My Name Is Earl Best episode since...

My Name Is Earl
Best episode since Joy and Darnell's wedding, and what a perfect chance to have a Lost-style flashback episode but without all the far-away looks from the present-day characters. It was 1999, way back when the old evil Earl had a Grinch moment, and he and the gang (including Donnie Jones) stole Christmas from a doe-eyed little girl and her family. Then the pregnant Joy complained that they'd stolen thesauruses (thesauri?) from their "dumb stupid dumb" victims. Next, in dropped Darnell Turner, aka the cheese-loving Harry Monroe, who was in some sort of witness-protection program. I wonder if that was related somehow to his Y2K paranoia? I love that the prospect of looting was enough to keep them all excited and awake on New Year's Eve, when normally they'd be passed out drunk by 9 pm. So many priceless Randy moments ensued: He asked Darnell if they'd get to choose whether to starve or be beaten to death by angry mobs; he theorized that he could hit a grenade with his bat if it were on a T; he called out "Marco" to see where all the other people were; he adopted Biscuit the robot dog; and he instituted the "Take a number" rule of law in an otherwise anarchic society of five. Another moment of brilliance: when crazy-eyed Donnie set the price of a TV for Earl at Marshmallow Fluff... smeared on Joy. Living in the store sure seemed like luxury. No wonder Catalina, fresh out of a crate and then a glovebox from Mexico, mistook that place for a church!