Recap / Corner Gas S 6 E 05 All That And A Bag Of Chips

"Oh, right. Karen's a muffin-stealing cop. Everybody, watch your pastries."

A Plot: Karen forgets to pay for a muffin at the Ruby and is labeled a thief. Davis and Lacey try to make her feel better about it, but their efforts just continue to keep the event fresh in Karen's (and everyone else's) mind.

B Plot: Hank changes his email password a few times and Wanda makes it her goal to crack it every time and prove her intellectual superiority. When he finally uses one she can't guess, frustration kicks in for both of them, as even Hank can't remember it.

C Plot: Emma and Oscar accuse Brent of being a mooch, coming over far too often to eat their food and never feeding them in return. Emma forces Brent to cook for them, but his lackluster effort causes her to do all the work anyways. This is lost on Oscar, who suddenly believes his son is a culinary master.

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Tropes referenced:

• Ambiguous Syntax: Hank is eating on the Ruby's deck while Wanda is trying to guess his password:
  Wanda: Taco?
  Hank: No.
  Wanda: Ketchup?
  Hank: No.
  Wanda: Napkin?
  Hank: Yes.
  [Wanda suddenly runs away to try the password. Whip Pan to Wanda returning to the table.]
  Wanda: It wasn't "napkin"!
  Hank: I thought you were offering me a napkin.
• Authority in Name Only: The DRPD. Davis claims that everyone in town has an unpaid parking ticket and that it's no big deal.
• Call-Back: One Cutaway Gag mentioned in Ghost in the Machine below shows a werewolf in Hank's head, waiting to fight a robot. This Hypothetical Fight Debate was the subject of the Cold Open back in "Blog River".
• Captain Oblivious: In the Cold Open, Brent completely misses the entire conversation between Hank and Wanda about Hank's password, being totally wrapped up in his comic book.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • After Wanda commandeers Hank's email and starts sending messages:
    Hank: I think I'd remember sending an email about me being a moron. But who'd send an email about Wanda being a foxy genius?
    Emma: Well it seems pretty obvious.
    Hank: Oh, I agree. It's totally obvious... but just as a time saver, could you tell me?
  • Brent shows himself inept at cooking, so Emma takes over and makes dinner. Oscar suddenly thinks this makes Brent a fantastic cook, despite the fact that he didn't really do anything. Brent plays along, and Fitzy becomes convinced as well.
• Cut a Slice, Take the Rest: Brent does this with a pie at his parents' house, even providing a Shout-Out for good measure.
  Brent: I saw Jughead do this once and I thought it was brilliant.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Karen convinces Lacey to "apologize" for the muffin theft story getting out of control by paying for her drinks at the bar. Karen then proceeds to put every drink of the night, including a visiting Rugby team's, on her bill...and even then, in The Tag she tries to get one last zing at Lacey by accusing her of stealing chips from Corner Gas, only to look like an ass when Wanda reveals Lacey left a two-dollar coin as payment.
• Distinction Without a Difference: When Brent ducks out of his house under the pretense of "buying coriander," Fitzy complains that coriander gives him gas. Brent hastily amends it to "buying cilantro," which is just the American English term rather than the UK one.
• Exact Words: Davis claims he did his part to help Karen because he "kept her name out of the paper". A Spinning Paper then shows that he did keep her name out, but the front page shows a giant picture of Karen with the headline "Unnamed Cop in Muffin Scandal".
• False Reassurance: After Karen leaves without paying for the muffin:
  Lacey: It could happen to anybody.
  Karen: Has it?
  Lacey: No.
• Felony Misdemeanor: Karen accidentally leaves the diner without paying for a muffin and everyone in town starts treating her like some sort of hardened criminal.
• Frozen Dinner of Loneliness: The night after hosting Oscar and Emma, Brent is in the middle of heating up a single Pizza Pocket in the microwave when Oscar and Fitzy arrive, the latter claiming (while unaware of Brent's meal) he was planning on just reheating a Pizza Pocket before hearing Oscar's story about Brent's culinary skills. When Brent takes the wine they brought and ditches them to make amends with Emma, it cuts back to Oscar and Fitzy each miserably dining on half of Brent's Pizza Pocket.
