The Good Place

Season 1

1. Everything Is Fine

Eleanor Shellstrop wakes up in a afterlife utopia called the "Good Place", where she is welcomed by the neighborhood's architect Michael. All humans are assigned a numerical score based on the morality of their conduct in life, and only those with the very highest scores are sent to the Good Place ( Heaven ); all others experience an eternity of torture in the "Bad Place" ( Hell ). Michael praises Eleanor for being a lawyer who helped innocent people off death row, then escorts her to a home designed to her preferences where she can access memories from her life.

She is also paired with a soulmate: Chidi, a Senegalese ethics professor. Eleanor tells Chidi that all of Michael's information about her is someone else's. Eleanor made a living by knowingly selling a worthless supplement to the sick and elderly and was crass and uncaring. Chidi has a moral crisis over whether or not to help Eleanor, who becomes frustrated and angry at a party hosted by her neighbors, soulmates Tahani and Jianyu. The next morning, the neighborhood is attacked by representations of elements from Eleanor's life and her misbehavior in the Good Place.

2. Flying

Eleanor avoids suspicion in the aftermath of the chaos, while Michael fears he has failed in his first big project. Introducing Immanuel Kant 's Metaphysics of Morals, Chidi considers teaching Eleanor to be a good person. Tahani organizes a clean up day, but anyone who volunteers will miss out on the opportunity to fly. Chidi suggests Eleanor volunteer in order to prove that she has the capacity for selflessness. She does, but she hides the trash to go flying after all, causing a trash storm to occur. Chidi loses faith in her and refuses to help.

That night, Eleanor feels guilty and cleans the neighborhood herself. Chidi sees her and agrees to teach her to be good. A note is slipped under Eleanor's door, warning her that she does not belong in the Good Place. Flashbacks to Eleanor's life show that she habitually shirked the responsibility of acting as a designated driver.

3. Tahani Al-Jamil

Eleanor suspects Tahani of writing the note but decides that she is genuinely good and begins to form a real friendship with her, comforting her over her dissatisfaction with Jianyu's vow of silence. Michael tries to get Chidi to take up a hobby, but Chidi only wants to work on his ethics manuscript. After Michael says that it is difficult to read, he agrees to become Chidi's advisor in rewriting it. Michael recruits Eleanor to help investigate the problems in the neighborhood. That night, Jianyu finally speaks aloud when he tells Eleanor that he wrote the note, and he also does not belong in the Good Place.

4. Jason Mendoza

Jianyu tells Eleanor he is really Jason Mendoza, a Filipino American drug dealer and an amateur DJ from Jacksonville, Florida who has gone along with the fiction of being a monk because the supposed vow of silence enables him to avoid detection. Jason decides to express his true identity, while Eleanor and a stunned Chidi try to convince him to stay hidden, fearing Eleanor will also be exposed. Tahani helps plan the gala opening of Patricia's restaurant. When Jason plans to share the real details of his life at the event, Eleanor creates a distraction by destroying Patricia's masterpiece cake, causing a sinkhole to open.

Jason agrees to join Chidi's ethics class, but is an even less apt student than Eleanor. Tahani discovers that the sinkhole is growing, not closing as Michael expected. Flashbacks show that Jason Mendoza was hired as a famous electronic dance music DJ's stand-in and was rejected by the crowd when he played his own music. He tells a friend that he longs to be appreciated as his authentic self—and then vandalizes the DJ's boat.

5. Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis

Eleanor is pleased that she is becoming more considerate of others and learning about John Stuart Mill 's Utilitarianism, but Chidi is dissatisfied with spending all of his time teaching Eleanor. Michael protects the neighborhood from the sinkhole by quarantining all of the residents. He insists that Eleanor and Chidi host a couple who live near the sinkhole; the observant couple concludes that Chidi is hiding something. Chidi admits he never had a real relationship with a woman before; Eleanor realizes he is disappointed that she is not his true soulmate, and decides to be a better friend to him.

Tahani reads Michael's private documents and learns that she has the second-lowest points score in the neighborhood. She tries to raise it by aiding Michael, who has to save her from the sinkhole; he tells her that scores do not change after death and that she should be satisfied to be one of the best people who ever lived. The sinkhole closes after Eleanor's kind gesture and Michael informs her that she must help him uncover the cause. Tahani's flashbacks show that she lived her entire life in the shadow of her sister, Kamilah, finally deciding to live independently after their parents' deaths.

6. What We Owe to Each Other

Eleanor distracts Michael from his investigation in order to avoid detection. He tells her that architects do not normally live in neighborhoods; doing so was his own idea and will be discredited by his failure. Tahani tries to bond with Jianyu, forcing Chidi to go to great lengths to protect Jason's secret. Chidi and Tahani end up bonding, but Tahani ultimately accepts Jianyu as her soulmate after he gives her a gift that Chidi arranged. Michael concludes that he is the cause of the problems and announces his impending departure. In the past, Eleanor ditches house-sitting for a friend in order to attend a Rihanna concert, resulting in her friend's dog suffering a permanent disability.

7. The Eternal Shriek

Michael announces that his "retirement" will consist of eternal torture. Only Janet can initiate the retirement, so rather than tell the truth, Eleanor decides to activate Janet's killswitch. She and Chidi argue over activating the switch; Chidi ends up pushing the button while trying to stop Jason from doing so. Chidi agrees to keep their secret, even though it will make him miserable. Tahani plans a somber retirement party for Michael. Janet is rebooted with no memories and operates at diminished capacity. Michael announces that he will remain in the neighborhood to investigate Janet's murder, which he says means there is a problem beyond himself.

Eleanor admits to everyone that she is the problem because she was brought to the Good Place by mistake. In flashbacks, Chidi lies that he likes a coworker's unattractive boots; he obsesses over the lie for three years and finally confesses after the coworker survives a difficult surgery.

8. Most Improved Player

Michael interviews Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason about Eleanor and Janet's death. After finally getting Eleanor's file from Janet (who is still re-learning things and had been only producing different types of cacti beforehand), he learns that Eleanor ruined a friend's dress, leading to a lawsuit that bankrupted innocent dry cleaners, public humiliation of the friend, and Eleanor's personal profit via t-shirts insulting her friend. This leads to Michael calling the Bad Place to come and take Eleanor. A train from the Bad Place arrives, bringing Trevor, a cruel and sleazy representative, to take Eleanor.

