Chapter 24: Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent is the 11th episode of Season 2 of The Good Place.
Plot[]
A change of scenery might be in order — Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), Janet (D'Arcy Carden) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) head to a destination that may have lasting implications.
Summary[]
Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, Jason, Michael and Janet are on their way to Bad Place headquarters, there, according to Michael, which has the only portal to the judge, to who they want to plead their case to spend eternity in the Good Place. With the exception of Janet who gets a free pass, Michael, once at the Bad Place, needs to obtain four more pendants for the humans as the only means to get through the portal, he already having one for himself as one of the senior managers at the Bad Place. Beyond Michael having to find somewhere to keep the humans safe at headquarters while he goes on his mission, he, via Janet, provides them all with disguises just in case anyone from the old neighborhood runs into them and recognizes them. This plan works for Eleanor, Tahani and Jason who have lied, cheated and/or schemed their entire lives, but it is difficult for Chidi who believes it is morally wrong to tell a lie, and for Janet who is programmed to assist and be good. Things get more complicated when Michael's chosen hiding place isn't as secluded as he thought, and as his plan to obtain the extra four pendants doesn't work out quite as he had mapped out.
The Train drives through blackness, and the humans are now concerned, they're headed to Bad Place Headquarters, but that's the only way to the portal to the Neutral Zone where the Judge is. The access to the Bad Place portal requires an upper management pin, which Shawn gave Michael a few episodes ago.
Michael plans to find more pins for the humans. Janet has Bad Place disguises for the humans, and the previous neighborhood worker demons have gone back to their old departments, so the humans shouldn't be recognized.
The humans have their disguises, they all look like office workers in their suits, they pick aliases (Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent), but Chidi says no, he can't lie. Eleanor tries to get him to budge, but is unsuccessful.
The Train gets to the station, it looks like an Earthly train station, with moderate crowds of well-dressed human-looking people. Michael, Janet, and the humans get off and blend into the crowd.
Michael leads them to a place to wait for him, a Museum of Human Misery, a very mild torture museum, which nobody goes to so they can be safe there. After Michael leaves, they tour it for a bit, when a group of demons comes through and starts setting up, it looks like there's party planned there.
Michael goes to the open-plan office space he worked in before, and goes to Shawn's office. Shawn welcomes him home, Michael presents himself as back on the team, ready to do his job, starting with the extradition papers to get the humans back from Mindy St. Claire's, Michael will go through the portal, pass the papers by the Judge, and get the job done, and he asks for 4 pins for his "crew". Shawn derails that plan: he says there's a different plan in motion to get the humans back.
At the Museum, there's a party going on, and our humans are trying to look like they fit in. They circulate through the crowd in pairs, until a guy sees Chidi and says, "Trent, is that you?" Chidi goes with it and says yes (trying not to lie). Chidi and Jason have a conversation with their new friend and some of his friends about the tortures they work on, and Eleanor and Tahani have similar conversations.
Shawn leads Michael to a board meeting, and Shawn says he's sent a "black ops" team to Mindy's, getting the humans back is important. But once it's done, Michael's neighborhood will get its own section of the Museum as a success story.
The party at the Museum is still going, and Chidi brings Eleanor a problem: his new friends need help in coming up with a torture for some victim, and they expect Chidi to help them. Eleanor says it's time for him to lie, but Chidi is still stuck on not violating a basic moral principle of not lying. Eleanor tries to convince him lying is ethical in this situation; she even brings up Moral Particularism, that there are no fixed rules for every situation, and in this situation, lying to those demons is right.
Janet asks a helper at the party how long the party will go on, and he says a few more minutes, then they'll unveil the new exhibit. She glances through the curtain at the new exhibit, and says, "Uh oh."
At the board meeting, Shawn gets status from the team at Mindy's, and the team finds Mindy and Derek, but no humans. Shawn looks around, and Michael has escaped from the meeting. Shawn tells the board members to find Michael, fast.
At the party, Chidi and his demon buddies get together to talk torture, and he more or less lies to give plausible advice: give the victim books, he had a victim who hated books, so he gave her lots of books. He stumbles quite a bit, but Jason helps him out and their story is accepted.
Janet gathers the humans together, she's discovered something bad, they have to go. While they are still stuck in the crowd, the party M.C. calls everyone's attention, and unveils the new exhibit: it's mockups of Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani, in front of a banner: "Everything is fine." The M.C. explains the experimental "Good Place" idea to the audience, and then activates the mockups: they speak, describing the characteristics of the persons they represent.
Michael sneaks into the party, finds his humans, and hands them the pins he got. As he does so, the demons who talked with Chidi and Jason realize that the mockups look like their new buddies. Michael and the humans turn to go, and there is Shawn, with security guards. Jason grabs a bottle of alcohol and fires up a Molotov cocktail, setting a large fire.
Michael and the humans are running through the halls of Headquarters. They get to the portal, a glowing circle, and put their pins on. But Michael didn't get enough pins, there isn't one for Eleanor. Tahani, Chidi, and Jason run through the portal as Michael searches for a pin. Shawn and the guards arrive.
Michael says, "hey, I just solved the Trolley Problem." He recounts it to Eleanor (from a few episodes back), and says it forces you to let one of two groups of other people die. The solution is simple: sacrifice yourself. He gives Eleanor his pin and pushes her through the portal, then says to Shawn, "Hey boss, what's up?"
Cast[]
- Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop
- William Jackson Harper as Chidi Anagonye
- Jameela Jamil as Tahani Al-Jamil
- D'Arcy Carden as Janet
- Manny Jacinto as Jason Mendoza
- Ted Danson as Michael
Recurring Cast
Guest Starring
- Dax Shepard as Chet
- Jama Williamson as Val
- Maribeth Monroe as Mindy St. Claire
Co-Starring
- Ross Bryant as Petruchio
- Fran Gillespie as Megan
- Dah-Uh Morrow as Chork
- Behzad Dabu as Dirk
- Jim Meskimen as Bertram Varmin
- Nick Offerman as Lance (voice • uncredited)
Trivia[]
- Kristen Bell's real life husband (Dax Shepard) appeared in this episode.
- Nick Offerman is also a guest appearance.
Gallery[]
