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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: As of this writing, having seen eight episodes of the fourth season so far, I have to say that this episode is the lowest point of the season by a mile. Plots include the scheduled demolition of a barn, Lacey having to do Emma�s fingernails over and over, and a competition between Davis and Oscar for �Newsmaker of the Year.� The latter is supported - in a manner of speaking - by Davis enlisting the mediocre photography skills of Wanda, who finds Karen to be a far more interesting subject for her lens than Davis is. It�s hard to imagine that any of the remaining episodes in the fourth season won�t be better than this one. Almost everything in this episode grows old very quickly, especially Wanda�s ruses to keep Davis out of pictures and Brent taking a coffee break at every opportunity. The plot twist when Hank misunderstands what to blow up was predictable and telegraphed, as was the ending that reveals who �Newsmaker of the Year� is. Not too many of the one-liners work well, either. By Corner Gas standards this episode is grossly subpar on all levels, but is still worth watching because of a few absolutely hilarious moments - two appearances by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and a side-splittingly funny scene in which Oscar manages to inadvertently blow up a salad.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: When Cecil says �I don�t know why they�re wasting their time with the tractor, they should blow the darn thing up and get it over with.� It�s obvious that Cecil is talking about his barn, but anyone who has ever seen a sitcom before should have been able to tell that through some sort of misunderstanding the tractor was going to be blown up instead. From this point until the actual explosion, I spent my time hoping against hope that I was wrong. No such luck.
MEMORABLE LINE: �Hey, girlfriend� from Lacey to Emma. It�s exceedingly rare when Lacey comes across as an annoying nuisance, so this line jumped right out at me. To Gabrielle�s credit, it�s obvious that Lacey was supposed to sound annoying in the scene and she handled it perfectly.
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: How she had Lacey go from enthusiastic to annoyed where �girl time� was concerned was very well done. She wasn�t given much of a chance to be funny in this episode at all, but she did make the most of what she got.
FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE: �Take THAT, you stupid barn� from Adrienne Clarkson.
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) Oscar �saving� a group of kids from a �mad dog.�
2.) Adrienne Clarkson being invited to help wreck a barn.
3.) Brent and Hank using visual aids to concoct their plan to take down Cecil�s barn.
4.) The shot of Oscar managing to blow up a salad. This scene was more than funny enough to make watching the rest of the episode worthwhile.
5.) Lacey reacting to Emma�s �I love girl time.�
6.) Karen saying that Emma�s nails �don�t look great� and Lacey answering with �Well, your hair sucks.� This scene was helped out by the fact that Karen�s hairstyle at the moment actually was rather bad.
7.) Lacey explaining to Wanda that she (Lacey) redid Emma�s nails but wasn�t happy about it, followed by Wanda�s response. This was especially funny because Lacey seemed oblivious to Wanda's sarcasm.
NOTE: Adrienne Clarkson was Canada�s 26th Governor-General, having served from October 7, 1999 to September 27, 2005. Her last day as Governor-General was also the DVD release date for Corner Gas Season 2.