A vast majority of My Name Is Earl episodes have these for when it shows the aftermath of how Earl succeeded in his goal of the episode.
- In the pilot episode Earl tries to make amends with Kenny, a former classmate he used to bully, by helping get his confidence back. After finding out that Kenny is gay, he faces up to his own prejudices, buys Kenny a new shirt and goes to a gay bar with him as his wing-man. At the end of the episode Kenny tells Earl that the fact he accepted him for who he was and even helped overcome his shyness about going to gay bars means so much to him that Earl can cross him off the list. They become firm friends and Kenny even helps Earl make amends for his other misdeeds as the series goes on. After one or two relationships not panning out for him, Kenny meets the love of his life. Having previously made Kenny's life a misery as a child, Earl's attempts to help Kenny find his confidence and acceptance of who he is as an adult leads to Kenny living his best life.
- When Earl and his father finally made up and start to get along again after years of Earl's run-ins with the law and so forth. Earl finds and takes back his dad's old car that he lost in a race in high school and works on rebuilding it and his dad helps and it turns out he wanted to build it with Earl when he was younger.
- When Earl's father sees him in the hospital during the coma episodes and he says he never thought of him as a failure of a son and he loved him after the episode's main plot showed Earl (accidentally) stealing some pot and he, his Dad and Randy had to go get replacement pot for the guy Earl stole it from. Also awesome moment for Earl's Dad.
- A nod to an earlier episode in Earl's coma arc, when his friends are trying to wake him up, using methods including boobs ("Come on baby, squeeze, you're a vegetable, not a fruit!"), bacon, singing songs he likes, and finally Randy praying. It doesn't work, but they figure out the list is the only thing that will bring Earl back.
- Then there's the "Burn Victim" episode, where Earl writing "freedom" (for actually good reason) will almost come off as gut-wrenching. But Wait, There's More! - if you consider the prom night, and how the inmate (after forcing Earl to be more direct) finally manages to stop being a Jerkass, and especially if you don't count the ending.
- The birthday party episode after Earl feels like he is still considered a jerk and a crook by everyone, but at the end of the episode it's revealed that they were just screwing with him. They actually had an entire second surprise party planned where they all show a sincere appreciation for the new Earl and each person crosses off a list item about themselves as a birthday present to him. The look on Earl's face at the end tells us that every ordeal of the show was worth it, if only for this moment alone.
- The episode with the 'freaks' that Earl apologizes to, at the end the freaks and Earl jump off the diving board at the town pool to get over their fear of being in public and looking like, well freaks. Then voiceover at the end also adds to this as Earl goes on to say that the freaks go on to live the lives they always wanted.
- "Orphan Earl", Earl finds out that Joy and the other mothers in the trailer park has been scamming a kind old man over the years by pretending to be an impoverished country and having him send money. The heartwarming part comes in when after helping the old man get his money back by scamming Joy and the others, Earl takes him to the trailer park to gloat but finds that the trailer parks are even worse then before. The old man then decides to give them money anyway even though they scammed him. Seeing one of the mothers hug him out of joy and seeing some others being charitable to a street Santa secure the heartwarming factor.
- One episode sees Earl helping his old friend Buddy make the movie in his head. At the end, Buddy dies, but his mother tells Earl that he died with every dream he had fulfilled. The film's cheesy as hell, but as it plays out Earl realizes what she meant...
- While Earl is in prison, one of the programs available to inmates is a sort of dating service. One of the men gets paired up with a very large and not-traditionally-attractive woman probably in her 40's or 50's, wearing an "I saw Bigfoot" T-shirt (played by the always-awesome Dot Marie Jones). The inmate comments, "You look different than your picture." To which the woman replies, "You killed your father!" He thinks about that and says, "Fair enough!" before leaping into her arms.
- While Earl was helping a prisoner by convincing the warden to set up a prom within the prison and he invites the prisoners from a women only prison. Earl commented that the prisoners didn't complain about their partner because they were happy about having new company in the prison.
