Chapter 35: Don't Let The Good Life Pass You By is the 9th episode of Season 3 of The Good Place.
Plot[]
Michael and Janet visit the person they believe can provide the blueprint for how to live a good life on Earth; Eleanor turns to Tahani for advice.
Summary[]
The Soul Squad has made it to Calgary, Canada. Michael and Janet pose as reporters and visit Doug Forcett, the one human in existence to most closely accurately figure out how the afterlife works (92% accurate, in fact; by contrast, most of the world's major religions got about 5 to 10% of it right) while he tripped out on magic mushrooms as a teenager. Michael believes that the life Doug lives will be the perfect example of how to inspire other people to live a good and moral life. However, it turns out that Doug's miraculously accurate vision of how the afterlife works has ruined his earthly life, turning him into an isolated hermit who makes his living off the land and has dedicated his whole life to making others happy to the detriment of his own well-being. He subsists solely on lentils, radishes and recycled water, lets a preteen boy bully him into doing his chores for him, volunteers himself as a test subject for cosmetics so they won't be tested on animals, takes in every stray dog he finds and takes care of them all even when they bite and attack him, has a minor meltdown when he accidentally calls Michael "Mark", and becomes utterly distraught when he steps on a snail, giving it a full-fledged funeral when he's unable to save its life. Even Janet describes Doug as a miserable wreck, a "happiness pump" who doles out good deeds to maximize others' joy at the cost of his own, and the way he lives is no way to live at all. Before Doug leaves to walk all the way to Edmonton to donate to a snail charity, Michael suggests that Doug relax once in a while, reasoning that he probably has enough points by now, but Doug refuses, as he's terrified of doing anything that could potentially ruin his chances of getting into the Good Place.
Meanwhile, the four humans are waiting in a bar. Chidi and Jason play "Jacksonville-style" pool while Eleanor seeks advice from Tahani for what to do about the things she discovered about her and Chidi's relationship during their time in the afterlife. However, the demons arrive in the bar, and Janet instigates a fight, with the group defeating the demons and sending them to the Judge's realm. They subdue Shawn and interrogate him. He isn't fazed, gloating that he expects to see not just the Soul Squad humans in the Bad Place, but also their friends and family members and even Doug. After they dispose of Shawn, Michael begins to wonder if the problem with the points system goes deeper than he originally suspected, and he intends to speak to the accountant in charge while the humans wait at Doug's house. When more demons arrive, Janet takes the four humans to her void instead, killing them on Earth.
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
- and Ted Danson as Michael
Recurring Cast
Guest Starring
- Michael McKean as Doug Forcett
- Bambadjan Bamba as Bambadjan
- Luke Guldan as Chris Baker
- Jama Williamson as Val
- Tiya Sircar as Vicky
Co-Starring
- Josh Siegal as Glenn
- Nicolas Cantu as Raymond
Trivia[]
- The production code number for this episode of The Good Place is #TGP-309.
- "Don't Let the Good Life Pass You By" by Mama Cass Elliot plays over the opening scene. As shown in the scene, the song originally comes from her 1970 "greatest hits" album Mama's Big Ones.
- The whole scene could be a nod to a similar waking up routine in a TV show LOST with another song by Mama Cass Elliot - "Make Your Own Kind of Music".
- Doug is seen reading Peter Singer’s The Most Good You Can Do, a book describing and arguing for the ideas of effective altruism. Peter Singer is a moral philosopher and bioethicist who is best known for his work on animal rights.
Gallery[]
