A Plot: When Wullerton's weekly paper goes under, the gang worries the Dog River Howler will too. Wanda and Emma set out to recruit new advertisers...
B Plot: ...while Brent helps Oscar start an online version that raises eyebrows.
C Plot: Karen asks Hank to help deal with a crow, but befriends it after it willingly accepts her homemade muffins. Hank gets jealous, and when the crow steals his shiny pocketknife, he sets out to break them up.
D Plot: After Brent comments on Lacey's "city walk", she becomes self-conscious and asks Davis to help her develop a more "country" posture.
Tropes:
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Emma's going around to local businesses to have them buy ad space in the Howler comes across as much more threatening than probably intended. When Wanda tries to copy her, it's mistaken for a mafioso impression.
- Brick Joke: Lacey is trying to remember her shopping list of "whipped cream, ketchup and eggs" until her mind takes over (see Inner Monologue below). Later, when Wanda and Emma try to convince Won to put an ad in the paper for the Foo Mart, he says business is just fine, citing how he "just sold some whipped cream, ketchup and eggs, as a matter of fact".
- The Cameo: Current-at-the-time Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears, wondering aloud why someone (Oscar) wrote an online article blaming him for sea monsters in the landlocked prairies.
- Continuity Nod: Wanda's mentions her penchant for crosswords, which was well established in the live action series.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Karen's muffins are completely inedible. It turns out that even the crow isn't eating them; she's using them as building material for her nest.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The Howler isn't actually in any danger whatsoever, partly because they also sell moonshine in the back of their office, but Emma and Wanda don't learn this until the end.
- Easily Impressed:Lacey: How was breakfast?
Brent: Well, I don't mean to complain, but I ordered bacon and eggs, you gave me eggs and bacon.
Lacey: Yeah, I turned the plate around. It's like having breakfast in Australia.
Brent: Ooh, exotic. - Fish out of Water: Lacey's whole plot involves her trying to change her "city walk" to a country one to fit in more with the small town folks. She eventually settles for something in between the two.
- Forgetful Jones: Davis worries about Lacey taking on more than she can handle with practicing her walking techniques at The Ruby, noting how she's horrible at multitasking. She then goes into an Inner Monologue wondering if that's true, in the process forgetting that the soup she's holding is for a customer, handing it off to Davis before asking for the man's order again.
- Gender-Blender Name: Everything Karen called the crow becomes this when it turns out to be a mother.
- Gone Horribly Right: Emma encourages Oscar's online news at first, because she figures that his inevitable failure will help boost paper sales. However, his crazy opinions end up being far more interesting to read, and the Howler's manager actually wants to thank him. Thankfully, writing more than one issue is something Oscar refuses to do.
- Groin Attack: Oscar's main motivation for starting an online paper is getting hit in the crotch by a paperboy's thrown delivery.
- Inner Monologue: Lacey is shown to fall into this when dealing with other's comments about her, like her "city walk". Brent calls this "going all Lacey", which leads to Lacey even having an Inner Monologue about her Inner Monologue. Towards the end, Brent also has his own monologue moment regarding Lacey.
- Never Mess with Granny:Oscar: I'll kill that paper if it's the last thing I do!
Brent: You're going against Mom, so it probably will be. - Never My Fault: When Emma learns how popular Oscar's online paper is with the town, she immediately blames Brent, who she had strongarmed into helping Oscar.
- Percussive Therapy: In the end, it turns out that Emma thinks that the Howler is tripe, but wanted to save it because she uses the actual paper to create therapeutic pinatas of Oscar's head she can bash apart.
- Pompous Political Pundit: Oscar becomes one when he starts up an online paper, with articles such as "Save on Heating, Support Global Warming".
- Properly Paranoid: Oscar thinks the paperboy intentionally antagonized him, and Hank becomes suspicious of the crow, both of which are ridiculed by Brent at the end...right before Hank is almost stabbed by the crow dropping his pocketknife, and the paperboy admonishes her for targeting the wrong guy.
- Punny Name: The crow receives a series of these from Karen, such as Edgar Allan Crow, Cameron Crow, and Chad Crow-ger. Hank asks if she had considered Russel Crow, but she thought it'd be too obvious. And then at the very end, the paperboy calls her Sheryl.
- Shoddy Knockoff Product: Hank specifies that he doesn't own a Swiss Army pocketknife, but a Swedish pocketknife with some stranger attachments.
- Shout-Out: Davis references The Karate Kid and particularly Mr. Miyagi's Wax On, Wax Off technique when coaching Lacey on switching to a country walk.Davis: Now there's one thing left to do.
Lacey: I've seen that movie, and I'm not washing your car. - Technologically Blind Elders: Oscar brings just a monitor, not a whole computer, to Corner Gas to start the online Howler. Later, he somehow manages to delete two hours worth of Brent's work in a single key stroke.
- The Triple: Invoked by Brent when he sees Wanda doing calculations by waving her hands:Brent: What are you doing? Conducting an invisible choir? Waving down a tiny waitress? A third thing that's funnier?
- The Un-Smile: This is Wanda's expression when she tries to convince Won to put a Foo Mart ad in the Howler.Won: What's wrong with your mouth?
- Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: Karen assumed the crow was a male, but it's revealed to be a mother in the end.
