My Name is Earl: Season 2, Episode 4 – “Larceny of a Kitty Cat”

Originally posted on October 13, 2006.

I think I am enjoying the new method of starting out with something on the list, but shuffling over to something only sort of related. The show has always had a way of moving in directions you’d never find on a map, so the disjointed way of crossing off a listed item is kind of fun.

This week’s episode involved finding a poor cat that Earl stole back when he was married to Joy. See Joy had entered a cat into a contest and was afraid that another cat, Sebastian, would win and so she sent Earl to go “Tonya Harding” on it. Earl steals the cat, but can’t break its little kitty legs and instead takes it to the “sleepy cat ladies” house.

This becomes #56 on the list and Earl heads over to the owner’s house to clear things up.

But first, I forgot to mention how Earl came to think of #56. Randy and Earl were walking when a black cat crossed their path, they turned to go the other way and the cat crossed across that way. So Earl and Randy had to sit on the sidewalk for three hours for the black cat curse to go away. As soon as the time was up the cat again crossed their path and thus reminded Earl of the list.

Sebastian’s owner Judy still holds a torch for the cat (and even has a shirt with Sebastian’s picture on it and the words “Have you seen me?”.) They trudge over to the “sleepy cat ladies” house and find Sebastian, a little bit older, and a lot fatter.

Meanwhile, Randy takes a shine to Judy and to woo her, pretends to love cats – though he is quite allergic in reality.

In the funniest segment of the night, we see a sequence of Randy’s past girlfriends and how he often pretends to be something he is not. There is the goth art chick, the Hasidic Jew, and the black power girl. They all like Randy until he acts more like himself and lets out something very un-kosher like “Did Martin Luther King’s dreams have aliens in them?”

Upon breakup, Randy goes through a long period of doing nothing but lip-synching along to Cyndy Lauper’s “Time After Time.”

Eventually Randy does tell Judy he doesn’t like cats and she agrees to give Sebastian away to be with him. Sebastian goes to Earl who decides the cat is list-worthy due to having to give up contests over what Earl did. So, Earl spends his time getting the cat in shape, while Randy continues to woo Judy.

The cat does get in shape, but only places second. Judy falls hard for Randy, but he begins to realize she treats him just like a cat. So Earl gives back the cat and Judy gives Randy back to Earl. And all is right with the world.