It's been quite a season for My Name is Earl. Starting out the year in prison, lasting through a coma and finally getting married, Earl has been through a lot this past season. But, strangely, the one thing he hasn't had much time to do, is work through his list without interruption. In tonight's two-part episode, Earl was finally forced to rededicate himself to the task karma put him up to three years ago, even though it wasn't quite the in the manner he had hoped.


We open with Earl in bed with his wife, Billie (Alyssa Milano) and his brother, Randy. Apparently, Billie isn't a big fan of Earl's sleeping arrangements and has been forcing Randy to sleep outside. On top of that, she seems to reverting to her more treacherous ways, constantly bossing Earl around and torturing Randy for fun. Confused on how karma could lead him so far astray, Earl decides to turn to the couples he knows and ask them for advice. Trying his friends first he eventually goes to his own mother for advice on how to make his marriage last. The answer he gets is unexpected. It turns out that his parents made their relationship last simply because his father chose to spend as much time as work as possible, in order to avoid his wife and kids. Since Earl doesn't have a job, he chooses to commit himself to the closest thing he has; his list.

The first thing he checks off is pulling Joy and Darnell's trailer right side up again, Earl had knocked it on its side several episodes ago. After gathering all of the people he's help over the year to pull the trailer over, he discovers a fake leg underneath the porch. Fans of the show will, of course, knowimmediately that the leg belongs to his angry one-legged ex girlfriend. Feeling that karma is trying to tell himself, he finally seeks out Didi to reconcile with her.

Unfortunately, Didi isn't quite ready to forgive Earl, even after he brings her back the leg he found. She offers to forgive him if he "walks a mile in her shoes." So, to proof his sincerity, Earl spends the day with Didi hopping on one foot to understand what she went through without her leg. Eventually, she forgives and Earl is surprised when Billie begins being nice to him afterwards. This leads Earl to believe that inorder to make things work with his current relationship, he must make up to all his past ones.

This leads Earl and Randy to take on one of the more intimidating tasks on the list - making it up to seven virgins he took advantage of when they left the Amish village they grew up in. So he goes to visit the "Camdenites" in their Amish village outside of town and discovers that none of the girls he deceived ever returned to the village. The lady states that if Earl wants to make it up to the Camdenites , he will follow around their current granddaughter on her venture into the outside world and make sure she returns to her home afterwards. Thinking that this is the only way to reconcile with his wife, he agrees.

Unfortunately for Earl, Billie has other plans. Apparently she's grown a bit jealous of Earl's list and demands that he choose either her or his treasured karma list. Thinking that karma will never forgive him if he chooses Billie, he chooses the list, setting Billie off in a fit of range. Earl soon finds out that she has tasked herself to undoing every item on his list until he devotes himself to her. So, he gathers his friends to put an end to her.

Eventually they meet on the Amish farm where she threatens Earl's life in the presence of a police officer. She soon discovers that she can't be arrested as long as she doesn't leave the farm. Unfortunately, the police officer lets slip that the entire force is going on a fishing trip in five days. So, Earl stresses out for the week until the last day when Billie finally breaks into his apartment. Good thing for Earl, it turns out Billie loves the hard work and good nature of theCamdenites and has chosen to stay there. She forgives Earl and signs divorce papers before parting ways. Apparently Earl wasn't supposed to make Billie happy by marrying her, but by guiding her to theCamdenites. On the other hand, Randy has actually found new love in the Camdenite he and Earl were originally tasked to protect from the outside world.

Though not really much of a finale, the show did accomplish one thing: getting Earl and his list back together. Throughout the whole season, he's either been distracted or disposed, making the list almost secondary when it's been seen at all. Now, it looks like we'll be getting back to his roots next season, though, after the surprisingly successful departures from the show's original premise, I hope that the writers continue to push the possibilities of the show. It is sad, however, that this seems to be the last we'll be seeing of Alyssa Milano for a while. She was a great hit for the show, but I can understand how the writers would want Earl to remain relationship-free as long as they can. Having her bunk with Randy and Earl in the hotel room did feel awkward, but I don't know if I'm ready to see Earl buying a house yet, either. Even though this season seemed sort of sporadic at times, it was nice that it pushed the envelope a little bit, and even thought next season seems to back to the old routine, I hope that they continue to throw some unexpected twists every once and a while.

What did you think about this season? What are you looking forward to this fall?


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