TVSquad

(S02E05) I always wanted to be in a band. Sure, I thought it would make me much cooler to girls, but I also imagined myself as someone who can bring pure musical joy to others. And then, of course, I woke up.

Earl had pretty much the same idea, but at least he took the big step of actually getting on stage and performing. OK, so Phish Tahko didn't exactly set the world on fire, and Earl and the band suffered the same fate that most bands that didn't make it suffered from--women and booze. Of course, in Earl's case, things got a bit messy.

At the beginning of the story, Earl wanted to do the right thing and cross off Number 50 on his list--"Kicking the lead singer out of my band." Tom Sparks, an old guy who worked the drive-in window at the local fast food joint, impressed Earl, Randy, and Ralph (Giovanni Ribisi) enough to be in their band (originally called "Van Hickey").

However, as is the case in most bands, egos take over, and Tom gets voted out. The boys really had no reason to do it, but they did, and the band played their one and only gig at the Crab Shack. The impression I got was that they played Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein," but without an organ--just guitar, bass, and drums. Must have been an interesting version.

After the gig, the band members party down with some local babes, but Earl's date is passed out from drinking, and the only available woman was Ralph's mother. In a drunken stupor, Earl ends up sleeping with her, and that's where the fun begins. The best line of the episode was when Earl describes the situation: "She wasn't young, but she was conscious."

It goes without saying that if you end up sleeping with your friend's parent, your friendship is bound to take a few twists and turns. Suffice to say that Ralph vows to kill Earl because of what he had done. Earl tries his best to get out of the situation, but nothing seems to work. Ralph even offers him a way out by asking Earl if he could sleep with his mother, but Earl's mom doesn't exactly comply.

When Ralph finally pulls a gun on Earl and the end looks like it is near, Earl blurts out that he would have married Ralph's mother because she was such a fine woman. Kinda creepy, but if you have a loaded gun =aimed at your temple, what would you do?

Earl goes through with the wedding, and you can bet that many weird Oedipal-like thoughts enter into your mind. However, it does look rather domestic, and Ralph and Randy seem to behave like good children (drinking yourself to sleep will calm things down, usually).

However, there's one thing missing from this lovely scene--sex. It seems that Earl can't bring himself to "fulfill [my] husbandly duties. Ralph's mom definitely wanted some good lovin', but Earl keeps coming up with excuses to get out of it. In a weird twist, Ralph threatens to kill Earl again because he isn't satisfying his mother. (Try explaining THAT to your analyst!)

Earl vows to do it after Phish Tahko's gig, and Tom is back as the lead singer. Earl gets blind drunk in order to steel himself to do the deed, but it turns out that Ralph's mom runs off with Tom because, as Earl says, chicks dig the lead singer. The marriage gets annulled, and everybody seems reasonably happy.

All in all, a very weird yet wonderful episode. I never thought the subject of sexual relations between a guy and his friend's mother could be the basis of a sitcom episode, but it worked here. As I've said here before, My Name Is Earl makes great use of music, and the featured songs here included the aforementioned "Frankenstein", The Guess Who's "No Sugar Tonight", Willie Nelson's "Whiskey River," and Styx's "Mr. Roboto".

We did see Joy doing some volunteer work at the old folks' home at the beginning on the advice of her lawyer, so some courtroom scenes should be on their way.