Recap / Corner Gas S 5 E 06 The Eight Samurai

Pictured: Oscar's hedge trimmer, Davis's paper cutter, Josh's sandwich slicer, Hank's fruit preparer...

A Plot: Having received a nice gift from their twin town in Japan, the residents of Dog River want to respond in kind. A committee is formed which is mostly full of bad ideas, while the sister gift (a samurai sword) goes bouncing around town with Emma unable to retrieve it.

B Plot: After catching an eco-minded TV special, Lacey forces Brent to team up and make environmentally-friendly changes to the Ruby and Corner Gas, hoping to win an award. Lacey finds herself having to push Brent continuously, as he has no desire to participate.

C Plot: Wanda takes over as bartender while Phil is out of town, but her attempts to offer advice come across as way too nosy for everyone's taste. Hank also offers his "expertise" at drink mixing, with predictably terrible results.

Tropes referenced:

• Almost Famous Name: When a strange man comes into the Ruby, Brent exclaims, "Look everybody, it's Al Gore!" This prompts Lacey to point out that the man in question looks nothing like Al Gore, and Brent in turn must clarify that his surname is spelled "Goar" and he sells fertilizer for a living. Justified in that, similar to Al Gore and his quest to raise awareness of global warming, Al Goar is also the head of a regional environmental protection committee and has sought Brent out to present him with an award for improving Corner Gas' sustainability.
• Blatant Lies: Brent claims to know what a composter is, but his explanation proves to Lacey that he has no idea.
  Lacey: You do know what a composter is, don't you?
  Brent: Of course! It... composts things. Things that are compostable. Turns it into... compostage.
  Lacey: Wow, you're like a real expert.
  Brent: Well, we all have our area of expertise. Mine's composting.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Lacey is going through Hank's drink recipe book:
  Lacey: [happy] Ooh, a Singapore Sling! I haven't had one of those since college.
  Hank: I didn't know you went to school in Singapore.
• Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For: Hank complains that Brent doesn't do anything special like other gas stations:
  Hank: You know, there's a gas station in the city that's got this contest to win this awesome barbecue.
  Brent: Nice.
  Hank: Some places give you a free car wash with every fill-up!
  Brent: Good deal.
  Hank: This one place hands out glasses with hockey team logos on 'em. Free!
  Brent: What a time to be alive.
  Hank: How come you don't do stuff like that?
  Brent: Tell you what, Hank. Go to my house, fire up the barbecue, make yourself a hot dog. Go into the kitchen cupboards, grab any glass you want, you can keep it. Get the garden hose, wash your truck. All that stuff for free, providing, you pay for this tank of gas, today.
  Hank: See? There's always a catch with you!
• Confusing Multiple Negatives:
  Wanda: Maybe that's the problem.
  Karen: You think?
  Wanda: Well I don't not think it isn't it.
  Karen: I guess that's it.
• Department of Redundancy Department: When Hank wants to help mix drinks, Wanda lays out her three rules behind the bar: "Shut up, don't annoy me, and shut up." Hank immediately breaks all three by pointing out the redundancy.
• Description Cut: Lacey talks about a David Suzuki special that inspired her, causing her to think about going green. It immediately cuts to the previous evening at Lacey's house, with her giddily settling down with popcorn:
  TV Voiceover: Pretty Woman will not be seen tonight so we can bring you David Suzuki's Planet in Peril.
  Lacey: [visibly disappointed] Aw, crap.
• Idea Bulb: Parodied. Lacey is putting up compact fluorescent light bulbs in the Ruby when she gets an idea to do the same secretly at Corner Gas. A compact fluorescent then appears over her head.
• Incredibly Obvious Bomb: It's said that Hank ruined the relationship between Dog River and their old twin town in Denmark by sending them a gift that represented various aspects of their town including a bag of fertilizer, a can of gas from Corner Gas, and a truck battery, which the town easily mistook for a bomb. When the question arises as to what gift to send their new twin town in Japan, Hank suggests (and produces) a novelty bowling ball candle that looks like a Cartoon Bomb. Later, he suggests an assortment of "toys from Dog River" including a hunk of plasticine, some pipe cleaners, and a toy clock.
