The Good Place – You’ve Changed, Man

By starrymag | January 15, 2020

By: Ariba Bhuvad

 

 

The Judge (Maya Rudolph) and Janet (D’Arcy Carden) are still going through all the different Janet voids so that The Judge can find the clicker that will end all humanity. Despite Janet trying to convince her not to cancel Earth, the Judge just wants to reboot the whole thing. So much would be eliminated, according to Janet, but the Judge isn’t listening to reason. 

 

Meanwhile, Eleanor (Kristen Bell) is eager to know if Chidi (William Jackson Harper) has given their relationship any thought. Unlike how Chidi was before, he’s very sure of things now and doesn’t hesitate to tell her that he loves her. After having so many afterlives stuffed into his brain and seeing the time knife, Chidi has a lot of clarity. 

 

The goal, at this point, is to redesign the afterlife. However, Michael (Ted Danson) is wondering if Earth should be canceled after all. And it all being a bummer is not a good enough reason. 

 

The best plan they could come up with, according to Eleanor, is come up with a new afterlife that everyone agrees on. Naturally, Chidi uses an ethics essay to talk about the topic of cruelty. He believes that with the current system that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. So, why not create a third option, one that exists already–the Medium Place. It would be less cruel than their current system, but not absolutely perfect. Now, they just have to convince everyone else to get on board. The Good Place committee says yes without hearing plan, but Shawn (Marc Evan Jackson) isn’t cooperating. He’s not so sure because The Bad Place wouldn’t have anyone to torture, but all he really wants is for Michael to lose, even if it means giving up some things. 

 

The Judge and Janet head to the Bad Janet’s void, which is incredibly weird and gross. Janet is still failing at convincing the Judge to stop trying to end humanity, but she’s still eager to find the clicker. She attempts to check the computer which is freaking out and, once again, no clicker is found. 

 

The next stop is Disco Janet where Janet distracts the Judge by dancing to the music. Janet is hoping that she can get through to the Judge by telling her that a plan is in the works and all they need is to convince Shawn–something she thinks the Judge can do. 

 

Shawn is still not willing to say yes to the plan, but Eleanor realizes that they should give him something he wants–cruelty. She presents him with a plan in which they would volunteer to lose permanently if he agrees to let the Judge make The Medium Place. Plus, he’d get to torture her, Chidi, Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) forever. Tahani even offers up something she thinks he can torture her with–not being able to pull off the mod look. Michael even offers to join them as well! 

 

With Shawn still not agreeing, Michael gives a very inspirational speech about being the best version of themselves after everything they’ve been through. This gives Chidi an idea! His plan involves all of them going to Janet’s void where they will try and convince the Judge. Janet knows just the thing to get the Judge interested in their plan, which is bringing Timothy Olyphant into her void…Someone the Judge loves a lot. 

 

The group presents a new vision for the afterlife, one where the system gives people a fighting chance. The new system would make time on Earth more of a class and let the test take place in the afterlife. There would still be a points system, but the number would serve as a baseline for how easy or hard the person’s test would be.

 

The Good Place and the Bad Place architects would work together to create challenges and scenarios for the individual’s shortcomings. At the end of it, an evaluation would be given and if need be then a reboot over and over again until the person got it right. 

 

Olyphant interrupts to make a point about how someone will learn anything if their memories are wiped. Luckily, Eleanor says the new system would have a solution for that. The person would be left with vague memories from the evaluation sessions, sort of like a voice in their head. The hope is that with enough changes that people will make good choices and eventually end up in The Good Place. 

 

What about The Bad Place? Well, while there won’t be any more throat lava or penis flattenings, everyone there will still have jobs. The architects will design the test and rank and file demons will continue to do what they do. The Judge isn’t sure if it will work, but Chidi is an example of how it does. He did have eight hundred versions of himself stuffed into his brain in one go. Even Janet comments on how much she has improved with every reboot. 

 

Shawn still refuses to listen, which shuts the whole thing down as the Judge leaves to find the clicker. Michael gets an idea; however, that he thinks will surely save the day. He approaches Shawn and accepts defeat saying that they exhausted all their options and that it’s over.

 

He congratulates Shawn who realizes that he won’t get to torture Micahel or anyone else if they just give up. Even giving an evil speech doesn’t feel the same if Michael isn’t fighting back. Shawn is concerned over why Michael doesn’t have another plan because he always has one. It’s the whole reason why fighting is so fun for Shawn. Doing all the evil things he does gets repetitive and seeing Michael develop all these emotional feeling for the group gave Shawn some new material to torture Michael with. 

 

Michael uses this moment to ask Shawn what’s next and that he knows that Shawn thinks the system sucks. Trying the new way would be a good idea and, luckily, Shawn finally agrees. With everyone on board, the Judge asks what they should do first.

 

Does Chidi have the answer? It wouldn’t seem so as he says he’s just the idea guy.