Recap / Corner Gas S 3 E 04 Will And Brent

"I admit it's no sprawling tack-board with three-year-old missing cat notices."

A Plot: After misunderstanding a conversation, Brent thinks his parents are planning out their will. Things get out of hand when everyone in town thinks Brent is waiting for his parents to die so he can have their couch.

B Plot: The DRPD implements a drinking and driving check stop system, but the town becomes enamored with the new music-playing breathalyzer and start lining up to take turns.

C Plot: Tired of the sloppiness of the old bulletin board, Lacey implements a new board system at The Ruby. However, she adds too many rules and people go rushing to Corner Gas instead.

Tropes Referenced:

• Comically Missing the Point:
  Brent: I just overheard what I'm getting from my parents when they... you know...
  Hank: Celebrate your birthday?
  Lacey: I think he meant pass away, Hank.
  Hank: What? What kind of birthday present is that?
• Description Cut:
  Emma: Lacey, will you be the executor of our will?
  Lacey: Oh, I don't know, Emma. That's a pretty big responsibility.
  Emma: If you say yes, I'll put a new bulletin on your board.
  Lacey: My board doesn't need your pity. It is just a slow season for bulletins.
  [Cut to Corner Gas, where people are clamoring to put bulletins on a very full board]
• Fun with Acronyms: The checkstop is originally called Systematically Limit Impaired Driving Everywhere, or SLIDE.
  Wanda: That's not discouraging. Slides are fun. You may as well call it the Drunky Bars or the Boozy-Go-Round.
  • They later change it to Fully Reduce Impaired Driving Anywhere, or FRIDA.
    Davis: It's not as strong an acronym, but it's friendly.
• Future Me Scares Me: At the end of the episode, Brent has an Imagine Spot where he meets himself from twenty years in the future, who is extremely rich and lives in a big house with a swimming pool in the backyard. Then things take somewhat of a dark turn...
  Oscar: [walks on-screen] Hey! Jackass!
  Brent: Dad? Do you live with me?
  "Oscar": I'm not your dad. I'm you, twenty-two years from now!
  [The Brent from twenty years in the future nods in agreement]
  Brent: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
  Oscar!Brent: [Beat, unimpressed] ...You done?
  Brent: Yeah, I usually wake up when I do that.
  Oscar!Brent: I'm gettin' a drink. [storms off]
• Giant Novelty Check: Parodied. Brent imagines Oscar using one to make a tiny charity donation. Apparently, Oscar actually has a giant novelty checkbook.
• Gone Horribly Right: The chiming breathalyzer proves too popular, with cars lining up at the checkstop to take turns with it.
  Karen: Hank, you already had a try.
  Oscar: You don't even have a car!
  Hank: I'm walkin' under the influence!
• Humble Pie:
  Wanda: Don't you want people to use this?
  Lacey: [pointing to the board] Oh, there's a bulletin right down there, see? Someone has used my board to let the town know... [Beat] that there's a no-rules bulletin board at Corner Gas.
  Wanda: There is? [excitedly runs off]
• If You Die, I Call Your Stuff: People assume that Brent is out for his parents' great couch. Lacey actually schemes by offering free french fries if the Leroys will her something good.
• Imagine Spot: Several over the course of the episode, all by Brent:
  • Brent imagines his parents in a Parody Commercial about legal will kits. Afterward, Oscar and Emma have an actual conversation with almost the exact same dialogue.
  • He imagines spending more time with his parents, doing hokey things like playing Twister and riding multi-seat bikes, then getting injured on the bikes.
  • His idea of Oscar donating to charity (see Giant Novelty Check above).
  • At the end of the episode, he imagines meeting his future selves, as mentioned above.
• Implausible Deniability: The DRPD pull Lacey over at the check stop. She accuses them of targeting her for taking down their bulletin. Davis assures her its a standard road check, but the camera reveals they pulled Lacey over right outside the Ruby, her place of business.
• Insane Troll Logic: Davis thinks it's a good idea to set up the checkstop outside of town, as doing so in town would cause people to see it and avoid it. Of course, being outside of town means no one is coming by, anyway.
  Karen: Right. Because them avoiding us now isn't a problem.
• Metaphorgotten:
  Oscar: The point is, it'll teach you a lesson about countin' your chickens before... [Beat] ...the father of the chickens dies!
  Brent: Oh, that old chestnut.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  Lacey: And I'm thinking, for readability, larger bulletins at the top, smaller ones at the bottom.
  Brent: [mocking a news bulletin] This bulletin just in: Lacey's bulletin board has too many rules.
  Lacey: [getting an idea] Rules! I should post some rules.
  Wanda: [to Brent] Way to go.
• Passed-Over Inheritance: Oscar and Emma tease doing this to Brent.
• Rules Lawyer: Lacey with her bulletin board.
• Shout-Out: The episode title is likely a reference to Will & Grace.
• Sidetracked by the Analogy:
  Lacey: I'm trying to organize the board. It's like painting lines in a parking lot. There's order and then people just don't park all over the place.
  Hank: Yeah, but bulletins are all different sizes. How are you gonna know where to paint the lines?
  Lacey: I'm not gonna paint lines, Hank.
  Hank: Geez, you give up too easily, Lacey. You'll have to commit if you want this to work.
• Status Quo Is God: The entire town revolts against Lacey for having the audacity to change her bulletin board.
• Sustained Misunderstanding: Oscar and Emma's plan to give away stuff if they move is misconstrued as giving away stuff when they die, then as them being on their death bed, and even as Brent wanting to kill them for their couch.
• Verbal Backspace:
  Brent: It's just most people your age have wills.
  Emma: What do you mean, "our age"?
  Brent: I said wage. People of your wage bracket, is what I said.