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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: An absolute classic. This episode is so good that I watched it five or six times before even bothering to watch the season's last episode, even though I knew there was a lot of hype surrounding the last one and I hadn't seen it yet. Hank finally has a good hair day, Brent and Oscar are roped into taking Davis camping, and the girls all decide to switch jobs in an effort to prove whose job is the toughest. Repeat: an absolute classic. I could stretch the "funniest scenes" in this episode to 30 or more, but in the interests of brevity I'll try to be reasonable. If you like the show but don't always watch every episode, trust me: when CTV runs this one, you need to either watch it or record it.
Once again: an absolute classic.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: When Davis says to a miserable Oscar and Brent "Good morning! Sun is shining, birds are singing!". When I was young enough to live with my parents, that neighborhood rarely missed a chance to have a party; all of the parents on the block stayed up late and let their kids do the same. They'd rope off a cul de sac and have a massive keg party twice a month, and this is back during the days when parents could let their kids drink beer without worrying about prison terms. There was this one friend of my parents who apparently needed no sleep, because he absolutely reveled in spending the next morning going around from house to house early in the morning and waking everyone up (all of the parents had keys to each others' houses). He used to burst into all of our rooms (parents' and kids' rooms both, nobody on our block was exempt from his reign of terror) with excessively cheery (and loud) crap like this. His favorite line: "Arise, hapless dolts, and greet the new day!" All of his "victims" acted just like Brent and Oscar did. You'd think that someone on the block would have eventually killed this guy (he kept up this routine for years), but he was so funny that we just let it go, and eventually grew to look forward to his home invasions. This scene was a really fun blast from the past for me. There's another similar scene later in the episode, too.
MEMORABLE LINE: Wanda's "Aw, Hank, grow up. An actor is not a job."
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: She was as outstanding in this episode as the episode was outstanding overall. Particularly good were: a.) her enthusiastic "I am on it!" when Emma wanted to buy gas, b.) her equally enthusiastic "They're cute - they're babies" answer to Brent asking about the "buy a pie, get a turtle" promotion, her decision to rent the extended version of Lord of the Rings, and her nonchalance towards running Corner Gas once she has Emma doing all of the work. This list could be a lot longer. Gabrielle really kicked ass in this one.
FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE: Although it was technically a "silent" line (Lacey thought it to herself), it was definitely "You know, I think I'm gonna rent the EXTENDED version of Lord of the Rings. The extra two hours might be interesting." Watch her facial expressions during this, she nails this one to the wall and made me laugh to the point where I couldn't even speak a full sentence without cracking up. I personally have never seen any of these LOTR movies and have no interest in doing so, but I know a fair number of fantasy geeks who love stuff like this - so I asked them about the extended version. Every one came back and said something along the lines of "wasted time that I'll never get back - I should sue."
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) The musical montage showing Hank during a rare good hair day. The funniest part was the next-to-last scene, in which Hank confidently smiles at you with the grain elevator and the sunlight in the background, but every scene is hilarious. Just killer.
2.) Lacey and Wanda going back and forth about whose job is tougher, along with Karen coming in to The Ruby to ask for fries.
3.) When Brent calls Opie's father "Matlock." How does one remember the name "Matlock" and forget the real name?
4.) The scene in which Brent thinks of what he does in the city when Oscar's in the library. If I ever get to the point where I spend vacation time like that, everyone I know has orders to shoot me dead.
5.) Oscar's plan to keep Davis silent. My stomach hurt from laughing so hard at this.
6.) Davis saying that he likes to dig.
7.) Davis being annoyingly cheerful as Oscar and Brent make a failed attempt to get up in the morning.
8.) Lacey recounting the stupidest moments in her life. This scene was so funny that I had to stop the tape every time I watched it, even during those times when I watched it five or six times in a row.
9.) Davis trying to be a source of entertainment around the campfire.
10.) The campfire smoke following Oscar no matter where he sits.
11.) Davis trying to make a break for it and escape the camping trip.
12.) Davis suggesting that the digging idea should be tried.
13.) Emma insulting Karen's cooking.
14.) The look on Karen's face when Emma claimed that she (Karen) insulted her (Emma).
15.) The musical montage showing the opposite of Hank's good hair day.
16.) Emma forcing meat loaf on Fitzy.
17.) Lacey telling Fitzy to eat his meat loaf.
18.) Fitzy asking if pie still comes with turtles.
19.) Emma summing up who's best at everyone's jobs.
20.) Davis caving into Emma's one-question interrogation.
21.) Oscar reacting to Davis caving.
NOTE: Great job on continuity by the show's wardrobe department in this episode - when Lacey was shown in the flashback telling her mother she was moving to Dog River, she was wearing the same outfit she wore in first-season episode "Grad 68."