Vince Russo's The Brand

It’s that time again for my weekly column here at Russosbrand.com and once again I will be doing yet another episode review for my current favorite TV show which is of course the Canadian hit series Trailer Park Boys.

We start the episode with Trinity riding her bike to Ricky’s lot where he’s asleep on the hood of his car and she wakes him up to get him to put her nicotine patch on. Ricky and Bubbles then start explaining to the camera crew about Trinity and her history with smoking and how Ricky and her are going to try and quit together using the patch. Unfortunately Ricky’s currently using the last patch they have which he takes and tears in half to give one of the halves to Trinity to use. They then decide to go to the store and buy more patches and Ricky has Trinity start the car while he gets all of the condiments, drinks and other living supplies he uses off the roof of the car with his ‘clearing stick’ which is just a hockey stick. Once he’s done, he sees Trinity having trouble starting the car and it’s discovered it’s out of gas. Ricky then steals gas from Lahey’s car with Trinity sitting on the trunk of it as Ricky tells the camera crew how because gas prices are so high that he’s gotta resort to stealing it. Julian arrives and gets freaked out over Ricky stealing gas, saying that they could go back to jail for that. However, Ricky quickly reminds him that gas stealing is theft under one thousand and they can’t go to jail over that. The last thing we see before the opening credits is Ricky successfully getting the gas siphoned with him taking note that Lahey uses supreme.

Brandon’s Take: Absolutely brilliant and hilarious start to the show. More of the dynamic between Ricky and Trinity is highlighted and their interactions throughout this scene, and this episode and the rest of the season are absolutely adorable and hilarious at the same time, especially with them agreeing to quit smoking together considering that Trinity is about nine or ten years old at this time. The way that Ricky just acts so casual about his daughter smoking and committing theft in front of her is some of the best stuff in the entire series.

When we return from the opening credits, Ricky is sitting on the hood of his car and talking about how much he does enjoy jail but that he likes being out of jail more and says that the boys don’t want to go back so that’s why they’re doing smaller crimes. At Julian’s trailer, Corey and Trevor show up and Julian explains the plan to commit low risk crimes while opening a couple of small businesses. It’s also shown that they all have a goal they’re working toward which is a cruise at the end of the year that everyone is excited for. The first phase of the plan is initiated when Julian announces they’re opening up a gas station in the park at Ricky’s lot. It’s during this that Randy and Lahey discover that someone has stolen the gas from their car and vow to punish whoever is responsible. Next up we have Ricky explaining to Corey and Trevor where to put the gas they steal and how to tell which type of gas is what by tasting it when they siphon it. Trinity shows up and starts picking on Corey and he tries to fight back but is told to stand down by Ricky and pay attention. Trinity keeps hitting Corey which pulls his attention away from Ricky causing Ricky to state that he can report them to Julian and have them not go on the cruise. Once Corey and Trevor have their instructions, they head out while Ricky and Trinity go to buy some more nicotine patches with Bubbles.

Brandon’s Take: Not much really to go over here, basically just laying out the direction for the remainder of the episode as well as the season as now we know what the end game is for what the boys are working toward this season. The stuff with Ricky explaining how the gas grades taste was good comedy along with him staying true to his character with him jumping Corey when it was his own daughter who started the confrontation.

In the next scene, we have Julian at Sarah and Lucy’s salon with them talking about how they can color code coupons for their customers and launder the money through their business so there won’t be any cash on site that could be traced back to the boys to which Julian agrees. We then see Lahey and Randy at Lahey’s car where he’s getting hidden cameras hooked up to it with the intention of busting the boys’ operation. The scene then shifts to the store where Ricky, Trinity, and Bubbles are buying the nicotine patches. As Ricky goes to pay for them, his gun falls out and Jacob, the cashier, freaks out and thinks it’s a robbery. Bubbles tries to tell him that the gun falling out was an accident, but Trinity grabs it and drops it which sets it off. Ricky tries to smooth things over but the gun going off was all Jacob needed to think he was actually being robbed and starts handing over money while Ricky is still trying to scold Trinity for touching his gun and she blames him for being irresponsible with it. Bubbles quickly informs Ricky that everything going on has been caught on camera to which Ricky decides to go ahead and rob the place anyway with his logic being that even though they weren’t robbing the place, it now looks like they are and that they might as well take some stuff. Bubbles wants nothing to do with taking free stuff, even though Ricky keeps trying to tell him it’s okay.

