My Name is Earl: Lost His Father's Car

It would not be a stretch to say that fathers and sons have complicated relationships, Yes, I know, so do mothers and daughters and fathers and daughters and mothers and sons. For the purposes of this discussion, let's agree to accept that first premise.

As we've seen during the season, Earl Hickey's past has disappointed many people, not too mention his parents, especially his father Carl (played by the great Beau Bridges). We saw in an earlier episode the many times Carl had to bail his son out of jail for his petty crimes, so it would be fair to say that Carl is not that enamored of his oldest son. (Randy isn't exactly the star of the family either, but he seems to have a longer leash than Earl.)

The basic premise of the episode was that when Earl and Randy finally decide to give their mother a decent Mother's Day gift, what she really wants is for Earl to do something nice for his father. It turns out that back when Earl was 11 years old, he lost his father's classic Mustang in a drag race to local "stud" Billy Reed. He never told his dad the truth of how the car was lost, but Carl has been disappointed in him ever since.

To make up for what happened long ago, Earl finds Billy Reed, who still thinks he's some sort of stud despite his appearance, and races him again for the Mustang, now a broken down relic that probably hasn't been driven in at least 20 years. With the help of Randy's pushing power, he wins, and gets the car back. Earl thinks he's made up for the past, but he learns that Carl really intended to give his son the car for his 16th birthday, and Earl comes around to thinking that he's got to make it up for himself.

He begins work on restoring the car, and Carl, who believes that Earl will give up on the project as he does with everything else, starts working on it with Earl. As they continue fixing up the car, both men begin to bond and grow closer. Earl tells his dad that he wants to keep the car at his parents' house, and Carl can drive it any time he wants. Definitely a feel-good moment.

This wasn't an out-and-out howler of an episode (despite the subplot of Joy sending her kids and Crabman away for a week so she could party like it's 1999), but I probably never identified better with Earl than this time around. There have been instances when I've disappointed my father over the years, but as time goes on, things do change for the better, and there are opportunities to bond and grow closer. If Earl and his dad can do it, so can we.