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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: Three's Company meets Seinfeld in this episode, but in a positive way. The main plot is about the entire town being under a major misunderstanding (Three's Company), and the best side plot has Lacey obsessing like a Seinfeld character (about being ripped off by Wanda) such a degree that she screws herself financially just to make a point. This episode has very few killer moments, but is consistently funny nonetheless.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: Hanks and Davis' explanation on how men don't communicate on a meaningful level.
MEMORABLE LINE: Brent, looking at a big-screen TV in a catalog, explains to Wanda "A man's TV should reflect his age. You're 18 years old, 18-inch. When you turn 27, 27-inch."
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: Her portrayal of Lacey going off on Wanda in the store was one of the funniest moments of the season. By the time she got cut off by the train passing through Dog River I was laughing so hard I was practically in tears.
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) When Karen asks Hank if he's talked to Brent about Brent's financial troubles, Hank and Davis react as if Karen had just crawled out of a cave and proceed to explain the inanity of her question to her.
2.) Oscar's reaction when Davis tells him to put money in the curse jar.
BLOOPERS:
1.) At 1:23, Hank is shown approaching Corner Gas. He's about 20 feet from the door and walking at a pretty good pace. The conversation Brent and Wanda have at this point is simply too long for the amount of time that should pass by the time Hank reaches the door. It is possible that Hank stopped to pick up something from the ground or to tie his shoe, so this is more of a nitpick than a blooper, but if you assume that Hank went straight to the door without stopping, this item goes from questionable nitpick to fairly solid blooper.
2.) Starting at 2:56, Oscar asks Emma why the top of the sugar bowl is open. The shot starts switching back and forth between Emma and Oscar at this point. Watch the coffee cup Emma's holding, which changes positions every time the shots change up to the point where she puts it down.
3.) Starting at 10:31, Lacey is behind the cash register asking Wanda how the fries are. She's ringing up a customer, and you can see the figure shown on the register from Wanda's side as $0.75 for a split second (you may have to pause and zoom to catch it) before you get the view from Lacey's side. On Lacey's side, the figure is shown as $4.75. No big deal so far, as the '4' in the single dollar position might not be working from the customer's side, but after Wanda answers "Good," the shot goes to Lacey and the figure shown is now $0.46. The shot goes to Wanda and back to Lacey and you still see $4.75 on one side and $0.46 on the other, but when the shot once again goes to Wanda and back to Lacey, the $0.46 is now again $0.75.
4.) At 11:48, Brent is telling Lacey that she could hit him with a shovel and he'd still be in a good mood. At this point his left (viewer's right) forearm is on the counter and his right forearm is almost resting there as well. The shot then switches to Lacey for a split second and then back to Brent, who now has his forearms pointing upwards with his hands clasped just below his chin. His forearms do go back down just after Lacey explains that she bought a pendant to teach Wanda a lesson, although this time there was actually enough time between shots to move them.
5.) At 15:56, Hank has just finished writing "CURSE JAR" on a glass jar, puts the jar in his right hand and starts to set it down on the counter. At this point, the marker he used to write with is in the same (right, but left to the viewer) hand he's using to hold the jar. When the camera moves in for a close-up of the jar, the pen has disappeared. You only get a split second to catch this one, but it looks pretty clear once you catch it and watch it again.
6.) At 16:30, Karen puts a dollar in the curse jar. As her hand drops the coin into the slot, the sign "CURSE JAR" is facing away from her (if the direction she's looking in is 12:00, the sign is facing roughly 3:00), but the second the coin falls the sign on the jar has rotated about 90 degrees to the right and is now facing her. This is another one that you only get a split-second to catch.
7.) At 16:36, Lacey comes out of the kitchen to bring a pot of coffee to Wanda. At this point, look at the pendants around her neck and note the distance between them (two or three inches). She walks up to Wanda, strikes a ridiculous pose to draw attention to the jewelry she's wearing, the shot switches to Wanda and instantly back to Lacey, and now the pendants are practically touching each other.
8.) Nitpick: at 17:05, Wanda stands up and tells Lacey that she (Lacey) got ripped off, just as she (Wanda) is reaching into her pocket to pay for her coffee. Wanda then slaps a dollar down on the counter. Problem: Lacey raised the price of coffee to $1.50 in the second episode of the first season, "Tax Man," seventeen episodes before this one. If this was intentional (and you never know with this show), then having Wanda say Lacey got ripped off just as she screws Lacey out of fifty cents may well be the most subtle joke in sitcom history.
9.) At 17:55, a naked Oscar stumbles into Emma's get-together with some of the local women. Emma, holding a pot in one hand and a mug in the other, says to Oscar that if he's not gong to wear clothes in the house, she's not going to tell him when guests are coming over. The scene switches to an embarrassed Oscar for a fairly long time, but no sound (for example, a pot being put on the coffee table) is audible. When the shot switches back to Emma, the pot is on the coffee table.
10.) Nitpick: at 18:44, Brent buys a bracelet from Wanda for $20. Just then, Lacey storms in and launches into a massive tirade (and here I have to reiterate how funny it is when Lacey says "This whole situation is just f------...," I laugh myself senseless every time I see it). At this point, the sequence is as follows: a.) Wanda gives Lacey a $20 refund, b.) Lacey puts the $20 in the curse jar, c.) Brent takes that $20 and gives it to Wanda, and d.) Brent gives the bracelet to Lacey. If anyone can explain to me why Brent paid for the bracelet twice, my e-mail address is [email protected].
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