After Chidi confesses that he killed Janet and that Eleanor is learning to be a better person, Michael and the others arrive at the train station to prevent Trevor from taking Eleanor. Trevor agrees to let the matter be discussed if he can continue to keep the other Eleanor Shellstrop, who was meant for the Good Place and is then led off the train.

9....Someone Like Me as a Member

As negotiations begin to determine the fates of the Eleanors, Michael uses Tahani's house as a meeting place only for the Bad Place demons to turn the event into a party where they walk all over Michael, much to Tahani's dismay. Chidi and the real Eleanor bond over dinner with Eleanor and Trevor. During the main negotiation session, Michael stands up to Trevor and his demons, declaring war on the Bad Place and promising to fight for Eleanor. Trevor promises to get Shawn, an "Eternal Judge", involved. Michael ultimately throws the demons out of the Good Place. That night, Jason finds Tahani in his "meditation room", demanding to know who he really is. In flashbacks, Eleanor is shown to dislike joining social groups.

10. Chidi's Choice

While working together on Eleanor's defense case, Real Eleanor makes Eleanor realize she loves Chidi. Tahani confronts Jason and learns that Chidi inspired his kind gestures. Chidi panics when Eleanor and Tahani both tell him they love him. Michael successfully encourages Chidi to make a decision. Eleanor insists that she and Tahani preserve their friendship, so they spend the rest of the day together. Appreciating Janet's kindness towards him, Jason decides to marry her. Eleanor and Tahani attend the wedding and, when Chidi arrives, Eleanor tells him that her love for him is that of gratitude towards a friend and teacher and Tahani admits she was just on the rebound.

Declaring that she has thought of a way for Eleanor to stay, Tahani leaves with her. Flashbacks show that a young Chidi wasted an entire recess period unable to pick teammates. Later in life, Chidi's indecisiveness made him unable to act as his best friend Uzo's best man and led to his death when an air conditioning unit, which he had knocked loose, fell on him while he stood below, unable to choose a bar to visit with Uzo.

11. What's My Motivation

Tahani suggests that Eleanor be allowed to accrue points in the Good Place; starting at −4,000, she must exceed 1,200,000. She performs good deeds and recreates Tahani's welcoming party, winning over her neighbors with humor, but her score only increases when she advises Chidi to respond favorably to Real Eleanor's declaration of love. Eleanor learns that, since her motivation is self-preservation, her actions will not increase her score. She secretly plans to leave the Good Place to become a good person, and her score reaches the target. Michael discovers both Jason's identity and his marriage to Janet, who has developed emotions and loves Jason, so Michael decides to reboot her.

When Shawn's train arrives, Janet, Jason, and Eleanor hijack it to take them to a "Medium Place". Flashbacks show that Jason suffocated and died in a safe while trying to rob a restaurant with his friend Pillboi, who was placed on probation and not charged in his death.

12. Mindy St. Claire

Eleanor, Jason, and Janet escape to a "Medium Place" inhabited by Mindy St. Claire ( Maribeth Monroe ), a 1980s attorney who overall led a selfish life, but whose actions just prior to her death led to the formation of a massive global charity fund. Shawn proceeds with his trial on Eleanor and Jason, with Chidi, Tahani, Michael, and real Eleanor trying to argue in Eleanor's favor. Ultimately, Shawn judges against Eleanor and Jason, decreeing that, if the two do not return, Chidi and Tahani will be sentenced to go to the Bad Place in their stead.

Eleanor eventually convinces Jason and Janet to return in order to spare Chidi and Tahani from that fate. When they make it back to the Good Place, they have just missed Shawn's deadline by a matter of seconds. Shawn decides that they can choose any two of the four to go to the Bad Place. Flashbacks show the day of Eleanor's death, the day Eleanor was emancipated from her parents, and various other moments in Eleanor's life.

13. Michael's Gambit

Following Shawn's decision, the group argues about who should go to the Bad Place and who should stay, with Real Eleanor deciding to take one place. As their arguments become more heated and frustrating, Eleanor has an epiphany: the four of them have been torturing each other not by accident but by design, meaning they have been in the Bad Place (Hell) all along. Michael, in truth a demon, confesses that this "Good Place" is a new and elaborate Bad Place neighborhood where Eleanor, Jason, Chidi, and Tahani, the only human inhabitants, were to drive each other to agony; every other "neighbor" was a demon acting as part of the plan.

Michael explains Janet is a legitimate Good Place Janet he stole to run his fake Good Place. Flashbacks show Michael at his architect job before he created his false "Good Place" and his pitch meeting with Shawn, in actuality his boss, having pitched his plan as able to last 1,000 years. With his scheme exposed, Michael begs Shawn for a second attempt by blanking their memories and changing some parameters. In a last ditch effort to do something, Eleanor rips a page from T. M. Scanlon 's Contractualism and writes a message to herself which she hides in Janet's mouth. After the reset, Janet gives Eleanor the piece of paper that reads "Eleanor – Find Chidi".

Season 2

1. Everything Is Great! Part 1

Eleanor's, Chidi's, Tahani's, and Jason's memories have been erased and they start over in the Bad Place. Shawn believes Michael's project will fail and Michael's existence will be ended through "retirement". Janet gives Eleanor the note she wrote to find Chidi. Chidi is forced to choose between two potential soulmates; just as he chooses Angelique, who seems ideal for him, Michael determines that the other woman, Pevita, with whom Chidi felt no connection, is his actual soulmate. Eleanor finds Chidi, but he is distracted by his own situation and is unwilling to help Eleanor. Tahani is dissatisfied that her soulmate Tomas is very short and has unrefined taste and that their home is small and cramped. Michael plans for Eleanor to get drunk and behave badly at the welcome party, but instead Tahani gets drunk and makes a scene.

