Witch Lady is the 21st episode of Season 4 of My Name Is Earl, and the 90th episode overall. Earl tries to make amends to Camden's "Crazy Witch Lady,". He conjures up a karmic plan to atone for all the wicked wrongs he did to an crazy witch lady when he was young. But she proves to be certifiably unhinged, putting the camdenites in a life or death situation, it only sparks her anger and causes her to hold everyone who's wronged her in the past, hostage in her basement. Elsewhere, Joy tries to prove that she has a good side.
Episode guide[]
It's a slow day at the Crab Shack. Just right for Earl and Randy to wager on who comes through the door next Randy just betted that is going to be a Chinese guy named Townsend but Earl told him that no Chinese man named Townsend has ever came through the door. Though Randy has already betted on a black woman walking through the door named Henrietta, and so he won that previous bet with that young, beautiful and large African-American lady sitting behind him whose name happens to be Henrietta. There was a pregnant pause for suspense... but low and behold, it was that old scary woman known as the Crazy Witch Lady. As the old woman walks by while everyone else including Earl and Randy were afraid of her, Catalina silently genuflects with a sign of the cross (since she was born a God-loving, God-fearing Christian) as if to ward off whatever evil befalls upon her soul, especially the evil entity once known as Sue Ann Nivens , the "Happy Homemaker."
Randy once heard a rediculous folk rumor that is something out of a ghost story, about the Crazy Witch Lady that if her shadow falls upon you, your blood freezes and your hearts falls out your butt. Earl heard that too, but he had to talk to her.
And that reminds Earl of #186 - Was Mean to Crazy Witch Lady.
As still a typical rude, teenage punk, young Earl tormented and terrorized his entire neighborhood, and the Crazy Witch Lady was no exception. He used to ride his bike through her garden (where dead birds were buried) and she used to try to thwack him with her broom. But young Earl was a clever imp he was. He came up with a devious and resourceful scheme - even by Earl standards. He put green dye in her face cream and Super Glue on the handle of her broom. So the very next time she moisturized and took out after a garden-trampling Earl, she was the very spitting image of Margaret Hamilton's character the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz sans flying monkeys. She was than stunned down by a police officer's taser after Earl made a false emergency call to the police that the old woman tried to eat him.
So now the Karma-appeasing Earl has to make it up to her. He than asks her her name. Since nobody ever bothered to ask for her name before, she said "I'm Grizelda Weezmer". Earl was a bit confused she's immediately smitten and invites Earl over for tea.
Next day at Grizelda's house, Randy refuses to go in. He doesn't want to be turned into pudding (courtesy of the dangers inside the Ginger Bread House from Hansel and Gretel), and he especially doesn't want Earl to be turned into pudding because he simply can't resist pudding. Who can? Well, maybe vanilla pudding with little mustache hairs in it he could resist, but chocolate even, never.
Earl and Grizelda are having a lovely tea party and she shown Earl her teeth which happens to be her mother's teeth before the roofie in his tea kicks in and Earl passes out like a co-ed at Spring Break. Grizelda chains Earl to a post in her basement. Earl wanted an explanation as to why he's in her basement, all chianed up. Grizelda tells Earl that his apology brought back all of her repressed feelings of anger and now she wants revenge on everybody who's ever wronged her. Her somewhat immortal words to imprisoned Earl were: "You little scamp, you'll never gonna see daylight again."
Eventually Randy gets worried because Earl hasn't come out yet so he knocks on Grizelda's door, visions of pudding dancing in his head. She invites Randy in, tempting him with video games, wrestling action figures, dirty movies and peanuts. When he heard her said peanuts, he says "I'm comin' in!" and fell for her trick. Moments later, Randy tumbles down the basement stairs, enshrouded in a burlap sack, his shoes sticking out, and soon finds himself chained to Earl's post. The Crazy Witch Lady (Grizelda) just loves the look of terror in a fresh victim's eyes. It's very much what she imagines an orgasm might be like.
