Review: Corner Gas Animated “Tag You’re I.T.”

Overview:

Watching clips on the internet with Emma, Hank and Brent get competitive over what makes a video viral.  The boys try and get a shot of Hank being hit in the nuts with a hockey puck, while Emma wants to record Oscar being clumsy secretly.  When Brent finds out what his mother is up to they join forces and get a video of Hank and Oscar hurting themselves.

Meanwhile, the WiFi is down at The Ruby Café.  Lacey is frustrated to find out that she has been providing internet for the whole town.  She recruits Wanda to help her add a password to the router.  Suddenly the password becomes a bartering tool to use against all of her customers.  When she realizes that they are all using her again, she decides she has to stop things for good.

Our Take:

Well, this is something new that doesn’t often come up in this series.  There was a significant theme in this episode that drove through all three plot-lines.  Focusing on the internet and modern technology, each character is impacted in their own ways.  Though this concept may be outdated considering how second nature this stuff is today, it is still relevant when talking about a small town in rural Saskatchewan.  The Ruby Café offering open WiFi would be a significant deal in Dog River, where most of us can find somewhere to connect to the internet within walking distance of our homes.  So, outdated as it may be, still very much on brand.

I do find it hard to believe that Brent and Hank would not be able to come up with a much more original internet video then someone getting hit in the nuts.  These two characters have had so many hair-brained ideas throughout the years that they should have come up with something much more elaborate.  And, if they couldn’t, they would have gone straight to Wanda for better advice.  Sometimes it feels like the writers are coming up with great ideas, but their execution falters.  I feel like I mention in every other review that the plots have so much potential, but they don’t go anywhere.

It was enjoyable how a couple of these plot-lines came together in the end.  Not all of the stories collided, but it does happen.  In fact, the usage of Davis’s GPS to create an epic Aliens reference was worth the entire set up.  You won’t often see this series take a reference word for word, but Aliens was an excellent choice for this one in particular.  Though the idea of putting GPS trackers on everyone in town was extremely unethical, it did work out for bringing all of this together.

This was an entertaining episode, and enough to keep the hype up as we wind down the season.  By no means was this one of the strongest plots of the year, but it held up compared to some of the more memorable ones.  The exciting thing is if this is the new status quo of the series, which is much better than last year, then we have a lot to look forward to.  That is as long as another season gets confirmed, which we haven’t gained word of yet.  Considering how great this show can be though, it would be hard to see them canceling it now as the show seems to have found its feet.  The third season is classically the best from most sitcoms.  So, if this is the average this year, then things are about to get great.