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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: This episode is the low point of the season for me so far, but I should be fair and point out the following: I'm completely lost as to the point of main plot. It's so apparently pointless and so largely humorless (even the circumstances that left Oscar needing money made no sense - nobody would be stupid enough to let Emma's garden be ransacked for only thirty bucks) that I find myself wondering why it was included at all. However, the way the episode ends (with a crowd applauding Oscar and calling him a hero for an utterly imprecise census figure) smacks of a reference to some movie or TV show I've never seen. If I'm right on that or if you can point out anything else about this episode that I don't seem to understand, please let me know by dropping me a line at [email protected].
A secondary plot has Wanda selling meal replacement bars. Not much there in terms of humor, either.
The saving grace of the episode was Lacey's "Three's Company"- style misunderstanding of a conversation between Karen and Davis, and everything else that would up leading to. Still, though, this episode runs lower on funny moments than any other episode of the season.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: When Oscar lets the town enjoy open season on Emma's entire garden at cut-rate prices. Only one episode before this, in "Mother's Day," he was ready to have Davis escort him out of town for running over just a few of Emma's tomatoes, so this is perhaps the first scene in all of the episodes I've seen of Corner Gas that I'd describe as "completely, utterly and totally stupid."
MEMORABLE LINE: When Karen says to Davis "Remember that time I said 'irregardlessly?'" I actually know someone who uses that "word" regularly, and in my circles we call this guy "Little Carmine," a reference to Little Carmine Lupertazzi, the son of the guy who was the boss of the New York crime family on The Sopranos before Johnny Sack took over. Anyone who watches The Sopranos regularly can tell you that Little Carmine frequently mangles English, often with hilarious results. When my better half and I were watching this episode for the first time and Karen referenced her use of "irregardlessly," we turned to each other and said "Little Carmine" at the same time and then both cracked up. Regrettably, other than the romantic scene with Lacey and Davis, this moment was the funniest point of the episode for both of us. Well, actually, there was another point in the episode that cracked us up, but it had very little to do with the episode. See "FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE" below for that story.
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: She managed to be very funny from start to finish in this episode, even though you'd have to conduct a comprehensive search to find any funny lines that Lacey was actually given. Gabrielle has a real knack for getting "comedic something" out of "plot nothing," as she demonstrated here and in �The Good Old Table Hockey Game.� It�s rare that Corner Gas serves up a relative blank to her, but when the show does she�s always funny and entertaining anyway. Few actors can do that � if you don�t believe me, watch a few episodes of a mediocre sitcom (take your pick, there are tons of them) and try to watch run-of-the-mill rescue in the absence of really funny lines. If you were to read the written script of this episode concentrating on Lacey�s lines, you probably wouldn�t expect her to be funny in this one - but her comedic timing and delivery is, as usual, flawless.
FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE: This is more of a personal story than an assessment of the funniest line in the episode, but to me there were no outstanding funny lines in this episode and I have to include this on the off chance Brent Butt reads this site. It's no secret that Brent finds humor in things being heard incorrectly ("muffin tray" and "licky disco," for example), and there was a killer in this one that he probably didn't plan on. When Oscar and Hank start their census at 10:05 (that's the timestamp in the episode, not the DVD time), Hank turns to Oscar and says "Let's get one thing straight - I work alone and don't need some hotshot whiz kid telling me how to count people." My better half heard "work alone" as "wear cologne," and turned to me to ask "what does wearing cologne have to do with anything?" I started laughing my head off, and in short order she realized her mistake (good thing, because I was laughing too hard to explain it to her) and started pummeling me with a couch cushion. In all fairness to her, once I played the scene again it was easy to see how she heard what she heard (Fred Ewanuick's "work alone" really does sound like "wear cologne" - I didn't notice it the first time, but now it sticks out like a sore thumb), but man, was that ever funny. I took a severe beating from her, but it was worth it. This episode is one of my least favorite of all Corner Gas episodes, but my better half watches them all with me and this may have been the most fun (and funny, albeit unintentionally) moment we've ever shared watching the show.
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) When Davis and Karen are discussing pronunciation while Hank is choking.
2.) The look on Lacey's face when she overhears Davis and Karen talking about going to a hotel.
3.) Brent mocking Lacey's report of a "fling thing."
4) Oscar trying to figure out his "sass factor."
5.) Lacey guessing that Superman should "spin his webs on back to the Batcave."
6.) When we learn who owns the house that gives Hank census trouble every year.
7.) Hank threatening to fly off the handle in front of Emma. This is particularly funny not just because of how Hank takes the census too seriously, but also because Emma could pound Hank into the ground like a railroad spike. Remember what happened when Hank did his rodeo clown routine in front of Emma in "I, Witness?"
8.) Learning about Fitzy's desk.
9.) The romantic scene between Lacey and Davis, especially when Fitzy interrupts it in Oscar's mind. As subpar as this episode is, this scene - along with Oscar's resolution of it - makes the episode worth watching all by itself.
10.) Seeing Oscar's makeshift census tag - misspelled.
11.) Karen and Davis being totally oblivious to the accusations being thrown around by Emma and Hank during Lacey's romantic dinner.