My Name is Earl“Orphan Earl”
Original Air Date: Dec 11, 2008
Laura Kelley - TwoCents Reviewer
laurakelley@thetwocentscorp.com
It’s the Crab Shack’s Christmas tradition: if you get so drunk that you pass out, you get decorated for the holiday. As Randy is struggling to separate the comics from the obituaries in the paper, Darnell is forced to break out the fire extinguisher and put out a wino whose festive decorations have caught fire. It’s a safe bet that this also is a Camden County tradition.
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My Name is Earl
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Original Air Date: Dec 11, 2008
Laura Kelley - TwoCents Reviewer
laurakelley@thetwocentscorp.com
It’s the Crab Shack’s Christmas tradition: if you get so drunk that you pass out, you get decorated for the holiday. As Randy is struggling to separate the comics from the obituaries in the paper, Darnell is forced to break out the fire extinguisher and put out a wino whose festive decorations have caught fire. It’s a safe bet that this also is a Camden County tradition.
Outside the bar, Joy is asked by a bum to loan him $20 because his wife sold her hair for baby formula, so she does what comes naturally and brings him inside so everyone can laugh at him. This reminds Earl of #201 on his list: conned an old man out of $100. Back when he was married to Joy, she came up with a scheme to make money off “sad African children.” So she and Earl start handing out pamphlets about how nine of ten African kids dies every second.
Earl tells Randy it’s a scam, which breaks the second rule of a good scam. The day after the Crab Shack party, Earl and Randy go to visit Mr. Hill, the man Joy and Earl conned. Meanwhile, Randy decides to taste things that aren’t food and record his findings in a book called “I’ve Got a Curious Tongue.” Earl is shocked to discover that Mr. Hill has been sending Joy checks every month in exchange for photos of Dodge dressed up as a starving child. So they head to Joy’s trailer, where Randy learns that Darnell’s hair tastes “just like marijuana,” and Earl learns that all Joy’s friends (all 2 of them) have gotten Mr. Hill to donate to their various fake causes as well.
While Randy is trying to read the comics, he finds Mr. Hill’s obituary in the paper, and it says that all his money was left to his favorite charities. Earl and Randy go to Mr. Hill’s house to get his will, and they’re followed by Joy and her friends. Joy steals the will from Randy, but Earl makes it to the lawyer first. But in exchange for sex with Joy’s fat friend Tammy, the lawyer says he’ll make the fake charities legal if they go to a loan shark and get him $5,000. They do so, but are forced into ruin when it turns out that the whole thing was an elaborate con set up by none other than Earl.
Earl tells Mr. Hill what Joy and her friends have done, but when he sees the suffering that is happening at the trailer park, Mr. Hill gives them money to help out. Earl learns to be kind to those who’ve wronged you, and he gets Joy’s fridge back and gives Randy a book to record all his tastings.
I thought this was a really well done episode. We got scheming Joy, but better than that, we got scheming Earl, which is always nice to see. Randy got to lick a cactus, and some of Camden County’s residents learned something about charity. What did you all think of this episode? Leave your Two Cents in the comments, and have a great holiday hiatus!
This immediately became a Christmas favorite for me, not just a good My Name is Earl episode. More clever than most Christmas programs. To me, that old man WAS Santa Claus
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