Unexpected Humor: Trailer Park Boys

So a couple weeks ago I was looking for something to watch on Netflix. I was pretty tired so I didn’t think too much about what it was. I figured I would be asleep fairly quickly so it wouldn’t really matter if it was that great. I don’t even remember how I decided, it might have just been a random click, but I settled on the show Trailer Park Boys, a show I have never even heard of before. I settled in with a decent amount of certainly that it was going to be lame, but before I knew it, I was on the third episode and I was anything but asleep.

            It is a mocumentary style show that follows two newly released cons Julian and Ricky, including their friends and foes, as they try to survive in the Sunnyvale Trailer Park community. What’s great about the show is that it leaves a lot of room for adlibbing. It is minimally scripted which makes it easy to see how connected each actor is to his or her character. The mocumentary style also calls for a more intimate atmosphere and makes the viewer feel even that more involved in the show.

            When I first started watching it, I had a hard time finding any sort of sympathy for Julian and Ricky. From the minute they were released from jail they returned to their old tricks and schemes, not even imagining that they would ever get caught again. But as I watched more and more episodes, I found myself understanding their characters and seeing how kind hearted they actually were. Even though they continuously made poor choices, the final scene of the show was always something sweet that would make me go right back to liking them again.

            Their friend Bubbles, a Sunnyvale icon, also made me become gradually sympathetic to every other scummy character. Bubbles is the moral silver lining of the show, and seems to constantly bring Julian and Ricky back down to earth. Without him, I don’t think the two would have any kindheartedness left in them.

            I highly recommend this show even though I do realize that it is an acquired taste. It is a different type of humor that might not be for everyone. But it is a lighthearted comedy that has many touching moments and I think everyone should give it a try.

Same War, Different Battles

My newest TV addiction is Canada's Bomb Girls.

Set during the beginning of WWII, Victory Munitions is building bombs to help the cause.  A richer, well to do woman, Gladys Witham, wants to help out with the cause and not just by making appearances at her father's fundraisers. Instead of taking the office job at VM, she decides to go against her parent's wishes and ends up working on the floor. Her dad ends up using to his advantage and uses her as the spokeswoman for his grocery store chain.

At the factory, we meet a wide array of characters with great background stories for each of them. Like Kate, a woman on the run from her abusive bible thumping father. From the first episode, you know that she's had issues trying to fit in and keep the past, the past. She also gets the nickname "Church Mouse" for her gospel-like singing voice.

And my personal favorite character is Betty McRae. She's sassy and very strong willed and one of the best workers at the factory. She ends up taking Kate under her wing and falls in love with her. She tries to be a girl and dates one of the boys at the factory but it ends up more like a bro-mance with hanging out in bars and talking about hockey with him. She also is a farmer's daughter with three brothers so when someone twists her the wrong way, she can handle what's thrown at her. In an episode when three German POWs escape, she ends up finding one in her boardroom's basement and we learn that other than being a lesbian, we find an even bigger secret. She's actually German and her family has hidden fellow German's from internment camps. Although the escaped Nazi believes that she's fellow Nazi, she ends up ratting him out explaining that just because she's a German, doesn't make her a Nazi. She also beats him up a little bit which was pretty awesome to watch.

Vera Burr, due to a factory accident she's now slightly disfigured... well, has an awesome scare on her face, is known as a "Patriot-tute", a woman that sleeps with soliders for gifts. She's also sassy and very on her toes due to the accident.

Floor matron Lorna Corbett, whose two sons are pilots in Europe, her daughter is working as a nurse at the local hospital and her husband is a veteran of WWI and was left disabled and in a wheelchair after a bomb exploded near him. This all leads to affairs and stress at work... But she's also one of the strongest women next to Betty.

There are more characters in the show that really bring to life what it was like to really be fighting on the homefront during WWII. They try to show that this isn't just a man's war and that everyone can pitch in some how. With some great acting, cinematography and costuming, this is probably one of the best TV shows I've watched in a while.

Also... I need all of the shoes and dresses this girls wear...