Bad Karma (My Name Is Earl)

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My Name Is Earl episode

"Bad Karma"

Episode no.:

Prod. code:

Airdate:

September 19, 2006 (on DVD)

Writer(s):

Director:

Guest star(s):

Bad Karma was an episode of My Name Is Earl filmed specifically for the show's first season DVD.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Quotes
4 Songs

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The episode begins with actor Jason Lee appearing as himself in a Masterpiece Theatre-type setting telling the viewer about a "lost pilot" for the show, which he then presents.

The episode essentially retells the pilot explaining Earl's back story (albeit in a much more abbreviated form) up to the point where Earl is recovering in the hospital after being hit by a car.

In this version, however, rather than watching Last Call with Carson Daly and learning about karma, he watches an episode of Family Guy and hears Stewie Griffin talking about vengeance.

After recovering and moving into the motel (as he does in the pilot), Earl concludes that his life is miserable because he's let people walk over him all his life. He procedes to make a list of people that have "screwed him over", and intends to get back at each of them.

While Earl begins keying any car in the parking lot nicer than his own, Catalina finds Earl's winning lottery ticket and quits without telling Earl what she's found.

Earl plans to get back at Kenny James for making him feel stupid but doesn't know where he lives. So he goes to Kenny's parents house and begins smashing their beloved collection of ceramic birds to force them to talk, before Randy finds Kenny's address in the phone book.

On the way to Kenny's, Earl and Randy stop off at Joy and Darnell's trailer. He knocks them both out with a phone (just as Joy did to him in the pilot) and proceeds to shave both their heads.

Earl later decides the best way to make Kenny feel stupid is to trick him into having sex with a man. To that end, he enlists the help of Sandy a transvestite prostitute (also played by Jason Lee).

Kenny later finds Sandy in his home and, being gay just as he was in the real pilot, is in fact quite interested in Sandy once he finds out Sandy is a man.

Earl and Randy sneak in to see Kenny reaction and are shocked to find the two having sex. As they run out of Kenny's house, Earl is run over by a car again. The car is driven by a now-bald Joy and Darnell, who run over Earl again and kill him when they see who it is.

The scene then fades to Randy, now sporting a mustache like Earl, looking at Earl's obituary, and musing that it's now his show, which he names My Name Is Randy.

The show then returns to Jason Lee who tells viewers to watch the next episode in which the ghost of Earl visits "Sahara's own Matthew McConaughey."

[edit] Trivia

This episode never aired on television and is only available on the first season DVD.
As we see from scenes playing both Sandy and himself, part of this was filmed after Jason Lee had shaved off his mustache (which he was required to have for the first season). He's clearly wearing a fake mustache in the scene introducing Sandy.
In the pilot Randy asks Earl to share the vicodins he got from the hospital, though Earl doesn't. In this version, he does.
In this episode, after introducing his list to Randy and Catalina in the motel, he goes outside to key cars in the parking lot. In the pilot, he goes outside to pick up trash and the parking lot is empty.
As with every other picture, Earl's eyes are closed in the picture in his obituary.
A news paper article on Catalina getting the winning lottery ticket reaveals her last name to be Aruca.
Many of the items on the vengeance list parody the ones on Earl's real list, for example "peed in the back of a cop car" becomes "let a cop beat me up for peeing in the back of his car".