My Name is Earl Fodder

My Name Is Earl: Creative Writing

Watch the episode here.

I liked this episode. I know a lot of people are going to call it a shark-jumping episode, but I really liked this episode. This show just isn't afraid to push the envelope and do some flat-out goofy stuff. Me? I like goofy. And I like this show. And I really liked this episode. And not just because it featured Catalina and Joy in tight low-cut red gowns (more on that later). Although that didn't hurt. Anywaist, let's get to recappin'!

It's bedtime for Earl and the other cons at the Camden County Jail. Sorry, boys. No cocoa, no bedtime story, no goodnight smoochie. Just enough darkness to feel like you're not in prison, and then whammo, the yard lights come blaring in through the barred windows and our poor boy Earl is feeling trapped, starkly reminded that he's sharing sleeping quarters with rapists, murderers, arsonists, and rapists.

But Earl is not the only one to be feeling trapped. Poor Darnell is stuck working at the Crabshack where he is forced against his kind and gentle nature to murder poor defenseless crustaceans by chunking them into a pot of boiling water. Mmmmm tasty -- And what about poor lovely Catalina? She's feeling trapped in a stunningly hot body with soft brown eyes that pull you in like quicksand and long luscious hair where a small child might hide and pray for the storm to quietly pass. And Joy? She's feeling trapped by two horrific monsters posing as her sons. And Randy just has his hand trapped in a pickle jar. Why is the one on the bottom always the tastiest?

Back in the hoosgow, Earl is attending a Prison Creative Writing class. Actually, this whole episode felt to me like a peyote and tequila-induced exercise in creative writing, but doggonit, I still liked this episode plenty. Earl's class is being led by a small heavily-armored woman who reminded me of Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet in Spaceballs. But she has a way with words. She is a creative writing teacher after all. And she tells the class that creative writing is a great way to escape from prison. In your imagination. She wants the class to make up a story with themselves as the main character. One poor fellow is going to have to take a pass because he just found out the hard way that while the pen might be mightier than the sword, a pen makes a helluva sword if you ain't got a sword.

Back in his bunk, Earl is putting pen to paper, but there's no ink or creative juices flowing. Earl's VO tells us that Earl thought he had a good imagination, but that must have just been his imagination. Earl's bunkmate Sonny (aka Mr. Invisible) is writing a story about a gymnast and the whupping that Sonny is giving him. Sonny tells Earl to just close his eyes and look inside his brain. Earl does, but all he sees is a whole lotta nothin'. But Sonny's gymnast puts in an appearance looking buff and bulging in all the wrong places.

Earl is commiserating with Randy. Randy's staring at the ceiling light, apparently practicing for an eclipse-staring contest. Or maybe it was symbolism for an idea -- this is after all an episode about creative writing. Anyway, Randy asks Earl what's the big deal about writing something creative? He's just spit-balling here, but what about a story about a guy in a boat chasing a whale? Nah, says Earl. Nobody'd wanna read something like that. I dunno -- seems like there's a nugget of potential there if you ask me.

But Randy will not be denied. He starts writing his own story --

Randy's completing his 1000th chin-up, And who's counting chin-ups for Randy? Why, it's none other than H.R. Pufnstuf (played by Van Snowden). But the commissioner (Darnell) is on the hotline - Earl and Catalina are in trouble at the Crabshack! No, says Randy. Trouble's in trouble. With Richard the Orangutan behind the wheel of Randy's El Camino, it's off to the Crabshack where Randy is looking to " -- kick some ass and drink some beers -- " Randy and HRP outsmart a Sumo with a bazooka and a puppet sniper and then kick some ninjas' asses. And then drink some beers. But not before snap, crackle, pop Randy breaks Ninja Joy's neck. Rescued Earl wants some money for the claw machine, and the boy's enjoy a hearty laugh. Coupla real nice tie-ins to last week's episode what with the orang and Pufnstuf.

BTW - the head criminal just happens to be Kevin (Brandon Ficara), the horned freak from last season's Sticks and Stones episode, who kind of had a Dr. Evil thing going on in this ep.

