"My Name is Earl" -- 5/1/2008 episode

What did you guys think of last night’s episode?

I thought it was a lot of fun, with some terrific lines and satisfactory loose ends resolved.

The reunion of Catalina & Paco, plus Catalina trying to seduce Billie. Stuart being endlessly pursued by Kenny. The halfway house with the two guy fighting while tranquilized (plus Frank’s priceless dog impression). Kenny calling Billie ugly and Alyssa Milano’s wonderful reaction shots during the final confrontation. Joy & Darnell brushing their teeth behind the bar (+ the gin & tonic joke). DILFs. Chapstick Lesbians. Frank’s “cologne”. “Girlfriend in a Coma”. Plus–straight to the altar!

Joy: “First his trailer, then his car, now his girlfriend. Do you want to be inside everything that Frank had?”

Well, you know that Billie really is the girl for Earl, they both had their eyes closed in their wedding picture.

I’m crossing my fingers that it doesn’t turn out that Earl and Joy’s divorce isn’t really final. It’s such a sitcom cliché.

Nice episode. I liked Randy’s notebook (“Start writing in notebook”), too, and Catalina trying to be a lesbian.

I missed the beginning, why was Catalina trying to be lesbian?

I missed most of it, but I caught Catalina wishing she and Billie were pressing breasts and intertwining legs.

Bit racy for the family hour, don’t you think? In any event, I hope to catch it online this weekend.

I don’t know, but there was a banana joke somewhere in her explanation.

My favorite bit was Randy’s notebook. “Pigeons fighting over french fries.” “One french fry left.” “Ate a french fry.”

I think it was “SLEEP in everything” that Frank did, or something.

Anyway, I thought it was a good episode. I like Kenny–I always like Kenny. The whole tying-up scene was hilarious.

I thought it had some very funny scenes. Bunk beds. Joy bitching about the bar phone ringing after 7 pm - “Don’t they know we have kids trying to sleep???” Joy putting on deodorant under her clothes. Catalina with that little lick on the back of Billie’s neck! Heh.

Well, Earl did mention that his marriage to Billie was his third one to someone he barely knew. He married Ralph’s mother in “Van Hickey” so he could cross off item #51: “Slept with Ralph’s mom.” And that was after his divorce from Joy, so that one had to be final.

I loved Joy given the boys milk in shot glasses. And the bum at the bar trying to help with homework.

StG

Did the episode continue after that? I think my brain froze.

She was sick of men disappointing her.

I thought it was great, but seemed to cram a lot into one episode. Was that a result of strike-shortened season?

I think they are running out of things for Catalina to do. I hope she doesn’t leave the show, but if Earl and Billie are going to have their own place (and Randy too, by default) then the motel won’t be in the picture. Maybe Billie will start dancing at Club Chubby. That would give everybody a chance to hang out there as well as at the Crab Shack.

Definitely not enough Joy and Darnell; I would have loved more of seeing them living at the restaurant. “Time for a bath; the crab water is almost cooled down.”

Is she or is she not still married to Randy for green card purposes?

I don’t recall hearing any discussion of that in a long time. Good question.

The episode was entertaining, but it felt a bit rushed, as others have mentioned. I am happy for Earl, but his marriage to Billie will really change (or at least has the potential to change) the whole dynamic of the show. How is Billie going to react to Randy? Will Earl need Randy as much now? (Of course, Randy will always need Earl, unless he gets a “brain enhancement”!) What about Catalina’s role, and her marriage-of-convenience to Randy? All sorts of questions come to mind!

I can’t wait for the next episode! I am hoping that this was not the last new episode of the season – was it?

No, there will be two more episodes, with the finale being one hour long. So you could count that as three, for all intents and purposes, since it will likely be split into two for syndication. This will give Earl a total of 22 episodes for the season, out of 25 planned. So that’s not a bad season, strike or no.

What was the deal with Randy and the parrot? I thought Randy was afraid of birds. Was he trying to free it from the cage? Was he trying to overcome his fear by approaching it from outside the window? And once the bird was free, I can’t imagine Randy wanting to approach it, even if he did return it to Jocelyn.

Have we seen Randy be afraid of birds since the trip south to marry Catalina? He was so focused on getting to here that he “forgot” his fear of birds and we see him hold a chicken for a guy. So maybe that was his moment.