"Duchess of Wails" is the fifth episode of Season 3 of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and is the thirty-sixth episode of the show.
Plot[]
SPOILER: Plot details follow.
Foster's is finally able to get rid of Duchess when she is adopted, much to the delight of everyone in the house. However, the family that adopted her turns out to be Mac's neighbors and Duchess' loud and incessant complaining gets to be too much for Mac's mother to handle. Terrence tells Mac that she is thinking about moving to Singapore (which Terrence thinks is in Wisconsin). Mac and Bloo attempt to frame Duchess by wrecking up her owner's home, but this only makes them love her more. They decide that they must bring her back to Foster's, but they are prevented from doing so when Terrence warns of their arrival. In the end however, Terrence's plan fails when the Foster's residents learn about Mac moving and agree to take Duchess back, at the cost of now making Mac and Bloo Duchess' personal butlers.
Running gags[]
- Someone believing that Singapore is in Wisconsin.
Spoilers end here.
Reception[]
This episode received mixed-to-largely-negative reviews by critics and fans alike; most criticize Duchess's poor behavior to the Foster's residents, Mac and Bloo unfairly getting mistreated, the Foster's residents believing Terrence despite his actions, the very dark and out-of-place climax, Duchess and Terrence receiving no punishments for their actions and the mean-spirited ending. While being considered a step-up from the previous episode, "Duchess of Wails" is often considered as one of the worst episodes of the series.
Trivia[]
- This is Duchess' first appearance in Season 3, as well as her biggest role.
- Mac incorrectly states that Singapore is in Malaysia, as Singapore is an independent country off the coast of the Malay Peninsula after succession from Malaysia in 1965.
- This is the third and last time Duchess and Terrence are seen together in an episode, the first two being "House of Bloo's" and "Beat with a Schtick"; unlike the former and like the latter, their roles are different, and they do not team up.
- This is the second episode since "House of Bloo's" where Mac's mom is seen.
- Later episodes in the show have Mac and Bloo no longer being Duchess' slaves.
- The Fosters Gazette from "Bloo Done It" reappears in this episode. The front page of this edition says that Uncle Pockets got adopted again.
- This is the second episode to have a "Break In Case Of (character)'s Adoption" alarm gag, the first being "Bye Bye Nerdy".
- The music that plays while Bloo shows Mac his mittens is the same music that he dances to in "Adoptcalypse Now".
- Bloo also does the same dance he does in "Adoptcalypse Now" when he celebrates Duchess getting adopted.
- Instead of forcing Duchess back in Fosters, Mac and/or Bloo could have told Madame Foster, Frankie and Mr. Herriman that the reason they want Duchess back in Fosters is due to Mac's mother wanting to move due to Duchess' poor behavior; additionally, even the Foster's residents seem quite surprised about the situation.
- Oddly, no neighbors are ever seen confronting the Applebees or giving Duchess a taste of her own medicine.
- The Applebees would have gotten evicted from their apartment within the week, due to Duchess's inability to ever shut up. All the tenants would have complained to the landlord to have the family removed.
- This is the second episode Bloo is seen at Mac's apartment, even though Mac's mother specifically told him not to keep him or to have him live with Mac anymore due to him being too old in "House of Bloo's". Bloo is later seen visiting Mac's apartment again in "Infernal Slumber" and "The Bride to Beat".
- Madame Foster references the mythical creature known as the banshee while using it as a derogatory term against Duchess by saying, “What do they got? A boy, a blob and a banshee.” A banshee is a female spirit that screams loudly when someone is about to die. This term is almost fitting considering the fact that throughout the episode, Duchess emits loud screams that closely resemble the wail of a banshee.
Cultural references[]
- When Duchess says, "I'd rather go naked," it's an homage to the "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" PETA campaign.
- Duchess calls Mac and Bloo "Blinky and Clyde", which are two names of the ghosts in the video game series, Pac-Man.
- Madame Foster in the episode says "Show 'em what's up, Doc!" before carrots are thrown. This is a reference to Bugs Bunny's iconic phrase "What's up, Doc?" and his tendency to eat carrots.
- Throughout the third act of the episode, the show leans more towards The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
- Terrence enters the front doors ala Aragorn entering Helm's Deep, and speaks to Madame Foster, Frankie, and Mr. Herriman much like Grima Wormtongue.
- When Madame Foster makes her speech to the imaginary friends, her dialogue is part King Theoden and Saruman (including his word "To war!"). When leading the defense, she plays as Aragorn.
- After Bloo resembles the Eye of Sauron, freezing rain pours as much as in the movies.
- Eduardo shoots an apple before Madame Foster says "Fire!" resembling one of the Yeomen archers.
- When Madame Foster orders Wilt to stop them, Wilt plays the role of Legolas.
Goofs[]
- The Foster's motto says, "Any friend who enters through this door, we will house and nurture forever more," but the word "nurture" is misspelled as "nuture".
- When Mac and Bloo carry Duchess to Foster's and try to get her back inside, she isn't heavy at all, even when Bloo carries her himself, but when they are carrying her to the bathtub at the end of the episode, she is, indeed, heavy.
- During the segment in which Mac and Bloo try to take Duchess back to Foster's and Terrence tries to stop them, Terrence falls in wet cement, and then Mac and Bloo get ahead of him, yet Terrence manages to get to Foster's before them.