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.