My Name Is Earl: 4.03 ‘Joy in a Bubble’ Recap

Original Air Date: October 2, 2008

This episode of My Name Is Earl threw me off at the end, in a very. very good way. Read on to find out why.

One day while Earl is driving Catalina to work, he spies a hot tub along the side of the road that reminds him he owes Joy one. Back in the day, when they were married, she landed a gig as a spokesmodel for a hot tub company but never made it in.

While she was spraying a can of aerosol hairspray on her hair (and most of the rest of her upper body), Earl came over and set the whole trailer on fire when he tried to light a cigarette. Duh! Since Joy was supposed to be paid with a free hot tub, Earl considers himself responsible for payment in kind.

Although a homeless man named Joe is living underneath the hot tub on the highway, he quickly trades it for a stick of deodorant, which he promptly heats. Later, Joy is so thrilled about her new luxury item, she marinates in it for hours on end.

Unfortunately, Joe has an infection that Joy contracts in the form of a highly contagious flesh-eating staph infection on her right big toe. The digit turns bright red, swells up to the size of a tennis ball, and even oozes a milky substance sometimes. Nasty!

When Darnell becomes unable to function properly at home with Joy and her big toe on the loose, she agrees to live inside of a plastic enclosure until she’s fully healed. The tradeoff, however, is that Earl has to be her while she’s out of commission.

During Earl’s forced servitude, Joy asks him to take Dodge and Earl Jr. to the park after school because they don’t have any friends, according to her. After Earl arrives at the school, he learns different. A parent, Phyllis Woo Hoo, reveals the boys have plenty of friends, but their parents can’t stand Joy.

So, Earl gets Phyllis to invite the boys to her son’s birthday party at the park in exchange for Earl’s promise not to tell vindictive Joy. Of course, Joy finds out anyway when Earl shows up at home without the boys, and she races out of the house, intent on ruining the party.

Now here’s the unexpected part: Earl chases after Joy to contain the damage. Yet, instead of finding her on a typical bloody rampage, he sees Joy sitting in the parking lot, sadly watching her children have a good time. It turns out Joy realizes her “strong” — to put it mildly — personality has a time and a place, and as Earl reassures her, she wouldn’t understand that if she were a bad mother.

All together now: “Awww!!!” Good episode with an unexpectedly mellow and touching conclusion. More, please.