- Randy's impassioned speech about how much he loves Catalina and would do anything for her, and wanted to have a real marriage (instead of just a "Green Card marriage.") Too bad she didn't feel quite the same way about him.
- Earl's story in the Creative Writing episode. After spending the entire episode struggling with Writer's Block, Earl writes down a narrative about enjoying Buffalo wings at the Crab Shack with his friends. (Something he had lost the ability to do, being incarcerated and all.) It was for that same reason that the rest of the prisoners in the course enjoyed his story more than all the others.
- The second season episode wherein Joy is reunited with her half-sister Liberty. They hit the trifecta of funny, awesome, and heartwarming in one, because it's the wrestling episode!
- The part where Carl forgives Kay for cheating on him all those years ago.
- Josh's second funeral, where the eulogy was given by all his online friends.
- In South of the Border Part Dos Joy breaks out of her drug induced state to become Mama Bear for Earl Jr by scaring the neighbours into moving away by threatening them with some choice words when the husband made the unfortunate decision of injuring Earl Jr.
- After Joy finds out Darnell is in the Witness Protection Program, she kicks him out and refuses to take him back until he tells her the truth. In a final act of desperation, Darnell says that he can't tell her because he'll have to relocate again, and can't imagine his life without her. It works.Darnell: When I was Harry Monroe, I had to give up everything because of what I knew. And I didn't care. But if I tell you my secret now, I could lose everything again, and this time I do care! Because I love you! I can't start my life over without you! Don't you understand? I can't tell you the truth because I love you too much, stupid! (no response) Joy!(starts to leave, only to find Joy waiting for him)Joy: I love you too, stupid.
- After temporally returning to his former criminal lifestyle, Reverend Green forgives Earl after realising that Earl unknowingly saved his life in the past due to breaking his car's lights, afterwards Reverend Green's followers forgive him for robbing the church.
- The episode's B-plot deals with a drunken Joy hitting Catalina with a stolen lawnmower and pinning her body against the wall of a shed. Catalina threatens to call the police once freed, which would result in Joy's third strike. When Joy informs Darnell, he decides they have no choice but to kill Catalina. Right before the deed is done, Joy knocks him out with a shovel and frees Catalina, who is so touched that she decides to keep the incident secret and they share a hug.
- The flashback episode to Earl Jr.'s birth. Earl is ready to leave Joy for cheating on him, clearly upset that Earl Jr. isn't his son. His father tells him though he needs to be there for the kids. Earl decides to stay and in his narration reveals he has no regrets because he was there when they needed him and until Crabman was able to step in and be their father.
- Word of God revealed how the show would have ended, had it not been Cut Short — Earl would never have finished the list. Eventually, he would have gotten stuck on an entry that was impossible for him to make up for. After much struggling with what to do from there, Earl is one day approached by a man who has his own List, and Earl is on it. The man explains that he had been on someone else's list and had been inspired to write his own. It's also implied that the third man had been inspired by someone else and so on, stretching all the way back to Earl's original list. Realizing that he had finally put more good into the world than he had taken out of it, Earl would have torn up his list with a clear conscience and walked away into the sunset with a clean karmic slate.
- During the episode 'Midnight Bun', Catalina is meant to watch after Dodge and Earl Jr. As their day together goes on, the boys realize Catalina never really had a childhood and started having her play games that a typical kid does to help her at least one thing she'd missed.
- When Joy meets Donny for the first time, he mentions that his sister is off with some trucker. Joy snidely asks if she does that a lot, while Earl and Randy make frantic you-don't-want-to-go-there gestures. Donny snarls, "my sister falls in love easily, if that's what you're asking!" Donny not only loves his mother, but you insult his sister's honour at your peril.
- Even though it is played for laughs the fact that Dodge and Earl Jr. still call Earl "Old Daddy" is rather touching.
- One of Earl's wishes was to have a son that was biologically his own, with the joke being that Earl Jr. clearly being Darnell's. Then we get the final episode and the reveal that Dodge is, in fact, Earl's biological son
