Updated on 6/4/26: Originally published on September 16th, 2004 – shortly after the episode first aired.
Steve French is the dope-addicted mountain lion from Trailer Park Boys Season 4, Episode 6, “If You Love Something, Set It Free.” For fans of the Canadian mockumentary, this 2004 episode stands as a series high-water mark. It perfectly balances Sunnyvale’s signature absurdity – like Trevor getting assaulted by a cougar high on Viagra burgers – with genuine, earned emotion from Bubbles. DavePye.com breaks down why this specific episode remains a cult favorite, the behind-the-scenes reality of filming with live predators, and why three grown men crying in the woods over a wild animal is the purest distillation of the show’s heart.
Table of Contents
- The Legacy of Sunnyvale’s Biggest Kitty
- What Steve French Reveals About Bubbles
- The Lahey “Shit Abyss” Connection
- The Accidental Genius of the J-Roc Subplot
- The Best Rickyisms of the Episode
- Behind the Scenes: The Real Steve French
- The Animated Return of Steve French
- From the DavePye.com Archives: September 2004
- Frequently Asked Questions

Three grown men crying in the woods over a mountain lion they’ve known for 72 hours. That’s the thing nobody expects from a show about petty criminals in a Nova Scotia, Canada trailer park. The almighty Sunnyvale.
The Legacy of Sunnyvale’s Biggest Kitty
When you ask a hardcore fan to name the best episode of the series, “If You Love Something, Set It Free” is almost always in the top three. Personally, I’d add “Closer to the Heart” and absolutely “Who’s the Microphone Assassin?” to the list.
Steve French’s introduction to the popular culture pantheon currently holds an 8.5/10 rating on IMDB, and publications like CinemaBlend consistently rank it among the show’s absolute best. It’s the episode that defines exactly what the show does better than any other comedy on television: it takes a premise that sounds like a drunken fever dream and grounds it in absolute sincerity.
Season 4 is widely considered the peak of the series. The boys are out of jail, the schemes are intricate, and the character dynamics are fully locked in. But this episode is the emotional anchor of the season.
The setup is pure Sunnyvale. Something is eating Ricky’s dope crop. Bubbles assumes it’s a “Samsquantch,” but it turns out to be a full-grown mountain lion. Naturally, Bubbles doesn’t call animal control. He slaps a choker chain on a 150-pound apex predator, names him “Steve French” – noting the cougar’s markings look like a French Canadian mustache – and decides to wean him off the marijuana.
What follows is twenty-two minutes of chaos. Steve French wanders the park. He eats Randy’s Viagra-laced burgers (intended for Jim Lahey). He develops an inappropriate attraction to Trevor’s leopard-print jacket. But the jokes aren’t why the episode is remembered. It’s remembered for the ending.
What Steve French Reveals About Bubbles
Bubbles’ relationship with cats is the longest-running gag on the show. But Steve French is where the gag becomes something real. Bubbles doesn’t just like cats (he also likes liquor and whores). He sees something in them – a kind of uncomplicated loyalty that the rest of his chaotic life can’t offer. When he looks at a mountain lion and sees a “big kitty” who needs help, that’s not stupidity. That’s Bubbles being exactly who he is.
The brilliance of the episode is how it forces the rest of the cast to meet Bubbles on his level. Julian’s instinct is to get rid of the lion immediately. Julian always sees the angle and the risk. Ricky’s instinct is to panic.
Yet, in the final scene, all three men are standing in the woods, crying as they release Steve French back into the wild. They aren’t mocking Bubbles. They’re mourning with him. That’s the show at its best – characters who are fundamentally self-interested, getting pulled into genuine emotion by their friend’s sincerity.
The Lahey “Shit Abyss” Connection
There’s a subtle layer to this episode that often goes unnoticed. It features one of Jim Lahey’s most famous liquor-fueled rants. Staring down Ricky, Lahey slurs out: “He who looks into the abyss realizes that there’s nothing looking back at him, and the only thing he sees is his own character, Ricky. You understand? Bud? The Abyss? The shit-abyss.”
It’s a direct bastardization of Friedrich Nietzsche’s famous quote: “And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
Lahey twisting 19th-century German philosophy into a drunken threat about trailer park politics is the kind of high-low comedy that makes the show brilliant. It elevates the character from a simple drunk to a tragic, over-educated figure trapped in his own failures. Most sitcoms would be content with the physical comedy of Lahey falling over. Trailer Park Boys gives him a Nietzsche reference.
The Accidental Genius of the J-Roc Subplot
The episode also features one of the most elegant pieces of plotting in the entire series. J-Roc is supposed to be in jail, which gives him immense street cred. In reality, he got a light sentence of community service and has been hiding under his mom’s trailer so his manager, DVS, doesn’t find out he’s not actually doing hard time.

