13 replies to this topic

[TWoP Nikita]

From Zap2it:

Earl plans a Halloween party for Dodge and Earl Jr.; Randy thinks that Catalina's visiting nephew may be capable of conjuring dark magic.

[HickoryColt]

I was waiting for it to turn out the little kid was some sort of set up Halloween prank by Joy or Catalina. I guess not.

Earl in the Magnum PI outfit is was the best.

[peeayebee]

I thought it would turn out to be a prank, probably by Catalina. Creepy, evil kids really bother me, so I was having a hard time enjoying the scenes with O-Scar, though I love the name. I also wasn't completely pleased with how they did the comparison betw believing in karma and believing in voodoo. I'm not sure what would have worked better for me.

I loved Crabman's halloween shirt that matched the jack-o-lantern.

I loved Earl's high squeaky lying voice. Have we heard that before? I thought his eye twitched when he lied (or am I thinking of a different show?).

Randy at Big Brothers was funny. "Let's play kickball!" I also liked when Crabman explained Big Bros Little Bros, then said that it works surprisingly well. In fact, I really appreciated Crabman having more of a role in this ep than in the last two.

I liked seeing Joy as a little girl.

How did I miss Earl as Magnum PI? Oh... I wondered why he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Duh.

There were some great lines, but my mind is a blank right now.

[pakelihe]

I would say that Catalina in the Club Chubby outfit was the best, but that's always the case for me.

I enjoyed this one much better than the snitchin' episode. If an episode with an angry, club-wielding mob beating up several unconscious or semi-conscious people can be somewhat sweet, this episode seemed sort of sweet to me. And O-scar did a nice job.

[frenchtoast]

I also wasn't completely pleased with how they did the comparison betw believing in karma and believing in voodoo. I'm not sure what would have worked better for me.

The problem for me with it was the voodoo, at least in its stereotype which was showcased, is vengeful and causes pain to others. It seems to be the opposite of karma, especially since O-scar was using it because he didn't like being told what to do. It just really didn't work for me, and the point seemed really stretched. I actually preferred Earl's disbelief and insistence that it wasn't like karma and I would have enjoyed the episode much better had he maintained that.

That being said, misspelling Ferrari was great as was the Magnum, PI costume. He's got the 'stache all ready.

I loved Earl's high squeaky lying voice. Have we heard that before? I thought his eye twitched when he lied (or am I thinking of a different show?).

I don't know that we've seen (I probably should say heard) the lying voice before, but I thought the twitching eye was Earl coping with a lot of stress. Demands of friends and being the mastermind of the crimes and trying to make everything better for everyone, that sort of thing.

[ReadIshmael]

Loved the costumes, loved Randy auditioning to be a big brother, loved Earl's high-pitched lying voice, and loved Randy being freaked out. I also appreciated that they actually used Catalina this week.

That said, since having taken a class on Latin America history, I have a real aversion to pop-culture representations of voodoo, and I tend to cringe whenever it's even brought up. I think it was still meant to be in doubt at the end that was real voodoo (since Earl just decides not to argue about it anymore, rather than coming to believe that Oscar is right), which makes it better, but I was kind of uncomfortable about the whole thing. There were a lot of funny things in this episode as a whole and even in that plotline, but I couldn't love this one like I have many others this season.

Edited by ReadIshmael, Oct 31, 2008 @ 8:56 PM.

[Shalamar]

Meh. I just wasn't feeling this one. I don't think I laughed once.

[bluenote123]

I liked the end of the episode when Joy announced that the priest said that God wanted her to be mayor. Was I alone in thinking that was a Sarah Palin crack? :-)

[Tandemonium]

"Leeeeeeeeeeroyyyyyyy....JENNNNKINS!" had me in stitches.

[Driad]

Joy announced that the priest said that God wanted her to be mayor. Was I alone in thinking that was a Sarah Palin crack? :-)

Nope, we interpreted that the same way.

[acatmaylook]

Earl's Magnum costume was the best, but I also liked Joy's interpretation of Barbie: hot pink clothes and no visible nips on the boobs.

I would have preferred an ending where Oscar acknowleged the error of his ways in using intimidation to get his way. I'm not being pro or con on the sitcom depiction of "voodoo" in this case; more serious dramas on tv are just as bad. I just wanted Oscar to change to a less selfish viewpoint. It seemed like Oscar was only "playing nice" to save his own skin. Since he's probably a one-episode character, I won't worry about it though. I appreciate Dodge and Earl Jr. being relatively mellow, despite having Joy as an example. Even young Earl flashbacks are played (very well in my opinion) as extreme pranks alternating with bullying directly triggered by low self-esteem. A young Earl who is embarrassed by his mistakes in a spelling bee (punching the kid who outspells him) grows up to be a minor league thief who must atone for his sins. What does a kid who already steals from strangers and scares and manipulates adults grow up to be?

[frenchtoast]

acatmaylook, you nailed my discomfort with the episode. For Earl to "accept" Oscar's manipulative and vindicative version of voodoo as the same thing as karma didn't sit well with me at all. Especially since Earl is able to see in tangible returns of making amends and trying not to be Bad Earl anymore. He gets along (as anyone can) with Joy. He's repairing the relationship with his parents. He's become more accepting of many different types of people. And these aren't things that are falling from the sky, though he attributes them to karma, it's him doing it because he's happier doing it. Oscar was, I guess, the flip side of the coin. That some people get the returns they want by being selfish, vindicative and manipulative. What bothered me is that Oscar never realized that he's not gaining much as compared to Earl. Yes, he's getting what he wants, but he's not as content as Earl is because he's constantly threatening people. That's what Earl failed to see, that although Oscar brought about something good, in the long run Oscar is not as happy as Earl nor does he really share in the fun of the party.

[peeayebee]

I think the moral was something like, Let people believe what they want to believe, as long as it doesn't harm anyone. Obviously Oscar was harming people before, but when he reformed it didn't matter whether it was because, as Earl believed, Karma came into play, or because, as Oscar believed, Voodoo was the reason.