My Name Is Inmate 28301-016
| "My Name Is Inmate 28301-016" |
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"My Name is Inmate 28301-016" is an episode of the American sitcom My Name Is Earl, it is the first episode of the show's third season. One of the episode's main themes is the dehumanizing effect of life in prison, "convict mentality", and Earl's struggle to not lose his identity and sense of self while still surviving in prison.
Synopsis
Earl's monologue changes and instead of it saying "My Name Is Earl" it says "My Name Is Inmate 28301-016." Earl had realized that he was paying for everything bad he had ever done in his life by spending two years in prison in order to prevent Joy from going away for life. Leaving Randy brotherless, and Catalina having nothing to jump for at Club Chubby's. This was going to be Earl's new life. His name Wasn't Earl anymore, His name was inmate 28301-016.
Earl wakes up from his first night in prison finding a note that his friend/cellmate Ralph has escaped through a tunnel hidden by a Dolly Parton Poster, thinking Earl was trying to escape, the security guards sounded the alarm and beat Earl with their nightsticks. And just like that, Earl went from sharing a private cell with his lifelong friend, to having to bunk with a whole bunch of white collar criminals, murderers and rapists. It wasn't uncommon that someone tried to kill someone and the entire prison is forced on lockdown and they had to be thoroughly searched.
Visiting time finally comes and Earl gets to see Darnell, Catalina, and Randy. The prisoners get to see Catalina in her stripper uniform because a new girl at Club Chubby's steals pants and sells them back at unreasonable prices. Darnell gives Earl books in order for him to "find his way to God." He explains that Joy couldn't be there because she felt too guilty for Earl taking the rap for her for a crime she committed. She tries to to make Earl a figure of him out of glass that she stole from a stained glass window on a Lutheran church, but she doesn't think that Earl will like it so she throws it away. Randy tried to ask Earl about prison life, but visiting time was over for them.
While adjusting to prison life, Earl tries to find a way to stay alive. He tries to punch the biggest guy he could find, but he hesitated and dismissed the idea right away. So he figures that if he wants to earn respect that he needed to join a gang. After looking through his options, he decides to join the old timers (becauses he figures that they can teach Earl how to survive in prison since they have been there the longest) Eventually, the guy Earl tried to punch comes to steal their pistachios, that's when Earl finds out that they were just going to be using him because he was stronger than they were. Earl punches out one of the old timers and gives the big man a pistachio.
Earl meets one of his fellow friends, Sonny. He showed up in the first episode, but mysteriously disapeared after that. He used to play "beer can tag" with Earl. Apparently it is revealed that Sonny got two years in prison for throwing a beer can at an officer and stealing his gun. Sonny shows Earl how to remain "invisible" while in prison. Sonny tells Earl not to accept anything from any of the inmates because they will always expect something in return. Sonny provides him with an example that he had encountered with a fellow inmate. Sonny's example turned out to Glen Shipley, whom was one of the people on Earl's list. Apparently, while he was an amateur criminal, Earl talked Glen, a Camden Scout, into robbing a house for him by saying it was his house and that he left his things in there and the door was locked. He helped Glen through a window and he (Glen) got attacked by dogs.
Glen threatens Earl and tries to go after him, but the security guards took him away and put him in the "hot box." Earl goes after Sonny and finds him hiding under a bunk bed and Earl scolds him for ratting him out to Glen. Apparently, the guy who Sonny owed a favor turned out to be Glen. Earl calms down and tries to find a way to avoid Glen, but Sonny disappears. Frustrated, Earl kicks a rolling chair over to where some security guards were playing 'Tower blocks'. They put Earl in the hot box with Glen.
Angry at Earl, Glen tries to big under the wire fence from his side to Earl's side so he could kill him. Earl kept glen from digging under the fence until he was finally worn out from digging and coming up with all the creative ways that he would use to kill Earl. Earl asked Glen about what he could do to make it up to Glen, so Glen asked him to make him a shiv.
Visiting time came again only this time, Joy finally showed up with a quilt she made with memories of Earl's past. (In one of them, it shows Earl with chicken pox while outside the window, Joy was having sex with Darnell) Earl says he liked it, but Joy felt it wasn't enough for him, so she took it back and accused him of making her feel guilty. She asks him what she can do to make it up to Earl. After realizing that Randy couldn't take care of himself, (Randy slept in a tent next to the prison yard, he lost his job, and got evicted from his apartment) Earl asks Joy to take care of Randy. At first she declines, but after realizing it's for Earl, she reluctantly accepts.
In order for Earl to make a shiv, he steals some glasses from a fellow inmate and sharpens it on some asphalt and puts one of his socks around it to prevent blistering. He called this masterpiece the "Peeper Reaper." He shows it to Glen and he comments about how nice it was. Earl was hoping Karma would understand that he had to do it to survive in prison, but instead Glen stabs Earl in the arm with the shiv he made.
