Loveday Writing

Eleanor asks him how he escaped detection as she has found it difficult, a flashback reveals that Jianyu has been able to do this due to having the choice to maintain his vow of silence when he entered the Good Place. Eleanor then asks him if Jianyu is his name and he reveals it’s not, it’s Jason Mendoza. He also tells her that the healing method he used on Michael was actually a method a nurse used to calm him down when he was alive and crashed his jet ski into a manatee. He also tells her he was an amateur DJ specialising in EDM (Electronic Dance Music) and he sold fake drugs to college kids. Eleanor asks Jason how he figured out he didn’t belong in the Good Place and he tells her he figured it out on the first night, at the party, using his powers of deduction, however the flashback shows Eleanor told him at the party while she was drunk, knowing he was maintaining his vow of silence.

The next day, Tahani is picking orchids for her nightly orchid bath when Michael approaches her and asks her to help another Good Place resident, Chef Patricia, with the grand opening of their restaurant, as she is an expert in event planning. Meanwhile Eleanor goes to see Jason and asks if Tahani knows about her, he tells her she doesn’t. Eleanor tells him that they need some place that they can talk in private and Jason takes her to his “bud-hole”—a room where he and his buds can hang out, which contains beanbags, a TV and video games. He said he requested a private meditation area so Tahani will never come in.

Eleanor goes to leave, telling Jason about the classes she is taking with Chidi on how to be a better person, and about Michael asking her to be his assistant, which means that her situation is getting dicey, so she likes that she has a place where she can be herself. Jason admits he misses being himself. This leads to a flashback of him at a nightclub where he is told he has no talent as a DJ but is invited to be Acidcat—a DJ that hides under a cat head mask.

While Tahani is helping with the restaurant launch, she asks Michael why Jianyu wasn’t invited to the launch and he tells her that as she will be busy working and Jianyu doesn’t talk, he decided not to invite him so he wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. Later when Eleanor is in class, her and Chidi overhear Jason’s EDM, she goes over to tell him to turn it down, only for Chidi to follow her and discover Jason’s secret.

Chidi accuses Eleanor of breaking Jianyu and she tries to tell him the truth, only for Tahani to walk in. Jason accidentally speaks to Tahani, however she puts it down to Eleanor and Chidi trying to help him gain his confidence in speaking. Tahani tells Michael the news, and he invites Jianyu to the launch. When Tahani leaves, Eleanor takes Chidi to Jason’s bud-hole, where she tells Chidi the truth about Jason. When Eleanor tells him to continue being Jianyu and not himself, a flashback reveals his unhappiness at being cheered at for being Acidcat and not himself as a DJ, then going on stage to DJ and dance as himself, only to be booed by the crowd.

Later Eleanor, Jason and Chidi go to the restaurant launch where everyone is served their favourite meal when they were on Earth—Jianyu is forced to eat tofu, and Eleanor doesn’t get a meal as apparently on her file her favourite meal was a hunger strike she went on to protest Bolivian sex trafficking. Michael asks Tahani if Jianyu is opening up and she says no, he tells her he has a plan to open him up by getting everyone to talk about their favourite meal. Eleanor tells Jason to tell a boring story about tofu, however he wants to be himself.

Eleanor and Chidi leave the table to talk privately, with Eleanor reiterating how screwed they are if Jason reveals the truth and that they need a distraction. Eleanor notices Chef Patricia’s cake nearby, destroying it. Moments later, a sinkhole appears in the restaurant. Eleanor, Chidi and Jason go back to the bud-hole, where Eleanor tells him that she caused the sinkhole and he can’t let people know who he really is, which leads to another flashback of Jason with Pillboi on a pier in Jacksonville. Jason tells him that Acidcat is suing him for breach of contract for being himself on stage and tells him about his dreams, just before throwing a Molotov Cocktail at Acidcat’s boat.

Tahani goes to Michael’s office to tender her resignation as the Good Place event planner and Michael admits he fears the worse about the neighbourhood’s issues. Tahani offers to re-launch the restaurant after the sinkhole repairs itself. Meanwhile Chidi offers to teach Jason ethics so he can earn his place in the Good Place, but Jason refuses the offer. Eleanor chastises him and tells him he needs to take the class because they are both bad people that need to improve themselves.

The episode ends with Eleanor and Chidi getting ready for their class the next day and waiting for Jason to arrive. He arrives expecting that Chidi’s “school” has a football team and prom. Eleanor remarks that for the first time, she’s the smartest kid in class. Meanwhile Tahani puts posters up about the restaurant re-launch and hears the sinkhole creaking and nearly falls in.

Overall I felt this was a solid episode as, unlike the previous one focused on Tahani, we actually got a lot of insight into Jason as a character. We find out a lot about him to the point that we can see the major contrast between him and Jianyu. This episode also showed character development in Eleanor when she tells Jason that he needs to take the class and acknowledges that Chidi is an amazing person. I also enjoyed the ongoing gag of Chef Patricia being simultaneously happy and intense.

Stray Observations:

-Jason calls Heaven racist as everyone in the Good Place thinks he is Taiwanese when he’s actually Filipino.

-As well as being an amateur DJ, Jason was also an amateur hip-hop backup dancer, body spray inventor, and he did pranks on Vine.

-Suspenders are the item of human clothing Michael has been most eager to try.

-Jason likes Janet.

-Eleanor thinks that philosophers are talking about masturbation.

-According to Michael, any place or thing in the universe can be up to 104% perfect. That’s how we got Beyoncé.

-Tahani has different pairs of gloves for different parts of the day.

-Jason’s favourite meal is the buffalo wings at Stupid Nick’s Wing Dump in Gainesville.

Hints of the Season 1 Finale twist:

-Jianyu is revealed to be Jason Mendoza from Jacksonville, Florida, and is also in the Good Place by mistake.

-Jason tells Eleanor that Heaven is racist. While this could be played off as a joke, it could also be interpreted as a torture method.

-Jason says to Eleanor he thinks they are on a prank show, a guess that could be dismissed, however it turns out to be an accurate observation.

-Tahani feels sadness over Jianyu’s being excluded from the restaurant launch.