"The Trial" - Season 2

It's Randy and Earl's last night in the motel because they're finally moving to a real apartment. Realizing that he cheated himself out of being an adult, Earl has put himself on his own list - and moving is the third step, after getting his G.E.D. and a real job.
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Despite the new apartment, Earl feels like something's missing in his quest to become an adult. The phone rings - Joy needs Earl to come down to the jail right away. It all started last fall when Joy stole a truck and got arrested - her third strike. She took an unscheduled vacation to Mexico, where she ran into Dog, the Bounty Hunter. Now Joy's deaf lawyer Ruby needs Earl to find character witnesses so Joy won't have to spend the rest of her life in prison.
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Randy and Earl check on Darnell. The kids have gone wild and the Joy has literally gone out of his life - Darnell can't live without the other half of his heart. Earl realizes that what he's missing is a woman to share his life with. He met Alex a while back, but karma didn't think he was ready for a relationship and sent bees to sting their faces. Earl calls Alex, but she's married now. Meanwhile, he's having a hard time coming up with character witnesses for Joy.
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Joy's deaf lawyer, Ruby, thinks Earl will make an excellent character witness and he thinks he's finally met a woman to share his life with - Ruby's accent really turns him on. They meet with Joy to rehearse, but Earl's more interested in trying to ask Ruby out. Realizing that Earl wants to jump Ruby's bones, Joy lets the cat out of the bag. Earl fears the worst, but Ruby asks him to dinner.
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Earl fumbles the date, but Ruby tells him that he can cross "being a lazy lover" off his list. Life is finally perfect, but not for long when Ruby spies herself on Earl's list. A couple of years ago, Earl and Randy robbed the only deaf person living in Camden, knowing it would be real easy. They even stole her cat. Even though it's been one of the best nights of Earl's life, Ruby storms out, saying it was all a mistake.
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Before the trial begins, Ruby's sign language translator, Doug, eats a lemon square that Darnell has baked for Joy and cuts his tongue on a razor blade. The only translator available speaks Mandarin, so they need a third translator. Ruby is a great lawyer and has no problem discrediting the evidence against Joy - and Earl's testimony helps. But when the prosecutor plays several 911 tapes from when Earl and Joy were married, the jury turns against her.
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Earl feels terrible. All he can think about is Joy's family being torn apart, so he claims that he stole the truck, offering evidence to prove it. Joy doesn't get it, but Earl explains that he doesn't have three strikes, or a family. Joy thanks Earl and Ruby forgives him. Judge Miller complements Earl for saving Joy, while acknowledging that he's a piece of trash for waiting this long to do it. Earl is sentenced to two years in the state pen.
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Earl took the fall for Joy so she wouldn't have to give up her life, but now he's giving up everything - job, apartment, and a pretty deaf girlfriend - not to mention his freedom. Earl's old buddy Ralph is relieved to see Earl, his new cellmate, and hands him a sock full of batteries. Seems that Ralph spit in a skinhead's eye, and he's coming after them later in the yard with a pipe gun.

"Get A Real Job" - Season 2

Earl and Randy don't usually set the alarm clock, but today is their first day at their new jobs - stocking appliances for Mr. Waadt. Up until now, Earl has kept himself from becoming an adult - Number 273 on his list. Once he got his GED, it was time to start looking for a job. Earl learns that it's easy to get a job, but hard to find one you want to keep.
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While Earl's feeling good to be part of the workforce, Joy is enjoying her own little dose of reality. After stocking up on green punch, she and Darnell run into her deaf lawyer's "word talker," Doug, in a parking lot. Joy insults Doug, mistaking his old-looking wife for his mother. Miffed, Doug reminds Joy that her trial starts next week, and maybe she shouldn't have bought all that punch - Joy might be going to jail.
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Supervisor Reggie explains the perks of the job to Randy and Earl - everyone gets a one-week vacation and a store credit card. Twice a day the guys eat snacks from the vending machine. After four hours, Earl's already not sure if he can perform this job for the rest of his life. When salesman Ricky calls Earl to the sales floor, it's just like the first day he drank chocolate milk and realized he wanted to have a moustache for the rest of his life - Earl wants to sell appliances in the front of the store.
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Reggie explains that no one's ever moved from the back to the front of the store. It's a little ironic - the salesmen all wear Dockers, but they call the guys who work in the back "Dockers," because they work on the loading dock. The Dockers wear Dickies, which is what they call the guys who work in the front, because they are. Meanwhile, Joy prepares for the possibility of prison by trading in the Brat for a car that will accommodate her family, buying a life-like sex doll for Darnell, and learning to speak Mexican.
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Earl goes the extra mile to show Mr. Waadt that he wants to be a salesman. The Dockers think Earl is sucking up, despite his claims of being a regular guy. Earl remarks that he's spent his whole life making fun of people who try to get ahead - maybe he was wrong. All the Dockers (even Randy) try to sabotage Earl, but Mr. Waadt takes notice of his hard work and gives Earl a shot. If he can sell $5,000 in appliances by end of day Sunday, he's in.
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Now that Earl's wearing Dockers, all the salesman - led by smarmy Ricky - promise they'll do whatever it takes to keep Earl from joining their ranks. On Sunday, it looks like Earl has failed to reach his goal, when a little old church lady comes in to the store to purchase a boatload of appliances for a soup kitchen. Earl asks the Dockers to load the truck, but they refuse, so Earl does it himself. The guys are amazed - no Dickie has ever pulled his own stock! While he's busy, Ricky lies to the church lady and scoops the sale.
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Stress will make you do crazy things, as Darnell finds out, when he wakes up next to the sex doll. Joy has left him a video, explaining that she traded in the Brat because she needed a bigger trunk and learned Mexican because she's going on the lam to Mexico to escape prison! She begs Darnell's forgiveness and promises to send for him and the kids as soon as she can. It's closing time at the store and despite a rousing don't-give-up speech from Reggie, Earl turns his in his tie and name tag to Mr. Waadt.
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Reggie knocks on Mr. Waadt's office door. He puts down his store credit card, demanding to buy a refrigerator from Earl. Ricky's protests fall on deaf ears, as all the Dockers line up to buy appliances from Earl in a show of solidarity for one of their own. Earl wins the day and is promoted to salesman. Sadly, Joy's not having the same luck in Mexico.