This week's My Name Is Earl, again starring Alyssa Milano as Earl's make-believe wife, gives us the conclusion of the "Earl in a coma" saga. Unconvinced that his good deeds will succeed in rising his brother out of his coma, Randy takes Earl out into the world to allow him to his own list item. With nothing but the best intentions, Randy searches frantically for a list-item Earl can accomplish himself, despite being unconscious.

We begin with Randy pushing the comatose Earl around in a stolen shopping cart. Soon, he runs in to their aging prostitute friend, Patty who quickly offers Randy her fancy wheelchair to push his brother in. It turns out that this wheelchair is completely tricked out with speakers, bubbles and a remote control. Randy shows off Earl's new ride to his friends at theCrabshack and tries to decide which list item to try first.

His first choice is an incident a few years earlier where the two brothers made their neighbor late to work by burying his car, as punishment for rudely waking them in the morning to go to work. Apparently this prank cost the guy his job and his girlfriend. Randy attempted to make up for making him late to his new job by putting the unconscious Earl in his backseat so he could use the carpool lane. Unfortunately, he had actually sold his car to his neighbor, a woman who was not very pleased to find a strange man in her back seat.

Not to be disheartened, Randy tries again, this time picking a time where he stole the wheelchairs from some kids whose entire family was paralyzed in a sky-diving accident. Apparently the brothers were jealous of all of their neighbors' family vacations. So, Randy tracks the brother and sister down, at a "wheelchair" bar. After some initial reluctance, the sister agrees to let Randy cross them off the list if he lets her borrow Earl in order to make her also wheelchair-bound ex-boyfriend jealous.

So, along with Joy and Crabman, they all go to the Killerball game where she displays all sorts of affection to Earl to make her ex, a competitor in the game, jealous. Unfortunately, he's too in to the game to take notice. It's not until Randy is forced to enter Earl himself in the game that the ex-boyfriend begins to take notice. After exclaiming her affection for some of Earl's particular talents, the ex-boyfriend hurls the ball at Earl's head, knocking him out of his chair. Though Randy has faith, Joy andCrabman are somewhat worried about Earl's health.

You see, throughout the whole episode, Earl's been in his TV fantasy land with his wife, Billie. But in the dreamworld they have aged several years and Earl's health is slipping. But apparently the blow to the head was exactly what was needed to knock Earl out of his coma. On thekillerball court, Earl wakes up and is reunited with his friend, though they are a bit confused when he starts asking about Billie.

Like he whole prison plot, it seems like the writers could have kept this going for a bit longer. But, by spending the first part of the season in prison and the second part of the season in a coma, perhaps it is time for the show get back to it's roots. On the other hand, knocking Earl out in itspre -strike finale was pretty unexpected so perhaps the writers have yet another surprise in store for us. Either way, I'm just hoping AlyssaMilano makes a return as a series regular since she is such a perfect fit for the show.

My favorite quote of the night: "I think Earl's coma made him gay." - Joy (Reacting to Earl talking about how he was married to "Billie" in his dream)

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