THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!
It’s time to return to Earth for my binge-watch of The Good Place Season 3. This recap post is going to cover the first two-thirds of the season. I had way too much shirt to talk about so I split it up into two parts.
At the end of Season 2 the Judge agrees to let the four humans return to the moment of their deaths, survive them, and get a year to see if they can improve themselves. We see Eleanor try to be better, fall back on old habits, and (with a gentle nudge from Michael) seek out Chidi for advice on how to be a more ethical person.
The same pattern follows for the others. Chidi tries to be more decisive. When he can’t sustain it, Chidi seeks out a neurologist named Simone to figure out what’s wrong with him.
Tahani gets rid of all her possessions and moves to Tibet to learn simplicity. She then writes a book about “shedding your need for validation from others” and becomes famous for it.
Jason devotes himself to his dance crew, working really hard to get them in top form, only to be disqualified in each competition. His best friend, Pillboi, tells him “You’re not a failure, you’re a dreamer.” Sad Jason is the worst. He’s a character who tries to make everyone happy, and seeing him so discouraged makes me sad. He’s my favorite.
When each of them falter, Michael swoops in to give them a push in the right direction, and a trip to Australia. He and Janet are monitoring their progress from ticker-tape machines somewhere in the afterlife. The Judge told Michael he could only return to Earth to prevent their deaths but not to interfere. However, Michael can’t help himself. He needs to help his friends, and manages to bribe the doorman to repeatedly let him go to Earth. Janet reluctantly agrees to help him. She’s getting more and more human, but breaking rules is still hard for her.
Chidi and Simone begin a study to see how near death experiences affect ethical thinking and he and the other three humans are its subjects. Eleanor sees that Chidi and Simone are attracted to each other and encourages their relationship. The four protagonists have no memory of their time in the afterlife so Eleanor and Chidi have no idea that they’ve had romances in the past.
Some people were upset by Chidi being interested in someone other than Eleanor, but I don’t mind. I really like Simone. She’s smart, enthusiastic, funny, and never afraid to put the others in their place. Her no-nonsense attitude is a great balance to all the nonsense from the others.
The Bad Place crew, led by Shawn, is determined to ruin the experiment. They send odious demon, Trevor, to infiltrate the study. If you thought Trevor was awful as a demon, he’s even worse when he’s pretending to be nice. Michael and Janet rush to earth to stop him. They are successful, but reveal themselves to the humans.
The humans demand an explanation and Michael and Janet tell them what’s really going on. They learn about all the time that they spent in the afterlife and the unusual “Jeremy Bearimy” path that time takes in the afterlife. The dot in the “I” is “Tuesdays and also July,” “and sometimes never.”
If you’ve wondered when Chidi was finally going to lose his mind, it’s right here. He wanders around the city before cooking a pot of candy infused chili in front of his class and telling them nothing matters. Eleanor finds him and talks him down.
A consequence of learning about the afterlife is that the humans cannot get into the Good Place anymore. Any actions that they take will be considered from a corrupt motivation, and will not accrue any more points. They decide to help others better their chances of getting in instead.
Tahani has to mend her rivalry with her superstar sister, Kamilah. Jason tries to keep his father (the previously mentioned Donkey Doug) and Pillboi out of trouble. The goofball gene is strong in the Mendoza family and Jason can’t quite convince Donkey Doug that petty crime and get-rich-quick schemes aren’t a good idea. He, Michael, and Tahani are more successful with Pillboi by telling him they are “secret astronaut spies” and need him to stay out of trouble to complete their mission.
Eleanor finds out that her mother has improved without her help. After faking her death Donna has found a quiet suburban life with a nice boyfriend and his young daughter. She’s a happy PTA mom and it hurts Eleanor because Donna didn’t do that for her.
Eleanor begins to doubt that she’s even capable of loving someone. Michael shows her the reboots where she and Chidi declared their love for each other. At first all Eleanor gets out of it is that Michael has set everything up and she’s never had any control of anything in her life. Michael eventually convinces her that she’s using that as an excuse to avoid feeling vulnerable and that they should continue to try to make things better.
Michael and Janet visit Doug Forcet, to see how they could use him as an example to get others into The Good Place. He was the stoner teenager who guessed how the afterlife point system works. When they find him, Doug is a 68-year-old loser. He spends every second of his life trying to act in a way that will gain him as many points as possible. Michael is so giddy about meeting him that he is slow to pick up on how miserable Doug Forcet is. Janet notices it first. She says that he is acting as a “happiness pump” and burying his desires to make others happy.
While Michael and Janet are meeting Doug Forcet, the humans wait in a bar. Eleanor asks Tahani for advice on her feelings for Chidi. Tahani tells Eleanor “it’s never a bad idea to tell someone how you feel,” but warns her that there’s no way to tell how Chidi will react. Shawn and the rest of the demons show up and corner the humans.
Michael and Janet arrive just in time for Janet to kick some serious demon butt. She realizes that the only way to keep the humans safe is to take them into her void. Their lives on Earth will be over again but it’s their only chance to stay out of the Bad Place.
This is where I’m going to stop for now. Next time I’ll talk about what happens in Janet’s void and beyond.
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