User blog comment:Glenn31/Character Appreciation - Week 17: Duncan/@comment-4726418-20170424195707

Unlike most of my other positive opinions on characters, my view of Duncan is pretty straightforward and easy to explain. Similar to Heather who appears in almost the same number of episodes, Duncan to me seems to be this consistently easy to watch and get to know character and for the most part that makes him pretty entertaining. His best season is obviously TDI, but mainly because he fitted really well with this season. A down to earth first season with a bunch of contrasting personalities of both good and bad? A delinquent with a good heart was a perfect fit for a cast like this. He was just awesome every time he was on screen and if anyone deserved to be in the final 2 apart from Owen it was him. An anti-hero who plays by his own rules but is still capable of being a pretty nice guy sometimes regardless. An excellent idea.

I know I rag on him in TDA a lot but the issue there is mainly just that I already had an entire season of Duncan and all TDA was was just repeating everything he had done beforehand. Okay Duncney is always pretty funny but did it really need to be repeating itself for TWO seasons straight? A lot of people seem to have issue with him returning in World Tour and making the Final 5 after already being a finalist, but I'd argue TDA is worse for making him a finalist after he had already lasted a whopping 24 episodes the season RIGHT before, not even forgetting the fact that TDA just had so many better finalist choices than the ones we got. But!!!! I've warmed up to him just a little in this season. Though him outlasting Harold is a really weird writing choice, they do have their funny moments together and I liked when they were forced to work together, Full Metal Drama and Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen being particularly strong episodes that showcase this. And I guess it does make sense he bully Harold relentlessly after he rigs out Courtney. Let's not forget him taking revenge on Geoff and voting him off after he betrayed their alliance in TDI. And since this is Duncan, a character the writers are pretty familiar with, he at least had his moments here and there ("My brothers and I used to wait outside kindergarten with goop dripping off us. Ha! One year I gave a dozen five year old seizures!" <3)

His less popular seasons seem to be World Tour and All-Stars though honestly I still found him pretty good. Even you said it in your blog how Courtney relentlessly abused him. I adore Courtney but I can easily see where he's coming from. I don't agree with what he did but considering he was always a delinquent who played by his own rules and considering she literally tried changing 100% of everything about him, it does fit from a storyline perspective. Plus once he came back World Tour finally started getting some drama which I thought was good timing because honestly it was a little too comedic beforehand with the only tension starter being Alejandro. My only issue is Gwen and Courtney getting the more verbal abuse for it while he just kept getting physical karma over and over again, but it's minor for me. As for All Stars, while I thought he was pretty annoying in Moon Madness and Regatta, other then that I thought he was still enjoyable compared to a lot of the cast. Him being reluctant about being a good guy was always a recurring thing about him so I understand doing a plot around it and as rushed and shoddy as Gwuncan's breakup was, he was just an awesome boyfriend beforehand, constantly trying to cheer up Gwen and reassure her. I know Zoey can be pretty annoying too but her interaction with Duncan was pretty cute too. His boot episode was just handled really poorly though that's a common thing in that season anyway.

Overall I really enjoy Duncan and I have no qualms with him continuing to be in seasons.

Best Season: Total Drama Island

Best Episode: Basic Straining

Best Moment: Wrapping his arms around a Celine Dion standee and hugging her with passion while her music blares in the background