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My Name is Earl

Bad Earl

Season 3, Episode 13, Aired Jan 10, 2008

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8.6

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After Earl finally gets out of prison, he starts working on his list again, but when he finds that Ralph is getting rewarded for doing something bad, he begins to doubt the principle of Karma.

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Paul Korda

Garry
GUEST STAR
Julanne Chidi Hill
GUEST STAR
Linda Porter

Doris Johannsen

Jason Lee

Earl J. Hickey
Ethan Suplee

Randy Hickey
Jaime Pressly

Joy Turner
Eddie Steeples

Darnell Turner
Nadine Velazquez

Catalina

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Fan Episode Reviews (7)

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Earl finds that life outside of prison is worse than it was before. He decides that he has done no better when he was doing things on his list and give up on karma.moreless

5.9

"Mediocre"

By animalgrace, May 24, 2010

I really don't know whay happened to this series. Have all the good ideas been taken? I still get a laugh (at least a few) out of each episode. But it is nothing compared to the side splitting action of the first seasons.
I was happy Earl is out of prison, the prison episodes were some of my least favorite Earl episodes. But now that he is out, he is stuggling with himself over Karma. And I guess that's pretty normal, but this isn't normal. This isn't real life, this is My Name is Earl for goodness sake!

I really love the good Earl, really hate the bad Earl. But that is not why I didn't particularly like this episode, or this season for that matter. Maybe the whole idea of putting Earl in prison and taking him back down to nothing was to get him back to his original level. He did, by the way, get a real job and a real place to live, and a real girlfriend. I suppose that is not all that funny. Maybe there are only so many ways storyline wise you could go with that.
I was afraid they were running out of ideas with the episode Our Other Cops is On!. Now I'm just plain convinced.
I did enjoy the scenes where Earl is wearing the nipple tassels. That was classic. However, it would have been better if he had been more into making a good show of it.
And I have to admit, the ending was pure genius. And I am curious to see where this goes. I was hoping to see more of Marlee Matlin, but I guess they ran out of deaf jokes.moreless
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...This is it? After waiting half a season for Earl to get out of jail they make this waste of time.

5.0

"Mediocre"

By MBXIII, May 24, 2010

*SPOILERS*I highly anticipated the return of the series with this episode. Earl gets out of jail which is worth the wait itself. But this episode lacked something, u'de expect something amazing but this episode was highly disappointing. Earl stops believing in karma, ok thats not a bad idea for an episode, but the episode had no significant event in it. And the way he meets frank's girl is funny but the CG for when the car crashes into her was horribly old school. Kind of dumb to state that Earl falls in love with her that easily, u'de expect something more entertaining tbh.moreless
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Earl's back to being bad!

9.0

"Superb"

By jimbo_001, May 02, 2008

This episode is great, and has a really good conflict between Earl and karma, with Earl abandoning his list and going back to being bad, though even worse than he was before because he even betrays his friends.

Ralph was funny as always, and the crazy old lady was a great plot, as was Earl getting used to living out of prison, and the insane twist ending, with a wrapper chasing Earl before he's once again hit by a car. Then of course, the episode goes one step further and hits Billie with a car as well.

Overall, the episode is very good and is much better than having Earl automatically go back to his list, and on top of everything, it's hilarious.moreless
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In an effort to extend the season due to the WGA strike, NBC showed this Christmas episode in January. Guess what? Totally worth the wait.

9.0

"Superb"

By shocker713, Jan 11, 2008

When we last saw Earl, it had become quite evident that he was slowly slipping away from the do-gooder we'd come to know. And when Earl realizes that a good deed got him in jail, more good deeds got him in the hole, and a bad deed got him out, he had every reason to turn to the dark side, especially after discovering how good Ralph had it.

Needless to say, it was interesting seeing Bad Earl back, but like Earl's friends, we expect that from the rest of the crew, not Earl.

Having Tim Stack at Earl's "inter-invention" was a stroke of genius, as those of us loyal Earl viewers will remember that Tim was scheduled to appear on a certain A&E show. And the words that were spoken at the intervention demonstrate that character development of the rest of the cast over the past two and a half years.

In the end, we're left with a cliffhanger, as Karma decides to punish Earl the best way she knows how. If the season has to end here (which it looks like it will), it's not a bad way to end it.moreless
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Bad Earl is back

9.5

"Superb"

By lostcy, Jan 11, 2008

After he is being released from the prison, Earl finds difficulties re-adjusting outside. He is broke,homeless and he believes that karma does not exists since it has not rewarded him for the good acts he has done so far. Therefore, he decides to go back to being a bad person and stop helping people.
When Earl meets Ralph, his old buddy from the prison, having a better life than him he gets mad and he tries to take his place. He manages to achieve that.
In the end, his friends and family gather to convince Earl to go back being a kind person but he refuses. Afterwards, Earl gets hit by a car, just like in the very first episode of the series, and lies on the road. The driver who hit him was Billie, a woman he met in the prison and since then he has not stop thinking of her. Earl thinks that this was the reward that he has been waiting for but suddenly another car hits Billie and she lies on the road too. They are both unconscious.
The episode was great, it's nice to see Earl in the outside again.
I give it 95/10.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Featured Music: "Blue Christmas" by Willie Nelson (Earl in Ralph's front yard) "Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman (Closing scene)
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QUOTES (4)
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- Randy: I've had a candy corn stuck in my ear since I was nine. Sometimes it attracts ants.
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- Earl: By the way, you can't sleep inside. Randy: What? Where am I gonna sleep? There's no room at the motel, and it's Christmas Eve. I'm just like Jesus' baby.
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- Earl: What are you all doing here? Get out, now! Randy: Nobody's leaving until you listen to what we have to say. We're here to save you from yourself. It's called an 'invention'. Joy: It's called an 'interinvention', dummy!
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- Earl: (to Randy) I'm beginning to think this Karma thing doesn't exist. Think about it, Randy. I got the idea from Carson Daly. A talk show host. A talk show host that's on after two other talk show hosts. What's that tell you?
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NOTES (3)
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- International Episode Titles: Czech Republic: Ve starých kolejích (Sliding Into Old Bad Habits)
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- Original International Air Dates: Canada: December 20, 2007 on NTV Denmark: June 20, 2008 on TV3+ Norway: September 3, 2008 on TV3 Slovenia: September 25, 2008 on Kanal A Belgium: June 5, 2009 on 2BE Czech Republic: June 22, 2010 on Prima COOL
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- Originally scheduled for December 13, but preempted by an hour long episode of "The Office".
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- The scene in which Earl holds the burger wrapper up to the sky, runs into the road and is hit by a car is almost identical to a scene from the Pilot episode. In the Pilot, Earl holds aloft the winning lottery ticket before running into the road and getting hit by a car.
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