Trailer Park Boys – Season 9 Review

When you bring a TV show back from the dead after being off the air for several years, the result can be very mixed. For Trailer Park Boys fans, the news that Netflix was going to be bringing our favorite foul-mouthed boys from Nova Scotia back was met with a mostly positive reception, but everyone had their doubts. In particular, are they still relevant in this day and age? Sure they did the few movies that got released over a few years from 2009 to 2014, but could they hold people’s interest for 5 hours again like they used to? Season 8 proved to be a good yarn, but I’m not sure I would call it a success. The problem is that the boys seem to lack an ability to leave their comfort zone and that’s never viewed as bad thing, as there’s not much you can do in a show about 3 bumbling criminals living in a trailer park. But while it was funny, the formula stuck out like a sore thumb at times.

In terms of quality, season 9 seems to be more of the same – it’s funny and fun to watch, but I can’t help but feel empty at the end of it all. To take it a bit further, I began watching this show somewhere around when season 4 was airing. A lot of fans consider seasons 4, 5 and 6 to be among the best seasons of the show, and it isn’t hard to see why. That was when the show was at its over-the-top best. The gags were far more bizarre than they had ever been, and to my then-13-year-old eyes and ears, there was nothing like it.

Season 9 is pretty different, in terms of story at first glance. The boys are being released from jail, and have come back to find out that Lahey has turned the park into a retirement community. Ricky is barred from being in the park altogether and the place is completely alcohol-free. However, it doesn’t take long for the show to keep reverting to old haunts; immediately after, the boys find out the money they made at the end of the last season is gone, Lahey is sober at first but then gets drinking again and starts fucking Randy behind his wife’s back, and Ricky tries to get back with Lucy – the list goes on and on. Alright, so the season has a new storyline involving a retirement community, and has the usual gags – what could go wrong? To be honest, nothing in particular is wrong here. It’s fun and has the gags. But I think the problem has nothing to do with any of the story or gags in particular – rather the feel of the show.

Seasons 8 and 9 feel more Americanized and “in-your-face” than the previous 7 seasons, and that can be a good thing at times, but at other times, it detracts from the show. This show, on principle can’t be accused of being a golden-age of comedy level classic, but the execution was mostly due to Mike Clattenburg’s presence and knack for a good catch phrase when the show needed it. Mike Clattenburg isn’t part of the show anymore, so without him, while the show still feels like Trailer Park Boys, it seems to stumble. The gags seem to be less bizarre and more crass- the gags have always been crude and crass, but at least they’ve been solidly funny for the most part. And while there are a lot of funny gags here, they’re ruined by the over-the-topness. Don’t you think they’ve taken Ricky’s idiocy too far? The “Sam Squanch” scenes in particular are a good example of this – overplayed and overdrawn to exploit his stupidity. Lahey getting drunk again would be funny if he didn’t spend an episode in a hot tub full of Booberry Roc vodka. There’s no way anyone could survive that.

There are moments when the over-the-top feel does help- episode 8’s climactic “piss bombing” is hilarious and manages to provide a good gut-laugh and also brings back some of the cringe comedy that the show has been known for from its previous seasons. Sam Squanch is also funny and there are also the running gags involving Ricky’s new pet goat which do elevate it, but then it is ruined by over the topness.

In short, Trailer Park Boys Season 9 is fun to watch at times, provided you expect nothing more than what you usually get from the boys. The fans are the ones who will love it most, and those who have never been fans of Trailer Park Boys will shrug at it all. It doesn’t leave me anticipating season 10, though, which is a problem – the season ends with a good amount of closure which, (while never explicitly a bad thing) seems to make us shrug off the notion of seeing another season altogether. While only time will tell if things look up for another season, maybe the boys should take a break – that, or get Mike Clattenburg back again so the show can be something to get excited about.