Earl's sister Pearl, who he has not seen in years and has been resentful of, arrives to visit the family, having gigs playing country music at a local bar. Roy meets her and they start a relationship, which Earl is against (and assumes she'll leave him soon), but Roy, seeing the similarities between her and Earl, breaks up with him. A heartbroken Pearl decides to leave town, but seeing that Earl's resentment over her career as a country singer is out of jealousy, and arranges to have them sing a duet at the bar before she leaves.
Includes examples of
- Exact Words: When Roy sees Robbie and Charlene at the bar on a school night, Roy tells them they'd better have a good reason for it. They sheepishly say that they do, and Roy just says "okay" without asking for further details.
- The Goggles Do Nothing: Mister Lizard has Timmy wear safety goggles before a dangerous experiment, which Earl complains about and Fran agrees with the safety on. Of course, the goggles don't really protect Timmy.
- Hidden Depths: Pearl arranges to have Earl sing with her in public. Robbie and Charlene both fear embarrassment, and are surprised when he proves to be a good singer.
- Freudian Excuse: Pearl explains that Earl is the way he is because their father died while Earl was in high school and he had to drop out to be a tree pusher to support their mother, while Pearl chose to go on the road as a singer, leaving Earl to take care of their mother on his own. Though later Pearl finds out that Earl is also envious of Pearl for having such an exciting life.
- Metaphorically True: After Earl denies Robbie and Charlene to go to Pearl's show because it's a school night and they have homework, they agree that homework is more important... So they do their homework while watching Pearl perform.
- Moral Guardians: When Mr. Lizard has Timmy wear safety goggles before doing an experiment, Earl complains that the shows producers must have given in to these, while Fran agrees with the safety.
- Series Continuity Error: Pearl tells the kids that Earl's father died while Earl was in high school and he had to drop out and become a tree pusher to support their mother. However, in Hurling Day, Earl says that his father gave him hurling gloves on his wedding day. Unless Earl and Fran got married in high school.
