Loveday Writing

We then go to Eleanor, Chidi and Jason in a room where they have access to computers that contain the files of every human in the Bad Place. They have been tasked with selecting the first 1,000 humans to take the new tests. Meanwhile, Tahani has volunteered to be the test subject for the demons.

When Jason looks up and prints out the files on the four of them, Eleanor tells Chidi not to read her profile, believing that he will break up with her if he discovers what she was truly like on Earth. However she changes her mind and wants him to read her file so he knows the real her. After he reads her file, he feels that he is not good enough for her, and fears that she’ll eventually grow bored of him and their relationship. When Jason notices he’s upset and Chidi confides his fears to him, Jason tells him that their relationship works because opposites attract, citing his and Janet’s relationship as an example. However Chidi makes Jason doubt his relationship by pointing out how different he and Janet are. When Chidi goes to see Jason and apologises, Jason admits that he tricked him to get him to realise that he should have faith in his own relationship if he can have faith in another relationship with a couple who are complete opposites.

Meanwhile, during their meeting with the demons, Vicky arrives, telling Michael that she loves the new afterlife system and wants to help in its implementation. However Michael is reluctant to have Vicky on board due to her trying to sabotage his experiment in the past. Vicky counters that if the system is going to change, she has to change with it, and wants to design the first test.

When Megan has difficulty designing a practice run test for Tahani without inserting chainsaw bears, Vicky steps in and perfectly designs a test that involves Tahani finding out that Kamilah is slowly becoming unpopular whilst she’s at an event that is celebrating her. When she is asked to make a toast to Kamilah by her parents, she’s not sure what she wants to say. Tahani commends Vicky on the test design, however Michael’s pride and jealousy gets in the way and he fires Vicky.

Tahani and Janet ask Michael why he fired Vicky, pointing out that she is good at test design and teaching the others. Michael admits that the original experiment, its subsequent reboots, and trying to fix the system gave him purpose, and that Vicky’s skills make him feel like he has no purpose. Janet points out to him that the best way for his new system to work is to rehire Vicky. Michael finds Vicky and apologises to her for firing her and taking her for granted in the original experiment. He convinces her to stage a coup, so she can take leadership of the project, which they successfully do so, as Vicky is shown smoothly welcoming architects to the neighbourhood for training.

The episode ends with Michael and Janet informing Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason that The Judge agreed that the four of them didn’t need to take their tests due to successfully re-designing the afterlife system, and that they are going to the Good Place for real. Michael joins them on their journey as he is now unemployed and is going to start finding his new purpose.

Overall I felt this was a good follow up episode to the previous one. Now that the afterlife system has been established, this episode focused on how the system would be implemented and I appreciated the focus on the Bad Place demons learning the system, as they would naturally be the most resistant to its changes. I felt having Vicky come back and threaten Michael’s ego was fantastic, and I felt that her genuine desire to implement the changes was the perfect way to do this, especially due to their rivalry in the past and Michael’s natural distrust of her.

Now that the afterlife system is up and running, Michael, Janet, Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason can now reap the benefits of the lessons they’ve learnt and their hard work by going to the Good Place. As I’ve seen the series in full before, I know what’s going to happen next and because of this, I felt that having the new system implemented was the ideal topic for the third-last episode of the series. You can really tell that the writers were seeing the finish line but that didn’t diminish the episode’s or the show’s quality.

Stray Observations:

Running gag: chainsaw bears in the practice tests on Tahani.

-It took Tahani four years to teach Taylor Swift how to dance.

-Eleanor was once subpoenaed by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “I hope it’s not more sexual harassment training. We just did that and I’m already so good at it.” (Steve to Megan)
• “I’m confident about my feelings for you. I am also confident that I am a damn drip!” (Chidi to Eleanor)
• “Okay. It’s like her parents were the chainsaw bear, but instead of chopping off her head, they chopped off her self-esteem?” “Yes! Megan, good. Take what you know about them, and then force them into moments of personal difficulty. Think of it as flattening the penises, of their heart.” “Oh! Now it makes sense.” (Megan-Vicky-Steve on the practice run test on Tahani)
• “I am a strong, independent acid snake in the skinsuit of a strong, independent woman!” (Vicky to Michael)
• “Sweet Hitler’s hairpiece! Is this movie finally over?” (Steve to Michael on his explanatory video on the new afterlife system)
• “I’ve never said this before but, what?” (Janet to Michael)
• “It’s obvious what’s going on here, you don’t want your nemesis to be the one to solve your problem.” “I know that feeling. Once on Earth, I didn’t know something and I had to ask Alexa. I felt dirty.” (Tahani and then Janet to Michael)