The Professor (My Name Is Earl)

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My Name Is Earl episode

"The Professor"

Episode no.:

Prod. code:

1ALJ11

Airdate:

February 9, 2006

Writer(s):

Danielle Sanchez-Witzel

Director:

Marc Buckland

Guest star(s):

Christine Taylor as Professor Alex Meyers, Jacob Newman as Boy, Alan Conn as Psychology Student, George Frangides as Officer Bob Smiley, Kasan Butcher as Frat Guy, Noah Crawford as Young Earl, Anthony De Marco as Little Earl, Michael Taylor Gray as Waiter, Eric Larkin as Motel Manager, Samm Levine as Tom, Kevin Michael Walsh as Greg

"The Professor" is an episode of the American sitcom My Name Is Earl.

1 Synopsis
2 Quotes
3 The List
4 Trivia
5 Songs

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The guy in room 204 at the motel kills himself, so Catalina shows Earl and Randy some of the stuff up for grabs. They find a laptop computer, but the motel owner has already called dibs on it. However, Earl remembers one of the items on the list, "Stole a Laptop from a Car", and sees it as a sign to cross it off the list. Earl remembers when he first got the laptop, and liked to watch the fish swim across the screen (which is actually the screensaver), his favorite being the blue one, which he calls Poncho.

Earl and Randy drive off to the parking lot where Earl stole the laptop, while Randy tries to find more information on the owner in the laptop. However, Randy activates the screensaver, and Earl is distracted by Poncho swimming around. This causes Earl to run into a bus stop sign, knocking it over. Earl promises to fix it tomorrow, and adds it to The List as number 263, "Broke down bus stop sign while watching Poncho the blue fish".

Randy finds an address on the bottom of the laptop, and it turns out it belongs to an Alex Meyers at a nearby college. Earl has never been good around smart people, so he's a bit nervous when he goes to return the laptop. One their way, they find one of the fraternity houses, and Randy wants to stay and have some fun. Earl says that he can stay there until he comes back. Earl tries to find Alex Meyers and is surprised to find out Alex is a woman. Earl has never known how to handle himself around smart women, and his nervousness makes Alex afraid of him, resulting in her kicking him in the groin when he approaches her. He quickly explains that he is here to return the laptop he stole, and explains his List to her.

Alex finds it fascinating that Earl has simplified karma and is interested in his experiences with it, and she asks him to talk at her classes tomorrow. Earl, having become attracted to Alex, agrees, forgetting his promise to fix the bus stop sign. Immediately, bad things start to happen to Earl. After almost getting hit by a rocket at the Frat house, Earl remembers the bus stop sign, and thinks that the bad things are Karma punishing him for forgetting The List and spending time with Alex. Earl says he doesn't care, and that Alex is worth it.

Alex invites Earl to a cocktail party, and while there, Earl is attacked by bees. Earl explains to Alex that this is Karma punishing him, and that he has to cross something off his list. Earl tries to get a college student to punch him (to try to head off Karma), but the student is freaked out by Earl's swelling face (additionally, he is turned off from recreational drugs because of this). Earl goes outside, and tells Karma to do its worst, as Alex is worth it. Nothing happens, so Earl thinks he has won and goes to find Alex. However, Alex has also been attacked by bees. Earl realizes that if Karma can't get to him, it will go after those around him. Earl tells Alex that he can't be around her, as it would be too dangerous for her. Alex understands, and wishes Earl good luck in finishing his list.

Earl fixes the bus stop sign, and when he gets back to the motel, he finds a post card from Alex in the mail, telling him to never give up on his list, and reminding him that he has someone waiting for him when he finishes the list.

[edit] Quotes

Randy: "Hey look, Earl! They figured out a way to put booze in food!"
Earl: "I will not be Karma's bitch!"

[edit] The List

Main article: The List (My Name Is Earl)

Item	Number	Source	Status
Broke down Bus Stop sign while looking at Poncho the blue fish	263	1.16	Completed in 1.16 when Earl puts the sign back up
Stole laptop	37	1.16	Returned laptop to Professor Alex Meyers. (1.16)
Punched kid at Frostburg State University	264	1.16	Attempted when he tried to get kid to punch him back, but the kid refused. (1.16)

[edit] Trivia

The items hitting Earl (bottle rocket, bee, dart, possibly frisbee) were computer generated.
In this episode the professor that Earl speaks with states that karma is a much more complex process than "do good things and good things will happen to you", however in the "Connected Discourses" (Saṃyutta Nikāya) Karma is defined as just that-

Vipāka is the fruition of Kamma

"According to the seed that’s sown,

So is the fruit you reap there from,

Doer of good will gather good,

Doer of evil, evil reaps,

Down is the seed and thou shalt taste The fruit thereof."

(Saṃyutta Nikāya)

The shots of the college were filmed on the campus of UCLA.

Playing "Louie Louie" may be a reference to the song in "National Lampoon's Animal House"