2. Everything Is Great! Part 2

Jason's new soulmate is Luang, a monk who is meant to be his spiritual companion; Luang accompanies Jason and copies his every action, leaving Jason bored and desperate to escape. Jason becomes attracted to Janet, who is nice to him. Vicky, who portrayed "Real Eleanor", is frustrated by her new, minor role as pizza parlor owner Denise. Chidi realizes the paper of Eleanor's note is from a book in his library; he suspects they have met before. At Eleanor's house, Eleanor admits that she does not belong in the Good Place. Michael, Janet, Tahani, Jason, and everyone's supposed soulmates arrive. Tahani and Jason openly express their dissatisfaction and Eleanor figures out that they are not in the Good Place; she reveals the note. Michael again erases the humans' memories and reboots the Good Place, but conceals the false start from Shawn, who has disallowed a third attempt.

3. Dance Dance Resolution

Michael reboots the neighborhood hundreds of times, but Eleanor (and, on at least one occasion, Jason) eventually realizes its true nature each time. In the 802nd iteration, Eleanor and Chidi learn of the memory wipes when they discover dissatisfied neighborhood workers (including an undisguised demon) complaining about Michael's version of the Bad Place. Eleanor, Chidi, and Janet take the train to the Medium Place, where Mindy St. Claire reveals that it is Eleanor's sixteenth visit; Eleanor and her companions always return to Michael's neighborhood with a new plan to defeat him.

Mindy also reveals that Eleanor and Chidi often form a sexual relationship and once mutually professed their love. In the neighborhood, Vicky and the other actors go on strike. Vicky presents their individual demands and hers is to take Michael's job; she threatens to reveal the multiple attempts to Shawn. Jason tells Michael about his dance crew being challenged to a dance-off and that they united to instead slash the other dancers' tires; when Eleanor returns and leads the humans in confronting Michael, he asks to form an alliance with them.

4. Team Cockroach

Michael tries to recruit all four humans to his plan, in which he will reboot the neighborhood but secretly leave their memories intact and they will feign ignorance; if they refuse, Michael asserts they will again detect the ruse, Vicky will expose him, and the humans will be remanded to traditional, hellish torture, while Michael is burned eternally. Michael also claims he can get the four and himself into the real Good Place. Chidi agrees quickly, accepting that his work on ethics in life was unsuccessful. Jason is oblivious, but Michael's bow tie earns his trust.

Tahani insists she belongs in the Good Place, but concedes after Michael reveals her cause of death; she was crushed by a statue of her sister Kamillah that she pulled down, demonstrating Tahani's self-obsession. Eleanor initially plans to flee to Mindy's house, but accedes to Michael's plan after Michael informs her that Chidi never refused to help her. She adds a condition: Michael must participate in Chidi's ethics classes. Even though Michael sees humans as "cockroaches", he agrees. The neighborhood is rebooted with Vicky taking on the role of the top point earner and honorary mayor. The humans and Michael meet in secret and are joined by Janet, whose programming compels her to make humans happy; thus, she will support the only real humans present.

5. Existential Crisis

When Chidi realizes that Michael's immortality prevents him from engaging with human ethics, he confronts Michael over the possibility of existence-ending "retirement". Michael becomes despondent and then replaces his existential crisis with a stereotypical midlife crisis, which Chidi determines is less psychologically productive. Eleanor explains to Michael that sadness over death is intrinsic to humanity; he thanks her and Chidi decides their studies can move forward. Tahani is tortured by having her birthday party for Gunnar overshadowed by an extravagant one planned by Vicky; Tahani is miserable despite knowing Vicky's plan and laments her character flaws that enable such superficial problems to affect her.

Jason praises Tahani and they sleep together; both enjoy it, but Tahani wants to talk about it afterwards, while Jason is oblivious. Eleanor recalls formative experiences concerning death: Eleanor's alcoholic mother flippantly explaining the family dog's death to a young Eleanor, an adult Eleanor attending her father's funeral and claiming to be fine, and Eleanor crying into a toilet plunger at a Bed Bath & Beyond upon seeing a toothbrush holder designed for a family's use.

6. The Trolley Problem

Chidi teaches the group the trolley problem thought experiment, but Michael's practical knowledge of the afterlife scoring system conflicts with Chidi's theoretical approach. Supposedly as a learning aid, Michael subjects Chidi to realistic simulations of the trolley problem and related ethical questions, then admits he is deliberately torturing Chidi. Chidi expels Michael, who tries to placate the humans with extravagant personalized gifts that Chidi calls bribes. Chidi allows Michael to return after Michael offers an apology that consists of exact and seemingly sincere wording Chidi has pre-approved. Tahani and Jason continue their relationship, but Tahani insists on secrecy while Jason wants to go public. Janet becomes their couples counselor. Over the course of a month, their relationship improves but Janet, performing beyond her specifications, is suffering from short term errors; Janet tells Michael the neighborhood could collapse from the errors' increasing severity.

7. Janet and Michael

Before beginning his experiment, Michael steals Janet from a warehouse and claims to be a Good Place architect; they build the neighborhood together. Now, Michael troubleshoots Janet while Vicky is distracted by torturing Chidi with needles. When Janet's manual suggests the glitches are caused by falsehoods, Michael blames himself for lying about the neighborhood's real purpose. But, when a glitch occurs while Janet is speaking to Tahani and Jason about their relationship, he realizes the problem is Janet's own subconscious lies – she is not really happy for the couple because she has retained her second incarnation's love for Jason.

Janet advises Michael to activate her self-destruct mechanism, but he makes excuses and ultimately refuses because Janet is his friend. They solicit Eleanor's advice instead and Eleanor successfully talks Janet through processing her human emotions. Acting on Eleanor's recommendation of a rebound relationship, Janet creates a boyfriend named Derek whose mental state is infantile, excitable, and easily distracted.

8. Derek

Michael fears Derek's existence will expose him. Michael sends Jason and Tahani on a private retreat and seeks Chidi and Eleanor's advice. Janet and Derek's relationship deteriorates. After Jason and Tahani ask Janet to marry them, Chidi acknowledges that the most ethical action is to inform the couple of Janet's issue, despite the double effect that Janet might eliminate Derek. Eleanor does so and, as Janet's friend, offers to help her work through her deep emotions over time. Janet deactivates Derek. Jason and Tahani remain intimate, but are unsure where they stand.

