Review: Corner Gas Animated “Anger Games”

Overview:

Wanda is designing a new city-building video game.  After Brent and Hank give it a try, they call her game boring.  She tries to adjust the game by adding more action, which leads to the boys offering even more suggestions.  The result is a masterpiece.

Lacey and Karen recognize that Davis never gets upset, and think that he is hiding all of his anger.  They decide that they have to make him angry to help alleviate stress.  Unfortunately, he misinterprets their attempts as Lacey having an anger issue, until he realizes that they are correct that he has never been upset.  Except when he tries Wanda’s new game he loses his cool and takes it out on the computer.

Our Take:

Before we even get into things here, I really want to mention the greatest cold open this series has had thus far.  Opening as they often do with Brent, Wanda, and Hank chewing the fat in the gas station.  However, this time Hank is trying to convince Brent that Val Kilmer had nipples installed on his bat suit because his are so sensitive, which is hilarious enough.  But, when the question of George Clooney’s equally nipple-y bat suit comes up, he adds that the star’s nipples are so amazing that they were highly insured.  The resulting cut scene made the joke even better.  This was one of my favourite moments in the two-season series.

This episode also had the highlight of Wanda’s new video game, Grain Theft Ogre!  Which in all honesty looks like a fun game.  If Corner Gas is considering a mobile game for some profit, I think the show may have just given them an option.  What made this plot even better was the inclusion of Brent and Hank’s likenesses into the game, which was both actual live photographs of the voice actors.  With Fred Ewanuick showing his age compared to the animated version of Hank, it made for some clever jokes.  It was excellent meta humour to add to a franchise with such a rich history.

The other plot featuring Davis’s lack of anger was additionally as humorous.  Maybe not the plot itself, but Lacey and Karen’s attempts to tick off their friend sure made things fun.  Between being forced to eat liver, and being hit in the nuts with a stress ball, it is impressive that the character kept his cool.  Though it is Davis’s easygoing attitude that makes him such a lovable player, it is no wonder why the writers wanted to test that as far as it would go.

Beyond these witty concepts, the episode lacked a lot of story.  There was not much depth to either plotline, and they seemed to rest on the laurels that they were funny in concept.  Beyond introducing what was happening, the stories didn’t lead anywhere and concluded with a minimal bang.  There was a multitude of places that either of these plots could have gone.  Instead, they both rode through the episode until it ended with the final joke.

It is tough when one of the most humorous episodes lacks much entertainment past that.  I can say that there were more laughs in this episode than most others, but that’s not enough to carry a show unless it’s a Robot Chicken style sketch comedy.  Expectations for Corner Gas Animated may be higher after some stronger episodes this year, but now we know how great the show can be.  There is still room for the series to blossom into more, and a lack of story such as this feels like a step back.