sweet Soiree." Although she's nowhere near the top of my favorites, there's something about her that makes me want to see more of her in future episodes--I cannot figure out why.
Anyhoo, thank you, Foster's team, for such a wonderful masterpiece. This has been a great season, so far.