All's Well that Ends Well

I'm still having issues with my digital converter. This time, when I disconnected it so I could tape Earl, I tested it first to make sure I wouldn't end up with a bunch of snow. The picture I did end up with wasn't much better, but it was watchable. Unfortunately, reconnecting the converter (which I did during an Ugly Betty commercial break) requires running the auto-tuner like half a dozen times until I get a signal for ABC. Annoying. I missed a chunk of the show, but given it was basically the same old, same old what with scheming Willie, complications with Charlie, competition between Henry and Gio, sassy Amanda, snarky Marc, I'm sure I didn't miss all that much.

As for Christian Siriano's much hyped appearance--well, I've never seen Project Runway, so I'm not familiar with him. But his performance on the show was--hmmm, what's the opposite of "fierce"? Oh, LAME. And how self-absorbed is Daniel to believe crazy Renee when she told him that Betty was in love with him? Seriously, she's got both Henry and Gio chasing after her and they are both way cuter than Daniel. And did we need to break into Wilhelmina's files in order to confirm that Renee was bat-shit crazy? I did love Christina's reaction to the possibility that Renee was responsible for the death of her former lover/professor. "His name is Larson. He died of arson. How unfortunate!"

I did notice that Alexis was not around much--in last night's episode and the one last week. Apparently, Rebecca Romijn's role has been scaled back. My favorite line came from Marc regarding Renee, "So sad Gucci doesn't make straitjackets." Like Marc would be concerned with anything "straight!"

My Name is Earl was all about Earl's search for his soulmate, Billie. And Catalina's conversion to lesbianism. Earl enlists Frank to help find Billie, who has been manipulated by Stuart into believing she killed Earl and is hiding out with him. Earl even prepares a speech to win her heart, "And though most of those words were written by Bret Michaels in the 80s, they came straight from my heart." It all culminates with Earl finally finding Billie and proclaiming that they were meant to be together--even as he has competition for Billie's affections by Frank, Stuart and even Catalina. Happy endings for everyone--Earl and Billie get married, Frank goes back to Billie's sister Jocelyn, Kenny entices Stuart with the promise of Jack Russell terriers, Randy retrieves Jocelyn's wayward bird and Catalina and her long-lost love, Paco, are reunited.

The whole thing had the vibe of a series finale to it what with everything all wrapped up in neat little bows--although by marrying Billie, Earl has access to another $100 grand (car accident settlement) with which to continue working on his list. It will be interesting to see if the dynamic changes with the newlyweds working on karma together. (And who else did Earl get married to after knowing them only a short time? He said it was the third time, but I only know of two--Billie and Joy.)

The Office was its usual surreal absurdity starting off with Michael's "opportunity of a lifetime"--the chance to deface wet cement. It's Jim's suggestion that Michael be immortalized ala Grauman's Chinese by putting his face in the drying cement. Nutty.

Angela and Andy play a very bland version of Mad Libs to which Dwight reacts by saying, "Angela and Andy seem very happy. I hope nothing horrible happens to them." Dwight buying and flipping Andy's Xterra ("Seller beware.") was hysterical. "This car is crap. I will buy it from you for next to nothing." He then employs a car salesman pressure technique to close the deal--even though he's the BUYER. He uses the same technique on Michael ("Do it. Do it. DO IT!") when Michael is facing a leadership crisis due to Stanley's insubordination and even the Emergency Disaster mode of the Org chart is no help. Neither was Toby--who apparently did NOT move to Costa Rica.

Michael goes to Darryl--aka the other black guy in the office--for advice on how to deal with the Stanley situation. He asks Darryl if he was ever in any gangs to which Darryl lies and says yes. "Bloods? Crips?" "Both." Darryl recommends the use of the "Fluffy Finger," i.e.; excessive tickling, to resolve the issue and regain respect. Michael informs the office he's going to "fake fire" Stanley, which leads to Stanley delivering a long-winded rant. Michael orders everyone out of the office except for Stanley. Did anyone else think he was going to employ the "Fluffy Finger"? That would have been hysterical. But Michael instead whines about why Stanley keeps picking on him and when Stanley enumerates his reasons, he tells him okay, but he is the boss and Stanley can't speak to him that way. Stanley says fair enough, and the issue is settled.

At another brainstorming session, Michael throws out the idea of rewarding good customers by going to their houses and singing Christmas carols to them in the summer. He asks Stanley for his opinion and Stanley, not even looking up from his reading, says, "It has the potential to be your best idea yet." Phyllis offers, "It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," and Michael says, "Okay--everyone out except for Phyllis!" Very cute episode.