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'My Name is Earl': Weekend at Earl's
I can admit it, I was wrong. There, I said it. Last week I thought My Name is Earl had turned a corner, that the slew of subpar episodes were behind the show, that it would be smooth sailing all the way to the season finale. This week proved me wrong. Earl was back to living in a sitcom in his mind and I was back to wishing I could smack him out of it.
Oh sure, the episode started off well enough, with the hospital kicking Earl out despite the fact that he was still in a coma (they gave Randy "Camden Cash" for taking Earl). But then, almost immediately after a commercial break, Earl was in his dreamland and I was yawning.
Back in the real world, Randy had gotten an awesome pimped-out (because it belonged to a pimp) wheelchair complete with joystick remote control from Patty. He then went to see Darnell and Joy who tried to convince Randy that he wasn't really capable of taking care of his unconscious brother. As a montage of Randy's mishaps proved, they were certainly correct, but I think we already knew that was the case.
Randy's idea though was that now that Earl was with him, Earl could cross off items off the list and would get better even more quickly. After one misfire trying to cross off having made a man from the trailer park, Derrick, late for work (this ended with Earl getting pepper-spray to the face), Randy chose "stole from the Henson kids." The Henson kids were permanently in wheelchairs due to a skydiving accident, and, as boys, Earl and Randy had stolen their wheelchairs.
The now adult Henson kids were less than forgiving, especially when Randy laughed mercilessly at the memory of their getting humped by Doberman (the girl, as she put it, "to completion"). It was only after Randy brought Earl into the wheelchair bar (which is where he found the Hensons), that Tiffany Henson decided that Randy could do something to cross her and her brother, Brett, off the list. She wanted Randy to allow her to use Earl to make her ex-boyfriend, T.R., jealous. Convinced that Earl had to cross something off to get better, Randy went along with Tiffany's plan.
T.R. and his team were playing a game of "killerball" (which is kind of like Murderball, I gather) against Brett's team, and Tiffany wanted Earl there by her side. T.R. was so focused on the game, he didn't seem phased by seeing Tiffany with Earl. However, Brett's team soon found themselves one man down (one of their players was lying about needing a wheelchair), and Brett asked Randy if Earl could play on his team's side.
Randy used the joystick remote control to do his best to make sure that Earl didn't suffer too many injuries during the game, but dropped the remote after getting sneezed on. Serendipitously, it was at that moment that Tiffany landed an emotional blow on T.R. which made him angry enough to peg Earl with the ball. The ball bounced off of Earl's face and ended up in Brett's lap who scored the winning goal. Earl, however, fell out of his wheelchair and onto the floor.
In another little bit of serendipity, at the exact same moment that Earl was on the floor following killerball, the woman across town who pepper-sprayed Earl ended up asking Derrick if he wanted a ride to work because she was scared of being alone in her car (which is where she had found Earl). That put Derrick's life back on the right track after Earl and Randy had dislodged it, thereby crossing Derrick off of Earl's list.
Apparently, that was the last thing karma needed crossed off before waking Earl up. So, the episode ended with Earl awake and with a terrible case of coma breath.
This episode wasn't as bad as some of the post-strike ones, but it certainly was nowhere near as funny as last week. Hopefully now that Earl is awake things are back on the right track. As long as Earl doesn't spend the rest of the season as a sad sack trying to win the affections of Billie, I think we may just be okay.
My thoughts, a quote, and a question:
- Randy to Patty after he shows her that sticking his finger in Earl's ear makes Earl swat at Randy's hand - "every opening I stick my finger in I get a different reaction."
- Yes, tonight had some funny moments, but weren't they funnier the first time we saw them, when Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman went around with that dead fellow in the classic film Weekend at Bernie's or even during Weekend at Bernie's less funny sequel, Weekend at Bernie's II?
- My question of the week - how are we supposed to take the fact that many of the post-strike episodes, this one included, made fun of traditional sitcom themes and their overuse, and then the show went right ahead and "lovingly borrowed" jokes around dead/in a coma people that have appeared in the aforementioned films and elsewhere?
It's my promise to you that The TV and Film Guy's Reviews will not discriminate against one type of old joke in a favor of another. The TV and Film Guy's Reviews believes that all old jokes are fair game.
The cast of the show is too talented for me not to get some laughs out of any episode, but so far this season has been worse than last, which I thought was pretty bad to start with. The prison storyline and now the coma/sitcom arc have seemed very gimmicky. I'm sure the writers are trying to keep the show fresh, but I wish they'd go back to the original formula.
Jessie | Apr 25, 2008 12:03:42 AM | #Earl has always suffered with season openers, but they usually get better as the weeks go on.
pakopako | Apr 25, 2008 6:45:28 AM | #This was a particularly bad one, and I couldn't help but think of Weekend at Bernies. Thank god he's out of that damn coma already.
I'd say the sitcom dreams were probably the worst thing this show has ever done, and they dragged it out over multiple episodes. I don't think I laughed once at any of those scenes. I was worried they'd leave him in a coma the whole rest of the season.
Too bad this show seems to have so much trouble coming up with new plots, the characters are hilarious and they write great one liners.
milo | Apr 25, 2008 11:57:56 AM | #Back to the original premise, please! Otherwise this clever show will lose the rest of its core viewers and suffer an early demise.
Least favorite moment? Randy laughing entirely too long at the "until completion" line/image. It is ALWAYS annoying to listen to a character laugh. I nearly turned off the TV.
Jon | Apr 25, 2008 1:47:18 PM | #Wow, Jon I had the exact opposite reaction. While I agree with Josh (blogger) that this wasn't one a very strong ep, I thought the scene where Tiffany told Randy about the doberman humping her shoulder to completion was one of, if not, the funniest line of the season - especially when coupled with Randy laughing for what must have been 2 straight minutes.
Rishi | Apr 26, 2008 10:27:44 AM | #
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