Review: Corner Gas Animated “Pioneer and Deer”

A thoughtful memorial to the late Janet Wright

Overview:

It’s the Pioneer Days celebration in Dog River.  While the town prepares for the fair, Brent, Hank, and Davis are taking Karen on their annual deer hunting expedition.  Though, she is surprised to find out that there is no actual hunting done on the trip.  Hank is taking this year’s adventure more seriously and wants to prove how tough he is by killing his first deer.  Unfortunately, Lacey (who has been questioning the events morals) decides to lead all of the deer into town, where they begin overrunning the streets.

Meanwhile, with Oscar banned from being a part of the Pioneer Days planning committee, Wanda has been recruited to perform as Jane T. Wright, one of Dog River’s founders.  Oscar supplies Wanda with a history book which reveals some information about the historical figure.  She intends to use her new intel to throw a hitch on the day’s events.

Our Take:

For a bunch of locals to rural Saskatchewan, it is difficult to take any of these characters seriously as hunters.  Brent, the soft, sarcastic head of the cast does many things but give off the vibe of an animal killer.  That’s what makes this episode such a fun watch.  They are taking the most masculine characters they have and showing flat out, how un-masculine they actually are.  In fact, Brent spends the majority of his rugged hunting trip posing for the camera.  And, when it comes to the end, and he receives an offer to appear on the cover of a gay-focused magazine, he comes off as flattered.  It’s great that the show can mock itself, and is not afraid to show their characters as emotional.

There was one player in this episode that confused me.  Lacey begins the show showing her disagreement with the hunting and eating of deer at the annual festival.  However, her replacement offer is her marinated chicken.  Considering how many local farms surround Dog River, wouldn’t it be assumed that the chicken would need to be killed all the same.  There is no explanation as to why she believes that eating chicken is okay, but not venison.  She goes out of her way to protect the local deer, but as the owner/operator of the towns most popular restaurant, it is doubtful that she has never featured venison on the menu.

The episode hides a little Easter Egg in plain sight for those that are paying attention.  The monument and attention giving to town founder Jane T. Wright is a clear memorial for the original Emma Leroy who passed away in 2014.  Portraying her role through the complete original series, and the full-length feature, Corner Gas Animated is the first time that she hasn’t played Emma for the series.  Surprisingly, there hasn’t been a service towards her previously in the show.  This was a great way to bring her in, especially when the animated Emma acknowledges that she could never fill her shoes.  A heartfelt moment from many of her long-time friends.

There were a lot of pieces at play to this episode, yet they all worked together to make one rich plot.  One of the things the series has struggled with previously is that the ‘a’ plot and ‘b’ plots have a difficult time blending, and more often than not, don’t.  This was one of the most robust scripts from the series with one consistent theme and showcasing how it impacts each character individually.  Add that to a barrage of good humour and characters being out of their comfort zones and you have one of the most well-rounded episodes the series has ever produced.