My Name is Earl Recap: Pilot
Here we are introduced not only to Earl, but to his brother Randy and his ex-wife Joy, and we find out exactly what set him off on his quest to repay those to whom he has wronged. After he scratched off the lottery ticket that won him $100,000, then was struck by the car where he lost the ticket, he ended up in the hospital and was watching television.
There he saw Carson Daly talk about how he had so much, and he just wanted to make sure that he did right by everyone else, and that was Earl's introduction to Karma. Once he heard those words, he knew what he had to do, and he made the list. As soon as he did, he started to work on the list, and he wanted to help a boy he had wronged throughout their school days. When he began to work on the list, the ticket came back (though it was actually a long trip, watch Number One for the whole story), and that helped Earl know he was doing the right thing.
Along the way, he tried to take the easy way out, but as he did, Joy found out about him winning the lottery, and he figured that was karma coming in and telling him he was headed down the wrong path again, so he stuck to his original intention and managed to cross off his first item on the list. Only 258 to go.
