Sure, Adam can be annoying at best, but that doesn't mean there aren't any moments when he's good.
- While the community center was not eager to listen to Adam in "Adam Ruins Giving", Emily admits that she did learn something from him. Even telling her fiance that given what she's learned, while she still does want an engagement ring she would prefer a cheaper sapphire to an expensive diamond.
- At the end of "Adam Ruins Malls", Emily admits she had fun with Adam, despite his lecturing throughout the day. In addition, Adam reveals that shopping malls are dying, and are being replaced with open-air shopping centers: meaning Victor Gruen's long-held dream (of shopping centers where people could live, work, and shop) is finally coming true.
- Emily coming out of her coma in “Adam Ruins Death.”
- Crossing over with Moment of Awesome, Patty Murphy stepping in to tell off Kendra for shaming women who breastfeed in public and Veronica for shaming Emily for using formula, the latter being a springboard for the segment on why formula is a literal lifesaver.
- "Adam Ruins What We Learned In School" ends with everyone truly appreciating the lessons Adam gave them, and honestly thanking him for it. While most of Adam's victims never wanna see him again, the teacher and her class really do love him!
- Another one that doubles as a Moment of Awesome — Emily in "Emily Ruins Adam" doesn't just drive most of the episode's ruining, she ruins the very premise of the show by explaining how the Backfire Effect makes people dig harder into their misconceptions because they're more predisposed to take corrections as attacks on their identities. At the end, Adam has nothing but respect for how far Emily has come, and he's very proud of her.
- Despite slowing faith in him throughout the episode, Winnie genuinely likes Adam and his show, and at the end, they seem to be getting along together.
- In “Adam Ruins Divorce,” Adam reassures a panicking about-to-be-married Murph that divorce rates in America never exceeded 41% and have been going down since the late 1970s/ early 1980s (popular myth states that half of marriages in America end in divorce) and that divorce is a good thing because it allows couples trapped in bad and even abusive marriages to escape. In fact, since the introduction of no-fault divorce, female suicide has dropped by 20%.
- The general tone of "Adam Ruins Having A Baby". Instead of ruining the good things, Adam focuses on disproving stuff that generally makes you worry when you have a baby. You don't have to have kids before 35 (or ever), you don't have to breast feed, and you don't have to fall in love with your baby instantly. Every family story is different, and you have to do what best for your baby. Plus, there's plenty of options to have kids in your life even if you don't have some of you own.
- In "Adam Ruins the Suburbs", Adam postponing a ruin to help an old woman who got hit by a car.
- Many of Adam's positive takeaways count as this. Highlights include:
- "Art": Telling Stephanie that she should do what she thinks is art, and not all art is for the stuffy people. This ends up with her drawing in comic book style like she was at the beginning of the episode, which a famous artist notice and offers her a job at Marvel Comics.
- "Weight Loss": Telling Sam while losing weight is a good idea, he shouldn't be so obsessed with how you look.
- "College": By the end of the episode, Cole actually wants to go to college, much to his mother's joy.
- "Spa Day": Telling Julia the placebo effect is actually a good thing. He also gives Julia the inspiration for her article, and several months later, she sends a copy of it to him.
- "Football": Teaching Murph's parents how they can prevent injuries among children in football.
- "The Suburbs": Telling Ron he can make a difference in the Suburbs. And after having a talk with his son, they finally play catch together.
- “Adam Ruins Summer Fun” has a sweet subplot with Jake and his older sister Megan. Jake spends about half the episode being mean to her and not wanting to interact with her. However, they start bonding over their mutual love of video games and end the episode playing “Journey” together.
- Why Adam ruins things: ever since his sister told him Santa doesn't exist, she told him learning the real truth is a lot more fun than you think. And thus sparked a boy curious about everything.
- And you have to admit, his glee at learning things is kind of adorable. Heck, he seems very enthusiastic about learning how baby formula isn't poison since it's "knowledge from a primary source".
- Adam asking Emily for advice in "Adam Ruins The Future".
- Adam's friendship with Emily.
- In The Re-Animated History episode covering Ancient History, Adam decides to take a short break from ruining things to instead recount the story of Boudica.