Randy's crime against Grizelda which led him to her another victim was that he threw a bucket of water on her and yelled "Come on! Melt, Bitch!" which kind of reminsincing the water which is still the weakness of and terrible demise of the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. Randy thought it was a plan to get rid of the Crazy Witch Lady once and for all
Joy is mad at Darnell for taking her to task about her being mean to Grizelda and pretty much everybody else she's ever come across. A Crabshack patron after Joy asked him to her personality, confirms her worst fears when he describes her as "Mean" and he describes Darnell as "Great. No, I'm gonna go with great, or marvelous... or nice...". The man is still having trouble describing Darnell since Crabman (Darnell Turner) is one of the greastest people yopu ever wanted to meet, when he said "I'm really goin' back and forth between great, marvelous and nice...". And that annoys Joy and she yelled "Alright, fine! You can use 'black'!".
Randy has devised a plan to free the Hickey boys that's only slightly less complicated than digging three tunnels named Tom, Dick, and Harry then fleeing to Switzerland. All they have to do is capture a mouse, teach it sign language, and toss it up the chimney.
Moments later, there were two more sacks tumbling down the stairs. It was both Kenny and Stuart,. Kenny knows he never did anything wrong to Grizeld, but Stuart can't exactly make that same claim. While he was a deputy, he just may have called Grizelda Weezmer aka Crazy Witch Lady a "whack job". Trying to calm down his life partner, Stuart tells Kenny "Be strong, Bear Cub".
Back at the Crabshack, Joy is explaining her inner niceness to the lovely Catalina. Catalina couldn't agree more, saying "Niceness is always best when nobody can see it". Joy than feels a tappy-tap on her shoulder, and turning around she sees Crazy Witch Lady. The word "Witch!" escapes Joy's lips before she can bite back on it. But Grizelda just wants Joy to come to her house to do her a favor. "Why of course I will do you a favor, ghoulish old lady." says Joy because she believes she's a nice person and favors are what nice people do. Darnell while bartending the Crabshack, still doesn't agree with his wife. The next thing, it's another burlap sack falling down the stairs and there's pink sneakers sticking out of a burlap sack. "Oh my God it's Joy." says Randy to Earl.
The imprisoned Camden County Brain Trust has yet to come up with an escape plan, well, a workable escape plan, and this comes as no surprise to Joy. Earl would like to hear a plan from Joy. She says "Nope. Seems like you guys covered every reasonable plan. All that's left for me is be dummy and call 911" and picked up her cellphone. She tries to call the Sheriff, but it's after 3:30 on a Friday, and they've all gone bowling. So she calls Darnell. And the next thing happened, it's another one falling down the stairs and there's Darnell's cell phone ring tone with Shaft theme emanating from out of a burlap sack.
Since everybody else had done something mean to the Crazy Witch Lady to get themselves into this predicament, Joy is convinced that Darnell aka Mr. Nice must've done something mean too. Joy says to Darnell "Who's the black calling the kettle pot, now?" and demands an explaination for everybone here. But Darnell's transgression was strictly a Three's Company-like miscommunication. A certain patron at the Crabshack asked Darnell Who's that lady. And seeking clarification, Darnell asked Which lady? Well, CWL thought Darnell said "Witch Lady" and hilarity and a ceramic rooster to Darnell's cranium (he wouldn't drink the tea) ensued.
As the chained gang swims in collective misery, the door at the top of the stairs opens, and it was the lovely Catalina to the rescue! She floats like an angel down the stairs and suddenly, chains herself to a pipe. Back then while still in Camden, a superstitious Catalina had told a very sad story to Crazy Witch Lady, and when she wept a tear of sorrow, Catalina scooped up that witch's ear in a little jar to gain immortality contrary to the Belief of the "Witch's Tear" that if you grab hold of a tear of a sorceress (witch) and consume it, you shall gain eternal life. and sympathetic Catalina was smitten by Grizelda's resemblance to her aunt, so Catalina voluntarily chains herself up, and here she is.
Moments later and there's another person kidnapped by Grizelda and fell down the stairs and this time, it was Patty. Originally, in spite of her being watched and stalked by the old woman, she did take her dad's side of the divorce long ago, meaning the Crazy Witch Lady is her mom.
