My Name is Earl

Last week on My Name is Earl, Earl was left in a coma and trapped in his TV Land subconscious, leaving it up to Randy to finish off his list for him. This week, Randy and Joy take their first stab at the karma list. Using Earl's drool to choose their task, they select an incident where he and Randy stole a motorcycle. The owners of the bike turn out to be the hosts of American Chopper.

In Earl's coma dream, he is greeted with the wonderful news that his imaginary wife, Billie (Alyssa Milano) is pregnant with their baby. Accidentally eavesdropping on a phone conversation with their make-believe neighbor, Joy, Earl believes them to be talking about an affair Billie is having with another man. In typical sitcom fashion, this misunderstanding leads to some outrageous circumstances and ends up foreshadowing Randy and Joy's real-life adventure.
Back in the real world Randy and Joy set off to find the motorcycle the two brothers had stolen years earlier. Unfortunately for Randy, the two got rip-roaring wasted right after the theft, leaving Randy with absolutely no memory of what they did with it. So Randy is forced to retrace his footsteps to find the missing bike.

At their first stop they discover that after drinking, they drove over to a friend's house. Randy was apparently enamored with a chicken costume the guy had, so the friend agreed to trade the costume for the motorcycle chain to prevent the two from driving it drunk. With the new chicken costume, the two then brought both the motorcycle and the chicken suit to the Crabshack where they proceeded to terrorize the patrons. Fortunately Darnell remembers the incident and explains that after he kicked the two out of the bar, they went to hang out with a guy named Homeless Joe. Talking to Homeless Joe, Randy is told that apparently Earl got so mad at Randy that he tried to kill him by throwing him into oncoming traffic. Heartbroken, Randy still goes on, determined to discover the missing portions of the night and learn why Earl was so angry with him.

After visiting the Knights of Camden, we learn that prior to the traffic incident, Randy had shown up to the club by himself but Earl had interrupted and tried to impale his brother with a broken antenna covered in panties. Randy is crushed but fortunately Joy knows the origin of this antenna. Apparently the "pantenna" is an antenna on top of a trailer that ladies would throw their underwear on to predict their love life. So Joy leads the team straight to the old trailer and Randy, much to his dismay, recalls what he did to drive drunken Earl to try and murder him.

After the two got kicked out of the Crabshack, it turns out, the two looked for a place to hide the motorcycle so they wouldn't be arrested. They eventually decided to put the bike on the roof of the trailer that the "pantenna" resides. When the cops followed them there, trapping the two on the roof, the drunken Earl got an inconveniently timed case of the hiccups. Randy, trying to keep Earl quiet, accidentally smothered his brother. Minutes later, Randy realized his mistake, panicked and fled the scene.

In the present, Randy is filled with shame and decides to hurl himself off the roof of the trailer so he would be the one in the coma. Unfortunately, he doesn't quite succeed and just ends up hurting himself. The gang returns the stolen bike to the folks of American Chopper and then go back to the hospital to cross the item off the list.

Meanwhile in Earl's TV Land, he and Billie have their baby after being trapped in the hospital elevator. They are rescued by Randy.

This role reversal is working out well so far. With Earl pretty much redeemed, it's good that Randy and Joy are finally given the opportunity to do things for themselves. With Earl having been the groups' moral compass for so many years, it's time that the group takes their turn at atoning for their past wrongdoings. Randy is forced to be more proactive and Joy is forced to do good deeds without being told. In fact, this whole season has really been a growing point for the show in general and a welcome departure from the routine of the first two seasons.

My favorite moment of the night: Randy terrorizing the restaurant customers in the chicken suit while Earl drunkenly proclaims that he knows how to talk to chickens. So he does the chicken dance, claps his hands, "Problem solved."


-George Freitag, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
(Image courtesy of NBC)