Loveday Writing

Later, with five-and-a-half hours left in the experiment, Tahani and Jason meet up with the four humans before the party at Chidi’s apartment. Simone reveals to them that she has been investigating the neighbourhood, suggesting that they are either under an experiment or are really in the Bad Place. This leads to John revealing Jason’s identity to the rest of the group and Chidi’s involvement in keeping it a secret, and Brent revealing to them that Michael and Eleanor told him about the ‘Best Place’.  Tahani tells Eleanor about Simone’s investigation, giving her a copy of Simone’s data, Michael tells them that they can’t play it safe anymore.

At the party, Chidi and Simone sneak into Michael’s office and Simone finds the whiteboard with their photos on it, showing them, John and Brent as test subjects. Michael puts on a magic act and asks Brent to be a volunteer and has him fall into a sinkhole. Eleanor has Simone, John and Chidi help Brent, making the excuse that they will try to solve the problem remotely, and asks Tahani and Jason to get a rope. Chidi tries to convince Simone and John to help to no avail, with Simone and John leaving in Brent’s car. When the group go back to the town square as none of the humans have called for a train, they find Chidi has also fallen into the sinkhole and pull them out.

Back at Michael’s office, Chidi tells Brent that this is the Bad Place, and Michael and Eleanor admit that it’s true. Michael and Eleanor leave the room after telling them that they’re going to be transferred to the Bad Place and watch Chidi call Brent out on his behaviour, telling him he’s a bad person. Brent refuses to believe this and begins to sincerely apologise to Chidi as the experiment ends. The episode ends with Janet bringing Eleanor a jug of margaritas and a glass at her request, Eleanor starts drinking the margaritas straight out of the jug, unsure if their gamble and the experiment paid off.

Overall I felt that this was a solid episode. I felt that the experiment finished in a fitting way, with Michael and Eleanor forcing Brent to face his behaviour and himself head on in its final moments. I enjoyed seeing Michael and Eleanor use the ‘this is the Bad Place’ reveal as their final strategy in the experiment, showing how far their relationship has come, and it was a nice callback to the season one finale. I felt that Simone’s investigation of the neighbourhood was true to her character and the perfect final spanner in the works.

I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome of the experiment, especially Brent and Chidi’s final moments within it, and what happens next especially as we’re now at the halfway point of the season.

Stray Observations:

Running gag – Michael performing human magic with his stage name being “The Magnificent Dr. Presto”.

-According to John, Solange was yelling at Jay-Z in the elevator incident that she wanted to push the button, and the whole incident wasn’t as juicy as he hoped.

-Jason was born in a swimming pool.

-Chidi’s pet name for Simone is ‘muffin, whilst her pet name for him is ‘ducky’.

-The song Michael is trying to write that Chidi found the lyrics of in his office is titled ‘The Purple Train to Groovy City’.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “Did you find anything?” “Just some song lyrics Michael wrote, ‘here’s a trippy little ditty, ‘bout a train to Groovy City. Open up your freaky crystal mind, and we’ll have a cosmic good time.’” “That makes me think we’re in hell.” (Simone-Chidi-Simone in Michael’s office)
• “That’s two good analogies in a row, now I’m worried he’s a demon in a Jason suit.” (Tahani to Eleanor on Jason)