But this latest development presents a problem, CWL explains: She's running out of room. Now somebody is going to have to die ("I'm just gonna stab and stab and stab until you're dead...") in order to make more room for her more victims. She lets her prisoners decide who it's going to be. The inmates resort to labels to make their choice and de-humanize the intended victim: Joy = Bitch, Stuart = Kenny's Bitch, Patty = Whore, Randy = Dumb Guy, Catalina = Stripper (that was particularly harsh), Darnell = Nice Guy, Earl = Friggin' Karma Zombie.
Earl recognizes that labeling people like this is exactly what they did to Grizelda, and that's why she's crazy. So he stands up and volunteers, knowing that she won't kill him. He couldn't've been more wrong. She sticks a kitchen knife in his gut. Turns out the Crazy Witch Lady actually is homicidal and crazy. Patty flings her shoe, knocking out her mother and shouts "Sorry, Mom!", and the gang is freed.
Grizelda finally gets the psychiatric help she needs at a home for the mentally insane, and is soon transformed into a friendly, harmless, and contributing member of society once again. The rest of the chained gang has taken her lesson to heart. Joy tries to be nicer, Darnell tries to be meaner, Randy tries to be less dumb, Earl sticks his Karma list in a drawer and Patty tries to be a good daughter.
Earl tries to cross off #186 but he finds out his shirt pocket is empty having put his list in a drawer. Oh well, he says, I will have to do it later
Notes[]
- This marks the final appeance of Kenny James.
- Betty White also worked with Mike O'Malley in the season 3 episode "Kim's New Nanny" of Yes, Dear.
- Anachronisms: In the flashback, when young Earl calls the police from a phone booth, modern vehicles are clearly visible in the background rather than period-appropriate late-1970s and early-1980s vehicles. In addition, the police officer who responds to the call uses a small modern Taser rather than a larger early-generation Taser appropriate for the time period.
- When Randy wakes up in Grizelda's basement, he says "Poopie Trim". This is a recurring refrence he makes to the film Mallrats, which Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee were both in.
- In the flashback where Randy throws water on Grizelda in a failed attempt to make her melt, this is in reference to how The Wicked Witch of the West died in The Wizard of Oz.
Flashbacks[]
- Young Earl calls the police on the "Witch Lady" and rides his bike through her yard.
List[]
Featured music[]
• "I Put a Spell on You" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (Original by Screamin' Jay Hawkins)
• "Season of the Witch" by Donovan
• "Join Together" by The Who
Memorable quotes[]
- Randy: Hello, I'm looking for my brother Earl or any parts of him you haven't made into pudding
Cast[]
Starring[]
- Jason Lee as Earl Hickey
- Ethan Suplee as Randy Hickey
- Jaime Pressly as Joy Turner
- Nadine Velazquez as Catalina
- Eddie Steeples as Darnell Turner
Recurring[]
- Gregg Binkley as Kenny James
- Dale Dickey as Patty
- Noah Crawford as Young Earl
- Mike O'Malley as Stuart Daniels
Guest starring[]
- Betty White as Grizelda Weezmer
- Darcy Rose Byrnes as Maddy
- Mike Cochrane as Crab Shack Regular
- Timothy 'TJ' James Driscoll as Barbershop Singer
< Season 3 | My Name is Earl Season 4 | |||||||
#01 | The Magic Hour | #08 | Little Bad Voodoo Brother | #15 | Darnell Outed (Part 1) | #22 | Pinky | |
#02 | Monkeys Take a Bath | #09 | Sold a Guy a Lemon Car | #16 | Darnell Outed (Part 2) | #23 | Bullies | |
#03 | Joy in a Bubble | #10 | Earl and Joy's Anniversary | #17 | Randy's List Item | #24 | Gospel | |
#04 | Stole an RV | #11 | Nature's Game Show | #18 | Friends With Benefits | #25 | Inside Probe (Part 1) | |
#05 | Sweet Johnny | #12 | Reading is a Fundamental Case | #19 | My Name is Alias | #26 | Inside Probe (Part 2) | |
#06 | We've Got Spirit | #13 | Orphan Earl | #20 | Chaz Dalton's Space Academy | #27 | Dodge's Dad | |
#07 | Quit Your Snitchin' | #14 | Got the Babysitter Pregnant | #21 | Witch Lady |