The boys decide the best place to hide Steve French from Lahey is under J-Roc’s trailer. When they shove the mountain lion under the skirting, a terrified J-Roc scrambles out, completely blowing his cover.
It’s a masterclass in sitcom writing. A mountain lion accidentally solves a completely unrelated problem just by existing. It ties the A-plot and the B-plot together without forcing the characters to act out of character.
The Best Rickyisms of the Episode
You can’t talk about a classic episode without looking at the Rickyisms. “If You Love Something, Set It Free” delivers two of the best in the series.
When trying to figure out what’s wrong with the mountain lion, Ricky panics and asks: “What if he has radies?” It’s a perfect Rickyism – he knows the word rabies exists, he knows it’s associated with wild animals, but his brain just slightly misfires on the delivery.
Later, when comforting Bubbles about releasing the cat, Ricky attempts to use the episode’s titular proverb: “If he comes back, it forever was, just like the saying.” It’s completely mangled, but the intent is so genuinely sweet that it works anyway.
Behind the Scenes: The Real Steve French
Filming the episode was considerably more dangerous than it looked on screen. Steve French was actually played by two real, trained cougars named Stoney and Sophie, provided by Creative Animal Talent.
According to Mike Smith (who plays Bubbles), working with the big cats was terrifying. During an appearance on the Roach Approach podcast, Smith revealed that he had some incredibly close calls on set. At one point, one of the cougars reportedly lunged at him, and he was only saved by the handler intervening at the last possible second.
When you watch the episode knowing that Smith was inches away from an actual, unpredictable predator, Bubbles’ nervous energy in those scenes takes on a whole new context. The fear in his eyes wasn’t entirely acting. I wonder how frightening he found Elliot / Ellen Page during her brief stint in Season 1?
The Animated Return of Steve French
For years, fans wondered if Steve French would ever make a comeback. The show answered that question in 2019, though not in the live-action format. In Season 1, Episode 4 of Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series (titled “The Penis Milker”), Steve French returns.

The animated format allows the show to lean fully into the absurdity. Bubbles consumes a massive amount of mushrooms, resulting in a hallucination where Steve French can actually speak to him – complete with a thick French Canadian accent. It’s a surreal callback that honors the original episode and takes advantage of the new format’s lack of physical limitations.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who Is Steve French in Trailer Park Boys?
Steve French is a mountain lion who appears in Season 4, Episode 6 of Trailer Park Boys, titled “If You Love Something, Set It Free”. He was discovered eating Ricky’s dope crop and subsequently adopted by Bubbles, who named him after his “French-looking mustache” markings.
2. What Season and Episode Is Steve French In?
Steve French appears in Season 4, Episode 6. The episode originally aired on May 16, 2004 on Canadian television.
3. Was Steve French a Real Mountain Lion?
Yes. Steve French was played by two real trained cougars named Stoney and Sophie, provided by Creative Animal Talent. Both are credited in the episode’s end credits.
4. Why Did Bubbles Name the Mountain Lion Steve French?
Bubbles named the lion Steve French – he thought the markings around the cougar’s mouth looked like a French Canadian mustache.
5. Did the Mountain Lion Actually Attack Mike Smith (Bubbles)?
According to Mike Smith, working with the live cougars was extremely dangerous. He has stated in interviews that he had a close call on set where one of the cats lunged at him, requiring the handler to intervene.
6. Does Steve French Ever Return to the Show?
Yes, Steve French returns in Season 1, Episode 4 of Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series. Due to Bubbles hallucinating on mushrooms, Steve French is depicted as being able to speak with a French Canadian accent.
7. Is the Steve French Episode Considered One of the Best Trailer Park Boys Episodes?
It’s consistently ranked among the top episodes by fans and critics alike. CinemaBlend ranked it #4 on their all-time list. The combination of physical comedy, the Viagra burger subplot, J-Roc’s street cred exposure, and the genuinely emotional ending makes it a standout in the series.

The Steve French episode aired in 2004. Twenty-plus years later, people are still naming their cats after a mountain lion who appeared in one episode of a Canadian mockumentary. That’s not a cult following. That’s something that was… a beautiful thing.



