Hey everyone, how goes it? Can you believe how close we are to the end of this show? I certainly can’t. Things for me are a bit chaotic in my personal life (big life plan changes and blah blah), so I’m always happy to distract myself writing some reviews.
One quick note before I begin. I started a podcast! It’s called We Can’t Go Back: A Canadian Nostalgia Podcast and if you enjoy this blog you might enjoy that. So far I’ve reviewed School’s Out, and I’m hoping to discuss more Canadian nostalgia media from the 90’s/early 00’s, and some other fun things. I’m excited to try something new, but blogging is still one of my pride and joys, and even after RoN is done, I might continue on with another equally, if not more, cringe show. Wait and seeeeee.
Anyway, I’m kinda sad because this is our last Busy-centric episode. The next two are heavily Amanda, and then the last one is both of them. So let’s pay our respects to Busy and get on with the review.
The episode opens in the Financial District of Toronto, so somewhere probably around King and Bay St. We see all the suits walking around, though it’s definitely way less busy then it would be nowadays. It looks like Sam has decided to expand outside of the butcher shop and now has a little hot dog stand for Ramone’s Meat and Deli, and Busy and Frankie will be manning it. Sam’s a bit apprehensive, since it’s a new endeavour he’s taking a gamble on. But Manny is saying don’t worry, the foot traffic from the office buildings and then “the stadium” nearby will be profitable. It’s called The Skydome, Manny. No Torontonian would ever say “the stadium”.
Manny, Busy and Frankie all reassure Sam that everything will work out, and by the end of the summer the hot dogs will be famous on Bay St. Manny “declares them officially open” by shaking what looks like a can of pop and spraying it all over their stand. Good job, Manny. I’m sure Busy and Frankie are going to love being attacked by yellowjackets for the rest of the day, you dumbass.
Manny and Sam take off, while Frankie and Busy clean up the mess. Busy hopes this works out, and Frankie says how it’s basically a win win and they’ll sell hot dogs and make money, but you can tell Busy is a bit worried. Busy’s all aggravated no one is out and about at 9:30am on a weekday in the business district. Frankie reminds her of this and says in a couple hours the workers will be on a “hot dog break” and then lunch will be busy. Busy is like “how do you know?” And Frankie says “market research”. Or how about, common sense? No one is buying a hot dog at 9:30am unless they are hung over maybe, and also likely not until lunch either. First break always = coffee for the office drones (I know cuz I was one of them).
All of a sudden, a truck pulls up with a rival hot dog stand attached behind it. Frankie’s like wtf this is our corner, we have a permit. The cart is called “Carl’s Kwik Lunch” and apparently it’s part of some big franchise, so now Busy is extra worried. Frankie goes over to get the details/attempts to be intimidating, and the guy tells him he has a permit too, just for the north west corner (the Ramones have the north east). Again, are they new to the city? There’s stands all over the place at every corner, no way there would only be one food stand in such a high traffic area.
Also, I think it’s hilarious Frankie is wearing a hat that says “Simple”. Don’t get me wrong, I think Frankie’s gotten a lot hotter, but he seems a bit stupider compared to his earlier renditions, so this seems appropriate.
Busy goes off to call someone and says “yeah he’s legal”, and makes it sounds like she’s calling ICE or whatever the Canadian equivalent of that is, but no, it’s just Amanda. I guess she wants her to spy on this dude and get some information.
It goes to Amanda and the guy talking, and she’s asking him if he has a secret recipe for the hot dogs or the ingredients, so Busy definitely put her up to this weirdness. The guy is just like…mmm nope just regular hot dogs. Also, why’s she wearing the shortest skirt ever while riding a bike? That just does not seem comfortable nor practical at all. Maybe trying to seduce hot dog guy? Who knows.
Busy meets up with her and gets the details, which with Amanda, is all about the actual guy. He hates sports, plays in band, goes to some other high school etc. Busy’s like what about the goddamn hot dogs, and Amanda tells her they aren’t as good as the Ramone dogs, so Busy is satisfied. We learn his name is Tom DeCarlo and he’s had the corner for the cart for five years, and there’s 23 other carts around the city. Also I have no clue why they look like they are about to do a drug deal in this scene.
