Dog River gets a visited by hipsters, and they start throwing their hashtags around… #CornerGas

Overview:

Hank convinces Brent to join in one of his brilliant plans and invest in a 1932 coup.  Unfortunately, there is no such thing as easy money, and Brent quickly learns that restoring cars is an expensive game.  Hank actually pulls through and gets the old machine working, but the end result is more of a Frankenstein than a hot rod.

The Ruby Café has been hit with graffiti which appalls Lacey. She looks to Emma to cover the paint, but Emma replaces it with her own “artwork.”  Surprisingly, Emma’s art attracts a whole new demographic into the café.  What both women fail to notice is that the younger crowd are swarming the restaurant because the painting is so terrible that it is Instagramable #fail.

While Karen is preparing for a photoshoot for the National Bravery of the Year Award (#strangename), her home is taken over by a deranged house cat.  Meanwhile, Davis is brewing with jealousy, and Wanda is caught in the middle on account of her plentiful unpaid parking tickets.  Wanda helps Karen smoke the cat out of her home, but Davis comes to the rescue when he thinks that his partner is in danger.  #bravery.

Our Take:

There is a lot going on in this episode!  In fact, there is a whole other piece to the episode involving Oscar facing his childhood enemy, Old Man Wilkey.  It is not as exciting as it sounds, I mean Oscar’s mortal enemy ends up being dead for a couple of years.  It was an unessential side-plot that carried no weight in the show. Saying that though, none of the stories seemed to cross paths as they normally do, and it was all a bit of a mess.

Before I get myself on the “too many cooks in the kitchen” rant, I will say that there were some bonuses to allowing the characters to fly. Since Corner Gas Animated starting airing earlier this year, I have noticed that Brent, who is supposed to be the show’s stars, has been held back from having any significant plots compared to the rest of the cast.  By teaming up with Hank, not only could Brent shine, it gave us glimpses of the brightest moments of the original series.

By and large, my favourite element of the episode, and possibly the season, has to be the hipsters that swarm Dog River to see Emma’s #PaintingFail for themselves.  Emma genuinely thought her painting went “virus” yet seeing the art would make me just as giddy as the kids on the show.  It portrays Lacey with enlarged “schmeebs” riding a purple gryphon creature beside an alien.  Truly a brilliant piece of work that would attract all the #millennials. But, the hipsters best line came when they called Brent’s new hot rod as a #PoorlyConstructedMidLifeCrisis.

Davis has been a long-time fan favourite, but he came out to shine in this episode.  Continuing on the viral trend, Davis gave us some dash cam action.  It is better than you could hope, as he ends up getting a beat down by some unlikely sources.  I mentioned that the show was all over the place, the only connecting dot was Davis and his personal journey to prove he is brave.

This review has me torn.  On the one hand, I am continually disappointed when Corner Gas Animated fails to release episodes that carry one congruent plot.  I struggle to get into a story that is all over the place and lacks a theme.  On the other hand, this episode featured some of the best jokes we have gotten out of the animated resurrection of the classic comedy.  I want to give the show a lower score for failing to capture attention for a solid 22-minutes.  However, I remembered one more brilliant scene, and we all know everything is better with a montage!  So, yes, this episode is worth watching for the one scene at least.  #ItWasAlright.