If You Love Something, Set It Free

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If You Love Something, Set It Free is the sixth episode of the fourth season of the Canadian mockumentary series Trailer Park Boys. It was directed by Mike Clattenburg and aired on Showcase on May 16, 2004.

[edit] Plot Synopsis

Ricky and Julian are getting upset that someone or something has been stealing or eating dope from their harvest crop. Determined to catch the culprit, they stake out the place at night and send Cory and Trevor into the field with potato guns to investigate. Moments later, the terrified pair run from the field with their clothes torn and bleeding, but they could not get a good look at whatever it was that attacked them. Bubbles gets nervous at hearing this, believing it was a sasquatch that is behind this. Upon heading back to the park, Sarah, who dates both guys, is upset at seeing Cory and Trevor injured and that the boys have been using them again. She promptly refuses to let Ricky or Julian use them for at least an hour. Since they have lost Cory and Trevor, Julian decides to go back out there with Ricky and Bubbles and capture the beast themselves.

The next day, Jim Lahey is planning to host a barbeque to celebrate his return to power as Trailer Park Supervisor. Randy starts cooking cheeseburgers with a "special ingredient" for him. Meanwhile, the boys have armed themselves with a net and stun gun and go back into the marijuana field. After a long search, they stumble across chewed bits of weed and animal feces, which makes Bubbles really believe there is a "samsquanch," but the real culprit turns out to be a dope-addicted mountain lion. Julian and Ricky prepare to capture the beast, but Bubbles stops them from doing it, because after all, '"he's just a big kitty." He dechipers that the lion only attacked Cory and Trevor because Trevor had a vest that resembled a female mountain lion's coat and that he had the munchies. Ricky wants to get rid of the animal, but Bubbles, having formed a bond with the lion, insists on taking him back to Sunnyvale to wean him off the dope.

Back at the park, Bubbles starts to detoxify the mountain lion, whom he has named Steve French, by mixing small amounts of weed with fajitas. However, the animal escapes from his shed, and the boys run off to search for Steve. Meanwhile, Randy has added the secret ingredient, Viagra, to the cheeseburgers, but Steve French suddenly appears and eats them all. Julian arrives just after he escapes and finds the empty viagra bottle. He meets up with Ricky and Bubbles, who have found Steve French, and they decide to hide him under J-Roc's trailer. This does not go according to plan when it is realized (too late) that J-Roc's sentence was commuted to community service, he has been hiding under the trailer to make everyone believe he was in jail to boost his record sales, and he is briefly attacked by the mountain lion. They rush off to chase down Steve French again.

Cory and Trevor, still not allowed to leave the park or go out with Ricky and Julian, are heading for the cheeseburger barbeque and get caught by Steve French, who still sees Trevor in that animal-like vest, and he chases him into Lahey's tent. Bubbles catches Steve and brings him back to his shed, only to learn from Julian that Animal Control, tracking all animals in the province, might trace the lion to the dope fields and back to them. Lahey confronts them with the fact that they are hiding a wild animal and threatens to call the police. Julian gets Lahey into a truce that promises if Lahey will let them handle the problem, nobody will find out about his Viagra burgers. Lahey agrees to the offer, making the matter more easier, but it is clear that Steve French can no longer stay in the trailer park. Ricky and Julian convince a reluctant Bubbles that it is best for Steve to take him back to the wilderness.

Bubbles rigs a contraption that produces small amounts of dope, so that Steve can wean himself off of it while back home. Upon heading out to the mountains, they hit a snag when Steve refuses to leave the Shitmobile. An overjoyed Bubbles is excited because if you love something and set if free, only for it to come back, then it's yours, but Julian tells him that it is the right thing to do. A tearful Bubbles bids Steve French farewell, as the animal runs off to meet a watching female mountain lion. As Bubbles cries over his loss, a tear in Julian's eye is visible for the first time in the series.

[edit] Trivia

• The title of the episode comes from a lesson that Julian reminds Bubbles about finding things and whether or not you deserve them: "If you love something, set if free. If it comes back, then it's yours. If it doesn't, then it never was."
• Bubbles names the mountain lion Steve French, after the famous singer.
• This is the first time we see Julian cry.
• Steve French was played by two zoo-bred pumas named Stony and Sophie.