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OVERALL IMPRESSIONS: This one's roughly middle-of-the-road for Corner Gas, which means "better than average by sitcom standards, but only average by the standards of this show." Oscar gets himself kicked out of the Harvesters' Club and starts his own club, Wanda breaks an enchanted potato bowl that enhances the flavor of potatoes to unimaginable heights, and Lacey tries to help Hank improve his public speaking skills. The latter is the best of the three plots and is capable of carrying the episode all by itself, the other two are average but both have their moments.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: Hank trying to tell a story in the bar in the opening scene. I think pretty much all of us know at least one person whose stories are so dimwitted. I know several and work for a couple of them. I once listened to one of them (the one in the corner office, which means he had the floor and a completely captive audience) in a drunken stupor spend over a half hour telling a story about his painstaking construction of a rubber band ball that reached roughly the size of a classroom globe, and then switch to his story (equally long) about the difficulty of unraveling a paper clip and making it PERFECTLY straight (a true testimony to the leadership I serve under in my job). The man's entire repertoire of anecdotes that night was about the mutilation and abuse of office supplies, and my beer tab that night was predictably and shamefully high. I know alcohol is not a proper escape from one's problems, but you weren't there. If you were, you'd probably agree that I did the right thing - and besides, I took a cab home. I'd rather spend a year at Lubyanka under KGB interrogation than endure a night like that again. Office parties suck. A lot. But I digress.
MEMORABLE LINE: Wanda's "What it lacks in size, it makes up for in enchantedness." This is the only line I've ever heard from Wanda that is so unfunny and so pointless that I thought it should have been deleted.
KUDOS TO GABRIELLE: She's superb as usual throughout the episode, but one scene really stood out: from when Lacey reaches the point of exploding and says "That bowl better not be full of potatoes unless you're here to give me potatoes as a gift" until when she says "Always vigil. Like Always. NEVER takin' a break." Nobody could have handled this scene better.
FUNNIEST LINE IN THIS EPISODE: "I'm Lacey, I like to tell stores about me slouching father" from Hank. The bastardized UK accent and Hank's physical delivery here were killer.
FUNNIEST SCENES IN THIS EPISODE:
1.) When Hank asks "Well, do you know who that young man was who went to the store?" and a stunned Brent says "It was you!"
2.) Oscar scoffing at the thought of paying dues, and the treatment he receives thereafter.
3.) When Wanda calls Brent "Pouty Potato Puss," thinking it's funny, until she catches Emma's glance.
4.) Hank's non-reaction when Lacey says "You know when you read a book?"
5.) The sight of Davis and Oscar walking down the street after Davis joins Oscar's new club.
6.) When Brent puts Wanda in the firing line so as to avoid Lacey's story.
7.) The complete lameness of Lacey's story, Wanda's attempt to escape, and Lacey following Wanda.
8.) When Hank spills coffee on Brent and describes it as "partially my fault."
9.) Hank telling his story in the bar.
10.) Emma's "Oh, don't be silly, dear child." Absolutely killer.
11.) When Davis opens the cash box, asks Karen a couple of questions, and then gives his assessment of what should or should not be if he's done his math completely correctly. I'm actually laughing abut this scene as I type this, it was perfect.
12.) When Lacey remarks on Wanda's determination to remain vigil. This was perfect as well.
13.) When Wanda swats the potato bowl out of some guy's hand.
14.) When Lacey gives her speech at the bar - especially when she mocks Brent. The tone of voice was hilarious.
NOTES:
1.) When Lacey and Emma walk into the bar, you hear Lacey pronounce the word "especially" correctly. She was unable to do that in "Mother's Day," which was only four episodes before this one.
2.) Just before Brent begins chewing out Hank in the Ruby over the Lacey / coffee story, you see Lacey serving the people behind Hank - and she's wearing high heels. Gabrielle's character in Outer Limits episode "From Within," a waitress named Charlotte Nichols, did the same thing. It's pretty much inconceivable that anyone smart enough to run a restaurant and who has to be on her feet all day would wear shoes like that while working in a restaurant.
3.) Lacey's reference to the "Toastmakers Club" is actually based on Toastmasters International, a group that helps people improve their skills in communication, leadership and public speaking. You can't swing a dead cat in D.C. without hitting a member of this club. If you want to improve in any of the aforementioned areas this is probably the club for you, but actually spending time with some of these blowhards after hours can be absolute agony as you watch them constantly try to one-up each other. During my last job all of my co-workers and I had to spend some time with them. I did actually learn a fair amount during the instruction portion of the seminar, but during their dinner parties I quickly found myself searching for ways to fake my own death.