Later at home, Sam is unimpressed by the lack of funds the hot dog stand managed to generate, but Busy say’s it’ll likely be a couple days before they get momentum, which is kinda true. I don’t think they should be expecting record profits after a day. Sam is still worried though and says I hope so and leaves. Manny asks what the heck, how is it hard to sell hot dogs? Frankie and Busy tell him about the Carl’s cart and how they can’t compete (probably has lower prices). Frankie tells Manny he should beat the crap out of Tom DeCarlo, and both Manny and Busy are like you are an idiot. Busy says she does have a non-violent idea though.
So Busy’s idea is basically buy one, get one free, while leaning heavily into the “home-made, Italian cooking” marketing, and it’s clearly working as their cart now has tons of people.
Apparently it’s also “Grandmother’s Day” and grandmas get a free dog to give their opinions on the relish recipe Nona made. If I was an old lady, grand kids or not, I’m saying I am a grandma to get a free meal. Busy’s idea is so successful in fact, that it catches the attention of a journalist and she ends up writing a feature on their stand.
Of course this results in them making bank, and now Sam is a lot happier/more confident in his decision to have his offspring run the hot dog stand.
The next day at the stand, Busy and Frankie are all arrogant because now their stand is kicking the Carl’s Kwik Lunch’s ass and Tom DeCarlo looks glum. Frankie leaves the stand to call the store for some supplies, and Tom uses this opportunity to run over and talk to Busy. Tom comes over and concedes to Busy jokingly and Busy brings up he’s not competitive. He’s like how the f did you know that, and then he realizes that Amanda was Busy’s crony and that’s how she learned his info. Tom comes right out and asks Busy if she has a boyfriend. Busy kinda plays coy, but then admits she’s single. They make plans for the weekend, all the while Frankie is giving him stink eye from a pay phone.
Frankie comes back and Tom skidaddles.
The next weekend, Busy and Tom are bike riding in the same suburb I think Busy and Jonah ran in. I guess this is where she takes all her gentleman callers. They talk about Tom’s family life, and how he has a bunch of half siblings thanks to his dad’s multiple marriages, but now he is mostly a single child as he only lives with his mom. He tells Busy she’s lucky to have a big family, which Busy sorta agrees on.
Tom rides with Busy back to her place to drop her off just as Sam is pulling into the house. Busy introduces Tom as Tom Decarlo, and Sam says he used to know a Johnny DeCarlo. Tom says that’s probably his dad, and you can see a darkness overtaking Sam, as he says Johnny is the one who owns a bunch of fancy grocery stores and all the hot dog stands around the city. Tom is pretty uncomfortable and says yes… and Sam says “I see” and walks quietly inside. Tom leaves, and Busy is like what the hell is going on.
Busy goes inside and asks Sam what’s his problem. Sam all dramatically says “You’ll never see that boy again.” What is this, Romeo and Juliet? Well kinda…. Because apparently there’s been ongoing feud between the Ramones and the DeCarlos for some amount of time, which of course has never been mentioned until this moment. Sam walks away and offers no explanation. I do like this picture of Sam though, he looks like he’s contemplating a hit haha.
The next day at the stand, Frankie and Busy are discussing how weird and scary it is that Sam is brooding over this DeCarlo stuff, especially since he normally just rages when he’s angry then gets over it. Even Frankie now seems like he doesn’t mind Tom. Busy is still confused, as it seems like he hates Tom for no reason.
We see some car pull up next to Tom, and his dad gets out and starts laying into him that he’s fucking up because he should be making record sales and it’s pathetic that the Ramone stand is doing better business.
The dad (I guess his name is Johnny so I’ll start using his actual name) comes over and says hi to Busy and congratulates her for kicking his son’s ass in sales. Busy says sorry about that (such a Canadian) and Johnny DeCarlo says never apologize for business, it’s the capitalist way! He gives her his card for some reason, and then Busy says wait a second, maybe it’s not Tom’s fault, maybe your product just sucks compared to ours. She gives him a sample dog, and he’s like I like the cut your jib kid and drives off.
