Stole a Badge

"Stole a Badge"

"Stole a Badge" is an episode of the American sitcom My Name Is Earl.

Synopsis

Earl and Randy find an old officer badge that they stole years ago near a river. Earl explains in a flashback during his "crook" years, he and Joy stole shoes containing valuables in bowling alleys. After Earl finds an officer's badge, he, Randy, Darnell, and Joy began to take advantage of it. Realizing the badge had too much power, Earl decides to throw away the badge. Now that the badge had come back to haunt him, he must give the badge back to its rightful owner.

He takes it back to the police station where the police officers, all of which are female, all recognize it. It belonged to their brother, Stewart, who is now looking after the toilets nearby. Earl and Randy look at Stewart in their car and Earl realises that in stealing the badge, he has stolen Stewart's chance of getting a promotion.

Earl and Randy hatch a plan to get Stewart's job back. Earl finds out that Stewart is always at the diner at 4.30 pm. Making sure that Creepy Rodney is listening, Earl puts down his coat on a table with a gun with blank rounds in it. Creepy Rodney takes the gun and gets ready to rob the diner the following day. Earl and Randy wait in the El Camino. Everything is going to plan. Stewart arrives at the diner at 4.30, Creepy Rodney comes five minutes later. He attempts the rob the diner, but when a waitress screams at him, he screams as well and fires the blanks into the floor. Earl and Randy run out, thinking that Creepy Rodney has killed someone, and notice that among all the commotion, Stewart is hiding behind the counter.

Earl and Randy devise another plan, this time with Joy’s help. The plan this time is to encourage Creepy Rodney to steal Joy’s shoes at the bowling alley, another place where Stewart spends most of his free time. Despite Joy’s attempts to get Stewart’s attention, the plan is a failure. Earl confronts Stewart and ask why he didn’t arrest Creepy Rodney. Stewart tells Earl that he didn’t want the job of a police officer - it was his mother’s idea. After all, she was the head of the police department. He says although the police force was in his blood, it wasn’t in his heart. He wanted to be a professional bowler and he has the most "Perfect 300"'s at the bowling alley. Earl befriends him and shows him the List. Stewart sees all the crimes that Earl has committed and decides he wants to be a police officer again. A bemused Earl is arrested on the spot. Randy tries to help Earl get away but Earl tells him that he has to go to jail. Fortunately, Stewart gets distracted and Earl runs away. Stewart reaches for his bowling ball and brings Earl down with it. He releases Earl from his handcuffs and realises that instead of reaching for his gun he grabbed his ball therefore deciding his future job - a professional bowler. He wishes Earl all the best of luck with the List and Earl is all the more happy to cross him off it.

Near the end, Creepy Rodney is crouched in a dark alley emptying the shoes he stole. Music imitative of "Gollum's Song" from Lord of the Rings plays. The badge falls out of a shoe and Rodney cradles it lovingly. He then attempts to use it to get 5 women to take off their clothes, but it turns out that the women are Stewart's sisters and mother, all police officers, and he is arrested. At the end, Joy reclaims the badge that Rodney dropped on the ground and uses it to steal a coat.

Quotes

• Randy: It's like one of them crazy-ass Australian wooden Frisbees! Get rid of it, Earl!
• Darnell: I'm gonna use this badge to hassle white people and make up for 300 years of racial injustice! Or maybe just use it for Halloween.
• Earl: What kind of kid puts acorns in his shoes?
  Randy: A squirrel kid might. Except a squirrel kid doesn't wear shoes. Unless... nah, even then it wouldn't.

The List

Main article: The List (My Name Is Earl)

Item	Number	Source	Status
Stole a badge from a police officer	127	1.22	Crossed off Earl's list when the police officer quit the force to become a professional bowler. (1.22)

Trivia

• This episode contains many parallels to The Lord of the Rings.
• When "Sabotage" is playing, the gang look similar to the characters performed by the Beastie Boys in the video for the aforementioned song.
• Mike O'Malley's role as a cop in the episode is a vague reference to his character of Jimmy Hughes, a security guard on Yes, Dear. Ironically, Jimmy once said that the only reason he wasn't a cop was the failing of physical tests.

Songs

#	Song Title	Artist
1	"Jump Around"	House of Pain
2	"Sabotage"	Beastie Boys
3	"I Put A Spell On You"	Creedence Clearwater Revival
4	"Shining Star"	Earth, Wind, and Fire