The Magic Hour
Updated 2008-09-26 09:33:08
Well, here we are, four seasons in. And remember how Billie gave Earl her money at the end of last season, and then Greg Garcia promised this season would return the show to the good-old days of Earl completing his list tasks? Well, we're about to find out if he was telling the truth.
Apparently, we start with Earl and Randy on their way to return the hair dryer they borrowed from Joy. The reason is not even a little bit clear. Then they come upon a kid in Joy's trailer park playing xylophone, and Earl tells him, "You keep practicing little buddy. I gave up the xylophone and always regretted it." As they walk away, he says to Randy, "Lucky kid. He's still got a shot at being somebody."
Inside, Joy's making fake Make-A-Wish T-shirts so people will think her kids are dying so they can go to the carnival for free. (Her logic isn't all that bad, actually: "Why should my kids suffer just because they're healthy?") This segues, naturally, into a bad thing Earl once did to Make-A-Wish. It was New Year's Eve and Randy drove home without Earl because Earl accidentally gave him a midnight kiss (don't worry: They still don't talk about it). But drunk Earl was not loving the walking; luckily, he found a "giant dog" (read: a horse) to ride home -- backwards.
The next morning, Camden's intrepid reporter lets Earl know via his TV set that a Make-A-Wish child lost his wish when his New Year's Day parade pony was stolen. Unfortunately, Buddy was dying, so Earl had to try to make it up to his parents instead. Lucky for Earl -- and us -- Buddy is alive and well, in the form of Seth Green, who greets Early with "What's up, Bro? You stole my pony?!" Earl is puzzled that he's alive, but Randy figures it out: He made a wish to be alive. "Why don't they all do that?"
Turns out Buddy is somewhat of a crazy movie buff (that's what happens when you spend all of your childhood in bed). His favorite of all time is a squid movie that's written by Buddy himself. He even has the squid prop that he uses to scare -- and delight -- Randy. Since Earl owes Buddy and they all like squids, Buddy wants them to make the squid movie. And he's "got plenty of books on how to do it."
Earl makes a last-ditch effort to get Buddy to take a replacement pony, but then agrees to make the movie. Buddy wants someone hot and edgy to play Max's wife, and he chooses ... Joy, of course. Kenny ends up as the panicky scientist. Catalina, killing cockroaches, is the ruthless terrorist. Randy, who finds a suit behind the motel, is the president. Patty the Daytime Hooker is there, too, so the gang's all here. And they're shooting in the Crab Shack turned into the Oval Office.
Oh, and Joy is a terrible actor. (I am not saying Jaime Pressly is, because she really isn't. Acting like she's Joy trying to act actually takes an admirable level of deftness that not many young actresses could pull off, I'd wager.) And Patty the Daytime Hooker is the vice president, all deep-voiced and disturbing. A squid is threatening the country, so they call in the hero, Max Patrick. And Buddy plays him, obviously, and when he enters the scene he stands on a box like all the big movie stars do. But Buddy's unhappy with all of the acting (except Randy, who is awesome) and leaves it to producer Earl to get Patty to stop sounding like a transvestite and Joy to stop looking in the camera. Randy gives an amazing impersonation, and gives an acting lesson.
Other movie troubles: Catalina throws an actual knife, which ends up in someone's eye patch. Max Patrick's flame-throwing watch lights someone on fire (his reaction: "Keep filming! Keep filming!"). And Buddy demands an awesome limo (he can't accept the '98 Civic with a spoiler, even though it's the nicest car Earl's ever seen so he cannot understand this.)
Buddy makes a pitch for his great pivotal scene, and Joy heckles him. She just wants a drink. And the scene is actually funny, what with the crazy special effects and Joy wanting to kiss Buddy on the hand or cheek when Max rescues her. She also refuses another take. She only does "tongue kisses if it's Brad Pitt or Eric Roberts." It also turns out their special-effects smoke is causing nose-bleeds, coughing and eye pain (Buddy got it from a crop duster).
Buddy shows up the next day and can't understand why no one is there except Earl. In Hollywood, people say they quit all the time and nobody means it. But Earl is like, "This is Camden? Have you met us? We quit everything." Earl offers to dress up and play all of the characters, but Buddy thinks he can edit the footage he already has into a movie, but Earl has to throw him an awesome premiere. When Earl's skeptical that anyone will show up, Buddy whispers, "Earl, if you throw it, they will come." Earl says, "What?" And Buddy repeats it, thinking Earl didn't hear him. But, in reality, Earl hasn't seen a movie without Burt Reynolds in it all the way through, so the reference is lost on him. (And it doesn't make sense to me to use it here, either, so maybe I'm as dumb as Earl.)
Everyone turns up for the premiere. Joy shows up in a Rite-Aid original that she's wearing backwards. Randy and Patty are interviewed. But one person doesn't show up: Buddy. He was still sick, and that's part of why he's been running off to his trailer in anger all the time. Earl can't believe Buddy died before his premiere and won't get to see his dream come true. Earl's mom assures Earl that making a movie wasn't Buddy's only dream. He had lots of crazy dreams and Early helped them all come true. She hands him the movie (on reel-to-reel format, which I guess isn't quite obsolete) and says he'll understand when he sees this. So Earl goes inside to watch the movie -- without telling anyone else that Buddy's gone.
The movie is sort of awesome, and everyone loves it. And it let Buddy meet a president, be in the CIA, ride a horse (thanks to special effects), and more. And he even got his big shot at the end when he saves the president and kisses Joy, his "Magic Hour" shot.
There's a lesson here: Everyone should do what they dream of doing, their own "Magic Hour." So, Darnell paints himself and Joy in American Gothic, Catalina does improv at Club Chubby instead of stripping, Joy starts a clothing line (stole a shirt, and designed a way to make the security tag look like jewelry), Randy made a "The Hickeys" door tag for their hotel room, and Earl takes up the xylophone again. He still isn't good, but then, neither was Buddy's movie. Although this episode certainly has me encouraged that this show is back on track.