Back in reality, Randy's drawn up his very own movie poster in case Hollywood comes a-calling. He'd been diagnosed as "borderline artistic" as a child. Money well-spent on that diagnosis lemme tell ya.

Earl's going to try again. He closes his eyes, the pen hits the paper, and Sonny's gymnast is back. Earl's got writer's block. Not so much as a doodle. And a bulgy gymnast swinging on rings ain't helping.

Randy's talking with Joy, telling her that she should write. Joy's much better at this than Earl, and she whips up a story from out of thin air. "Once upon a time Randy shutup the end." Ernest Hemingway should be so terse. Joy's got bigger things on her mind, specifically Dodge and Earl Jr. The boys have trashed the trailer and haven't done their homework yet. Joy's about to open up a family-size can of whup-ass, but she takes Randy's advice and starts writing. Bic, take me away!

"Once upon a long long time ago pretty far away -- "

I know that sounds like something I've heard before, but I just can't place it.

Joy's creative writing comes off more like Robert Smigel animated short. To scare the boys, she tells the story of a big dumb porn-star-mustached flannel-shirt-wearing beer-swilling dummy who didn't do his homework and ended up getting run over by a train, and his messy and sticky brother who was so messy and sticky he ended up getting Canada stuck to him and falling off the planet where he landed on God's desk only to get squished by God's coffee mug. She ended her story by telling the boys, "Listen to what I say or God will kill you." Reminded me of Jack Handey's Deep Thought, "Rain is God crying, probably because of something you did."

Even Darnell is having more luck at writing than Earl. Darnell is trying to come to terms with his crustacean-killing ways. Cue Crabman video extraordinaire. See Darnell's music video here.The whole gang gets in on Darnell's homage to the underrated and over-eaten crustacean in this plea to the seafood lovers of the world to Respect the Meat (" -- even in Crete."). Earl busts some raps, Randy reclines, and Joy and Catalina sing and dance wearing some very flattering dresses that show off their very respectable talents. Chigga chigga chigga chigga chigga chigga pinch. Gotta love it. Unless you're a crab. Which I'm not. So I did.

Bobby Bowman, the writer of this episode, left the best for last. The lovely Catalina is whacking her crab (no dirty pun there) at the Crabshack, and she's feeling bad for Darnell because he's feeling bad about killing crabs. The soft-shelled edible kind, and not the oh-my-God-why-does-my-crotch-itch kind. She tells him that he should stop naming all the crabs that he kills just like the people in her village back home had to do with their children because the local junta kept taking them. Darnell tells her that she's got lots of great stories in her head and that she should write them down. Oh but where to find the time? Two full-time jobs and a loony stalker take up so much of one's day. But she finds the time, and dadgummit Catalina's saga is a beaut.

Cue Mexican soap opera opening credits for Catalina: Woman of a Thousand Tears. Catalina plays a stripper named Catalina who dances to pay the ransom for her kidnapped big-toe-less brother. She's about to be married and lose her virginity to Javier, a flip-flops tycoon. But Evil Joy drops a dime on Catalina's stripping ways to righteous Javier, and he calls off the nuptials. But Catalina pleads her case and Javier takes her back. Her brother is freed, and Catalina's virginity, one assumes, es no mas. This special episode of Catalina: Woman of a Thousand Tears was brought to you by Frijoles de Garcia. Dios mio.

Earl has all but given up on his creative writing. He's not even as imaginative as a stripper who can't come up with a more imaginative name for her stripper character than her own name. But all is not lost. Earl jots down some regular stuff, nothing big, nothing overly creative, just regular everyday stuff that means something to him. Ordinary stuff like hanging out with the gang and listening to the juke at the Crabshack, quaffing mugs of cold beer, and chowing down on some chicken wings. As Earl reads his story to the other imprisoned authors to the Grateful Dead's Ripple, he realizes that when it's taken away, your ordinary life is your best fantasy. Write about what you know and care about, and you can never go too far wrong. The other prisoners agree, and they give Earl a standing O. Roll credits.

---

Posted by Randy on October 18, 2007 11:17 PM
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