Synopsis of 02×03: Michael approaches things differently; Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason struggle with making a decision.
Suspicious of Michael, Eleanor probes until Michael confesses to the group that Vicki is blackmailing him, she’s in control now and if they don’t help him things will get bad. In fact, he explains that if his boss finds out, then they will all be in “hot water” literally.
Michael has 30 minutes to convince the four to team up with him or suffer the consequences. He promises not reboot their memories if they help him. All they would have to do is lie and pretend to be tortured by Vicki and her goons. This way they could still study ethics secretly in their spare time.
Eleanor calls a “human” only meeting in her bedroom to discuss with the group. Jason is the first to voice his trust in Michael and thinks the group should team up with him because he’s wearing a bow-tie. In typical Eleanor fashion, she slaps the idea right off of Jason’s face. The clock is ticking as they have 30 minutes before the entire place is rebooted. Tahani thinks she’s being tested and is already in the Good Place (silly, I know!). While Chidi thinks the group should question Michael more to get a better understanding.
Eleanor agrees and they ask Michael why they should trust him and he mentions that The Good Place was an experiment that wasn’t meant to be repeated. They are on attempt number 802. The longest scenario was 11 months (which I assume was season 1). Somehow, they always manage to figure out what’s going on and Michael reboots them.
Meanwhile, the more Janet is rebooted the smarter she gets and this might be the most advanced she’s ever been (go Janet, does this mean that Jason and Janet might be a thing again?). Michael actually stole Janet from the real Good Place and she’s all about helping humans! But that’s still not enough to convince the group to help Michael.
Running out of time, Michael reveals that he can get them into the real Good Place. That alone is a game changer and certainly grabbed Eleanor’s attention. She questions if it’s really possible, and Michael claims it’s complicated, but possible. If they help him trick Vicki and her goons he can guarantee them passage to the Good Place. He’s not sure how long they’d be able to stay, but he can definitely get them there.
Eleanor calls another human meeting with Chidi and Tahani (Jason is off being distracted by something shiny). She thinks Michael is trying to run game on them again. Tahani thinks she doesn’t belong and storms off to have a chat with Michael. Chidi and Eleanor argue once again about whether or not they should work with Michael. Eleanor claims she can’t believe how easy it is for him to make up his mind, considering he’s usually always so indecisive. Chidi wants to be better and stay better so that he can actually be good.
Tahani tries to convince Michael that she doesn’t belong in the Bad Place because she’s done so much good. Michael tries to tell her otherwise and but she doesn’t believe him. So instead, he shares how she died (she tried to knock over her sister’s gold statue and it fell on her) and tells her that she never actually cared about any of the people she raised money for. After showing her, all Tahani could think about was how she died in Cleveland (so vain!).
Still not willing to partner with Michael, Eleanor lies and says she needs a minute to think about everything alone. She calls upon Janet to get cocaine so she can head back to Mindy’s place. Chidi finds Eleanor ready to sneak out and calls her on her forking crap. Eleanor doesn’t want to try to get better in secret and in true selfish fashion she decides to leave.
But, there’s just one problem, Eleanor feels bad and turns to the last person she trusts for advice, Michael. She asks him if Chidi has never helped her in one of the scenarios. Michael tells her no, Chidi always helps her. It’s enough advice to convince Eleanor to do the right thing. She meets with Jason, Tahani, and Chidi to tell them that they are going to help Michael (even though she’s 99% sure he’s forking with them) because it’s what Chidi would do, for her, for any of them.
A cowardly traitor, four dumb dumbs, and a robot are about to get into a ton of trouble this season as they work to fool not only Vicki and her goons, but also Michael’s boss! A truly interesting set-up for the rest of the season episode, I can’t wait for the real fun to begin in the coming episodes.
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