Eleanor, having secretly repeatedly viewed Mindy's tape of herself and Chidi, shows it to him; he does not feel he loves her and she claims to feel the same way. Michael asks to speak with Eleanor about ethics; she tells him that striving to do right is emotionally rewarding and that his reaching out to her was human. Shawn comes to Michael's office.

9. Leap to Faith

Shawn congratulates Michael; Michael's falsified progress reports have earned them both promotions and the new torture plan will be widely implemented. Michael "reveals" to Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason that they are in the Bad Place and announces the demons will destroy and abandon the neighborhood while the humans will be remanded to traditional torture the next day. The four consider exposing Michael to Shawn or fleeing to Mindy St. Claire's house, but Eleanor realizes Michael mentioned Kierkegaard as a cue for them to take a leap of faith with him and his cruel roast of them held a coded plan: First, Janet retrieves Derek so he can conduct a decoy train while the humans hide on the tracks underneath the train the demons intend to take out of town.

Then, Michael frames Vicky for the humans' apparent escape. After the demons leave, Michael, Janet, and the humans are left alone, safe in the neighborhood. Mindy is delighted when a sexually willing Derek arrives at her house with cocaine.

10. Best Self

Michael tells the humans they will travel to the Good Place in a hot-air balloon that challenges them to prove they are the best versions of their respective selves. They struggle to do so and Michael admits he is stalling because he was actually unable to determine a means to enter the Good Place, despite exploring over a billion options. Out of options, the group holds a party. Tahani ends her relationship with Jason. Eleanor admits she has feelings for Chidi, who describes his struggle to process his feelings and wishes he and Eleanor had met under normal circumstances.

The humans name Michael an "honorary human", praising him for making more of an effort to do the right thing than a typical person. Tahani suggests they "demand to speak to a manager", but Michael says the Judge rarely hears cases and can only be reached through the Bad Place. Eleanor suggests they try and everyone agrees. Michael incapacitates the Bad Janet sent to transport him and Janet conducts everyone to the Bad Place on a train as the neighborhood disintegrates.

11. Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent

Inside Bad Place headquarters, Michael works to obtain special badges that enable use of the Judge's portal. When a reception is unexpectedly held in the others' hiding place, the humans impersonate demons and Janet impersonates a Bad Janet. Chidi is unwilling to lie until Eleanor convinces him moral particularism permits it. Michael intends to use the humans' extradition paperwork as a cover, but Shawn (against regulations) sends commandos to Mindy's house and learns the humans are not there. Michael flees, stealing badges, and rejoins the humans at the reception, where a presentation about the neighborhood reveals the humans' identities.

The five escape without Janet after Jason blocks Shawn's pursuit with a Molotov cocktail. Michael sends Tahani, Jason, and Chidi through the portal before discovering he is one badge short. He then gives his to Eleanor – determining self-sacrifice solves the trolley problem – and pushes a protesting Eleanor through the portal as Shawn arrives.

12. The Burrito

"The Burrito" redirects here. For other uses, see Burrito (disambiguation). Michael confesses his lies to Shawn who, rather than retire him (which would make a spectacle that would publicize the scandal), decides to imprison him. The Bad Janet assisting Shawn reveals herself to be Michael's Janet; she incapacitates Shawn. The four humans arrive at the Judge's chambers. Eleanor reveals Michael's sacrifice. The Judge, Gen, agrees to hear out Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani and tells them they must be subjected to separate tests of their personal growth. At their own request, they will share one fate and can only pass if all do individually.

Jason fails a test of impulse control while Tahani fails when, instructed to ignore what others think of her, she maturely confronts her parents over their lifelong cruelty towards her. Eleanor is told that she and Chidi have passed while the others have failed; after Chidi tells her that it is ethical for them to go to the Good Place without Jason and Tahani, she correctly identifies "Chidi" as a construct and refuses the offer; Gen commends her. The real Chidi fails a test of decisiveness. Gen tells the foursome they have failed and Eleanor claims to have also failed personally. Before Gen can send them to the Bad Place, Michael and Janet arrive.

13. Somewhere Else

Michael argues that the humans' postmortem self-improvement, which the immortal beings thought impossible, means the afterlife system is corrupt. Janet tells Jason she loves him, inspiring Chidi to kiss Eleanor. Gen offers to put each of the humans in their own separate Medium Places while she deliberates for up to a million years, but Eleanor refuses the proposal as unjust. Gen believes the humans only improved in pursuit of moral desert, but Michael believes they would have striven to improve, regardless, if encouraged. To test this, Michael rewinds time and saves all four humans from their original deaths, creating a new timeline in which their lives on Earth continue.

Michael and Janet monitor the behavior of all four humans, who do not remember their time in the afterlife. Eleanor has an epiphany; she quits her immoral job to work as an environmentalist and tries to be ethical. After six months, Eleanor loses enthusiasm for environmentalism as her kindness has opened her to mistreatment by others; she reverts to her previous lifestyle for another six months. Michael, evading Gen's notice, appears to Eleanor as a bartender and questions her morality, leading her to watch Chidi's three-hour-long online lecture on " what we owe to each other," which enthralls her. Eleanor travels to Australia to meet Chidi, pleasing Michael.

Season 3

1. Everything Is Bonzer! Part 1

Judge Gen authorizes Michael to travel to Earth, where he saves Eleanor's, Chidi's, Jason's, and Tahani's lives, creating a new timeline, but strictly forbids any more interference. Michael and Janet monitor the humans, who reform for six months but eventually revert to their previous lifestyles. Chidi explores his brain health with a neuroscientist, Simone, but gives up decisiveness after his coworker Henry is injured following Chidi's advice to lose weight. Michael returns to Earth to influence the humans to meet one another. He leads Eleanor to seek out Chidi and primes Chidi to be willing to work with her; Chidi agrees to teach Eleanor about moral philosophy.

Michael is concerned when Eleanor encourages Chidi to date Simone, but Janet reassures him that Chidi and Eleanor have connected meaningfully when they were not romantically involved. Shawn leads a Bad Place team that tries to hack into Gen's system; Michael's trips to Earth open a backdoor that Shawn's team exploits.

