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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: A curious choice to open the show's fourth season, since the plot around which the episode revolves most often is the weakest one. The idea of major changes resulting from Brent having a barely noticeable haircut was already done to perfection in third-season episode Hair Loss, and what is made of it here doesn't measure up. Brent's constant hassling of friends and strangers alike with details of how he looks (and might possibly be) �faster� grows old rather quickly, and save for the eerie reaction by the �Navy Seal� it produced almost no humor whatsoever. Emma being mad at Karen for cutting Brent's hair didn't fare much better, nor did Oscar's attempts to sound �with it� after some teens told him that his car being loud (from a hole in his muffler) was cool. The day was saved by Wanda's hilariously over-the-top performance as a judge and the financial dispute between Hank and Lacey; even the lukewarm pie judging scene couldn't spoil Nancy Robertson's performance, and Lacey's frequent use of the word �dingle� as a term of abuse was hilarious. An added bonus was the two appearances by Vancouver DJ Bro Jake (a.k.a. Jake Edwards) as a street guitarist who turns up to provide musical commentary when it was anything but welcome. It isn't often when you see a sitcom episode with mostly subpar plots turn out above average anyway, but this one pulled it off. Still, there were certainly better choices to open the season with, especially since the first three season-openers were so good and fans had waited months for the fourth season to start.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: For me, it was when in response to Hank's �she already told you you don't have the infinity things with the triggers on it or nothin', with the chronomeny clause an' the renumering, I mean, do you understand English?� Lacey says �I don't know - try speaking some.� It never ceases to amaze me how often trying to sound like an expert in a field where you�re not one can reduce someone to a babbling moron, and no subject matter provides a would-be expert with more opportunities to sound like a mindless blowhard than law does.
Less than a week before writing this, I listened to some guy blathering on about how a house should only be able to be �repossessed� in accordance with �the Eminence Front rule� only when �life threatening reasons� were �prevailing.� The guy seemed to be a big fan of The Who (�Eminence Front,� indeed � he meant "Eminent Domain"). This was merely one of several examples that came to mind the first time I watched the scene - for some reason almost everyone in town wants to be a lawyer but few can talk the talk, much less walk the walk.
MEMORABLE LINE: �Don�t be a thieving, conniving wench� by Emma. I had an aunt (since passed) who for years used that exact term to describe a neighbor. She initially had some not entirely unreasonable suspicions that her neighbor had stolen something from her, but when it was finally established that the neighbor was innocent of any wrongdoing my aunt continued to use the term to describe her neighbor and never admitted her mistake (much like Karen when her footbag went missing but later turned up in second-season episode Lost and Found).
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: As well as she plays the highly likeable Lacey Burrows, she�s also quite adept at spinning humor out of Lacey being pissed off and threatening without making Lacey look ridiculous in the attempt or making the viewer like Lacey any less.
FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE: Brent�s �Then what?� in response to Hank�s �...heat, then cold, then heat, then cold, then heat, then cold...�
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) Wanda presiding over Lacey�s appeal of her (Wanda�s) first �court� ruling.
2.) Lacey placating Brent by telling him that his haircut really does make him look faster.
3.) Brent�s response to Lacey�s �I rest my case.�
4.) Wanda�s handling of the situation when Oscar wants a more current car magazine than the one sold in the gas station. This was absolutely killer.
5.) When what seems to be upcoming car chase music and narration turns out to be some pest of a street musician that Karen quickly runs off. I thought this scene was absolutely ingenious.
6.) The entire dialogue between Brent and Hank when Brent sees Hank flat on his back on the grass in front of the gas station.
7.) When Lacey asks �Now who�s the dingle?�
8.) When Wanda says that legally speaking Hank�s work is done, and Lacey responds with a pretty good imitation of Wanda�s over-the-top judge routine.
9.) When that pesky street guitarist pops up again to comment on Wanda�s lost credibility and Wanda sends him packing.
NOTE: Bro Jake is the DJ of a morning show for Vancouver�s Classic Rock 101 FM, a rock station that seems to focus mostly on the classics. We here in D.C. also have a rock station at 101 FM, but it�s usually more modern rock (our classic rock station is at 94.7) and the guy who hosts the morning show on DC 101 is one of the 10-12 most annoying human beings who ever lived. I�ll take Vancouver�s station instead.