Recap / The Dukes Of Hazzard S 7 E 17 Opening Night At The Boars Nest

Tropes present in this episode:

• Actor Allusion: In the Duke Family Singers Uncle Jesse plays the jug. Denver Pyle, who plays Uncle Jesse, also played the jug as Briscoe Darling on The Andy Griffith Show.
• All Part of the Show: When Boss is in the Disappearing Box and doesn't reappear, everyone thinks that it's part of the performance, thought they think Rosco is milking it a bit too much. Rosco even claims "it's a part of the act" to try to cover the mix-up. Only the Dukes realize that something is wrong.
• Bag of Holding: Rosco — er, the Great Coltrano — has a magic cape that is stuffed with confetti, flowers, and even a live pigeon, which is seen when Boss Hogg rips it off of him and demands that he go out on patrol instead of rehearsing his magic act on county time.
• Band of Relatives: The entire Duke clan (and Cooter) enter the Talent Show as "The Duke Family Singers."
• Big Little Brother: Floyd towers over his older brother Bubba.
• Big Little Man: The Duke boys meet Floyd when they almost get in a collision. Bo yells at him, he threatens back. He steps out of the car, revealing he's almost a foot taller than Bo. (This is also the first time we the audience have seen him out of the car.)
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the first jump of this, the final episode, the General Lee's suspension finally breaks.
  Bo: Oh, great. I was wondering how many of these [jumps] the suspension was gonna take.
• Disappearing Box: Rosco makes Boss disappear in the box during his magic act. Boss takes the opportunity to sneak away out the root cellar so he can close a big business deal. The two bad guys take the opportunity to kidnap Boss.
• Dunce Cap: Referenced. Boss Hogg calls Rosco's Magician's hat, a blue conical cap covered in stars, a Dunce Cap.
• Food as Bribe: Inverted — Lulu tells Boss Hogg that unless he participates in the talent show the next day she'll never cook any food for him again.
• Gilligan Cut: Rosco shows Boss Hogg the costume he'll wear as Rosco's "Lovely Assistant." Boss refuses: "No, no, no! Never never never! No no no! Absolutely, positively, definitely, NO!" Cut to Rosco putting the finishing touches on Boss in the costume. Ultimately Boss reluctantly agrees to be a part of the act but he'll wear his normal clothes.
• Goofy Print Underwear: As a part of Rosco's act, he pulls a silk handkerchief rope out of Boss's vest, ending with a pair of boxers with hearts on them. According to Boss's wife Lulu those really are his.
• The Great Whodini: Downplayed. Rosco does his magic act as "The Great Coltrano."
• I Have Your Husband: The Malone brothers, after restraining Boss at their hideout, call Lulu and demand $1 million ransom ... and for no tricks, or else "you're a widow!"
• Improbably Predictable: As Bubba, who has been casing Hazzard, says, Boss Hogg leaves his office and goes to the coffee shop at 10:00 sharp every day.
• Landline Eavesdropping: When the kidnappers call Lulu, the Duke boys quietly pick up another line in the same room to listen in.
• Lovely Assistant: Boss (reluctantly) plays this to Rosco "The Great Coltran-o."
• Mandatory Line: The only possible reason that Cooter is in the Duke Family Singers. He does nothing else in this entire episode.
• Manly Tears: Rosco is clearly shaken when Boss fails to reappear on cue, truly believing he's made him vanish into thin air. (Although there is no excuse for his trying to leave for an appointment he had scheduled during the talent show and leaving Rosco to hang dry, Boss' disappearance can ultimately be excused as he was confronted in the Boar's Nest parking lot by and kidnapped by the revenge-seeking Floyd and Bubba Malone.) By episode's end, Rosco concedes that Boss has disappeared for good and breaks down in real tears.
  Boss, unknown to Rosco, overhears Rosco's eulogy in the final act and realizes that participating in the magic show – and their relationship overall – means everything to him. The usually callous Hogg is truly moved to tears and realizes he's got to finish the act.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Bo and Luke go to Rosco to tell him about the kidnappers phone call, but Rosco dismisses them because he's desperately trying to get Boss back out of the Disappearing Box trick he thinks Boss is trapped in.
• Outside Ride: As a part of the plan to rescue Boss, Bo and Luke hide by hanging on the outside of Boss's car while Jesse drives and Lulu throws the ransom out as she was instructed. They jump off and hide in the bushes while Bubba picks up the ransom. As Bubba checks the money Bo and Luke sneak into the bed of Bubba's pickup truck and cover themselves with a tarp so Bubba will drive them right to the hideout where they're holding Boss.
• Pocket Protector: After Floyd and Bubba beat up the Duke boys, Floyd makes good on his promise to try to murder Boss and actually shoots at him (the only time Boss had been shot at). Boss — who is tied to a chair and is trying his own escape attempt — is knocked off the porch. For a second, viewers are led to believe that Boss had actually been seriously wounded, but Bo and Luke recover enough to discover that the bullet was lodged ... in Boss' wallet, full of (no doubt phony) credit cards!
