A remake of the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke, told The Dukes of Hazzard-style.
A smoldering feud between Boss and equally power-hungry (and old enemy) Osage County Administrator Col. Cassius Claibourne erupts when a routine traffic stop for a simple traffic violation places Bo and Luke on Osage County's road gang. Boss and Rosco gleefully celebrate that their long-time antagonists are gone forever, but once news spreads that the Duke boys were unjustly arrested, public pressure mounts for their release. Boss and Rosco were celebrating too soon as well, as when they go to demand the Duke boys' release, they too, wind up on the road gang.
Only then does everyone realize that Bo and Luke were unwitting pawns in Claibourne's scheme to lure Boss to Osage County, blackmail him out of his assets (personal and real estate) and to wrest control of Hazzard County into his grasp. Meanwhile, upon realizing a number of the inmates have died at the camp, many of them at the hands of the ruthless Slater and his rouge army (for failed escape attempts or insubordination), Bo and Luke plot to overthrow what is essentially a concentration camp and bring Claibourne and his minions to justice once and for all.
Tropes present in this episode:
- The Alcatraz: The Osage County prison, where virtually all of the inmates have been illegally detained for several years on minor – often trumped-up – charges. Inmates who escape risk being shot on sight, or at the very least held in solitary confinement without food or water for 24 hours.
- All Crimes Are Equal: What normally would be minor traffic offenses payable by a small fine gets you two years on the road gang in Osage County. One of the inmates, who was busted for jaywalking (which isn't even prosecuted in most jurisdictions), has been there for far longer.
- Bad Cop/Incompetent Cop and Dirty Cop: The Osage County Sheriff's Department, led by the maniacal Sheriff Cathcarte, is corrupt to the nth degree.
- Big Eater: Boss eats the meal of a lifetime, one that must add up to 30,000 calories(!) ... and is so into eating everything he is presented that he forgets Claibourne is using this to extort him from his real estate and personal holdings.
- Breaking Out the Boss: Literally, what Bo and Luke do when Boss and Rosco were locked in solitary confinement (after an obvious "visiting day" escape plan is exposed).
- Denied Food as Punishment: While in the prison Boss Hogg is only given three beans per meal on orders of the Colonel. This sets Boss up to be willing to trade all of his Hazzard holdings for one really big meal.
- Don't Celebrate Just Yet: Twice:
- Twice by Boss and Rosco. At first, when they learn Bo and Luke are jailed in Osage County, if even by Col. Claibourne ... only for local residents to also learn about the (illegal) arrests and politically pressure Boss into negotiating their release. Then later, when they think they’ve bailed out the Duke boys and ended their scrape with Claiborne by meeting his demands, they find themselves at gunpoint and taken into custody.
- Bo and Luke, during their first escape attempt, by swimming across the lake. They watch from the other side of the lake as the guards and their bloodhounds lose their trail ... only to turn around and run (literally) into Sheriff Cathcarte’s gun. Waylon remarks: “This is one bloodhound they didn’t fool.”
- Great Escape: The whole final act — the only way to free themselves and bring Col. Claibourne and his goons to justice (especially since, it is implied, they have brutally killed other inmates, if not worse) is to stage a huge prison break. The other inmates are reluctant to go along with Bo and Luke at first, particularly since their previous escape attempt failed, but the Duke boys rally the troops and come up with their plan. This involves tying up and/or detaining several of Slater's guards, then luring Slater himself into the bunkhouse to tie him up before hijacking the prison transport vehicle to escape to Hazzard County.
- Hilarity Ensues: Averted and invoked. Col. Clabourne rakes Bo and Luke over the coals as he lists various traffic charges they are guilty of, as though these were major felonies. Claibourne puts the fear of God in them an instant before Luke finishes explaining they'd be let off scot free in Hazzard. "You're not in Hazzard" growls Claibourne.
- Institutional Apparel: Although the prisoner's clothing is a denim blue shirt with jeans. At one point, both Bo and Luke take off their shirts (to give screen time to the shirtless Duke boys and woo the female demographic).
- Ironic Echo: When Rosco and Boss are captured by the Osage County Sheriff's Department, Rosco protests, "You can't arrest me, I'm an officer of the law!", prompting Sheriff Cathcarte to smugly reply, "We can do anything we want! You're in our county now!" Later, when the climatic chase ends in Hazzard and Col. Claiborne and Cathcarte are taken into custody, Cathcarte tries to get Rosco to reconsider, saying, "You can't arrest me, I'm an officer of the law!" Rosco gleefully returns the same line: "We can do anything we want! You're in our county now!" followed by his trademark chuckle.
