My Name Is Earl“No Heads and a Duffel Bag”
Original Air Date: April 17th, 2008
Laura Kelley - TwoCents Reviewer
Though Earl remains comatose, Randy is continuing on with his mission to get Earl out of his coma by crossing items off Earl’s karma list. This week, Randy was also determined to cheer Earl up, even if that means supplying Earl with an IV drip including “added cobbler.” So, readers, next time I am hospitalized, you know what to do. To cross “ruined dad’s vacation” off the list, Randy and Joy go to visit Mr. and Mrs. Hickey, who don’t know about Earl’s recent stint in prison or his coma because Randy forgot to tell them.
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My Name Is Earl
ReplyDelete“No Heads and a Duffel Bag”
Original Air Date: April 17th, 2008
Laura Kelley - TwoCents Reviewer
Though Earl remains comatose, Randy is continuing on with his mission to get Earl out of his coma by crossing items off Earl’s karma list. This week, Randy was also determined to cheer Earl up, even if that means supplying Earl with an IV drip including “added cobbler.” So, readers, next time I am hospitalized, you know what to do. To cross “ruined dad’s vacation” off the list, Randy and Joy go to visit Mr. and Mrs. Hickey, who don’t know about Earl’s recent stint in prison or his coma because Randy forgot to tell them.
Ever since Earl was conceived on their honeymoon, Earl’s father had been afraid to ever go on vacation. He relented and planned a trip to American Samoa and, in an ill-advised move, appointed Earl and Randy to house-sit. After their parents leave for the airport, the boys search for liquor. When they can’t find any, Joy accompanies them to the liquor store because it’s “tick-tock, booze o’clock.” For the third week in a row, Joy got the best line of the night. Joy has left her “variety pack” kids with a babysitter she dislikes even though she “doesn’t want them spending too much time in two-story houses; they’ll start thinkin’ about colleges and vaccinations.” While leaving the liquor store where Joy refuses to buy Randy flavored vodka because it’s for “sissies and pregnant women,” they grab the wrong bag only to discover it’s filled with marijuana. Being the enterprising folks they are, they decide to sell the weed, and return to the store to buy baggies and more booze. They can’t, because the cashier won’t accept pot as payment. Joy laments that she “can’t trade a clump of pot for groceries anymore, we need to get a democrat back in office.” Seeing as how we’re in an election year, I thought that was a brilliant line. The owner of the duffel bag finds Joy, Randy, and Earl, and holds them at gunpoint. When they arrive at home to return the drugs to their owner, the Hickeys have already found them, and Mr. Hickey has burned them. Earl, Randy and their father go to replace the pot while the dealer holds Joy hostage, and they go to Darnell for help. He refers them to another dealer, and we find out that Earl’s father hates drugs because his wife accidentally got high at Woodstock and desperately wanted to remove all her hair. While they are on their mission, Joy recognizes the dealer as a boy she called “floor finger sucker” in high school due to his panic attacks, and (no surprise here) he tells Joy that he “wasn’t the only one with a nickname that ended in sucker.” Earl’s mother, who is upstairs, accidentally gets high again, which causes her to be “so hungry she could kill a child.” I’m sure we’ll be quoting that for weeks to come. The guys go to Earl and Randy’s future hotel room to replace the pot, where they run into a tragically coiffed Catalina. Earl’s father attacks a man with a bong and they return home with the drugs
Mr. Hickey reveals to an unconscious Earl that the experience made him feel alive, and he tells Earl he is thankful for what happened because it proved to him he could protect his family. He also, in a really touching moment, tells his son he never gave up on him and never will. So, in the end, “ruined dad’s vacation” is crossed off the karma list after all. I loved this episode, and I was really glad that it didn’t stick to the format of the last two with part of it happening in Earl’s subconscious. Beau Bridges was great as Earl’s dad, and Joy got more screen time than last week, which is always great. What did everyone think of “No Heads and a Duffel Bag?” Was it a welcome change of form or do you wish Earl was back already?