2. Everything Is Bonzer! Part 2

Chidi and Simone go on a date, and he kisses her after Eleanor protests his indecision. Chidi and Simone conceive a joint-study thesis to examine the effect of near-death experiences on brain function in ethical decision-making. Michael continues returning to Earth illicitly. Tahani finds enlightenment in a monastery, but returns to her fame-chasing ways after writing a bestselling book about the experience; Michael poses as a sleazy businessman who likens himself to Tahani, repulsing her into joining the study. Jason devotes himself to dance competitions and forbids his crewmates from committing crimes, but returns to crime after the crew suffers continual failures; Michael tries to lure Jason to Australia to run a dance crew, but he has already been soul-searching and wants to find a deeper meaning in life, and decides to participate in the study. Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason meet in Australia but, to Michael's dismay, the Bad Place sends Trevor to participate in the study.

3. The Brainy Bunch

Trevor interferes with the humans; he drives Chidi away from the others by suggesting that Chidi's friendship with the subjects threatens clinical results and he steers Jason and Tahani towards a meaningless hookup, all the while smothering the humans with overtures of friendship. Michael and Janet go to Earth, but struggle to hinder Trevor without their powers; Janet is perturbed by her inability to summon objects. Jason helps a drunk Tahani get home safely, but their friendship remains platonic. Eleanor is saddened by the loss of Chidi's friendship and mentorship, skipping the next group meeting.

Chidi, encouraged by Simone, affirms that he is Eleanor's friend, so she agrees to continue in the study. Judge Gen summons Michael, Janet, and Trevor back to the afterlife and hurls Trevor into a void. She declares that Michael has caused too much of a ripple effect with his interference on Earth – causing, among other things, Brexit, the success of The Greatest Showman, the Jacksonville Jaguars qualifying for the 2017 NFL playoffs, and Byron Allen purchasing The Weather Channel – and that the experiment is over; the humans must meet the normal threshold to get into the Good Place.

Gen orders Michael and Janet to return to the Bad Place, where he will be forcibly retired and she deactivated. Janet's powers return and, as her queued-up summoned objects appear and overwhelm Gen, Janet and Michael flee to Earth.

4. The Snowplow

Michael and Janet spy on their human friends for a year, manipulating them to ensure they stay together and focus on their project: they give Eleanor an $18,000-winning lottery ticket so she will not take time away for a job, reconnect Tahani with her Australian ex-boyfriend Larry (an accomplished but insecure brother of Chris and Liam Hemsworth ), help Jason meet local Jaguars fans, and provide Chidi with state-of-the-art teaching equipment. When Tahani decides to move to London with now-fiancé Larry, Chidi concludes the group should disband so he can begin studying new participants.

When the others are not receptive to her suggestion that the group stay together, Eleanor lashes out. Simone advises Eleanor that she is reacting to the loss of the first group with which she has ever identified. Eleanor apologizes and the four agree to reunite annually. Dissatisfied, Michael convinces Janet that they should sneak into Judge Gen's office and reset the timeline, but the humans discover them opening the portal.

5. Jeremy Bearimy

Michael and Janet confess their identities and reveal the group's experiences in the Bad Place, which lasted 300 years of nonlinear time. The explanation prevents the humans from earning points and dooms them to the Bad Place upon death. Michael and Janet write a manifesto, planning to turn themselves in to Judge Gen and deliver their recommendations. Tahani gives $2 million anonymously to the Sydney Opera House; Jason then leads her to distribute money to people they think need it. Eleanor attempts to return to being a bad person, but is unwilling to steal money from a wallet she finds, instead tracking down its owner to return it.

Chidi has a breakdown, buying $880 worth of peeps and cooking them into a pot of chili during class; he describes philosophies embodied by the characters: virtue ethics, consequentialism, deontology, and nihilism. Eleanor confronts Chidi and brings him to Michael and Janet. Tahani and Jason arrive; all six agree to Eleanor's plan to do good and help other people get into the Good Place. Tahani has married Jason in order to transfer half her wealth to him; Larry arrives to start his life with Tahani.

6. The Ballad of Donkey Doug

Tahani (who has since broken up with Larry) and Michael travel to Jacksonville with Jason, who tries to save his father, Donkey Doug, by helping him start a career as an electrician. Donkey Doug and Pillboi have a get-rich-quick scheme to sell a combination energy drink and body spray made from stolen materials. Jason accepts that Donkey Doug is a lost cause and decides to help Pillboi instead; he takes Pillboi's place at a robbery, and Donkey Doug leads the police on a chase so Jason can escape. Jason tells Pillboi that he, Tahani, and Michael are astronaut-spies and that Pillboi's mission is to fulfill his duties at his nursing home job, where he is competent and kind, and not commit crimes.

In Sydney, Chidi decides to break up with Simone to avoid contaminating her afterlife. Janet provides a virtual reality simulation, but the actual breakup still goes badly; at Eleanor's urging, Chidi speaks to Simone again and they part regretfully but amicably. The six unite in Budapest, where Tahani intends to reconcile with her sister. Janet and Michael tell Eleanor that her mother faked her death and she is alive.

7. A Fractured Inheritance

In Nevada, Eleanor and Michael confront Eleanor's mother, Donna, who faked her death to avoid fulfilling a drunken charity auction bid. As "Diana Tremaine", Donna has established a seemingly normal suburban life with her boyfriend Dave and his daughter, Patricia. Eleanor is determined to prove Diana is scamming Dave, consistent with Eleanor's past experience with her; mostly, she acts out of jealousy that Donna was never the responsible mother to her that she is to Patricia. When Eleanor discovers a hidden stash of money, Donna admits she kept it so she can flee if she should ever need to.

Rather than gloat, Eleanor convinces Donna to enjoy her new life and to use the money to properly raise Patricia. Eleanor laments her emotional distancing from others, and Michael tells her that she and Chidi were once in love. Tahani tries to make peace with Kamilah in Budapest. Kamilah refuses Tahani's apology, prompting Tahani to vandalize Kamilah's art exhibit. Tahani realizes that Kamilah's primary inspiration has been their parents' emotional cruelty in forcing them to compete against each other; Tahani embraces Kamilah, who returns the hug and credits Tahani as co-creator of the exhibit, maintained in its damaged state.