- Jail Bake: Lulu brings a giant submarine sandwich to Boss Hogg on visiting day, and has hidden files, saws and other implements inside it. Rosco grabs it and drops them out, leading to him and Boss being put in the Punishment Box.
- Killer Cop: It is strongly implied that the Osage County sheriff's deputies have murdered several past inmates at the prison – usually, after failed escape attempts where the escapee is captured. When Bo and Luke escape, Col. Claibourne warns Uncle Jesse – who, unknown to Bo and Luke, had arrived with papers signed by the state attorney's office demanding their release – that his nephews likely will be shot on sight.
- Lecherous Licking and Perverted Drooling: After Daisy and Uncle Jesse are led away by Claibourne's deputies, Slater — the chief deputy — makes lascivious remarks about hoping that Daisy will return on visiting day note , enough to piss Luke off enough to start the episode's first big fight.
- Nutritional Nightmare: The giant meal of a lifetime Claybourne serves to Boss, in exchange for his real estate holdings. The real nightmare is that Claybourne has no intention of releasing Boss ... or Rosco or the Duke boys, for that matter.
- The Old Convict: The Duke Boys learn a lot of information about the workings of the Osage Road Gang from another prisoner who has spent six years in the camp for jaywalking.
- Prison Episode: Bo, Luke, Boss and Rosco being placed on the Osage County road gang.
- Prison Riot: What Bo, Luke and the other inmates stage to lure Slater into the bunkhouse, so they can restrain him, grab the keys to the vehicles, complete a large-scale prison break and approach the state crime department to investigate the prison.
- Prompting Nudge: When Boss and Rosco help set up the Duke boys first escape attempt, Boss remarks that the food being served isn't fit to eat, after which he nudges Rosco, who immediately suggests a boll weevil is in his biscuit and "having a good time." The guards quickly catch on, but not before Bo and Luke make their getaway.
- Punishment Box: Called "solitary confinement" at the Osage County prison, two sheds out in the sun. Bo and Luke are sent to solitary for 24 hours after their escape attempt. Later Boss and Rosco are sentenced to solitary because Lulu tried to pass them implements to escape.
- Scare Chord: When Col. Claibourne declares to Uncle Jesse that his deputies will likely shoot at Bo and Luke — who have escaped the prison — immediately upon sight, the (unspoken) intent to kill them.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Donned by Col. Claibourne.
- Shout-Out: A dead-on, perfect tribute to Cool Hand Luke.
- Through His Stomach: Except Col. Claibourne isn't trying to win Boss' affection, only underhandedly wipe out his longtime rival financially and personally. And the easiest way ... is to exploit his voracious appetite. When all is said and done, Boss has eaten pizza, (extra greasy) fried chicken, chocolate cake, and other high-calorie dishes, and Claibourne has (illegally) gotten Boss to sign over the Boar's Nest, Hazzard Bank, Hogg's used car lot, his white Cadillac and practically every other property Boss owns in Hazzard County.
- Ultimate Authority Mayor: Colonel Claibourne, Commisioner of Osage County. He and his sheriff dispense "justice" completely at odds with all manner of US law. The justification is that it's their county and they can do as they like. Bo and Luke's trial - if you even could call it that - is simply Colonel Claibourne reciting the charges and sentencing them to two years hard labor.
- Undercrank: The comedy skit where Boss is attempting to exercise on a stationary bicycle ... but Rosco – trying, just trying, to grab a nibble of his fat little buddy's pizza – accidentally bumps a switch that sends Boss pedaling out of control (accomplished through fast-motion photography via the trope) before he is thrown up against a wall.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The only part of Luke's second prison break plan we hear is asking Daisy to break the General Lee out of the impound yard.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: In the epilogue, Waylon notes that Boss got all his businesses back (though we're not told how), the Osage County Prison was closed by the state authorities, the property seized and turned into an orphans' farm camp. Oh, and all of the illegally jailed inmates were freed.
- Working on the Chain Gang: What Bo and Luke – and later, Boss and Rosco – are sentenced to. Several scenes involve the prisoners at work, including one involving Bo and Luke's first escape attempt.