• Ghost in the Machine: Wanda's trick to guessing Hank's password is to get in his head and think like him. A Cutaway Gag (and a few others later) shows exactly that, with Wanda in a big empty space with tumbleweeds going by.
• Happy Dance: In The Tag, Karen does a little dance while repeating "Lacey stole some chips!" when she thinks Lacey didn't pay for them...only to be corrected almost immediately and stop.
• I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: Lampshaded.
  Brent: I hate to say it, Wanda, but I think Hank has bested you. [Beat] Actually I didn't mind saying it. "Hank has bested you." "Hank has bested you." It's kind of fun, actually.
• Implausible Deniability: Brent rushes out to the pumps to stop Karen from getting gas. He claims there's a new "Pay First" policy, though Lacey didn't have to and she had just finished with her gas. Karen realizes right away that Brent is just wary of her and her new "muffin thief" reputation.
• Lame Pun Reaction:
  Karen: [ordering a muffin] I'll take the banana nut. Oh wait! Is that gluten-free?
  Lacey: It's included in the price.
  [Lacey giggles at herself. Karen just stares.]
  Lacey: Yes.
• Mondegreen Gag: The reason Karen forgets to pay for her muffin is because she's having a phone conversation with Davis where neither can hear the other too well. She steps out for better cell reception without thinking.
  Davis: Make sure it's gluten-free.
  Karen: I don't have time to cut keys!
  Davis: What?
  Karen: Wait, hold on. You're breaking up. I'm going outside.
  Davis: Gay pride?
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Brent most likely isn't the best cook to begin with, but in this episode he deliberately exaggerates his incompetence in the kitchen in order to make Emma so infuriated that she takes over and does the cooking for him.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Again, Karen and the muffin. Every time she thinks she's forgotten about it, someone brings it up.
  Lacey: I'm sorry about what happened, muffin-wise.
  Karen: Can you have one conversation without the word "muffin" in it?!
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Hank's password is "password". He later changes it to "notpassword" after telling people "I changed my password—and this time it's not password!" He then changes it again... and forgets it. He teams up with Wanda to crack it, but both fail in their combined efforts to "think like Hank" (yes, even Hank was trying to think like Hank) until Brent walks up to the laptop and nails it on the first try.
  Wanda: What? What is it?
  Brent: Your pet's name.
  Hank: Wiggles? We tried that.
  Brent: No, literally the words "your pet's name".
  Wanda: [stunned] I have to admit. I was not prepared for that level of stupidity. How did you crack it?
  Brent: I just had to think like a Hank who was trying to outsmart a Wanda. [Beat] Plus, I was standing beside Hank when he typed it in.
• A Simple Plan: Davis and Lacey devise a plan to help Karen feel better by having Lacey be embarrassed by an imaginary parking ticket. When the plan is executed, however, Davis flips the plan on Lacey by announcing a ticket for public indecency, claiming she flashed some old guy (to the shock of even said old guy, who assumes he's forgotten it due to his age). Lacey ends up exasperated and angry, then reminds people of the muffin again, ruining the plan in the process.
• Stealing the Credit: Brent's Obfuscating Stupidity allows him to manipulate Emma into doing all the cooking for him while stealing the credit for himself. Not only that, but Oscar thinks "Brent's" cooking is even better than Emma's, even though it's still actually her cooking. When this later backfires, as Oscar and Fitzy arrive on their own the next night and bring wine in preparation for his next masterpiece, Brent ditches them both and gains Emma's forgiveness with the "gift" of wine.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Karen tries to pull this on Lacey at the end, thinking she took a bag of chips from the gas station without paying. She mocks Lacey in front of some other people and does a Happy Dance, but Wanda then comes out with money left on the counter, showing Lacey in fact paid for the chips.
• Taking Advantage of Generosity: Brent comes to his parents' house all the time for free meals, barely even saying thank you and not helping clean up. They finally decide to call him out on it.
  Oscar: He's a no-good freeloader.
  Emma: There's good freeloaders?
• To Be Lawful or Good: Parodied. Davis can't bring himself to eat his "stolen" muffin, feeling that it's tainted.