By Sabrina Cognata

Oh man, I thought I actually loved this show, but it kills me to say that the whole shedding of the prison skin could have been both funnier and more clever.  When we left Earl (Jason Lee) last week, he successfully saved the Warden’s (Craig T. Nelson) ass by making his silly Reconciliation Program a success in front of the press.  Then the Warden gets scared at the fact that Earl will be getting out of jail and shreds the document that will reward Earl with an early release.

Earl packs his belongings and readies himself to leave prison and rejoin the life he longs for with his family and friends.  Once he reaches the prison gates a guard tells him that he isn’t on the outgoing list and Earl should take up the problem with he Warden.  When Earl shows up at the Warden’s office the Warden tells him that he simply cannot live without Earl and had to revoke his early release.  Earl starts to flip out and attacks the Warden and ends up in solitary confinement for a prolonged period of time.  While this is happening Earl devises a plan to finally get himself out of jail and he implements it once his time in the hole is up.

Earl schemes with his old pal Frank (Michael Rapaport), his brother Randy (Ethan Suplee) and his other friends on the outside to break out of jail.  Joy (Jamie Pressly) and Darnell (Eddie Steeples) kidnap a priest and a nun in order to use their clothes and van as a decoy to transport Earl from the jail to freedom.  Randy helps Earl and Frank break into the ventilation system and this entire charade is reminiscent of Shawshank Redemption, except with a worse storyline and zero life-changing message. 


While traveling through the vents the sheer body weight of Earl and Randy makes the ceiling give way and the two fall through and into the Warden’s office.  The Warden tries to call for help, but Earl grabs his gun and the two begin to argue about what the Warden did to Earl.  The Warden confesses that he needs Earl and would watch him while he slept in solitary confinement.  Frank and another inmate continue through and steal the van from Joy and Darnell, but their misdeed is noted by whoever’s in charge of the universe and they crash the van into a state trooper. 

Earl ends up making the Warden feel sorry and the Warden decides to grant Earl his freedom anyways while his guards show up.  Earl finally gets to go home and runs into the arms of his family and friends and next season Earl’s jail woes are completely behind him, but now that his money is all gone—are his good deeds?