When karma came for Earl Hickey on My Name is Earl, it did not mess around. Karma quite literally hit him with a car and put him in a position where Earl had to reflect on his life in a very real way. What Earl eventually realized was that the people he had hurt the most were the people closest to him. And no one suffered at Earl's hands more than his brother Randy, which was why he earned a permanent place on "the list."
Earl spent his entire life doing bad things. He was a career petty criminal who constantly flirted with legitimate felonies. Honestly, the man came dangerously close to extended stays in prison on multiple occasions. Then in Season 1, Episode 1, karma took the wheel. Earl won $100,000 on a lotto scratcher only to get hit by a car. He ended up in the hospital where his wife, Joy, divorced him after years of being unfaithful.
While he was laid up, Carson Daly taught Earl about the concept of karma. Well, his loose interpretation of it, at least. The My Name is Earl version of karma boiled down to doing good things and good things would happen. This actually worked for Earl. He made a list of all the bad things he had done and the people he wronged. As he made amends, his life changed for the better, including getting his lotto scratcher back.
Randy, Earl's younger brother, was along for the ride. He was there for Earl during his criminal days and he walked away from the criminal life when Earl did. It's hard to imagine a more supportive brother than Randy. But Earl came to a realization in Season 1, Episode 7. Not only did Randy belong on the list, but he also belonged on the list permanently. And Earl could not have been more right about that.
In Season 1, Episode 3, Earl was trying to make up for ripping off a pawnbroker and bookie. The original scam involved Randy throwing a high school football game and giving up his only opportunity to score a touchdown. This was the point that Earl started realizing the negative impact that he had on his own brother's life. It also started dawning on him that Randy always put everything Earl wanted first.
This all came to a head in Season 1, Episode 7. Randy wanted to go to a fair to see the car from Smokey and the Bandit. Earl was focused on his list and put it first. When Earl finally wised up, he came to the conclusion that he had unintentionally taken a lot of opportunities away from Randy during his criminal years. He also figured out that he was repeating the same pattern in his new karma-guided life.
That was the moment he put Randy on his list permanently. Earl knew that this was a debt he would be making up for and he was fine with that. He loved Randy deeply. Earl wanted to make everything he had done wrong to his brother right, no matter what it took. That's why he rented the Bandit car and let Randy drive it. This was Earl's way of starting to make amends for the only item on the list he could never cross off.