Eleanor’s death was finally revealed on THE GOOD PLACE and it had to do with margarita mix, an environmental activist and a runaway grocery cart. In another realm, meanwhile, Eleanor, Jason and Janet were traveling to Mindy St. Claire house on their stolen train. The trio eventually found Mindy, who apparently “mostly sucked, but did one good thing” in life. Her neighbourhood was created as compromise between the good and bad things in life. In other words, it’s “eternal mediocrity”. As Mindy explained to Eleanor how she ended up there, she told her that the afterlife is all about survival, not morality.
Back in the Good Place, Judge Shawn was presiding over Eleanor’s case in front of Real Eleanor, Chidi, Michael and Tahani. But Shawn could only deal with cold, hard facts, which would prove difficult when it came to Eleanor’s case. As Eleanor’s friends tried to convince Shawn why Eleanor should be allowed to stay, he told them that Eleanor isn’t in the Bad Place and they had no idea where she was. As Shawn ran through all of Eleanor’s horrible actions, Chidi made a somewhat emotional plea that Eleanor had changed from the person she used to be. But Shawn believed that Eleanor was a bad person — as was Jason — and both belong in The Bad Place.
As Eleanor settled into Mindy’s house, she realized that Mindy’s place wouldn’t be that much fun. Soon Shawn used Janet’s mouth to transmit a message to Eleanor and Jason — they had to turn themselves in or Chidi and Tahani would head to the Bad Place in their stead.
Jason was happy to leave Chidi and Tahani to take his place, but Eleanor was determined to turn herself in. Mindy tried to convince Eleanor that her survival was all that mattered. But Eleanor had genuinely changed and she tried to convince Jason that this was the right thing to do. As we flashed back to Eleanor’s childhood, we started to realize that her parents utter neglect led to her being the person she was on Earth and this explanation helped convince Jason that they should head back.
Eleanor and Jason arrived mere seconds after Shawn’s deadline for return, so he let the group decide which two people would end up in the Bad Place. As Michael left to wallow in his failure in the neighbourhood, Jason tried to use Chidi’s lessons to explain why Chidi and Tahani should take their places. Eleanor eventually convinced Jason they had to go and as they said their goodbyes Real Eleanor told the group she was going to return to the Bad Place because she could hack it there and because her soulmate didn’t love her. Which meant only one other person needed to go with her.
Jason celebrated the fact that he could now stay, even as Eleanor realized that meant she had to go. Meanwhile, we got a glimpse into Michael’s promotion to Architect and saw that he was determined to change things up. Back at Eleanor’s house, the group continued to argue about who should go. As the situation dissolved into an argument, Eleanor had a monumental revelation and declared that she and Chidi would be going to the Bad Place. Completely confident in her decision as she told Michael and Shawn, Eleanor said they would never take them to the Bad Place because….they were already there.
And Michael? He couldn’t believe she had figured it out.
“It looks like paradise, but it’s actually a filthy dumpster full of our worst anxieties…We’ve been torturing each other since the moment we arrived. And everything Michael has done has made at least once of us miserable,” Eleanor told the group. Everyone started to put it together, remembering what Michael had done to them. As Real Eleanor came in to confess her love to Chidi, Michael told her it was time to give up the ruse.
In further flashbacks, Michael told a group of his fellow Bad Place co-workers that he had a plan to trick humans into torturing each other by creating a fake Good Place. He managed to convince his bosses that he could accomplish this for 1,000 years but Shawn, who was in charge, thought it wouldn’t last six months. Meanwhile, Michael revealed that everyone in the neighbourhood besides Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason were all employees of the Bad Place (except for Janet). But Eleanor learning to be good threw a wrench in Michael’s plans.
And then THE GOOD PLACE revealed why Chidi and Tahani had ended up in the Bad Place: Chidi had hurt people in his life with his rigidity and indecisiveness, while Tahani’s philanthropy motivations were entirely selfish. As Eleanor pointed out that the only thing Michael accomplished was bringing the group together, Michael revealed that he was going to erase their memories and then start all over again.
The group desperately tried to figure out a plan as Michael tried to convince Shawn they should try another take. He eventually gave Michael permission to reboot, so Eleanor wrote a note and put it in Janet’s mouth for safekeeping.
And then Eleanor was back in the room outside Michael’s office, being told she was dead. As he walked her through the neighbourhood we saw some changes: the biggest being that a man named Chris Baker was Eleanor’s soulmate. As Chris headed off to work out, Janet came by with the note Eleanor had written to herself. What did it say? “Eleanor, find Chidi”. As Eleanor wondered out loud “what’s a Chidi?” we faded to white.