Louis T. Moyle

Every year, Dodge's school holds Career Day, where dads come in to talk about their jobs. When Dodge wants his real father to appear at his school's career day, Earl sees the opportunity to make amends for former mistakes, but in order to do that he needs to find Dodge's real dad, much to Joy's dismay.

When a scruffy guy tells Joy a sad story and asks for money, she pretends to believe his tale of woe, and takes him inside the Crab Shack so everyone can laugh at him. This reminds Earl of `201' on his list, conned an old man out of $100. A couple of weeks before Earl found karma, he and Joy decided to run a scam. Earl wants to make up for it, but finds out that Joy is still running the scam.

Upon discovering that he is the holder of a winning ticket, Earl is hit by a car and the ticket blows out of his limp hand as he lies unconscious in the street. While recovering in the hospital and watching television, Earl has a karmic epiphany.

Earl gets a hot tub for Joy from a dubious source, and in return, Joy gets a toe infection from it, confining her to the home.

As the festive season approaches, Earl tries to win Joy a car to make up for all the times he ruined her Christmas. Problems arise when he finds out that her racist dad thinks they're still married and Earl's just back from the war in Iraq.

In the opening episode of the fourth season, Joy's latest con reminds Earl of a wish he stole from a dying child named Buddy, and so ten years after the fact, he visits the kid's mother, only to find out that Buddy is very much alive. Buddy has the vision of a movie, and he wants Earl to help him produce it.