For the main Heartwarming Moments page for Saw, go here.
- When the janitor sees that he's been (figuratively) caught with his pants down, he quickly puts back the items he was planning to steal and leaves the room. Any other day, John would sternly admonish somebody when they only do the right thing because he catches them in the act. But this time, he was in a fairly good mood, so rather than chastising him, John pats the young man on the back and tells him he made the right choice.
- While it doesn't take long for reality to set in, John's fatherly attitude towards Gabriela at the beginning of the film is legitimately adorable. She brings him a bottle of tequila "for luck". He then buys her a bottle of liquor to return the favour.
- John insisting that Gabriela be taken to a hospital after she frees herself from her trap. It's clear that he still had an inkling left of belief in her and that she deserved to redeem herself even after all that's happened. Even more heartwarming is the fact that Amanda, who would come to the conclusion that none of John's victims deserve to live, actually agrees with him and sees a bit of herself in the other girl.
- John's relationship with Carlos throughout the movie, showing that even with all the games and the gore, there's still some humanity in John.
- Not too long after arriving in Mexico, John befriends Carlos when he fixes the wheel on his bicycle, and in the process, they dissolve the language barrier between themselves. John is easily old enough to be Carlos' grandfather, but they bond so well that it makes John feel like he's actually raising Carlos.
- In a twisted way, John’s decision to subject himself to the bloodboarding trap and not letting Carlos fully know how it works, minimizing the child's suffering as much as possible. Once Carlos does figure it out, the heartwarming surprisingly increases as he briefly subjects himself to the board before John once again turns the hose on himself and holds the lever — not that it tries to stop Carlos from pulling again anyway.
- When Amanda is freed from her chains after Cecilia accidentally deactivates the trap, the first thing she does is free Carlos. And when Carlos is freed, he immediately jumps into John's arms and hugs him tightly.
- John calling Carlos a "warrior" after the latter willingly "bloodboards" himself several times to protect a man he'd only met once. Gets extra heartwarming when you realize it's what "Gideon", the name of the son he never got to have, means. For a brief moment, he got to live in a reality where his son was never killed.
- John and Amanda elect to give Cecilia's money to Carlos so he can share it with his family.
- As John, Amanda and Carlos are leaving the factory, Amanda playfully ruffles Carlos's hair.
- With every single character either being dead, horribly traumatized, or left unaccounted for, Carlos is noticeable for being THE first character in the Saw franchise to explicitly have a happy ending.
- After watching the partnership between John, Amanda, and Hoffman end in betrayals and violence in the earlier movies, it's oddly sweet to see them getting along again, working together to do the horrible things they did best.
- The fact that, for once, a Saw movie has a somewhat happy ending. Yeah sure, what happens later in the timeline happens. But it's nice to see John not in a complete state of utter agony, or dead for once, and Amanda help him out. And on top of it, Carlos has a chance to start over and begin a new life.