• Police Are Useless: One last time. When they realize Rosco is too distraught to do his job, they turn to Enos, who immediately goes to work investigating possible leads.
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Even though the Duke boys got the drop on the kidnappers and have them trapped under a tarp while beating on them, the kidnappers just shrug them off.
  Luke: This ain't working
  Bo: Well what am I gonna do?
  Floyd: We're gonna tear you apart.
• Revenge: Floyd is out to kill Boss Hogg because Boss given testimony that sent him to prison three years ago, he just got out. Floyd plans to kill Boss, but Bubba talks him into holding Boss for a $1 million ransom — and then kill him.
• Right Behind Me: When Rosco tries to get Boss Hogg to join his magic act in the disappearing box trick, Boss tells him to get his wife Lulu to do it instead. "You make her disappear. That'd be a trick we can all applaud." Unfortunately Lulu walks in on them just as Boss is saying that.
• Running Over the Plot: Floyd's first attempt on Boss Hogg's life involves running over him with a car. Fortunately the Dukes just happen to be there at the same time and rescue Boss by blocking the attempt. Boss, not paying attention, just yells at the Dukes for almost hitting him.
• The Scrooge: After Boss gets kidnapped and they are about to kill him, Boss offers the kidnappers the $300 in his wallet if they let him go. They think that one million dollars is a better idea. Boss raises his offer to $750.
• Series Finale: Not a true send-off episode per se, but it does use a recurring theme that seems more dire than usual: Revenge-minded criminals who are more vicious and bloodthirsty than usual kidnap Boss Hogg, and it is up to the Dukes to stop these villains.
• Sleeves Are for Wimps: The main bad guy of the episode wears a jeans jacket with the sleeves torn off over a plaid shirt.
• Stage Whisper: Bo and Luke talk to each other in barely lowered voices while in the bed of the kidnapper's pickup truck. They're also fairly noisy as they jump out of the truck bed to get the drop on the kidnappers while they are looking at the ransom.
• Talent Show: A good chunk of the first half of the episodes centers on a talent revue at the Boar's Nest. All of the major characters take their turn in the spotlight – the Dukes and Cooter on a rendition of the old bluegrass song "Fox On The Run"^note  (not to be confused with the rock song recorded by The Sweet), Enos doing a song and dance ... and of course, Boss and Rosco on their magic show/disappearing lady trick.
  • The Cast Showoff: The talent show scene, as stated above. Of course, John Schneider already had a successful recording career ongoing (his then-current hit, "Country Girls," was a big hit at country radio), and Tom Wopat would soon follow with a string of hits all his own; Catherine Bach, although she didn't have any chart hits, was also a very talented singer. Even Sonny Shroyer shows off some genuine talent with his act (although it's background due to the focus on Bo and Luke figuring out that Boss' "disappearance" is suspicious, and having to inform Lulu). The magic show skit featuring James Best and Sorrell Booke is their comedic improvisation at its best.
• Tempting Fate: After Bo and Luke's first encounter with the bad guys.
  Luke: Wonder what they're doing here.
  Bo: I don't know. Don't worry about it, ain't got nothing to do with us.
  Waylon Jennings: Now anybody who's ever been around Hazzard knows better than [to say] that.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: At the end of the episode Boss says everything that happened is Rosco's fault. But when he goes to the Boar's Nest to yell at him he sees Rosco in tears, bemoaning the fact that his "little fat buddy" is gone forever due to his Unexpectedly Real Magic. Boss takes pity on Rosco and reappears out of the box just as planned (though several hours late) when the Dukes and Lulu convince Rosco to try saying the magic words again. Boss even lets Rosco pinch his cheek, but only one time.
• Trail of Bread Crumbs: Luke tosses playing cards out of the back of the pickup truck so Daisy can follow them in the General Lee to where the kidnappers are holding Boss.
• Unexpectedly Real Magic: What Rosco thinks happened when Boss disappears from the Disappearing Box. Rosco even contacts the manufacturer; they sell him another Magical Incantation to get Boss back.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Luke figures out how to get Boss back and fills everyone in on it, but we don't hear it we just see it in action.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After Boss gets kidnapped no more mention is made of Boss's real estate deal he was sneaking out to finalize. One wonders what the buyer, who is sitting in Boss Hogg's office, is thinking.
• Written By and Directed by Cast Member: John Schneider was credited as co-writer and was the full director for this episode ... the last, as it turns out.

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So, you see, that's the way it goes in Hazzard, where the Dukes will even help out their enemy when the chips are down. That's plum typical of the Dukes of Hazzard. Too bad it ain't the same everywhere else, huh?

Kew-kew-kew!