Brandon’s Take: I absolutely loved the scene in the convenience store. The banter between Ricky and Trinity is really hilarious throughout the series but this season was when it was it’s best and this scene was a prime example of it. And Ricky trying to explain his logic of why they should go ahead and take free stuff is absolute gold. Everything else though was good, just furthering the story with the boys’ plan and Lahey trying to bust them.

Ricky, Bubbles, and Trinity return to the park where the gas station has been set up at and as Ricky gets out of the car, he tries to light a cigarette while carrying all the things they took from the store. Trinity chastises him for that, saying he’s not supposed to smoke while wearing the patch but he retorts that because he’s bigger, he can do it and that the cigarettes were free so it’s okay. Ricky is questioned by Julian as to where he got all of the groceries and correctly assumes they were stolen. Ricky tries to deny it but Trinity rats him out and he has to explain what had happened and Julian starts getting worried they’ll go back to jail but Bubbles has the surveillance tape from the store so any evidence is gone. Before Julian can explain his concerns to Ricky, their first customer arrives and they quickly service him, filling him up and giving him a safety inspection and in what becomes a running gag throughout the episode, Ricky is pumping the gas with a lit cigarette in his mouth and someone yells at him for it. As this is going on, Trinity grabs one of Ricky’s cigarettes and tries to smoke it but Ricky tells her she can’t with a patch on and she calls him out for doing the same thing and he again says he can do it because he’s bigger. Ricky then leaves Julian to pump the gas so he can stop Trinity from smoking it and she tells him to put his out. He does but she still refuses to give him the cigarette she took but she doesn’t smoke it. We then cut to Corey and Trevor siphoning gas in a parking garage, and Trevor’s working next to an open gas tank with a lit cigarette as well. As they work they both contemplate stopping stealing gas cause they’re starting to get sick from swallowing it. A security guard shows up and Corey runs off leaving Trevor to carry the gas cans by himself as he runs away from and dodges security.

Brandon’s Take: I know I’ve said this before, but the interactions between Ricky and Trinity are comedy gold. The way Ricky justifies making wrong decisions in front of her and why she can’t do what he’s doing is brilliant. And the way that Trevor was evading security was hilarious as well.

Back at the gas station, Julian calls for them to shut the station down for a bit as they’re starting to draw too much attention, much to the anger of the line of customers. Next we see Lahey and Randy holding one of the salon coupons with Lahey surmising that they’re a front for something illegal that he hasn’t quite figured out yet. After testing out the cameras, they head into the salon with them on, trying to bust the boys’ operation. Sarah and Lucy though know what’s up and give them the perms that their coupon entitles them to, even after Randy starts undoing his pants thinking he’s going to get some work done on his other head of hair. They then return to their trailer where Lahey mentions the traffic going on at Ricky’s lot and figures whatever is happening is going on there and they make a plan to get what’s happening on video. Back at the station, Julian calls for it to re-open. Another customer arrives and like Bubbles earlier, he starts giving Ricky a hard time for smoking while pumping the gas. As this is going on, Lahey and Randy do a final check of the cameras planted on their car and go over their plan to bust the boys. Lucy and Sarah then arrive at the station to tell the boys that Lahey and Randy are on to them while Lucy flips out over seeing Trinity holding a squeegee that she was using to clean windows with, not at all liking the idea of her daughter working at an illegal gas station. Bubbles starts getting worried about Lahey but Julian tells him that he’s got nothing to worry about since there’s no money on-site and no evidence linking them to any wrong-doing. Ricky starts talking to the camera crew about a plan that Julian laid out to counter Lahey and Randy. Corey and Trevor then show up and explain they need to take a break cause they’re getting sick from siphoning gas. Ricky and Julian though just chastise them for not working fast enough with Ricky telling them to just drink water to dilute it and they should be fine in six to eight days at the same time that another customer shows up. Ricky slaps a second nicotine patch on his arm at the same time he’s smoking with Bubbles telling him that’s going to make him dizzy but Ricky just blows it off. Randy then arrives alone in Lahey’s car to buy some gas. Bubbles starts to get worried again but Julian tells him they’ll be fine and just do as they had rehearsed.

