Loveday Writing

Michael and Eleanor introduce Chidi to Jason (as Jianyu) at his home. Chidi promises to help “Jianyu” but as soon as Michael and Eleanor leave, Jason reveals to Chidi his real identity and that he’s in the Good Place by mistake. A week passes and Chidi’s apartment has become Jason’s “bud hole”, with Chidi now experiencing his famous stomach ache. Michael and Eleanor show up and invite him to a neighbourhood luau.

At the luau, everyone is given a lava stone to throw into a bonfire to be given whatever their soul desires. When Jason throws his lava stone in the bonfire, a motorcycle with Pamela Anderson’s breasts on it appears, and Chidi has to lie to maintain Jason’s cover. Back at Michael’s office, Eleanor is pleased with their progress in torturing Chidi but Michael points out to her that Chidi was so freaked out about Jason’s cover being blown that he told an outright lie, and that if he’s too freaked out he won’t be able to help anyone. Eleanor disagrees, telling him that they need to ramp up the pressure to the point that he’s hyperventilating. Moments later, Chidi walks in, hyperventilating.

Chidi doesn’t tell them about Jason, but does tell them he has a problem that has been stressing him out so much that he feels the universe is punishing him. This leads to Eleanor breaking down in tears. When Michael tells him that they eliminate problems in the Good Place by making them explode, Chidi tells him that the motorcycle is his problem and Michael blows it up. Chidi leaves and decides to teach Jason ethics so he can feel better and Jason can become a better person. Later, Eleanor admits that she is irrationally angry at Chidi for abandoning her and as result took the torture too far. Michael tells her it’s okay to be angry but she needs to process her emotions so the experiment can be a success.

Meanwhile, Tahani and John’s developing friendship is going smoothly, with them enjoying their own VIP experiences, however Tahani has had little success in convincing John to study ethics. Janet suggests to Tahani that she be direct in telling John that he needs help, but this backfires when John starts to believe it’s a fake friendship. When Janet tells Tahani that she doesn’t like the way that John is treating her, this makes Tahani realise that both John and her were very lonely people on Earth, despite their different lives and being adversaries. When Tahani points this out to John, he apologises for the hurtful posts he wrote about her.

The episode ends with the group meeting in Michael’s office, with Tahani telling them that genuine human connection rather than ethics is John’s way forward for now. The final moments show a hooded figure on a railroad hand-car making their way to the neighbourhood.

Overall I felt that this was a good but not great episode. I did enjoy seeing Jason and Chidi paired off, with Jason essentially filling Eleanor’s shoes in torturing Chidi. While the subplot between Tahani and John was necessary, I felt it dragged on for a little bit, especially when the reveal of Tahani and John being lonely people wasn’t that surprising as it was foreshadowed throughout the episode.

It will be interesting to see where we go from here, especially finding out the identity of the hooded figure.

Stray Observations:

Running gag – The Good Place’s magic ants. According to Chidi at his picnics, they were helpful, carrying bottles of wine and folding napkins for him. Later, Eleanor tells Michael to call them to bring in some champagne, and the ants appear with champagne and glasses as Chidi is hyperventilating in front of them.

-Michael believes he invented the term ‘chillaxing’ by combining the words Chidi and relaxing.

-At one point when Michael and Eleanor come to see Chidi, Michael’s bow tie and Eleanor’s sweater match.

-Jason calls Eleanor “E-Dog”.

-John was so mean to Daniel Day-Lewis that he quit acting.

-According to Eleanor, otters do turndown service in the Good Place.

-Brent and Simone didn’t appear in this episode, although Brent was mentioned.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “So how are things going with Chidi?” “Super easy. All I have to do is be myself and he’s constantly freaking out.” “You have that effect on people, Bud.” (Eleanor-Jason-Eleanor)
• “He’s like Superman with nervous diarrhoea.” (Eleanor to Jason on Chidi)
• “We should pop open some champagne, call those magic ants!” (Eleanor to Michael)
• “I made God cry?” (Chidi on Eleanor crying)