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.