"My Name Is Earl" Recap & Review - "My Name is Inmate 28301-016" Parts 1 and II

My Name is Earl
"My Name is Inmate 28301-016" Parts 1 and II

Original Air Date: September 27, 2007

Breanna P. - TwoCents Staff Writer

Times are not so good for Earl. He sees old friends he doesn’t want to and has to choose which gang he should join to gain protection. Sounds like our Karmic friend has gone back on doing good things, right? Not quite. You see, Earl is in prison having confessed to a crime he did not commit (to ensure Joy would not get a third strike and go away for life).

Now Earl a.k.a. Prisoner 28301-016 is needing all the help he can get to make sure he survives his two and a half year sentence. Choosing between joining the White Supremacists or the Old Guy gang, Earl goes with age (and saves his hair, which he refuses to shave for the White Supremacists). The Old Guys are thrilled Earl joins up with them because they need protection, too leaving Earl with the option to punch an old dude to solidify his own protection from the other prisoners who will leave him alone. All except for Glen, an Earl-hater since childhood (his long path in and out of prison began when Earl got the Camden Scout Glen arrested for breaking and entering after a dog attack when they were boys).

When Glen and Earl are in "The Hot Box" together, Earl promises to make Glen a "shiv" so that Glen won’t kill Earl. After stealing a pair of glasses and giving the shiv to Glen, Earl is stabbed in the arm by Glen with his own shiv. Earl then learns that Glen always manages to screw up right before he’s up for parole for some reason (and did so again by stabbing Earl). Earl then realizes that he can cross Glen off of his list by helping him earn the two Camden Scout badges he needed to earn the Scout Honor Sash. Earl and Glen earn the badges and Glen redeems himself enough to be let out on parole.

Meanwhile on the outside, Randy is having a hard time adjusting to life without Earl. Joy promises Earl that Randy can live with her and Darnell because Earl is serving prison time for her. Randy drives the couple up the wall with his helplessness since Earl did everything with Randy and took care of him. Even Catalina’s sock-puppet, Little Earl, can’t substitute the real Earl for Randy (or Joy who hates it with a passion). When Randy won’t stop yelling for Joy to talk to him until he goes to sleep, she ties him up, duct tapes his mouth shut and puts a straw in the tape so he can breathe (he can only breathe through his mouth due to a deviated septum). Joy decides to make Randy more self-reliant and teaches him to cross the street by himself. Randy eventually becomes efficient enough to...break a car window so that he can go be in jail with Earl.

Overall, the episode was a funny and engaging season opener. Randy and Joy were hilarious as usual, although I feel bad for Randy since he is pretty helpless. I give the episode an A-.