My Name Is Earl/Quit Smoking

Quit Smoking
Season 1, Episode 2
Airdate	September 27, 2005
Production Number	1ALJ01
Written by	John Hoberg Kat Likkel
Directed by	Marc Buckland
← 1x01 Pilot	1x03 → Randy's Touchdown
My Name Is Earl — Season One

Quit Smoking is the second episode of the first season of My Name Is Earl, and the second episode overall.

Earl must try to quit smoking and apologizes to Donny, an intimidating criminal who spent two years in jail for a robbery Earl committed. Donny forgives him, but his mother doesn't, saying she lost two years of time with her son. The only way he can get her forgiveness is by helping her quit smoking. Meanwhile, Joy discovers a video Earl made and she finds out she's the beneficiary of Earl's will and decides to kill him to get his money.

Guest Stars: Andrew Wasser (Prisoner), Scott Lincoln (Gun Store Owner), Joshua Levine (Donut Store Clerk), Roy Lee Jones (Policeman), Jack Axelrod (Old Man), Kathryn Joosten (Donny's mother), Tracy Ashton (One Legged Girl), Silas Weir Mitchell (Donny)

Plot Overview

Earl can't decide which number to cross off his list next, so he lets Catalina pick for him. She chooses 112, let Donny Jones serve jail time for a crime I committed. We learn that Earl once held up a donut shop while wearing Donny Jones' shirt and Donnie served 2 years in prison for it. Earl is reluctant to do it as 'Donny is crazy'. So he says he's going to quit smoking instead. Catalina decides to find out where Donny Lives anyway, knowing that Earl was scared to face Donny.

Meanwhile Joy discovered Earl's lottery winnings and finds a video will that Earl made saying that she would inherit everything he owned if he were to die. So she decides that she should kill him. After buying a crossbow (as there's a 3 day waiting period on the revolver she wanted) she misses him three times while he's listening to quit smoking tape (while smoking).

Randy and Catalina pull up in the car and trick Earl into thinking they were going for slushies and drop him off at Donny's house. While still scared of Donny Earl decides to tell him about his list and that it was his fault he was in prison. While in prison Donny had found God and learned forgiveness, so he forgave Earl. Unfortunately Donny's mother isn't so forgiving. She wants the two years of her life without her son back, Earl adds this to his list.

While tying up Donny's mom to help her quit smoking Crabman turns up to bring Earl some poisoned cookies. He tells him of the video will and Joys plans, and that he wasn't going to get involved until Joy made him deliver poison. Earl explains to Donny's mom that the best way to give her those two years back is to help her quit smoking, which he endeavors to do with her.

After 3 days of using tapes, patches and even smoking carrot sticks as a substitute they both manage to quit. The three days also meant that Joy could get the revolver, but Earl explains to her that he'd changed his will so killing him wouldn't get her any money.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The List:
  • Earl Crosses off number 112: Let Donny Jones serve jail time for a crime I committed.
  • Earl adds and crosses off number 258: Took Donny away from his mother for for 2 years.

Also mentioned:

• 73 Always took a penny, never left a penny
• 86 Stole a car from a one legged girl
• 102 harmed and possibly killed people with second hand smoke
• 49 I've been wasteful

Flashbacks

• Earl flashes back to his robbery attempt, and to when Donny was charged for Earl's crime.

• Earl flaches back to when Donny, Randy, and himself were drinking beer, a paperboy rides by delivering papers. The paperboy accidentally knocks over Donny's beer, and Donny runs after him.

Trivia

The Show

• Music this episode
  • ZZ Top – La Grange
  • Sammy Davis, Jr. - Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)
  • Electric Light Orchestra - Livin' Thing

Allusions and References

• Leviticus 10:9: The passage that Donny's mother reads from her large-print Bible is probably a variation of Leviticus 10:9--"Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die."

Quotes

• Earl: [voiceover] Quittin' smokin' is a lot like prison. If you can get through the first three days, you got a fightin' chance. First we tried the tapes. Then we tried the patches. Someone told us to try carrot sticks as a substitute, but we couldn't get the damn things to light.

Reviews

• Overall Grade: no reviews yet
• Review Breakdown: A+: 0 A: 0 A-: 0 B+: 0 B: 0 B-: 0 C+: 0 C: 0 C-: 0 D: 0 F: 0