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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: When I first read the preview for this episode, my heart sank - I feared the possibility that we'd be faced with another cliffhanger (I wasn't terribly impressed with the last one) - not to mention the possibility that Lacey would leave Dog River (which could have meant Gabrielle leaving the show!). Thankfully, I was wrong. The episode is standard Corner Gas fare, but well above average in humor content and one of the season's top five episodes. Unlike the last episode of the first season, this one was a perfect way to leave the viewer wanting more.
The side plots include Karen wanting a raise and apparently being willing to go to Wullerton to get it, along with Brent and Oscar doing everything they can to get out of eating Emma's jelly salad. The main plots - and there are two, both connected with the Harvest Dance - are Hank taking a girl from Wullerton to the dance and Lacey not being invited. Lacey's desperation to fit in to the community lead her to get involved in town secrets which she has no hope of keeping.
Hank's date is played by Deanna Milligan, who visitors to this site might remember from my review (and "popular demand" addition to it) of the movie Starlight. For someone as attractive as she is, Deanna Milligan has an amazing talent for playing the shy wallflower type - it's extremely rare for a nice-looking actress to pull off this sort of role well, and until seeing this episode I had never seen it done without the girl in question being done up in an unattractive hairstyle and / or thick, overbearing birth control glasses. Watching her performance in this role almost made up for my having to sit through Starlight a second time to clear her for crimes against creative license in that movie. This was the best performance I've seen yet by a guest star on the show - not quite as funny as the "thumbs down" air show guy or Mike Wilmont's performance as Brent's cousin Carl, but much better overall.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: The way the skin on Brent's skull recedes as Emma puts down a batch of jelly salad in front of him and Oscar. Personal note: although my grandmother was usually an excellent cook, she could never get breaded stuffing right - and on every Thanksgiving Day from my birth to his death, my grandfather used to do the same thing that Brent did when she'd put that stuffing on the table. Nobody in the family had the stones to tell my grandmother that the stuffing sucked (a dog named Marcus used to wind up eating most of it when she wasn't looking), so I could really relate to the jelly salad plot in this episode. Everything else was cooked to perfection, but that stuffing was absolutely abysmal. If Brent Leroy ever had a chance to try it, he'd beg for some more jelly salad.
MEMORABLE LINE: "I didn't now about the Harvest Dance and I don't fit in to the community" from Lacey in the opening scene. It's not common in this show for the plot to be so succinctly spelled out in the opening scene.
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: Her entire performance in this episode as she slowly melts down under the pressure of keeping secrets is spectacular, especially after she accidentally blurts out Karen's secret about Wullerton. Some of her best comedic work is also in this episode, to include the "examples" of what a "great" fibber Lacey is (all three examples are evidence of the perfect delivery I so often credit Gabrielle with, especially the second one), as well as everything she does as Brent explains the jelly salad "secret."
FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE: "Let's remember the real villain here - Lacey!" from Brent.
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) The way Lacey drums her fingers on the counter after Brent lets her in on his big "jelly salad" secret. This was just beautifully done, as was Lacey's attempt to leave the conversation at that point.
2.) The way Brent "silently" explains his plan to Lacey. This was a brilliant way to make fun of similar scenes in countless movies.
3.) The way Heather explains how great it would be to have a sign that would shut people up, only to screw up her duties - and the way she laughs about it afterwards.
4.) Hank deciding that Heather's and his first names beginning with the same letter is "something going on that's bigger than both of us." One of the reasons why guys hate "chick flicks" is that so many of them feature men making asses of themselves, especially when asking a girl out - guys can feel physically embarrassed watching a adult male character act like a hapless junior high-schooler in front of a woman. Watching Hank work his "magic" on Heather made me rather uncomfortable, but it did make me laugh - largely because such an approach wouldn't be a guarantee to work even in a women's prison.
5.) The examples Brent gives in support of his theory that Lacey is a great fibber. Each one is absolutely hilarious; if pressed to point to a single funniest moment in the episode I'd have to pick this scene, especially the second of the three examples which Brent gives.
6.) Brent telling Lacey that she's a pillar of the community, and then Paul having no idea what Lacey's "usual" drink order is.
