The Good Place – Employee of the Bearimy

By starrymag | October 31, 2019

By: Ariba Bhuvad

 

 

Fake Michael (Ted Danson) is disappointed in Good Janet (D’Arcy Carden) and thought she would fight back more. Instead, she’s stuck in The Bad Place in a powerless magnet jail. She makes sure to point out that fake Michael’s laugh is wrong, and should be more of a delighted giggle. 

 

Shawn (Marc Evan Jackson) says Good Janet is right and that Vicky (Tiya Sircar) needs to get everything about Michael correct if they want the torture to work. Vicky takes off the Michael suit and says she has yet to figure out Michael’s motivation. She might be inside Michael, but she needs to be inside him to get him. Good Janet points out that Michael’s motivation is love, empathy and loyalty, just like her friends, and all of them will prevail. Vicky begs to differ with an “eww” and says no one is coming to save Janet. 

 

Meanwhile, Michael and Jason (Manny Jacinto) are inching their ways towards The Bad Place with Glenn (Josh Siegal) the goo who has no idea on how to help when Jason asks. Michael shares that he hasn’t restored Jason’s afterlife memories like he did with Eleanor (Kristen Bell) and Tahani (Jameela Jamil), but it may be time to maximize their chance of survival. Jason simply recalls that the last time they were in The Bad Place. He threw a Molotov cocktail. But Michael wants Jason to use these memories to show him what not to do and to practice impulse control. 

 

Back at The Good Place, Eleanor tells everyone that Janet is undergoing maintenance so they will have to revert back to what they did when they were alive – doing things for themselves. She calls it “Earth Day,” even though there’s already a real day for that. Some groups will be knitting and gardening while the four humans will be sent to a lake house for water activities.  

 

In their absence Eleanor decides to leave Derek (Jason Mantzoukas) in charge of Bad Janet and the neighborhood. He’s there to help, but he wasn’t designed to do that or anything. Eleanor says the humans will be far away from town so that should help somewhat. Tahani is put in charge of hosting a party at the lakehouse, but she wants to be more useful because everyone else is doing something. Eleanor reminds her that the humans need to be preoccupied and it’s Tahani’s job to keep them busy. 

 

Michael and Jason finally arrive at The Bad Place and have to find a way to get to Shawn without being seen. It’s the only way to make sure they rescue Janet. Jason confesses he’s scared to see Janet and to learn if things have changed between them. Michael though is scared of being in the birthplace of evil. 

 

At the lakehouse, Tahani learns that Chidi (William Jackson Harper) didn’t come with the rest of the humans because he’s scared of the water and would rather stay home to read. In the spirit if handling things, Tahani decides to go get Chidi and bring him to the lakehouse.

 

Michael sees a picture of himself on the wall of Employees of Bearimy and recalls that he was different back then. He loved to inflict pain with so much glee. 

 

In The Good Place we see that Derek has made a mess out of things with everyone and everything malfunctioning. Eleanor shows up to see the chaos and learns that Chidi didn’t go to the lakehouse. Tahani returns and the both of them go to speak to Chidi who shares why he didn’t show up. Instead, Eleanor says they have a special solo activity for him–solving puzzles. 

 

Meanwhile, Tahani tells Derek that maybe if they reboot him then he could be more advanced. He then disappears to do just that. He struggles to push the reboot button at first, but finally manages to do it and fixes the chaos in the neighborhood. It wasn’t what they would have wanted, but it gives them an out according to Eleanor. 

 

The Bad Place is holding their DemonCon where Shawn will speak for four thousand hours. Shawn proceeds to show everyone who he thinks is the fake Michael with Vicky inside as he introduces the suit and a dawn of a new era–Torture 2.0. Little does he know it’s the real Michael who is pretending to be the fake one. Moreover, he brings out Jason and pretends that it’s Glenn inside of a fake Jason suit. They bring out Good Janet so they can torture her as she quickly learns that Jason and the real Michael are there to save her. 

 

While speaking to Chidi who is still busy working on the puzzle, Eleanor tells him that he was supposed to go on adventures in the neighborhood. However, he’s reluctant to do anything to which he confesses his comfort zone is the chair. All Eleanor wants is for Chidi to believe he’s safe in The Good Place and asks if he trusts her–and he really, really does. Hence, why he trusts her enough to wear a blindfold around the neighborhood. 

 

Back at The Bad Place we hear Jason reveals that he has the Demon Exploder. Shawn finds out that the real Michael is actually there when Vicky shows herself, although he thinks its a second Michael suit for a moment. The real Michael admits that it’s him and that they know all about Shawn’s plan and how he planted the Bad Janet. Surprisingly, Michael uses the Demon Exploder on his old roommate and then speaks to the attendees of DemonCon by reminding them he was like them. He was committed to torture and the idea that it will bring moral balance to the universe. But he’s learned that humans can self-improve as can demons and that his eyes have opened up to the truth. Vicky begs to differ and says Michael is a demon no matter what who is capable of darkness. Michael proceeds to use the Demon Exploder on her. 

 

Chidi shows up at the lakehouse, finally, while Tahani mopes about not being doing enough. Eleanor reminds her that she trusted Tahani with the four humans because only she could do what needed to be done to entertain them with the party. Eleanor would never be able to do what Tahani does, even if Tahani feels differently. Regardless, when all is said and done, Tahani wants to learn how to do something meaningful and fulfilling and Eleanor makes a deal with her to do just that. 

 

Jason, Michael and Janet leave The Bad Place as Janet collapses their exit point. Going back to The Bad Place was difficult for Michael, a point that Janet acknowledges. Michael says he doesn’t like to think about how he used to be, but Jason reminds him that he’s not a demon anymore. Instead, he is a nice, happy, old dude. And much to Jason’s disappointment, Blake Bortles did get cut from the Jaguars and replaced by Nick Foles. But he’s super excited about Foles until Janet tells him that Foles broke his clavicle.