8. The Worst Possible Use of Free Will

Michael shows Eleanor her memories of falling in love with Chidi in the afterlife. When they both grew suspicious of Michael, they fled to the Medium Place, where they slept together and professed their love to each other. Returning to the neighborhood, they confronted Michael, who rebooted them again. Eleanor believes her relationship with Chidi was deterministic because Michael controlled their entire world, but he explains that he often failed to predict her behavior. Eleanor nevertheless argues that free will does not exist and Michael's behavior could have been determined by other, unknown influencers; he argues that, if everything is determined, their efforts are pointless, but he wants to believe otherwise.

Michael suggests Eleanor is being defensive to avoid vulnerability. They mutually apologize, and Eleanor admits to avoiding her feelings. The Soul Squad reunites in Arizona. Eleanor suggests that, as the world's "only truly free beings", they should make more impact on the world; Michael directs them to Canada to find a "blueprint for humanity". Shawn and Vicky travel to Earth via an illegal portal.

9. Don't Let the Good Life Pass You By

In Alberta, Canada, Michael and Janet find Doug Forcett, who has lived according to the afterlife points system since accurately hallucinating it while on magic mushrooms in the 1970s. He lives simply, self-sufficiently, and charitably, but miserably; obsessed with points, he will go to great lengths to please any person or creature but does nothing for himself. Michael advises Doug to live as he pleases, but Doug refuses, fearing he might not accumulate enough points to enter the Good Place. The four humans wait at a bar where demons, led by Shawn, capture them, planning to abduct them, Michael, and Janet to the Bad Place.

Michael and Janet return; Janet fights off the demons, her powers restored by contact with the portal, and forces them back to the afterlife. Eleanor tells Chidi that they were in love and that she might be in love with him again. Before being dispatched, Shawn gloats that the humans' loved ones will go to the Bad Place, as will Doug. Michael suspects the points system is truly flawed; he intends to investigate the afterlife accountants. When more demons arrive, Janet transports Michael and the humans to her void, causing the humans' deaths on Earth.

10. Janet(s)

Arriving in Janet's void, the humans discover they have all taken on Janet's appearance, leading to confusion until Janet conjures individualized clothing for them. Janet and Michael visit Accounting, leaving the humans in the void. Head Accountant Neil informs Janet and Michael that nobody has been admitted to the Good Place in 521 years, and even Doug Forcett is not close to the points threshold. Neil refuses to believe the Bad Place has hacked the points system, and Janet urges Michael to fix the problems himself. Jason and Tahani learn that Janet and Jason were once married, and Eleanor confronts Chidi over their romantic history.

Chidi denies any romantic feelings for her and states that he is not the Chidi who loved her, causing Eleanor to have an identity crisis that threatens to collapse Janet's void. Chidi restores her sense of self by kissing her, stabilizing the void and restoring the humans' physical appearances. All four are ejected from the void, appearing in Accounting with Michael and Janet. Michael takes a book containing the point totals of all people named Doug, and transports Janet, the humans, and himself via pneumatic tube to an office in the Good Place.

11. The Book of Dougs

In the Good Place "correspondence center", the group's arrival alerts postal worker Gwendolyn. Michael poses as a neutral Accountant. Everyone in the Good Place is pleasant, unsuspicious, and devoted to obeying rules. A committee takes Michael's concerns seriously but, to his dismay, they intend to spend 400 years just to select a team of investigators. Eleanor tries and fails to breach a door into the Good Place proper, after which Chidi creates a romantic first date for her. She cries over her complicated emotions and pulls Chidi into a closet for sex.

Tahani tries to make Janet and Jason feel better about their past relationship, but she inadvertently upsets them repeatedly. The three acknowledge their shared feelings of love. Tahani's difficulties make Michael realize that the Bad Place has not interfered with the points system, but instead, the increasing complexity of modern life has introduced unintended consequences to all actions and decisions, resulting in net point losses for ostensibly good acts. Michael, Janet, and the humans leave to meet the Judge at the IHOP – the Interdimensional Hole of Pancakes.

12. Chidi Sees the Time-Knife

In the IHOP, Jason and Janet decide to start dating. After Jason's impassioned speech on the human condition, Gen agrees to live on Earth; after her time there, she acknowledges humans are at a disadvantage in moral decision-making and may be better than their point totals suggest. She pulls Shawn into a meeting; he maintains that humans are fundamentally bad, but the humans' ability to improve casts doubt on Shawn's claim. Chidi suggests the experiment be repeated with new subjects. The parties reach terms: Michael will design another fake "Good Place" neighborhood, and Shawn will select four new moderately bad humans to live in it, with the humans having one year to improve.

Mindy St. Claire allows the neighborhood to be built in the Medium Place. Janet creates progeny to serve as the rest of its residents with the help of Derek, who has improved through repeated reboots; Jason is disconcerted that Derek is Janet's ex. Shawn tells Michael that, should the experiment fail, Michael's friends' torturers will be disguised as Michael. Alone with Eleanor in his office, Michael is incapacitated by a panic attack as the first new human, John, wakes up in the waiting room.

13. Pandemonium

Failing to rouse Michael, Eleanor poses as the Architect and welcomes John. Tahani realizes John is a gossip columnist who tormented her; Shawn has chosen residents with challenging personal connections to the four. The second new resident is Simone, which the humans object to, arguing that her prior history with the group would ruin the experiment. Gen allows Simone to stay, but permits Michael to erase her memories of the four humans. Chidi believes he will be unable to avoid contaminating the experiment and asks Michael to erase his memories too, which will require him to forget Eleanor.

Michael shows Chidi and Eleanor footage of the many iterations of their relationship. Chidi trusts that Eleanor will protect him and that they will eventually spend eternity together. Eleanor asks Janet the meaning of existence; Janet responds that love between humans is special because the "pandemonium" of the Universe cannot be understood; she pledges her support to Eleanor. Eleanor welcomes the now-amnesiac Chidi to the neighborhood.

Season 4

1. A Girl from Arizona

Eleanor starts welcoming the humans into the Good Place, while trying to understand why The Bad Place chose them. Brent, an entitled male chauvinist, treats Janet as a personal assistant; Linda, an old woman, seems to be uninterested in anything; and Simone believes that the Good Place is just a vivid hallucination created by her dying brain. Derek challenges Jason for Janet's love; Jason, desperate, activates Derek's kill-switch. Linda is revealed to be the demon Chris in disguise, who is returned to the Bad Place. To punish the Bad Place for tampering with the experiment, the Judge makes Chidi the fourth and final human for their test.

