MovieChat Forums > My Name Is Earl (2005) Discussion > The one thing that I really didn't like ...

The one thing that I really didn't like about MNiE.

posted 10 years ago by jimbrown257
7 replies | jump to latest

I like My Name is Earl but it has always bugged me how they had some misguided insistence that Joy be a "good/responsible mother". In the rare event that her two brats made an appearance, they would often put in some narrated line about how she cared about her kids or tried to do something nice for them. It was weird and seemed forced (like some executive made them put that in) and, worst of all, that narrated line about her being a good mother was the opposite of what we saw and it messed with her character development.

[–] sneef79 10 years ago

Whether or not we were to ever get the impression that Joy was a good mother or not, there was never any doubt that she was a horrible person as a whole. She showed her true colors when she laughed at her deaf defense attorney for the way she talked, but then she let Earl go to prison for her own ignorance. I wish the writers could have made her look the least bit nicer.

[–] VirtualSide 10 years ago

Joy was definitely bad in the sense that she would betray you in a heartbeat, no matter how influential you'd been in her life or how many times you sacrificed to do a good deed for her.

[–] mcgill_j 9 years ago

She was horrible to other people. But always stood up for her family. I bet oddly if anyone outside of her made fun of Earl or even Randy she'd jump them. Much like "Married with Children" they horrifically rip on each other but if someone else does it the claws come out.

[–] Doc80 9 years ago

Yep. No different that an older sibling who always picks on their younger sibling. As soon as someone else does it though, they come to their defense. I can't remember what show it was but this quote says it best "We're family. We don't always like you but we'll always love you" or something like that.

[–] jcdulos 9 years ago

I remember in the episode where she takes Her happy pills their obnoxious neighbors hit one of her kids with a soda can and she went over there and threatened them. I guess in a way that's being a good mother.

[–] GreyHunter 9 years ago

Made perfect sense to me. She was a terrible person overall, but she had some redeeming qualities, including her love for her kids and Crabman. A person with no redeeming qualities is just a cartoon, and while MNiE had many cartoonish aspects, it was very good at getting at the heart of the characters. So Joy was a selfish white-trash bitch. That doesn't mean she's incapable of loving her kids. In fact, that reflects my experience pretty well -- her type tends to be fiercely protective of her own family even as she's making life miserable for everyone else's.

[–] mattiasflgrtll6 9 years ago

Only one of many flaws of this crappy show.

I hated Joy, she's probably one of my least favorite television characters of all time.