Chapter 32: The Ballad of Donkey Doug is the 6th episode of Season 3 of The Good Place.
Plot[]
Jason visits with some people from his past while Chidi gets help in resolving a problem.
Summary[]
Michael and Tahani have accompanied Jason back home to Jacksonville to help him with his first good deed to save the soul of a loved one, the person Jason has chosen being his father, which Tahani finds odd as Jason has never mentioned his father before - or has he? What Jason wants to do is to get his father on a path of economic stability while not having to resort to any scam or crime as he has usually done, that economic stability in the form of he completing his electrician's licensing which he was once close to completing. This task may be more difficult than they anticipate. Meanwhile, Chidi has decided that in his deep feelings for Simone, he can't risk the possibility of letting slip to her what he and the others are going through, which would doom her to the Bad Place in her afterlife. As such, Eleanor convinces him that his only option is to break up with her. But as a person who can't lie, Chidi may have problem trying to accomplish this task. Janet believes she has a tool to help him, which may provide him the options in how to do it, but may still make the actual doing Chidi-like in its awkwardness.
Jason, Tahani, and Michael go to Jacksonville, with the goal of saving Jason's father, who turns out to be the guy "Donkey Doug" that Jason has long talked about, but never talked about as his father. Donkey Doug has always been getting in trouble with one illegal get-rich scheme after another, and they hope to turn him towards an honest living from his electrician's license.
They meet Doug at his apartment, and he and Jason greet each other with enthusiasm; Doug is as carefree, and witless, as Jason always has been. Jason and the others suggest a proper job for Doug, but he already has a "business proposition" for them, and he calls over Pillboi. Jason, Doug, and Pillboi are as happy (and witless) together as Jason and Pillboi had previously been portrayed. ("You were dead!" "I called you last week!" "Oh, I forgot.") Their big idea is mixing an energy drink with body spray, "Double Trouble", and it's unclear whether you drink it or spray it, but it will get them rich once it catches on. We, and Michael, see this is lunacy, but Jason is enthusiastic and wants in.
To get Double Trouble started, Doug and Pillboi need ingredients, which they plan to steal from several factories. This does get Jason worried, this level of theft may be a bit much for Doug and Pillboi to add to their scores, and Jason pivots: he's going to save Pillboi.
The day of the factory robbery, Jason, Tahani, and Michael meet Pillboi at his day job at a retirement center, where he's giving rather suspect drug advice to a resident. Tahani tells Pillboi there's been a change in plan, Pillboi should stay away from the factory robbery. In fact, they tell him that the three of them are actually secret agents from NASA, and want to bring Pillboi in on their mission, and to do that, he'll need to keep his ordinary job at the retirement center, don't get into any trouble, don't commit any crimes, and wait for someone to tell him his next part in the mission. Pillboi is fine with all of that, and he and Jason have a tearful parting.
Jason gets to the factory as Doug is about to gather his stolen ingredients, and Jason says he'll help Doug, but wants to save Pillboi and keep him out of trouble. Doug is cool with that, but then the police arrive. Doug distracts the police long enough for Jason to escape.
All through this, back in Australia, Chidi, Eleanor, and Janet have been dealing with other issues. Chidi had asked the administration for a sabbatical, and in response they fired him, so he's free to work with his friends. But he needs to break off his relationship with Simone, he can't tell what's really going on, it could doom her for eternity, but he doesn't really want to end it with her.
Chidi and Janet spend a while using a virtual reality simulation that Janet invents, trying out different speeches and scenarios for Chidi's break-up speech with Simone, but none of this really goes anywhere.
Chidi meets Simone in a coffee shop, and tries to start a well-thought-out breakup speech, but gets so flustered with interruptions by the waitstaff that he blurts out that he's breaking up with her, she's dumped, and she angrily walks out. He meets up with her later in her office, and takes a little of the rough edge off of the breakup, but the reality is, he needs to break up, and can't really explain why, and she's not happy with that, but goes along.
Two days later in Hungary, all six are together again, for a museum opening, and Jason is glad he got closure with his father, and saved Pillboi in a way. Eleanor is glad he had that chance, her parents are dead. Michael and Janet nod to each other, and Janet reveals that her mother is not "technically, actually dead", she faked her death. Eleanor responds that she has to fly back to America, to find her mother, and murder her.
Cast[]
- Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop
- William Jackson Harper as Chidi Anagonye
- Jameela Jamil as Tahani Al-Jamil
- D'Arcy Carden as Janet/Bad Janet/Neutral Janet
- Manny Jacinto as Jason Mendoza
- and Ted Danson as Michael
Recurring Cast
Guest Starring
- Mitch Narito as Donkey Doug
- Flula Borg as Helmut Deutschermann
Co-Starring
- Emily O'Meara as Jolivia Oowton-Nohn
- Fumi as Judy
Trivia[]
- This is the lowest rated episode of Season 3 with a rating of 7.4 on IMDb.
- As revealed in The Good Place Podcast by Mike Schur, the ad on top of the Jacksonville Airport cab (which is crushed by the monster truck) is for The Mindy St Claire Rescue Alliance.
- A sign in Donkey Dougs room reads "970" inside of an outline of Florida. This is not Jacksonville's infamous area code (904) but instead a widely used one in Colorado.
Gallery[]
