Spoiler alert. This is a recap and so major plot points will be pointed out

First off, thanks writer’s strike for totally screwing up this show. However they can’t take all the blame as the show has slowly been declining in quality all season. And tonight’s episode which was supposed to be some sort of homage to The Princess Bride was anything but. It was terrible. The whole episode was so terrible that it doesn’t even warrant a full on review. This could not have been the intended season finale and what a way to leave the NBC on a dying sputtering whimper of banal pathetic dreck.

Let’s forget the fact that last episode Dr. Cox or rather Chief Dr. Cox was now the Chief of staff and Dr. Kelso was out. So why was Dr. Kelso in this episode as the Chief of staff. There was no explanation for that other than that this should not have been the season finale.

Basically the story is told by Dr. Cox who is telling a bedtime story to Jack about a very bad day in the hospital. But rather than tell a hospital story he makes it a story about a princess and an idiot. Dr. Cox is of course the best and brightest character in the whole story and I loved that. Him as s shining white knight with the amazing mustache and goatee.

All the other characters were made into ogres, fairies, trolls, a two headed witch. And basically the story comes down to J.D. and Elliot trying to save a patient that they have been unable to diagnose. They finally do and in the story she lives. I think my favorite part of this story was when Dr. Cox leaves Jack’s room and Jordan asks if she really lived and Dr. Cox sits down with her and says, “That’s how I’m telling it.” I like it when you see that Dr. Cox has a heart under that armor.

Other than that bit that I liked I was wholly disappointed in the entire episode. It was nothing like the princess bride except that everyone looked like rejects from a Ren Faire.

I used to feel this way about Zach Braff back when Garden State came out. But now… Oh well.

You can watch the episode for yourself on hulu. For some reason Scrubs is too good for allowing embedding.

So what did TV Squad Say?

If you haven’t watched the shows on NBC from last night then stop reading unless you want to be spoiled.

In case you want to watch it first

My Name is Earl: Girl Earl – Again I have to wonder, when is the finale of this show this season? Earl and Billie are now married. When what you know of another person is half from a prison inmate’s torn photo and the other half from a coma induced sitcom fantasy I’d say that wasn’t the best basis to fall in love and get married. But Earl is committed to Karma and Karma brought he and Billie together, so it can’t be wrong, can it?

Earl and Billie are back from their honeymoon (I don’t think they went anywhere). And Billie has a surprise for Earl. Billie has made her own list and so Earl and Billie decide to do something from her list and they notice that they have the same person on each of their lists. This person turns out to be the best bagger in Camden County. Not a ladies man as Earl points out but a grocery store bagger. And we get guest star John Heder in that role as Joel Maloney.

When Earl was bad he and Joy and Randy stole from Joel and so did half of Camden county. Joel went off to the bagging competition and while he was gone every thief in Camden stole form him, everything except for the TV which they left on to warn other crooks when he was returning home. Bagging competitions must be pretty important if they are on 24 hours a day. Earl and Randy and Joy stole a section of carpet from Joel and the TV. Earl was pretty lazy and by the time he got there there was nothing left, not even the ceiling fan, which Billie stole from another crook.

Earl was having trouble adjusting to Billie’s personality quirks and I was rolling on the floor laughing my ass off at the things that were bothering him. Maybe because they hit too close to home. I can sympathize with the, “Where are you going? What are you doing?” Wives and girlfriends become really interested in those things for some reason. Evan if you live in three small rooms and there isn’t really anywhere to go they still want to know. The other was the sandwich crunch ratio. I tend to do that as well so that I have a bite of sandwich and chip to crunch as well. Women just don’t understand how that can make a meal so satisfying and if the ratio is off then well, it ruins the whole experience. So I can see Earl’s angst over the whole thing. I do love that he went to Joy to ask about their marriage and if he had any annoying habits. I love how both Joy and Randy pointed out Earl’s one eyebrow thing and how Randy is actually creeped out over it.

So Earl and Billie gather up the things that they stole from Joel and bring them to him. Billie is fine with, “Here’s your fan, sorry and I’m gonna cross you off my list.” Earl however knows that the list is more about making the life of that person better because of what they did to him. Joel explained that returning home to an empty house wasn’t the worst thing that happened to him. He got angry over some graffiti on the wall and punched it thus breaking his hand and making it extremely disfigured. Um, I’m pretty sure that they have hospitals in Camden.

Earl spends time with Joel trying to figure out what he can do to cross him off his list. While at the grocery store Joel discovers that Earl is a “Natural Bagger” and sets out to train Earl for the big competition. We get a Rocky like montage (thankfully no raw eggs) and Earl is finally ready for the competition. Earl does really well and gets to the finals against the 12 time bagging champion Lance,m they called him Bagger Lance. I couldn’t place the actor but he looked familiar. And they made plenty of bagging puns, “Hey this kid asked for my autograph and I said Paper or Plastic!”

During the break between Rounds Billie shows back up and tells Earl that she’s finished her list. Including a couple that she carjacked from Japan but she figures that the Japanese hunt whales so that one is a wash. Billie’s nonchalance about the list has finally pushed Earl to his breaking point. He has picked his battle and decides to let Billie have it and goes one step to far and points his finger at Billie. She immediately grabs it and breaks it on ‘instinct’. The competition is all but over, but wait, to the rulebook. There is nothing in the rules that says that two people cannot compete only that two hands can compete. So Earl and Joel each have one good hand, good thing they hurt opposite hands. Joel and Earl come out together as a team and they start out rocky but quickly find their rhythm. As they pick up speed Lance becomes cocky and he ends up getting cut by a pineapple. It comes down to a photo finish as Earl and Joel win the competition. Joel now has the confidence that he had back when he competed on his own and he also has groupies and a golden bag to his name.

Billie rushes in after the competition and reveals to Earl that she now understands that the list is much more important than she had treated it and so she will now try and do the list much better. We figure that she is turning around as a character and things will work out between she and Earl. Wrong, she suggests the cardinal sin, that Earl shave off his mustache. Both Randy and Earl decide, she has to go. You just don’t mess with a man’s ‘stache.

TV Squad hasn’t said anything about this episode… yet.
Updated: They just put it up.