Brandon’s Take: I always enjoy seeing the way that the boys rip on Corey and Trevor. It’s always funny and especially the way Ricky just casually tells them that they’ll be fine in a few days and to drink water. I’ve been speaking a lot about the dynamic between Ricky and Trinity but the interactions between Ricky and Julian and Corey and Trevor are always entertaining. Everything else though is getting us closer to the climax of the episode where we see if the boys’ plan ends up working and the other obstacles that have been set up and built.

The boys greet Randy, which we see from the viewpoint of the camera in the car, who says he wants some cheap stuff while J-Roc makes his usual jokes about Randy’s gut. Julian pulls the boys away and informs them that Lahey is in the woods filming them from a different angle. Ricky mentions that he’s getting dizzy and Julian calls Corey and Trevor over to join them at Randy’s car. Again all of this is from the viewpoint of the camera as the boys enact their plan to basically throw Corey and Trevor under the bus for the gas theft to the point where it’s Trevor who takes the money from Randy and puts it in his pocket. Throughout the exchange, the other boys keep saying it’s Trevor and Corey who stole the gas and those two even mention their gas sickness from swallowing it while siphoning. Once Randy is taken care of, Ricky walks off toward the barrels where the gas is stored at, saying he’s getting dizzier and eventually falls over on the gas hose where his lit cigarette ignites it and the flame goes all the way to the gas tank of the customer before Randy, causing the entire car to erupt in flames. The fire department and cops then show up to put out the fire and arrest the boys.

Brandon’s Take: And there’s at least one payoff that happened there with Ricky smoking with the patch on causing him to get dizzy and fall over cause a problem. Not all that funny of a scene, but I still found myself hooked to see what would happen and if the boys’ plan would work which we will see in the next scene.

After that catastrophe, the scene now takes place inside of a court room and Lahey and Randy have finished giving their witness testimony and the prosecutor calls for all of the boys to be convicted. Ricky starts mocking the prosecutor who objects to Ricky swearing in the court room. The judge asks him not to do it again and he tries to speak normally without swearing but finds himself almost completely incapable of doing so. The judge then tells Ricky that since he fired his public defender and chose to defend himself, it’s now his turn to question Lahey and Randy. Ricky then stands and explains that he’s pretty much incapable of defending himself properly if he can’t swear and smoke in the court room and says that not being allowed to smoke and swear could be considered a mis-trial. Surprisingly the judge agrees to allow only Ricky to swear and smoke in the court room and demands cigarettes from the prosecutor who reluctantly relinquishes them. Once Ricky’s got nicotine in him, he starts his defense by first telling the prosecutor to shut the f*** up and proceeds to inform the judge that Randy and Lahey are drunk and their testimony is a lie and then breaks down the video evidence to clearly implicate that the only guilty parties are Corey and Trevor. After getting into it a bit with Lahey, Ricky finishes his closing argument by telling everyone in the court room to f*** off(except for the judge of course). The judge then says she will be leaving to weigh the evidence and return with a verdict. Once she returns, she says that due to the only evidence being against Corey and Trevor, everyone else is not guilty and she sentences those two to 450 hours of community service. After the trial, Ricky is talking to the camera crew, telling them that Corey and Trevor doing community service would be good for them. As Corey and Trevor are cleaning up trash, the boys arrive and thank them for not ratting them out and give them cigarettes and joints and to remind them about the cruise. Corey and Trevor bring their hands up for a high five but the boys drive off, leaving them hanging as the episode ends.

Brandon’s Take: Amazing, absolutely amazing the way that court room scene went down. Ricky stole the show this episode, and probably even for the season with his performance in this. Laugh out loud funny with his interactions with everyone. Definitely one of the most memorable moments in the series.

Final Thoughts: 10/10 Best episode released thus far. Ricky really shined in this one with his interactions with his daughter, the court room scene, and the grocery store robbery. This is where the Ricky character really started coming in to his own.