Vince Russo's The Brand

*WARNING: THIS REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS PERTAINING TO THE FIRST SEASON OF TRAILER PARK BOYS*

Hello everyone and welcome again to my weekly column here at RussosBrand.com. This week we’re going to be going over the first season of the cult smash TV series Trailer Park Boys.

Coming in at only six episodes, this season served the purpose of introducing the main and main supporting characters of the series and laying the foundation and groundwork of what would eventually become an empire. Unlike later seasons, this one didn’t have a main storyline that was threaded throughout the entire season and honestly it didn’t need to as the purpose of this season was to introduce us to the characters and setting although the episodes did retain continuity and still flowed and told a story and followed a plot.

So with that being said, let’s get on to the individual episodes.

Episode 1: “Take Your Little Gun and Get Out of My Trailer Park”

Synopsis: After serving their jail sentence, Ricky and Julian return home to the Sunnyvale Trailer Park to see that things are much different since they’ve been gone and a gun wielding bully named Cyrus has assumed control of the park.

Brandon’s Take: The main purpose of this episode is strictly character development and introduction as we meet the main characters as well as some of the recurring denizens of Sunnyvale and how they interact with each other:

Lucy-Ricky’s on again off again girlfriend

Sarah-Lucy’s friend and roommate

Trinity-Lucy and Ricky’s daughter although hints are dropped throughout the season that Julian may actually be her biological father

Cory and Trevor-The dim-witted lackeys of Julian and Ricky

J-Roc, Tyrone, and the Roc-Pile-Wannabe rappers who usually help out with the 3 main boys’ plans

Cyrus-One of the secondary antagonists of the series and a bully who will always try to intimidate people with his gun but as seen at the end of this episode, doesn’t have the guts to actually shoot anyone with it

Rating: 7 out of 10. Not a blowaway episode but certainly worth watching and has several funny moments as we’re introduced to the main characters of the series as well as their gimmicks.

Episode 2: “F**k Community College, Let’s Get Drunk and Eat Chicken Fingers”

Synopsis: Tired of all of the stress that living in Sunnyvale is causing him as well as a desire to better himself and make something of his life, Julian decides he’s going to leave the park and go to college.

Brandon’s Take: This is where we see further development of the characters as well as the introduction of some of the gimmicks and mainstays of the series as towards the end of the episode, Julian gives Ricky his New Yorker to live in which becomes iconic throughout the series. We also are introduced to Bubbles’ love for his cats as he’s willing to fight Ricky for what he feels is a mistreatment of a cat he loaned him as well as Ricky’s refusal to return him. We’re also introduced to Ricky’s alcoholic father Ray who uses a wheelchair and collects on disability. Officer George Green makes his first appearance this episode as well as he catches Ricky and Julian stealing car parts to fix the New Yorker and we see for the first time the skill that Ricky has in talking his way out of getting arrested and going to jail which starts a running gag where everyone in the series considers George Green the dumbest cop who ever lived.

Rating: 7 out of 10. Another good episode to further develop and progress the characters and give us more information about their motivations and what drives them to do the things that they do.

Episode 3: “Mr. Lahey’s Got My Porno Tape!”

Synopsis: In order to impress Lucy and be able to provide an income for her and Trinity, Ricky takes part in one of J-Roc’s porn movies to make enough money to buy equipment to be able to get the supplies needed to start growing marijuana again.

Brandon’s Take: Like the previous episodes, this has a lot to do with further advancing the characters that we’ve been introduced to and this one does have a big twist to it as this is the episode where the viewer finds out that Mr. Lahey and Randy are gay lovers, being found out by Julian who had broken in to their trailer to get the porno tape back for Ricky so it can be destroyed and they hand it over without consequence on the agreement that Julian doesn’t tell anyone what he saw in there. The porno shoot itself is hilarious as Ricky, along with Bubbles, try to perform and it comes across as intentionally cheesy and terrible which makes it all the more entertaining but Ricky eventually opts out of doing it, not wanting to cheat on the woman he loves which is Lucy.

Rating: 8 out of 10. A much funnier episode as with how the characters are becoming further developed, more storyline can now start being added

Episode 4: “Mrs. Peterson’s Dog Gets F**ked up”

Synopsis: Julian leaves Ricky in charge of taking care of a neighbor’s dog with disasterous results as the dog eats the weed brownies that Ricky had been baking.