2. A Girl from Arizona Part 2

Brent's struggles only convince him that he belongs in the "Best Place"; this causes Eleanor to doubt herself, and her friends question her leadership. Eleanor believes she is a mediocre human, incapable of saving humanity; her stress reaches a breaking point, and she angrily resigns as leader of the Soul Squad. Michael reminds Eleanor that she outsmarted him 800 times, and tells her that only a human can understand other humans. Eleanor bounces back and institutes a new plan: they will trick Brent into doing good deeds so he can get into the "Best Place", and tell Chidi that Simone is his soulmate so he can help her accept she is in the afterlife. Meanwhile, Jason tries to correct his behavior to impress Janet, but she decides to break up with him for the duration of the experiment so their relationship will not interfere with her maintenance of the neighborhood.

3. Chillaxing

Chidi is too relaxed to focus his energy towards helping the other humans, so Eleanor and Michael decide to torture him: Jason will admit to Chidi that he is not Jianyu Li and does not belong in the Good Place, and ask him not to tell the other residents. Chidi agrees, and this moral dilemma induces stress and pain. Eleanor becomes obsessed with torturing Chidi, and terrorizes him to the point where he believes the universe is punishing him. When Chidi confesses this fear to Eleanor, she breaks down in tears, realizing she has taken the torture too far.

Eleanor admits to Michael that, although she knows it to be irrational, she is angry at Chidi for leaving her. Chidi relieves his angst by deciding to teach Jason ethics. Janet helps Tahani recreate elite VIP experiences for John, but Tahani cannot convince him to study ethics. Tahani finally finds common ground with John when she realizes they both felt alone and isolated, independent of which side of "the velvet rope" they were on, and he apologizes for his hurtful posts.

4. Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy

A game of Pictionary is cut short when Janet brings Chidi's horrifyingly bad drawing of a horse to life. Later, Eleanor finds Chidi practicing drawing to avoid causing further harm. Glenn, a Bad Place demon, arrives in the neighborhood, claiming that Michael is really the demon Vicky in disguise. The humans' trust in Michael deteriorates after he admits to several recent lies. Janet's "demon lie detector" causes Glenn to explode into blue goo; he will take months to reconstitute. Michael is unwilling to let his friends see his true form, a monstrous fire squid.

Eleanor decides to turn the matter over to the judge, who will reset the experiment. With no other way to prove his identity, Michael prepares to blow himself up to protect the experiment. Just before Michael blows himself up, Jason realizes Janet is an impostor and restrains her; she is a Bad Janet who switched places with Janet while Chris was being returned to the Bad Place, and has been sabotaging the experiment. Eleanor accepts Michael's selflessness as proof of his identity. Michael and Jason travel to the Bad Place to rescue Janet, leaving Eleanor and Tahani to manage the experiment.

5. Employee of the Bearimy

Without Janet, Derek is unable to manage the neighborhood effectively, and he quickly becomes overwhelmed. The simulated humans start behaving bizarrely, so Eleanor assigns Tahani to entertain the actual humans at an isolated lake house. Chidi prefers to stay at home and read, but Eleanor convinces him to try new experiences, including joining the others at the lake. Tahani frets that throwing parties is her only skill; Eleanor counters that she and Tahani are both products of their upbringing, and right now Tahani's shepherding of the humans' social relationships is literally the most important thing in the universe.

Derek's control over the neighborhood improves after he reboots himself. Having already fully restored Eleanor and Tahani's memories from the many reboots, Michael returns all of Jason's memories as well, but is dismayed when he still has no good ideas for infiltrating the Bad Place. In a convention in the Bad Place, Michael and Jason pose as a costumed Vicky and Glenn and disrupt Shawn's presentation, which bemoans that humans are becoming desensitized towards torture. Although Shawn assumes they arrived as part of the presentation and allow them to take Janet, the real Vicky arrives in a Michael suit and reveals their ruse.

In an emotional speech, Michael declares that humans are capable of change, and implores the spectating demons to attempt the same. After Michael and Jason rescue the real Janet, the three of them escape back to the experimental neighborhood.

6. A Chip Driver Mystery

Six months later, Michael relates recent events to Bad Janet, who has been held captive since she was discovered. The experiment shows promise when the humans enjoy a ski trip together, with Brent expressing greater tolerance. However, their relationships are thrown into turmoil after Brent writes an amateurish novel featuring characters based on insulting caricatures of Tahani and Chidi. Michael counsels Brent that mistakes are opportunities for improvement, but Brent refuses to apologize and he and Chidi come to blows. Meanwhile, John discovers Jason's identity and struggles to keep the secret. Michael tells Bad Janet that Eleanor is forging ahead with plans to ease the humans back into healthy interactions, and explains that the desire to improve is what Michael considers proof of humanity's worth. Michael releases Bad Janet and gives her a copy of his and Janet's manifesto on humans.

7. Help Is Other People

On the last day of the year-long experiment, Simone comes close to deducing the true nature of the neighborhood as an experimental environment in which she and her acquaintances are being studied. Everyone reveals their secrets: Jason's identity, Brent's "Best Place" objective, and Chidi having been told Simone is his soulmate. Simone and Chidi discover the scoreboard identifying them, Brent, and John as test subjects. In a last-ditch effort to earn the humans points, Michael allows Brent to fall into a sinkhole, hoping the other three will unite and rescue him despite his flaws.

However, only Chidi attempts to save Brent; John and Simone decide Brent is not worth saving, and flee the neighborhood. Chidi declares that he believes that they are in the Bad Place; in a final gamble to shock Brent into re-evaluating himself, Eleanor and Michael pretend that this is true, and inform them they will now be transferred to the "real" Bad Place. Brent still cannot accept that he is not a good person, but just as the experiment ends, he begins to apologize to Chidi.

