Trailer Park Boys no longer an escapist pleasure

Trailer Park Boys came of age before the economic doomsday clock chimed midnight, so its disregard for the trappings of legit success and the characters’ loyalty to their wayward community was as rebellious and enviable as the show was fresh and satisfying. Those elements are in Liquor Day---where the Boys war against their inebriated nemesis Jim Lahey---though now, in an age of economic tenuousness, the Boys seem to be overstaying their welcome. I’m not saying that Ricky, Julian and Bubbles’ behaviour is the default option when one’s job goes tits-up, but I am saying that economic uncertainty makes clear that it is easier to slide down a few rungs on society’s totem pole than it is to climb back up. Trailer Park Boys isn’t the escapist pleasure it used to be.