My Name Is Earl“Nature’s Game Show”
Original Air Date: Nov 20, 2008
Laura Kelley, TwoCents Reviewer
laurakelley@thetwocentscorp.com
This week’s episode started with a surprise: Randy yelling at Earl because he’s tired of doing things on the list. Joy is yelling at Darnell about how MacGyver should be president, and even Catalina is angry. Randy takes the list, opens the door, and it gets blown away by a tornado. In Camden County, though, tornadoes can be a blessing.
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[photo: Byron Cohen/NBC]
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My Name Is Earl
ReplyDelete“Nature’s Game Show”
Original Air Date: Nov 20, 2008
Laura Kelley, TwoCents Reviewer
laurakelley@thetwocentscorp.com
This week’s episode started with a surprise: Randy yelling at Earl because he’s tired of doing things on the list. Joy is yelling at Darnell about how MacGyver should be president, and even Catalina is angry. Randy takes the list, opens the door, and it gets blown away by a tornado. In Camden County, though, tornadoes can be a blessing.
Tornadoes are nature’s game show because whatever is left on the ground after one is fair game. Catalina isn’t used to this strange custom, so when Patti steals her purse, she pulls a gun on her. In the trailer park, Joy finds a bible and believes she did so for a reason.
Darnell disagrees, and Joy finally gets him to admit that he does think he’s smarter than she is. So, Joy does what I’m pretty sure is equivalent to an IQ test and challenges Darnell to the only board game invented by doctors, Operation. Randy ended up being thrown onto the roof in the tornado, and now refuses to come inside when they get word that another is on the way.
So, Randy takes up residence in a found boat. Catalina is hit by Joy’s Bible, which knocks the gun from her hand, and she and Patti take this as a sign. So, Catalina gives back the stuff she stile and says, “I know I say this all the time to get bigger tips, but I truly have been a very bad girl.” Speaking of bad girls, Joy tries to prove to her kids that she’s smarter by “making silver dollar pancakes with a lighter and a spoon, heroin-style.” I can’t promise I won’t ever try it, but it sounds pretty dangerous.
Because Randy refuses to come inside, Earl shoots at him twice, but nothing happens. They become convinced that God has made Randy invincible, maybe so they can “get so much ass,” and they compromise that they will split their time doing things each one wants to do. The gun is blown away, and it lands in the hands of Earl Junior, but Joy takes it away because he’s not 13 yet. Darnell is slammed through a trailer, and Joy has to wheel him to the hospital.
On the way, she meets Earl, who is trying to convince Patti and Catalina to come inside because another tornado is on the way. He does, but only because Patti “has too many diseases to give up now.” The door to their safe place is locked, but Joy “MacGyvers” it using a propane tank, gum, a hose, and the gun that shoots blanks. Darnell realizes that Joy is smart, after all. Randy reveals that he found the old list after the first tornado, and wonders aloud if God is losing his mind since they can’t figure out what the events of the day meant.
This was, for me, the weakest episode of the season so far. Joy was great, but I didn’t like Catalina’s part and I thought the special effects were weird. I did love the Darnell/Joy storyline, but this one didn’t really compare to last week’s episode. What did you guys think? Leave us your TwoCents in the comments below!