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My Name Is Earl: Very Bad Things (season premiere)
(S02E01) After a summer of anticipation, I was thrilled My Name Is Earl was back on the air beginning last night. I really enjoyed last season and am chomping at the bit to see how Earl Hickey continues to go about righting his past wrongs and crossing them off his list.
As I mentioned in my first look post the other day, it appears the writers and producers will seek to expand episode storylines and not necessarily have Earl cross something off his list every single week. This is a good thing because it will allow for more "complex" plots and character development (besides Earl).
The story premise here was that Earl never took Joy's side in any dispute when they were married, so he thought it would be nice to finally stand up for her. How did he know that he would get mixed up in a situation where stealing and kidnapping were part of the bargain? Why couldn't she understand that you just can't return a waterlogged TV to the store you got it from?
My question is how did Joy get the $3,000 to even buy the disappearing TV in the first place? She doesn't seem to have a steady job, and I can't imagine Crabman making a boatload of cash from his gig. It was pretty obvious that they wouldn't have been able to fit the TV in their trailer, though I did like them setting up their living room outside and the bikers riding through it. The line about Brittany Spears and Kevin Federline being "American Royalty" was the funniest one of the episode.
Of course, Earl does his best to get Joy out of the bad situation but, despite his best efforts, the guy in the stolen truck gets away and she may end up doing time. It looks like Earl will really need to go to the wall for Joy. Again, with Joy getting arrested and booked, Earl wasn't able to cross number 183 off his list, so this plays right into the thought of expanded storylines.
I still have issues with Randy being so weird (though him picking up the chip with his toes was worthy of praise). I complained at times last season that his non-sequitors were kind of off-putting, but overall he is a very good character and essential to the show.
In addition, My Name Is Earl makes great use of music throughout its stories. I loved the inclusion of Steve Miller's "Take The Money And Run" when Joy hopped aboard the truck and drove it away. When Earl was walking down the road to get gas for the truck and "Midnight Rider" was playing, it was actually rather poignant.
Next week should see the story get more interesting when Burt Reynolds makes a guest appearance. Hopefully we'll get to see Catalina as well.
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