Brandon’s Take: This episode is the first one to introduce the character of Sam Losco who is a veterinarian and would become an antagonist in later seasons. This episode shows the caring side of Julian as he agrees to help watch over his elderly neighbor’s dog for her while she goes to get surgery although it’s later revealed to have been a ruse so she could buy a birthday present for him. The relationship between the two is a touching one as it’s clear that she’s suffering from sort of mental illness, believing that Julian is legitimately her grandson and he plays along with it to keep her happy. This episode also marks the first time that someone is shot in the series with Ricky being shot twice, once by Trinity by accident in a hilarious scene where he finds an old gun, leaving it out for her to grab and later on by a farmer who’s lawn mower that Julian and Ricky try to steal to pay Sam for getting the dog fixed as well as getting the first bullet out of Ricky. This is also the start of one of the gimmicks of the show where they get the camera and sound crew following them around involved in their plans which results in one of them getting shot by the same farmer who had shot Ricky.

Rating: 8 out of 10. It’s clear that the foundation is just about finished and things are starting to pick up a bit with the storyline progression

Episode 5: “I’m Not Gay, I Love Lucy. Wait a Second, Maybe I am Gay”

Synopsis: In order to get Lucy and Ricky from continually bothering him, Julian orchestrates a plan to get the two of them to tie the knot

Brandon’s Take: This is the first time that we see Julian, albeit at the suggestion of Bubbles, use his superior intellect(superior to the other characters that is) to trick and lie to others, even his own friends, for the greater good of everyone else and is something that he will continue to do later on which is one of the aspects of his character that makes me personally not care for him too much, but as a trait, it’s a very excellent one as later on in the series, you aren’t quite sure what’s going through his head and what he’s planning. Some funny moments in this episode include when Julian and Ricky break into a jeweler’s house to steal a ring for Ricky to use to propose to Lucy with and Ricky gets attacked by a kitten and draws a gun on it as well as him once again confounding a police officer into letting them go when they get pulled over and are suspected of committing crimes. We find out more about Ricky’s dad Ray and what makes him tick. We also get to see more of the responsible side of Ricky as he’s willing to try and go straight to impress his family.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10. Not quite as funny and entertaining as the previous episode but definitely worth checking out.

Episode 6: “Who the Hell Invited These Idiots to my Wedding?”

Synopsis: The wedding is set but Lucy doesn’t trust Ricky to be able to get everything together and pressures Julian into making the wedding arrangements while Mr. Lahey prepares his own wedding gift for the happy couple and an undercover officer comes around asking questions about the crime that’s been going on in the park lately.

Brandon’s Take: Everyone’s getting ready for the big day for Ricky and Lucy to get married. However Ricky is as unreliable as ever and Julian is stressed out since everything is falling on him to get the wedding set up. The last thing on the list is food and to keep Ricky out of his plan to rob a grocery store, he sets up a stag party for him where Julian and the others get Ricky so drunk that he passes out at a strip club and they steal a truck for the robbery that goes hilariously wrong when right in the middle of it, Ricky wakes up and walks into the store to buy some smokes and not knowing it’s his friends that are robbing the place, engages in a gun battle with them. And since Ricky’s the only one not wearing a mask and caught on camera, he becomes paranoid he’s going to go back to jail which only worsens when he’s confronted by an undercover cop named Ted in the park who asks questions about recent criminal activity. This all comes to a head at what is no doubt the trashiest wedding I’ve seen and absolutely perfect for the setting when it’s raided by the cops, who were tipped off by Mr. Lahey, and Ricky ends up going to jail before him and Lucy can say their ‘I dos.” Julian shows how good of a friend he is as he fires off his gun to get arrested so Ricky doesn’t have to go back to jail alone, losing his new girlfriend in the process. While they’re in jail, Ricky and Julian start learning to think positive and look on the bright side of their situation. Does that mentality stick? We’ll just have to wait till season 2 to find out.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10. The season 1 finale sets the bar for what we will come to expect with later season finales with some of the main characters ending up in jail following a big confrontation with Lahey and/or the police. A lot of good stuff in this one and some hilarious moments that will be topped in the next season.

Thanks for reading and please be sure to comment below.