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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: This one is well below average by the show's standards. The main plot, which has Davis and Wanda taking piano lessons from Emma, doesn't have enough laughs to carry the episode, and neither does one of the secondary plots about a new air pump at Corner Gas. The best part of the episode was Hank explaining the various stages of recovery to Lacey, who had just broken her arm.
One problem I had with this episode was that the way the piano issue was resolved (with Hank's truck) simply reeked of Seinfeld - it reminded me of the episode which ended with Newman running over a sewing machine, dragging it along the road in a such a way as to produce a bunch of sparks, and igniting some flammable liquid that Kramer managed to spill on the road (or any number of Seinfeld episodes with similar endings). The only saving grace of the scene was the way Lacey reacted to the destruction of the piano. Seinfeld was a show which certainly had its moments, but I never really cared for how a lot of those episodes were wrapped up with the "series of separate coincidences coming together in one fell swoop" strategy. The golf ball in the whale's blowhole, for example? Give me a break.
One other downside is how much bad piano you have to listen to in order to make it through the episode, but in one case and one case only (where Wanda is playing "Hot Cross Buns" in the Ruby) it is essential to the joke and really pays off.
Still a third was a few jokes that utterly failed in my eyes - the hypothetical wrestling match between Wanda and Emma, as well as the "posse" scene when Ed (the behemoth who wanted a giant pink smiley face painted on the water tower in "World's Biggest Thing" and who temporarily worked as Lacey's busboy in "Safety First") was fixated on marshmallows.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: When Oscar called Karen an idiot for buying bottled water. Both my better half's parents and mine give us the same hassle when they visit us or vice versa. We could go out of our way to spend stupidly on other things in front of them without hearing anything, but if either of us dares to buy bottled water in their presence we get the same sort of deriding lecture that Karen can expect from Davis when she drinks cola. In fact, when we go out anywhere with our parents and either of us decides to buy a bottled beverage, I generally pick a cola or one of the Gatorade flavors I like and she generally picks 7-Up or Sprite because even if we prefer water at the time, it just isn't worth the hassle that follows. Since our parents live in New York rather than Washington, we only deal with this when one side or the other makes the trip up or down I-95, but when it happens it really isn't much different than what Oscar showed you. If any of you ever want a lesson in the subtle nuances of German profanity or learn several different ways to call someone an idiot in German, try standing between me and my father when I buy a bottle of water.
MEMORABLE LINE: When Wanda says she can't believe Brent is too lazy to take piano lessons, Brent says "Really? Seems roughly in line with the Brent I've come to know." Every now and then I brazenly steal a good line and add it to my own vocabulary, and this is one example.
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: Aside from her usual excellence in this episode, she earned major kudos in this one just for doing her own stunts. I can only assume that there was some sort of mat on the floor for Gabrielle to fall on to keep her from getting hurt (the shot of the actual surface she fell on was obscured by a restaurant booth and a sign), but if she actually took that fall onto a hard floor those kudos should be doubled. Or tripled.
(By the way, this isn't the only instance of Gabrielle doing her own stunts; she took a very similar fall in X-Files episode "Syzygy," and she was on the business end of a police tackle in "As Time Runs Out.")
FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE: Lacey's "I was actually patronizing both of you," which was nicely punctuated by Wanda's response.
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) When Emma says her piano needs to be tuned and Oscar says "That's your solution to everything."
2.) The flashback of Emma trying to motivate Brent to take piano seriously.
3.) Wanda's response when Emma threatens to increase the price of piano lessons from $20 to $25 apiece.
4.) Lacey's "I was patronizing both of you."
5.) Oscar's "Holy Hell!" in response to seeing a new air pump at Corner Gas.
6.) Oscar calling Karen an idiot for buying bottled water.
7.) Hank's rundown on the eagle and the puppy. It should be noted that Gabrielle did a great job delivering "Well, couldn't I just be a puppy?"
8.) When Oscar told his version of the "I'll have it fixed before you know it" story.
9.) When Wanda sees the sheet music Davis brings in and complains that everything she's playing is still "buns and ducklings."
10.) When Wanda complains that the situation isn't fair, and Brent makes repeated unsuccessful attempts to throw another possibility into the conversation.
11.) When Wanda scoffs at Lacey's advice to Karen but takes similar advice from Lacey to herself seriously. Particularly funny was how Wanda characterized Lacey's advice to Karen. Nancy Robertson deserves major kudos here for this scene - she was brilliant having Wanda laugh at Lacey's advice to Karen, and even better as Wanda enthusiastically accepted Lacey's advice to her.
12.) When Lacey laughs at Karen's cast signature, tries unsuccessfully to make up for it, and Karen storms off. Gabrielle was amazing here as she simulated a combination of laughter and an attempt to stifle it.
13.) The smile on Emma's face when she thought Wanda was quitting piano lessons.
14.) When Karen sarcastically blows off Oscar's demand that Hank be arrested, and Oscar takes her seriously.
15.) When Lacey offers money to Emma for the piano, Emma declines, Lacey doesn't hear Emma properly, Emma clarifies, Lacey says that it sounded different the first time and Emma responds.
16.) Karen's repeated use of "stupid Davis jerkface."
17.) The smile on Lacey's face after Hank destroys the piano.
NITPICK: During the flashback of Karen's "bad cast-signing experience," the little girl playing Karen signs David Kindersley's cast with her right hand. As is easily visible in a number of episodes where Karen is shown holding or using a pen (in this one, for example, look at the pen in Karen's left hand when Oscar demands that she arrest Hank for blowing up Oscar's tire), it's clear that as an adult she always writes with her left hand (look earlier in the episode when Karen claims she doesn't have a pen and Lacey points out that Karen is holding one). I considered listing this as a blooper, but I can think of nothing in any episode of the show that proves that Karen isn't actually ambidextrous. Using myself as an example, I write cursively with my left hand but print (when doing crosswords or writing on dry erase boards, for example) with my right, and my sister and father can write cursively and / or print with equal speed and effectiveness (not to mention virtually identical handwriting) with either hand. Maybe Karen can do the same thing, although I've never seen her write with her right hand.
NOTES:
1.) In the opening scene, when there's an argument as to whether the stick figure on the sign had its legs akimbo, it should be noted that "akimbo" means "with hands on hips." As such, when Brent later claimed that Lacey's legs went akimbo when she fell, he might have been exaggerating a bit.
2.) For my American readers: he uniforms worn by the girls surrounding Oscar during the flashback about his promise to fix everything are cheerleader uniforms for the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders.