My Name Is Earl: 3.21-3.22 ‘Camdenites’ Recap
May 18, 2008 by Chandra
Original Air Date: May 15, 2008
Watching the one-hour My Name Is Earl season finale made me realize something — the show is very rarely funny anymore. When I do laugh, it’s usually at the ridiculous sight gag-type situations, such as Randy falling over after a driver throws a bagful of garbage at him when he’s doing what Billie wants him to in order to “earn” a Klondike bar. (Get it? The ice cream’s advertising tag line is “What would you do for a Klondike bar?” So, Randy would do just about anything, including humiliate himself, for one.)
More often than not, even the visual stuff doesn’t work as intended, though, which means as it stands now, Earl is one unfunny sitcom; you have to really care about the characters to get anything out of it. I laughed twice, tops, as I watched this two-parter: once during the aforementioned Klondike pratfall and once when either Randy or Joy said something else stupid; I can’t remember which one or what was said, a fact that’s telling in itself.
The main premise of “Camdenites” is that Earl’s marriage to Billie sucks, primarily because she’s painfully cheap, controlling, and annoying. But, Earl has to rely on her money now after spending all of his own. This puts him in a bind since he can’t figure out why Karma would hook him up with his literal dream woman, who was so loving and doting and perfect in his coma sitcom, and then have her turn out to be such a turn off.
A discussion with his mom (Nancy Lenehan) for advice leads Earl to realize his father has survived decades of marriage to his mother — whom Billie has nothing on in the annoying department — by working all the time to stay away from home. Earl decides to follow suit and focus on his Karma list, which leads him to #86, Didi (Tracy Ashton), the one-legged woman whose car he stole. After he hops a mile in her shoe as instructed, she allows Earl to cross her off his list, and things improve with Billie.
Now convinced that setting things right with all the women he’s slighted is the way to go, Earl moves on to #204, the time he seduced seven virgins from the Amish-style Camdenite community during their 21-day stay in the real world as a traditional rite of passage. Earl’s act ruined the community because it established a trend: instead of returning after realizing the outside world is too harsh, having sex and fun with Earl convinced the women to permanently leave repressed Camdenite.
Earl’s attempt to convince Greta (Deborah Ann Woll), the latest young woman eligible to experience the outside world for 21 days, that she should return to Camdenite after three weeks leads to two positive results: simple Randy finds a mutual sweetheart in simple Greta when he spends all of his time getting her accustomed to modern society, and Billie learns rigid Camdenite is exactly what she needs because the hard work and communality help control her anger and penchant for crime.
The double episode closes with Billie first asking Earl for a divorce so she can make a fresh start in the Camdenite community and then giving him the remainder of her insurance settlement, $72,000, so he can keep doing good. Let’s also hope Earl showrunners do good by rediscovering how to make the series funny again between now and the fall. If not, fans are in for another season-long slog through what’s currently more of a quirky drama than a proper sitcom.