8. The Funerals To End All Funerals

Now that the experiment is over, the test subjects are held in stasis to wait for the Judge's ruling. In the meantime, Eleanor, Tahani, Jason, and Janet hold "funerals" for themselves and an unconscious Chidi, sharing what they have learned from each other. Michael and Shawn present summations to the Judge. While Simone, Chidi, and John all gained points over the course of the experiment, Brent's score dropped. However, because of his apology to Chidi, his score significantly increased in the final moments. Michael argues that this, combined with the fact that the humans' loved ones on Earth also improved, illustrates humans' potential for self-improvement.

The Judge rules that the point system is flawed, but her solution is to erase all living and dead humans from existence and start over. Before the Judge can press the button to restart Earth, Janet hides it. Bad Janet reveals that she and the other Janets agree with Michael's manifesto, and an army of Janets arrives in the Judge's chamber; the Judge must search all the Janets for the hidden reset button. Eleanor asks Michael to restore Chidi's memories so that he can propose a better afterlife system.

9. The Answer

Michael restores Chidi's memories, which he relives as he wakes up: during his childhood, his arguing parents reconcile after he lectures them against divorce; he becomes convinced that every question has a single correct answer, causing him to develop his indecisiveness. In adulthood, his girlfriend Alessandra breaks up with him over this obsession, and thesis advisers drop him over his lack of emotional perspective and inability to address a single meaningful question. In the afterlife, he asks his friends about their motivations: Jason acts on what he thinks is important, Tahani's confidence comes only after learning through failure, and Eleanor rejects rules if she thinks they are wrong.

Just before wiping Chidi's memory, Michael admits he used the "soulmate" concept to torture Chidi, but true soulmates are people who choose to do the work of maintaining a relationship. Chidi writes something on a piece of paper, and gives it to Janet for safekeeping. When he wakes and learns of the situation, he is at peace with the idea that many answers or no answers may exist. He retrieves his note from Janet and opens it. It reads: "There is no 'answer.' But Eleanor is the answer."

10. You've Changed, Man

While the Judge searches the Janets, Chidi tries to devise an alternative proposal for the afterlife. Michael proposes admitting most dead humans to a Medium Place, while only exceptional outliers will go to the Good or Bad Places. Shawn rejects this offer, even after Michael and the humans offer to let Shawn torture them in exchange. Together—aided by a cameo appearance of Timothy Olyphant —they present a new vision to replicate the results of their own afterlife experiences: each dead human will be subjected to personalized tests of moral development, and will be rebooted as many times as they need until they pass the test (possibly never passing it); in each successive try, they will retain some of what they have learned in the form of a conscience.

Shawn still refuses. But when Michael suggests he will give up and they will go their separate ways until humanity re-evolves, Shawn admits that torturing humans has become mundane while their battle has been enjoyable. Shawn accepts the proposal when Michael points out that their conflict has reached an ending regardless of his decision and that even the Bad Place is failing under the current system; Shawn's acceptance convinces the Judge to abandon her plan to reset Earth.

11. Mondays, Am I Right?

Michael introduces the new system to the other demons, most of whom have difficulty adapting. Vicky, however, shows skill at designing new afterlife environments and teaching the other demons. Michael's pride and sense of purpose are threatened by Vicky's skill, and he attempts to exclude her from the project, until Janet and Tahani persuade him that his ego is less important than improving the afterlife. Michael allows Vicky to stage a coup against him to assume leadership of the project. Meanwhile, Eleanor is concerned that Chidi will stop loving her once he learns the details of her dissolute life on Earth.

Chidi allays her fears by reading her afterlife file, but becomes concerned that he and Eleanor are too different and she will eventually grow bored with him. Jason tricks Chidi into realizing that, since Janet and Jason are also very different from each other and Chidi has faith in their relationship, he can have faith in his own relationship with Eleanor as well. Once the new afterlife system is up and running, Michael has good news: for their work in rescuing humanity from obliteration, the four humans are finally to be admitted to the Good Place for real.

12. Patty

The group arrives in The Good Place and attends a welcome party catered to their tastes. Meanwhile, the Good Place committee trick Michael into assuming control, and flee. Chidi meets Ancient Greek philosopher Hypatia, who reveals that an eternity of perfection leads to boredom. Without an end to their existences in sight, people have no reason to appreciate the good things The Good Place has to offer; the Good Place committee were unable to remedy this dilemma. Eleanor proposes a solution to the ennui plaguing Good Place residents: Michael creates a door that will allow people to exit the Good Place and peacefully end their existence.

Knowing there is a potential end to eternity makes the residents of The Good Place appreciate being there again. The group then go to their individual homes, and Chidi and Eleanor cuddle as they watch the sun set; Chidi remarks that the Good Place is not a place at all; rather, it is "having enough time with the people you love."

13. Whenever You're Ready

The new afterlife system is working, and the friends have time to discover what a genuinely satisfying eternity means to them. Jason is the first to feel finished. After a perfect game of Madden with his father, he says goodbye to his friends and goes with Janet to the final door. He has made her a necklace but cannot find it when they part.

Tahani finally has the relationship with her parents and sister that she wanted. Although she also feels ready for a change, she chooses a different path from Jason. She asks to train as an architect so that she can help other people through the afterlife. Michael makes it possible for her to begin that work.

Eleanor realizes that Chidi is ready to leave and tries to keep him with her by taking him to places he has always loved. Chidi agrees to stay when she admits how afraid she is of being alone. Eleanor eventually understands that asking him to remain for her sake is unfair. They spend one last night together, and he leaves for the door before she wakes, as she has asked.

When Janet takes Chidi there, Jason reappears. He found the necklace after she left and has waited peacefully in the woods for her return. He gives it to her, then finally goes through the door himself.

Eleanor and Michael still cannot find their own endings. Eleanor persuades Mindy St. Claire to try the new system with Tahani's help. Michael tries the door, but it cannot release an immortal being. Eleanor instead convinces the Judge to let him become human, giving him a life on Earth and the chance to enter the afterlife as a person someday.

With Michael beginning that ordinary human life, Eleanor is ready. She passes through the door and dissolves into sparks. One reaches a man who is about to discard a letter delivered to him by mistake. He changes his mind and takes it to the right address: Michael's home. Michael thanks him with a cheerful farewell. The series ends with that small act of kindness, suggesting that what Eleanor became can still make a difference.