• Insane Troll Logic:
  Wanda: I told you I was leaving work early.
  Brent: No you didn't.
  Wanda: I implied it by leaving early lots of other times.
  Hank: (to Brent) You should have seen this coming.
• Kafka Komedy: After Lacey does all the work, even improving Corner Gas behind Brent's back, it's Brent that gets the "Enviro-Hero" award because he reversed Lacey's changes at the Ruby so it looked like only Corner Gas had done anything. Lacey tries to play this off, but Brent won't let her:
  Lacey: Okay, so you got the plaque, but I guess the real winner here is the environment.
  Brent: [pointing at the plaque] No, the real winner is "Brent Leroy". See, it says it right there.
• Literal-Minded: Davis when Wanda is trying to be friendly:
  Wanda: Hey there, stranger.
  Davis: Stranger? It's me, Davis.
  Wanda: It's called small talk, genius. I mean, pal.
• Loose Lips: Wanda the bartender constantly blabs patrons' private information, such as financial woes and marriage troubles.
• Never My Fault: After Emma points out that she didn't lose the sword, Oscar stole it:
  Oscar: Yeah, but I'm not responsible for me. Oh, you screwed up big time.
• New Job as the Plot Demands: Lampshaded by Oscar after seeing Wanda and Hank working at the bar:
  Oscar: You ever notice how every few weeks either me or Hank or Wanda has some crazy new job?
  Emma: I hadn't noticed, and I'm sure no one else has, either.
• One Scene, Two Monologues: Brent and Lacey have a conversation about Brent "trading" his french fry intake with Karen, while Karen keeps asking for her soup. They ignore her while they argue, prompting her to get up and go for mints in the car. Right after she's gone, Lacey hears the order bell and looks up, wondering who ordered the soup.
• Pyromaniac: When Lacey asks Wanda to cause a distraction so she can improve the gas station without Brent knowing, Wanda immediately lights a lighter and asks Lacey to hand her a stack of newspapers. Lacey quickly stops her, saying she meant just to talk to Brent.
• Sarcasm-Blind: When Emma sardonically asks Lacey "How's the Green Queen?", Lacey takes it as a compliment.
• Seppuku: Alluded to. When Emma finally gets the samurai sword back, she holds it up to her belly, claiming it's caused "nothing but trouble". When Oscar questions her about it, though, she says she was just using it to clean the fuzz out of her navel.
• Shout-Out:
  • Wanda chooses to distract Brent by asking him a question about The Incredible Hulk, specifically asking about his Magic Pants.
  • The episode title references The Seven Samurai.
• Snowball Lie: Emma tries to hide the fact that she lost the gift from the twin town, despite having already told the twinning committee that she had it and would show it to them:
  Fitzy: So, let's see it.
  Emma: See what?
  Karen: The gift from Japan.
  Emma: It's not here.
  Fitzy's Grandma: I thought you said you got it.
  Emma: No, I said I "got" it in the sense that I understood it. And let me tell you, it's great.
  Karen: Well how do you know if they didn't send it?
  Emma: It's in their letter.
  Fitzy's Grandma: Well, let's see the letter.
  Emma: It's in Japanese.
  Karen: I know some Japanese.
  Emma: I burned it. [They stare at her.] It said to. "To honor the paper spirit." You see, I know Japanese, Karen.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: Davis and Karen both think that one is mad at the other, based on vague hints and questions Wanda drops on them separately. When they figure it out, they confront Wanda, only for her to try and flip it back on them again. They end up more confused than ever.
• Troll: When challenged by Lacey, Brent points to a bike by the gas station and claims he rode it to work as part of the eco initiative. Lacey then forces him to ride it home for lunch, knowing full well he was lying and it's not his bike. She watches gleefully as he struggles to pedal away. As soon as Brent is away from Lacey's sight, he quickly calls the gas station so he can apologize to the real bike owner.