7.) Wanda trying to convince Lacey that she (Wanda) just learned the jelly salad secret.
8.) Heather saying "Oh, you're the one who doesn't like his mom's jelly salad" to Brent, along with Lacey's reaction.
9.) Hank asking Lacey how to get Heather to dump him, and Lacey's answer.
10.) Davis sitting in the booth with Hank and Heather and saying "I've never been this close to one before."
11.) Brent telling Wanda that Lacey is "a rock," only to have Lacey enter into the scene and come unglued.
12.) Wanda giving Lacey a lesson on harmless secrets, Lacey responding by blurting out Karen's Wullerton secret, Wanda completely losing it in response to Lacey's revelation, and Lacey's reaction as Wanda storms out of the scene.
13.) Brent's remarks about Lacey's "nonsense and tomfoolery" to Emma, and Oscar's lame attempt to support Brent's words.
BLOOPERS:
1.) At 3:56, just as Hank is about to ask the female construction worker what her name is, Heather's left hand is covering the top of the black plastic sign handle. When the scene switches to Heather alone, the top of the black plastic is visible, and when it switches back to both Heather and Hank, the top of the plastic is covered by her hand again.
2.) At 4:16, Lacey walks up to Karen and asks "Why so glum?" At this point Karen is resting her head in her hands. The scene switches to Karen, and now her arms are folded, resting on the counter.
3.) At 4:32, Karen begins to say "Yeah, yeah, you want to be part of the community." The first split second of this scene shows Karen from behind, but you can see her mouth and jaw aren't moving even though you can hear her voice. There is no visible evidence of Karen talking until the scene switches to face Karen.
4.) A similar blooper to the first one occurs starting at about 5:22, when Hank asks if Heather's sign is a signal to him. After she turns it around, watch her hand move as the shot switches several times from one angle to another and back. It's not easy to spot, but it should be pretty clear if you focus on Heather's index finger.
5.) After Brent illustrates Lacey's fibbing skill with three (hilarious) examples, Wanda is holding a bag of potato chips which should be visible when the camera zooms in on her, but isn't.
6.) From 13:46 (when Brent says "I can't believe you told Mom about the jelly salad") to 13:52, Wanda's arms shift three times - and from the first shot to the second, a pen magically appears in her right hand.
7.) At 15:21, as Oscar and Brent are in the bar hatching their scheme to pacify Emma, the first shot shows Oscar's arms folded, resting on the bar, with his right hand over his left forearm. Three seconds later, when the scene switches to face Oscar, his right hand is now over his left forearm.
8.) At that point, look Brent's glass and note how much of whatever he's drinking is in the glass. When the camera angle turns to face Brent, there are now a couple more ounces in it.
9.) At 16:25, as Wanda is trying to get Lacey to come to the Harvest Dance, you can see through the curtains behind her (Wanda) that it's broad daylight outside. The next scene (17:01) shows the entrance to the community center, but it's starting to get pretty dark outside. A half a minute later, Wanda is walking Lacey towards the dance floor, and through the window in the background you can see that it's light again (and looks even lighter at 17:57 after Wanda calls for everyone's attention).
10.) Starting at the point where Wanda introduces' Lacey as the Harvest Dance's "Harvest Honey" (about 18:03), the guitarist on the left strums a few chords to emphasize the award, but his hand is too far down the neck for that chord and he doesn't move his hand or change chords at all, even though it isn't just one note being played.
11.) Around that time, just after the camera shows Hank and Heather applauding and then switches back to Lacey, watch the drummer - none of his motions correspond with the sound of drums at all. The most notable example is the very instant when Lacey says "I" in "This makes me feel like I..." (18:38 on my machine) and you hear a cymbal strike that the drummer obviously wasn't responsible for.
NITPICK: When Hank asks Lacey for relationship advice because she has experience in being dumped, he points out that both Brent and the "Toronto guy" dumped her. However, Lacey and Brent's decision not to get involved was mutual, and it was she who dumped "Toronto guy" (her ex-fiance, Steven) not the other way around (see first-season episode "All My Exes Live in Toronto.").
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