After watching last week's My Name is Earl, I was moderately surprised to see a new episode was scheduled to air this week. Earl getting married made me imagine that the season had come to an end. As that wasn't the case though, there was no doubt in my mind (nor should there have been in yours) that Billie and Earl's life together would be anything but bumpy (and probably short too).

Tonight's episode began with Earl and Billie the morning after their wedding and Billie announcing to Earl that she had started her own list of bad deeds to be rectified. Earl was, to say the least, pleased.

He shortly became less pleased as Billie's little quirks came to the surface. As it turned out she liked to do things like eat Earl's potato chips, try and change the way he dresses, interrupt him while he does his business in the bathroom, and, worst of all, she liked Sammy Hagar Van Halen instead of David Lee Roth Van Halen. It annoyed Earl… mightily. Earl's friends tried to explain that these quirks were things that married folks just lived with, and Earl accepted the quirks for the time being, but he wasn't happy.

Things got a little better for him when he found out that Billie and he both had the same person on their list, a nice fellow named Joel (played by Jon Heder). Earl, Billie, and pretty much every other thief in Camden stole from Joel when he was off at the National Bagging Competition.

Joel was, apparently, the best grocery bagger in Camden, and the second best in the nation. When he returned home from the bagging competition to find everything in his house stolen and some rather tasteless graffiti written on his wall, Joel lashed out. He punched the wall and broke his hand, turning it into a hideously deformed claw. As he never got it fixed, lost his ability to bag groceries and ended his life's dream of winning a National Bagging Championship. It was a sad little life that Joel had prior to the broken hand, but it had only gone downhill since.

Earl, being Earl, wanted to help Joel have his dream of bringing home a bagging trophy fulfilled. Billie however felt that since she had returned what she stole from Joel, a ceiling fan, Joel could be crossed off her list. Rather than trying to convince Billie she was wrong, he went off to try and help Joel by himself.

In yet another feat of serendipity on the show, Earl, according to Joel (who saw him catch some groceries), was a natural born bagger. So, in order to cross Joel off his list, Earl had to let Joel train him for the National Bagging Competition.

Following a fantastic Rocky-esque montage wherein Earl learned all the ins and outs of bagging, he went off to the competition where he quickly advanced to the finals. It all fell apart though when, prior to the championship match, Billie reappeared and announced to Earl that she had finished her entire list by calling everyone on it and apologizing. Everyone except for the folks from Japan that is, but she figured that since people in Japan hunt whales and that's a bad thing to do it was a wash (memo to self – no more whale hunts, despite how delicious the blubber is).

Billie believed that she was now the expert in karma and explained to Earl that he needed to work "smarter, not harder." She poked him, prodded him, and needled him, and at some point Earl couldn't take it anymore. He blew up, he poked her back just to show her how it felt. That was a mistake as Billie apparently doesn't like people poking her. Billie's instinct took over, she grabbed Earl's hand, and broke his finger, making it impossible for him to compete in the competition.

Unable to bag in the finals by himself Earl was ready to give in. But, that would have been a terrible ending so instead of losing by forfeit, Earl and Joel realized that they could bag as a single team, Earl with his one good hand Joel with his (the rules stated that only two hands could bag, not how many baggers were allowed to provide those hands). It's practically needless to say, but Joel and Earl managed to win the competition, allowing Earl to cross Joel off his list.

The show didn't end there though, after the competition Billie came to her senses about karma. She saw how good Joel ended up feeling from Earl's helping him and knew that she had more work to do. It was sweet, touching, and made Earl think that the two of them could work out their differences. She then told Earl that he had to cut off his mustache, ending any chance of them ending up happily ever after.

A thought or two, a quote, and a question:

• Despite the obviousness of Earl and Billie not being able to make it as a couple following last week's ending, I still enjoyed this week. The fact that the producers didn't string out the happy part of the marriage in order to get to the sad (especially after the prison and coma stuff this season) really pleased me. Plus, Heder was funny.
• There were actually several choices for quotes tonight, but I'm going with Randy on brains - "Man brains are funny, you shake them around hard enough and it's like 'whoa, who's steering this ship?'"
• So, the question of the week: how long will it be until Earl and Billie get a divorce? Is that coming up in next week's two-part hour-long season finale or, do you think that they'll just end up estranged for an extended period?

I would ask if you thought it possible for Billie to end up at The TV and Film Guy's Reviews, but it seems like an unlikely scenario. You should totally check it out though.

Comments

I'm surprised you didn't mention the "Karate Kid" reference when Earl and Joel came back out to bag in the finals. I was waiting to hear "You're the Best Around" playing.

Jason | May 9, 2008 5:31:14 AM | #

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Ha ha! I was expecting that too!

"Earl won! We can go home now!"

pakopako | May 9, 2008 9:08:07 AM | #

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Josh, you do not need to give a blow by blow account of the episode. You do, however, need to provide more commentary, humor, insight, and opinion.

This comes up here at Zap2it periodically. The vast majority of readers have seen the episode, and are looking for more. You should know the drill by now.

Mike | May 9, 2008 11:59:54 AM | #

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Mike, this has been pointed out to Josh before. C'mon, Josh, bring more 'tude and some writing flair and less play-by-play regurgitation. I don't visit Zap2it to see my favorite sitcoms turned into stale bagels. Most of the folks here have some keen insights to share. But this blog has the feel of an obligatory homework essay to prove that you watched the show.

As for the homages to Rocky and Karate Kid, that whole sequence also seemed to throw in some nods to Kingpin and Heder's own Blades of Glory.

Joy also went off on a particularly entertaining, euphemism-laden tangent in the episode. Some of her best rants seem to be those win which she doesn't attack the people around her (you can only call Randy a dummy so many times before that gets old), and goes off on ideas and situations and objects instead.

goph | May 9, 2008 1:58:00 PM | #

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I thought last week was a potential series ending type episode, but this show turned it on its head as is its specialty and went from an incredibly happy ending last week to a dramatic "How are we going to get Earl out of this marriage before he loses his mustache!!!!" potential catastrophe.

That's why I love this show and how it is able to stay fresh when you think it has run out of freshness.

Josh Man | May 9, 2008 7:38:04 PM | #

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