Tom immediately comes over and is like so you met my dad… and Busy is like yeah, why didn’t you tell me you are basically heir to the hot dog fortune and that this isn’t some random summer job for you? But you can tell Tom isn’t into it at all, and doesn’t want to be a part of this business and that his dad is ashamed that he doesn’t. Busy asks if Tom knows why Sam hates his dad, and Tom says it seems like he’s got a lot of people who do. Tom tells Busy he’s not his dad and she says she can tell.
So the next scene, Busy is hanging out with Manny and Frankie in the garage, and Manny is kind of letting Busy in on what he knows regarding the feud. Apparently when they were younger and Johnny’s dad died, Sam took Johnny under his wing and showed him the ways of the butcher world. They were also saving to start a business together, but Johnny stole all the money, including Sam’s share and partnered up with some rich shareholder and started his whole empire. Sheesh no wonder Sam hates him. Manny says that Johnny did eventually pay Sam back, but still. Manny said it was a family legend, until Johnny became rich and Sam never spoke of it again. So maybe only Manny knew since he is about 30 years older than the rest of them.
Later on, Sam is looking over the sales and tells Busy she’s good at the business. Busy brings up the Johnny DeCarlo stuff again, and Sam still won’t talk about it. She says Manny told her and Sam says Manny knows jack shit. Busy says it’s not fair to Tom, as all the stuff went down before he was even born, but Sam gives no fucks and says don’t fraternize with the enemy.
The next day, Johnny DeCarlo shows up again at Busy’s stand and admits their hot dogs are better than his. He mentions that he knew Sam and they go way back. He says he was loaned some money by Sam, and that he wants to talk about a proposition with him. Busy’s like ok you can call him and tell him that. I like how Busy isn’t intimidated. I mean, he’s not being rude, but it’s good she’s not sucking up to him, as I’m sure a lot of people do since he’s super rich.
The next scene, Busy is counting their profits, and I’m sorry but it looks like American money in this scene and I hate when Canadian shows do this bs. Why are you pretending to be American? Please proudly display our Monopoly money.
Sam tells Busy that Johnny DeCarlo called and he wants to have Sam supply his hot dog carts and grocery stores with his sausages. Busy says that would be pretty big for the store. Sam is unsure what to do. Manny says he should, but Busy says she wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t, which makes Sam happy. Busy does go on to say that she’s still going to be friends with Tom, despite Sam’s hatred of the DeCarlo name, and that it’s no one’s fault who their parents are. She says she’d be pissed if someone wouldn’t be her friend because of Sam, and he says has that ever happened? She says no… but I feel like Troy would argue that he probably was kind over it with her friendship after Sam’s former racist behaviour.
The next day, Amanda’s at Busy’s place and they are discussing the whole situation. Tom comes by and tells Busy he’d like to attempt to talk with Sam about their family’s issues. Busy’s says ok, it’s your funeral, and let’s him in.
Tom comes in and is like my mom has a message, she says hi. Apparently Tom’s mom is some woman named Gina, who Sam gets all nostalgic about, so he probably tapped that. Lucy’s also right there in this scene lol. He mentions how his mom was in love with Sam when they were younger which makes Sam even happier lol. Sam ends up inviting Tom for dinner, so I guess he won him over with major flattery, as Tom’s mom obviously hated Johnny and probably wishes she married Sam.
The episode ends with everyone happily eating around the dinner table.
I’m sorry, but I was not a fan of this episode, and I feel bad saying that as like I said, this is the last Busy episode. I am mostly irritated because I feel like this episode had a lot of potential to bring about an ongoing story line and it went nowhere. The one time character episode trope that this is season is so fond of is featured here, but this is one of the worst, because it’s really implied that things might happen with Busy and Tom, and then the Sam getting new business from DeCarlo story line as well. I think it would’ve been really cool to see the Ramone business grow, and then see Busy date Tom, as they seemed like they had the best connection of all the guys Busy has gone out with. It feels like a wasted opportunity. I feel like this last season really had no idea where it was going, and putting an episode like this into the show so late in the season was such a weird decision.
Anyway, next episode. Amanda becomes an animal rights activist and a vegan and it goes about as well as you can expect it to go when Amanda jumps head first into a new lifestyle. Until next time!
Ready or Not Reviewed! 