After having the shiv removed and having the doctor treat it (with just a band-aid) Sonny tells Earl that every time Glen is up for parole, he always manages to screw it up by breaking the law. Earl tries to ask Sonny why, but he dissapeared again, much to Earl's frustration.
Visiting time comes again and Joy is having a tough time taking care of Randy, He almost electrocutes himself by trying to touch the bug zapper, but Joy catches him in the act and talks him out of it (he tries to touch it with his tounge, but Joy catches him again) Randy has a tough time deciding what to eat when Joy takes him to the Crab Shack, much to Joy's frustration. It is revealed that Randy usually orders what Earl orders, so Catalina helps him decide with a sock puppet that she called "Little Earl." (She made the puppet to look like Earl) Later, Randy almost gets ran over by a car while trying to cross the street, but Joy catches him in time before he got killed. When Joy finally tells Randy it was safe to cross, he was just going slower than she was because he was staring at the sun. And wherever Randy went, he took one of Earl's flannel shirts with him because he coudn't stand being without Earl. Joy tells Earl she gives up, but Earl convinced her otherwise.
Earl goes to visit Glen in the hotbox to find out why he always violated parole, but Glen him by the collar and threatened him. So Earl told him about the list and that he was truly sorry for making Glen's life so miserable. Apparently there were two dogs fighting over Glen's body, the police arrested him for breaking and entering, vandalism and burglary, and when they got into the car, there was another dog that attacked Glen and he was charged with assault on a police dog. He got six months in a juvenile detention center and at first, he was scared, so in order to survive, he figured he had to look tough, so he got a bunch of tattoos put on him to give him that "tough guy image." (One of his tattoos said, "Fudge the Police," because he didn't know how to swear) And he kept getting into trouble for violating the rules and getting into fights. When he finally did get out of prison, other people saw him as nothing but a criminal because of the way he looked, and when he looked at himself, he felt the same way. Apparently, the only place Glen felt he belonged was in prison, so he stole a car in order to go back to prison. And whenever he got out he kept stealing cars again, and again, and again.
Earl realizes that he is responsible for everything that happened to Glen. When Glen got out of the hot box they finally came up with how Earl was going to make it up to him. Glen reveals that he missed being a Camden Scout, and if Earl hadn't interfered, he would have been the first Camden scout to receive his Honor's Sash. Feeling more guilty, Earl decides to help Glen receive his Honor's Sash, to do that, Glen needed two more patches. One for Animal Science, and the other for Archaeology. In order to do that, Earl needed to make a deal with the various gangs around the prison, which meant Earl was going to owe them favors, which meant Earl was going to lose his "invisibility," but Earl agreed to do it.
Meanwhile after Joy had finally gotten fed up with Randy, she had told him that things were going to need to change, starting with Randy's talking at night. She put duct tape over his mouth, but he couldn't breathe because he had a deviated septum. So Joy took out the ink in a pen and stabbed the casing in his mouth so he could have an airhole.
Earl made deals with the many gangs in the prison to use materials and bugs to help Glen earn his patches, then he found a scoutmaster in prison and he given Glen his Honor's Sash. The parole board had visited and Glen had gotten out on good behavior. He felt better about himself, but people treated him difererently. Two teenagers mocked him and laughed at his clothes. Just when Glen was about to steal another car, he saw his reflection in the window and realized that it didn't matter what other people thought of him and he walked away to continue with his life.
Meanwhile, Joy was showing Randy the real meaning of "tough love." Darnell told Joy that Randy was going to touch the bug zapper, but Joy told him if Randy was going to learn not to touch the bug zapper, he was going to learn the hard way. Randy electrocuted himself and the power almost went out. When Randy tried to put silverware in the toater to get some burning toast out, Joy stopped him by snapping a rubber band at him. At the Crab Shack, Joy helped Randy choose what he was going to eat by snapping the same rubber band at him, Catalina used "Little Earl" to help him decide, but Joy snapped the rubber band at her. When Randy and Joy showed up at the crosswalk, Randy stopped in order to prevent himself from getting hit with the rubber band. Joy was really proud of him.
Back at prison Earl realized that invisiblity wasn't going to help him survive prison, doing good things was. Earl was getting along very well with his fellow inmates. He realized, "My name isn't Inmate 28301-016, my name is Earl."
Meanwhile, Joy had realized that Randy had stopped carrying Earl's shirt with him. Randy was ready to make his own decisions, and his first decision was to go back to living with Earl by stealing a car.
The List
| Item | Number | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Had Glen help me rob a house | 1?? | 3.1 | Completed in 3.2 note: may not be the exact name |