Although it’s been around for nearly a decade and I’ve rewatched it multiple times, I’ve never written about The Good Place. I’ll be very surprised if the episodes, especially in Season One, don’t have a tight Story Enneagram. Let’s make sure, though. Any excuse to have a good laugh is worth taking.
ONE
Eleanor Shellstrop opens her eyes. She’s in a generic waiting room and the wall opposite her shows the chirpy message: Welcome! Everything is fine.
(I won’t jump ahead with spoilers, but be warned that each episode rolls out information. Once you know the season’s ending, the rewatches — especially the ironic touches — become even more delightful. We can talk about that at the Season One overview.)
Michael, the manager, takes her into his office and informs her that she’s dead. She was killed by a column of shopping carts that swept her into traffic. Now, Eleanor’s in the Good Place.
Roll credits.
TWO
Michael leads Eleanor on a tour of the cute neighborhood of shops that make up this Good Place community. The Orientation Movie explains the Rules of the Magic: each action you took on earth tallied plus or negative points. (Remaining loyal to the Cleveland Browns has a huge bonus, lol.) Only the highest scoring people come to the Good Place.
And your soulmate is here, too. (Eleanor cranes her neck.)
THREE
Michael continues Eleanor’s tour. Who’s in the Bad Place? she asks. Taking her shoulders and looking into her eyes, Michael tells her not to worry. She was a lawyer who got innocent people off of death row. She’s special.
Eleanor squirms.
FOUR
He shows Eleanor her Good Place home, crafted to her true essence. It looks like a playground house in bold primary colors. Pull out to show her cottage next to another Good Place residence, a palace with water fountains. Eleanor squirms.
Inside, the house is decorated in the “Icelandic Primitive” style, with many paintings of clowns.
A screen allows Eleanor to review her life, including her charitable works. Eleanor’s smile freezes in place.
Knocking on the open door is Chidi, who introduces himself as Eleanor’s soulmate. Michael leaves as they sit on the couch and share details about their lives. Chidi, a philosopher seeking life’s truths, has traveled to many countries; Eleanor has been to Arizona. She insists he swear that he’ll support her, which he does. Pointing to the screen, Eleanor says, “Those aren’t my memories. I’m not supposed to be here.”
SWITCH
Fade to black.
FIVE
Chidi asks if she’s sure. Yes. Somebody here really forked up. (No one can curse in the Good Place.) If she’s not a lawyer, what did she do?
Cut to Eleanor in life lying to seniors in order to sell them chalk marketed as medicine. And she was good at it.
Having a frozen yogurt at a neighborhood place, Chidi tries to convince Eleanor to tell Michael. No way. Chidi calls out for Janet, who magically materializes at their table. (The “Information Assistant”, Janet is like a cosmic Google.) What’s it like in the Bad Place? She is not allowed to answer that, but she does play them a live audio feed of people screaming.
In a beautiful garden, Eleanor argues that she should just continue to lie and evade. Chidi, who can’t be dishonest, gets a stomachache. Here comes Michael with two other soulmate residents, Tahani and Jianyu. She, privileged and beautiful, boops Eleanor on the nose and invites them to her party tonight. Jianyu is a Buddhist monk who’s taken a vow of silence.
Cut to the party. (Tahani’s house is the palace.) Chidi pleads with her to tell him one good thing about her life. She’s stumped. What about the day before she died? Eleanor remembers being rude to an environmentalist volunteer (Joe). Look, she says, I didn’t murder anybody. Are these people really better than I am?
Cue a montage of party guests listing the extremely charitable works from their lives. Eleanor downs a drink and takes another.
Michael addresses the crowd. Smiling he says, “This is my very first neighborhood.” People applaud. Drink in hand, Eleanor grabs a handful of jumbo cocktail shrimp. Hostess Tahani welcomes everyone, offering access to her 36 grass tennis courts. Eleanor, unable to curse, mutters to Chidi that Tahani’s a “bench”. She’s going upstairs to steal some gold stuff.
Fade to black.
Drunk Eleanor with Chidi following enters her “creepy clown house”. A shrimp falls out of her bra.
SIX
When she climbs into bed, she apologizes to Chidi and wonders if anyone cared that she died. She calls Chidi a nice person, but then she can’t pronounce his last name, Anagonye.
SEVEN
When she passes out, Chidi leaves the bedroom, activating the sliding doors. Circus music plays while the closed doors make a large clown painting.
EIGHT
Eleanor wakes in her bed. Lightning flashes at the window. She looks out.
Humongous ladybugs chase the other residents through Eleanor’s front yard. Giant forks fall from the sky. Everyone wears bee-striped clothing. Michael has no idea what’s happening. Shrimp tails undulate in the air.
Eleanor runs outside to find Chidi. He notices that she’s the only one wearing normal pajamas. All of this is happening because of you, he concludes.
Cut to the two of them returning to Eleanor’s house. You don’t belong here, he says. Eleanor protests: I was a medium person. I don’t deserve the Bad Place. I should be in a medium place. Unless . . . you could teach me to be a good person.
Roll credits while Eleanor tries to convince Chidi, an ethics professor, to tutor her. Michael knocks on the door and calls them to a neighborhood meeting. Eleanor begs Chidi to help her.
NINE
Chidi has a stomachache.
CRITICAL NOTES
Well, I had to fudge a little bit to get to an Enneagram.
The Two must include the information that soulmates are in the Good Place. The Eight is about the connection between Eleanor and Chidi. They aren’t soulmates because Eleanor doesn’t belong here, yet they’re in some kind of relationship. They share a secret. The Two/Eight has that link.
That leaves the Three to be Michael’s reveal that Eleanor is special. It’s the first time we (and Eleanor) know that something’s not right. The Six vaguely mirrors when Eleanor says something genuinely vulnerable about herself. She not a con artist in that moment. And she recognizes that Chidi is a person who could belong in the Good Place.
I would’ve preferred if the Three/Six mirror utilized the clown motif. It’s so strong and so funny. I couldn’t make it work, though. I could only count the clown mural as a Seven moment. It’s almost as if the house, or the Good Place, makes the Seven choice. We’re reminded that this world has a biting humor.