Jim Lahey
James Lahey | |
---|---|
Barbara "Barb" Lahey | |
Significant other | Randy |
Children | Treena Lahey (daughter) |
Home | Sunnyvale Trailer Park, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada |
Nationality | Canadian |
James "Jim" Lahey, better known as Mr. Lahey, is a fictional character in the television series
Character biography
Jim Lahey is the supervisor of Sunnyvale Trailer Park. In his youth, he was an idealistic police officer, but since his wrongful dismissal as a result of a prank by
Many characters consider these antics to be more of an excuse to relive his days as a police officer than a genuine quest for justice. Lahey often performs his job in the same mannerisms of a police officer, such as conducting reconnaissance on the Boys, setting up checkpoints across the trailer park, and in one instance, after getting severely drunk, puts on his old police uniform and starts terrorizing the trailer park. In the most inebriated state he can think clearly and come up with crafty and devious plans to derail the Boys' plans, have them arrested, and - in an extreme case - even to have them eliminated, and he will gladly exploit anything at his disposal. For example, he leverages Julian's emotional attachment to his grandmother's trailer to blackmail him; in another instance he cunningly employs Cyrus and his partners to attack them. Throughout the series, he anthropomorphizes alcohol itself, reverently referring to it as 'The Liquor', a quasi-supernatural entity he often relies on to aid him in foiling the protagonists' plans.
It is implied that despite Lahey's antagonistic relationship with the Boys, they are in many ways co-dependent on one another and Lahey apparently cannot live without them. This is especially noteworthy when observing Lahey's physical attraction to Julian; Lahey attempts to kill himself in Countdown to Liquor Day after Julian rejected his overtures, only for Julian to talk him out of it. Lahey and the Boys will frequently cooperate and work together so long as one or both parties stand to gain from it. In Season 2, the Boys help Lahey secure his position as trailer park supervisor after he is at risk of losing it to their nemesis Sam Losco. After Ricky suffers an apparent heart attack in Season 5, Lahey saves his life with
In Season 6, after finding footage on a reel of film labelled "Halloween 1977" that proves that he was not drinking in the events that caused his dismissal from the police force, Jim hopes to get reinstated as a police officer and jail the Boys for good. However, after Randy refuses to testify on his behalf, Lahey is forced to approach Bubbles for help. In exchange for Bubbles' testimony, Lahey forms a peace treaty with the Boys in which he turns a blind eye to their illegal activities. This treaty is largely upheld throughout most of Season 7, but it unraveled after Lahey, who relapsed back into alcohol, attempts to arrest the Boys after learning that Bubbles is wanted in the United States for stealing a model train with a $50,000 reward. At the end of season 7 he retires from the force, and returns to his job as trailer park supervisor.
In Season 1, Julian discovered that Lahey and Randy were having a homosexual relationship and agreed to keep it a secret. However, an accident caused by Trevor in Season 3 revealed their relationship and both Lahey and Randy came out as gay. In fact, Lahey is
In the final episode of season 10, Jim confesses to a comatose Ricky that the reason his mother left Sunnyvale after he was born, and why Ray and Jim had always been mortal enemies, was because Jim is actually Ricky's father. In Season 11, he tries to be better to Ricky's family, and stay sober. He eventually confesses to an awake Ricky the fatherhood. Later however, Julian and Bubbles are able to get a blood test done, and discover that neither Lahey nor Ray are Ricky's biological father. After learning he isn't Ricky's father, Lahey falls headfirst back into the liquor, ending the season now essentially a liquor evangelist. In Season 12, he and Randy gamble Julian's drug money and eventually made peace with the boys after a heated debate between Julian and Lahey over the money.
He is killed off in the first episode ("Long Story Short... A Bear Ripped My Cock Off and Ate It") of the animated series after a Shit Hawk flew off with him.[6]
Reception
Even though he was antagonistic throughout the series, Mr. Lahey is one of the most popular characters in Trailer Park Boys. Mack Lamoureux of Vice described him as "...one of the greatest villains and anti-heroes in Canadian TV history", and said: "He almost always had the most memorable parts of an episode."[7] Metro said he had some of the best one-liners on the show,[8] while Screen Rant said that he was part of the reason Trailer Park Boys is so great.[9]
See also
References
- ^ "Mr. Lahey and Randy". September 11, 2019. Archived from the original on August 9, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
- ^ Kleinman, Jake (20 February 2019). "'Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series' First Images Released by Netflix". Inverse.
- ^ "'Trailer Park Boys' Is Returning to Netflix as an Animated Series?". TVweb. February 20, 2019.
- ^ "The 'Trailer Park Boys' Animated Series Gives Fans The Perfect Sendoff For Mr. Lahey". Bustle.
- ^ "'Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series pays tribute to John Dunsworth, killing his character Lahey in absurd fashion". Newsweek. April 2, 2019.
- ^ "'Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series pays tribute to John Dunsworth, killing his character Lahey in absurd fashion". Newsweek. April 2, 2019.
- ^ Visser, Josh; Lamoureux, Mack; Bilton, Chris (October 18, 2017). "Mr. Lahey's Five Greatest Moments".
- ^ "13 of the greatest Jim Lahey quotes as John Dunsworth dies aged 71". October 17, 2017.
- ^ "Trailer Park Boys: 10 Things You Never Knew About Jim Lahey". ScreenRant. July 28, 2019.