Corner Gas Countdown, #6

#6: Final Countdown
Its touching, its funny, and its a single coherent plot: the things that can make Corner Gas such a wonderful show to enjoy with the whole family. Okay, I got that schmaltzy crap out of the way, here's the reason this episode makes the top ten: scotch. I love scotch (almost as much as bourbon). And "Final Countdown" is all about Brent's 40th birthday, and he wants 40 year old scotch. Problem is, this is the same man who sits in a lawn chair to go on vacation. Therefore, he needs a solution... buy a 20 year old bottle of scotch and wait for 20 years. Okay, look, I know this isn't how it works. Most people, including my boss, fell for this however and assumed that scotch aged like wine. (Actually, even wine doesn't age like wine) Er, two 20 year old bottles of scotch... he broke the first one. Unfortunately, Hank drank the second one about a year later. Fortunately, Brent bought three bottles of 20 year old scotch (for Pete's sake man, just buy the one 40 year old and be done with it), and now he gets two great thrills: drinking 40 year old scotch and making Hank feel guilty. This episode also features Oscar's geriatric fireworks, Davis's fear of explosions, Karen's card signing, and the hilarious Lacey vs. Emma cake decorating catfight. Add in a 24 ripoff and we've got ourselves a party. Also makes a great season finale.

Honourable Mention: Knit Wit of the Month
There are some funny bits to Oscar's senior's column: his inability to find it while the author's obituary is blasted in 266-pt font is the best one. Davis and Karen volunteering to write it is the worst one. Hank joins "the knit wits" old ladies knitting club, which is pretty funny especially when it turns out he's better liked than Emma amoungst the seniors. Still, the "Employee of the Month" story was great. Lacey starts an employee of the month program, so Brent starts an employer of the month program, which really bothers Wanda. The scene stealer for this episode is when Lacey starts a customer of the month program to make Wanda feel better, but when she loses it she tries to steal it away from Brent. It turns out eating that many chili cheese dogs isn't as easy as it looks. ("Plus pie. Not a piece of pie, a pie.")

#102: Coming Distractions
Parts of the RaptorMan2 plotline aren't bad... Hank and Davis in the little Tyrannosaurus hands are funny. Parts of the sidewalk gag are good, especially Karen's final solution to defeat Wanda. The rest is pretty bad. I cannot abide the pink hat gang, and that storyline carried far too much weight in the episode. Faaaar too much weight.

