Letterkenny’s latest season just wrapped with its traditional bonus episode, and it’s a great example of what you’ll get from the show: filthy jokes, slow-mo eye candy, an elaborate and inventive use of language, and an unexpected emotional core. “Special” came out on International Women’s Day, which the denizens of Letterkenny celebrate by gathering its females onstage for a raunchy “anti-beauty pageant.” Meanwhile, the menfolk gather for a lecture from Dan’s erstwhile mentor, the oft-discussed but never-before-seen Professor Tricia (Nazneen Contractor). Like virtually all of Letterkenny’s episodes, it’s fast, uneven, hilarious, and occasionally cringey, but ends like the show most often ends its seasons: with surprisingly effective sentiment, when its stone-faced central figure Wayne (Jared Keeso) finally takes his turn describing the woman he most admires.
Season 10 has other highlights, including “Prostate,” which is one of those whiplash-inducing Letterkenny episodes that manages to both be homophobic and mock homophobia before inverting its problematic subtexts brilliantly down the home stretch. I think my favorite episode, though, is “Sundays are for Picking Stones,” a satisfying celebration of the town’s oddball ensemble that assembles an episode basically out of thin air. Letterkenny often feels like a frivolous guilty pleasure, but there’s something deceptively endearing about its esoteric world, and I kind of want it to run forever.
