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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: One of my favorite things about Corner Gas is that when the show uncorks a rare subpar episode, you can count on the next episode being a killer. Such is the case with "Hair Loss," a monster episode that easily righted the ship after the below-average "Safety First." The plots include an auction of a deceased person's estate which leads to a major conflict between Emma and Wanda Davis buying some hideous garbage, Oscar's laughably mistaken impression that Lacey is a magician, and the main plot about Brent losing his hair. All three are executed to near perfection.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: Seeing Davis bid against himself in an auction. In summer of 2003 I was at a charity auction in D.C. and watched a nervous young congressional greenhorn staffer do the same thing. To the staffer's credit, though, at least what he was bidding on (Redskins season tickets so choice that any serious fan of this wretched team would sell his mother's kidneys to obtain those seats) had a lot more resale value any of the crap Davis bid on.
MEMORABLE LINE: "I look like an idiot who smells like a mango" from Brent. This was the start of an unbelievably funny takeoff on the hair loss plotline.
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: Every now and then she takes a scene which on the surface shouldn't require much acting and still finds a way to make it into something which turns out to be absolute perfection for the scene. Elsewhere on the site, I've given her similar credit for certain scenes in Highlander episode "Rite of Passage" and Corner Gas episode "Doc Small," and in this case she manages the same with her reaction and facial expression to Hank's suggestion of "Painy the Clown." I was laughing so hard at this point of the episode that I had to stop the tape, and my better half had time to brew a full pot of coffee before I was ready to resume watching.
As if this weren't enough, Gabrielle managed to do it a second time in this episode. If it were possible to sprain an eyeball, my better half would have done it rolling her eyes as I had a laughter meltdown watching Lacey's exasperated facial expression and reaction to Oscar's question about how Lacey made cola disappear: "No, it isn't a trick - it's the same amount of cola." You've got to see it to understand.
In this episode, Gabrielle finds a way to be funny in just about every scene she's in. If she wins another Leo next year for her work on Corner Gas, this should be the episode she wins it for. Then again, I have no understanding whatsoever of how these awards are judged - she won in May of 2006 for her role in the second-season opener "The Brent Effect," which was spectacular (both the episode and her work), but if I were in the judge's seat I'd have given her the award for her role in "Air Show" (season 2, episode 16).
FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE: When Wanda shows Brent and Hank the stomach-turning lamp she won at the auction and brags about how much it's worth, Hank says "I'll give you five bucks to put it back in the bag."
An equally funny line for this honor again comes from Hank in the same scene: "Just to be clear, you brought this here to brag, right?"
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) I've mentioned this already, but it truly deserves further attention: Lacey's reaction to Hank mentioning "Painy the Clown." I'm actually laughing about it as I type this.
2.) When Brent says that nothing except for the refrigerator is broken at Corner Gas, Hank rattles off a list of what's broken.
3.) Brent's reaction when a customer asks if Corner Gas sells combs.
4.) Another instance of "I've mentioned this already," but I have to include it here: Lacey's reaction when Oscar takes her explanation as to glass sizes as a magic trick. Absolutely hilarious.
5.) Brent's reaction when Oscar asks if he likes magic.
6.) Lacey doing a command performance "magic trick" at Oscar's request, especially a.) the way she backs up after pouring the coffee, as if she's done something mystifying, and b.) Oscar's reaction.
7.) Fitzy saying "nice quaff" to Brent.
8.) Davis mistaking Hank's $20 offer as a proposal to buy the mounted fish he (Davis) bought at the auction, and Hank's reaction when Davis says "I thought you were buying it."
9.) Hank asking Brent "Is that a toupee?", followed by Lacey's reaction.
10.) When Emma and Wanda realize they were both trying to screw each other over, and hug each other out of mutual admiration.
11.) When Brent asks "Is there a farmer sniffing my head?" The look on his face as he asks this is enough to make a person in a coma wake up and laugh. The only reason this didn't qualify as the funniest line in the episode is that Hank's lines about Wanda's lamp show uncharacteristic cleverness for Hank, whereas Brent often comes up with classic lines like this.