"Chapter 52: Whenever You're Ready" is the thirteenth and final episode of the fourth season of The Good Place, and the fifty-second and final episode overall. It aired on January 30, 2020.
Plot []
Various conversations occur, between various groups of people.
Summary[]
The new system is working; Michael and Janet have regular meetings with Judge Gen, Shawn, and the accountants on how things are going, and while there are some bumps in the road, millions of humans are being properly sent to their appropriate destinies. And those in the Good Place are making the choice to leave once they are ready.
The first of the Soul Squad humans to feel ready is Jason. He's won a perfect game in Madden NFL, after thousands of tries, and he's reached the end of his goals in the afterlife. He tells his friends, and throws a big party, with everyone Jason knew in life who are now in the afterlife, including Donkey Doug, Pillboi, and the members of Jason's dance group, in attendance. It's a wild, joyful party full of music and dancing, Jason describing his feelings of contentment to Chidi and Eleanor.
The next day, Jason and Janet walk in the woods to the Last Door. He had made a necklace for her, so she won't forget him, but he can't find it. Janet reassures him that with the way she experiences time, she'll never forget him or feel like he's left her. She says goodbye to him before walking off to let Jason gather his last thoughts and go through the Last Door when he's ready.
Tahani meanwhile has been spending her afterlife mastering every practical skill she can think of, from carpentry to cooking and baking, engineering, and other kinds of DIY skills. She gets notified by Janet that "thing you asked me to tell you it happened" to know it has happened. Tihani and her sister Kamilah are waiting anxiously, discussing how their parents might have changed since they went through the system. When their parents show up, they feel immense guilt at how they had treated their daughters and apologize to them, hugging them and saying they love both of them very much. They spend time and grow to be the happy family Tahani's always wanted. After finishing her list of things she wanted to learn, she feels complete, and calls her friends in for a last get-together. As the festivities go on, however, Tahani realizes that going through the door would be a waste of all the knowledge she's gained and decides to apply it all towards to becoming an Architect like Michael. He leads her through the Hub to the Architect Design center, where they meet up with Glenn (who has long since reformed himself after getting exploded to goo) and the Good Place architect Beadie to begin her apprenticeship.
Chidi and Eleanor have been happily going through the works of famous philosophers and hanging out with their friends and family members who've made it to the Good Place. Eleanor quickly suspects that Chidi is ready to go and is determined to keep him staying with her. She takes him on a whirlwind tour of Athens and Paris, which were important places in his life. However, Chidi admits he'd already reached that feeling of satisfaction a long time ago when he saw that Eleanor and her mother finally truly made peace with one another, but continued staying because he knew Eleanor wouldn't accept it. Realizing it would be selfish of her to force him to stay when he's ready to pass over, Eleanor tearfully lets Chidi go. On their last night together, Chidi reassures Eleanor that he'll always be with her in a way and promises upon her request to leave before she wakes up the next morning. When the next morning comes, Eleanor wakes up alone in bed with a final parting gift from Chidi: a sexy mailman-style calendar for a full Bearimy, with a different picture of Chidi in a sexy pose and outfit for each page. Janet takes Chidi to the Last Door, where the two of them share a goodbye hug before he walks through.
Just after Chidi goes through the door, Jason pops out from behind a tree. He had eventually found the necklace he had meant to give Janet, and couldn't bear to leave until he gave it to her so he quietly and patiently waited in the forest until Janet returned, ironically living a monk-like existence just like his original persona Jianyu. He gives her the necklace (a heart-shaped pendant with the words "J+J" engraved into it), says a final goodbye to her, and chases after Chidi to join him on the other side of the door.
Eleanor, upon rewatching the video of herself and Chidi confessing their love for each other, realizes that Mindy isn't getting the chance to be re-evaluated by the new system. She goes to the Medium Place, meeting with Derek who has been rebooted over 150 million times. Eleanor argues that Mindy owes it to herself to shoot for something better than eternal mediocrity but Mindy is reluctant to be evaluated by some stranger. Eleanor takes her to the Architect center where Tahani is, and Mindy accepts being evaluated by Tahani once she's finished her apprenticeship.
Eleanor feels ready to leave but Michael also wants to go through the door, as he feels he's accomplished everything and no longer knows what to do anymore now that the Judge has stopped the meetings due to how well the new system works. But as the Last Door wasn't made for him, Eleanor gets an idea. She gets Gen to agree to let Michael go to Earth and live as a human being. Michael is turned into a human and says goodbye to Janet, promising her that they'll see each other again. In his new human life, Michael makes friends, makes mistakes (and learns from them), and experiences new things.
Feeling whole and complete, Eleanor shares a last margarita and chat with Janet before she goes through the Last Door. Her soul is scattered into the fabric of the cosmos as thousands of little sparks of light. One spark goes to Earth, touching the soul of a man getting his mail at his apartment. He's about to throw away something that was wrongly delivered to him, but Eleanor's soul fragment inspires him to deliver it to the proper address instead. It's addressed to Michael, who is giddy upon seeing the grocery store rewards card he'd applied for has come. Michael thanks his neighbor and tells him to "take it sleazy".
Cast []
Main 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
Guest Starring[]
- Maya Rudolph as Judge
- Marc Evan Jackson as Shawn
- Tiya Sircar as Vicky
- Mike O'Malley as Jeff
- Nick Offerman as Nick Offerman
- Mary Steenburgen as Teacher
- Brandon Scott Jones as John Wheaton
- Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Simone Garnett
- Ben Koldyke as Brent Norwalk
- Maribeth Monroe as Mindy St. Claire
- Jason Mantzoukas as Derek
- Mitch Narito as Donkey Doug
- Eugene Cordero as Pillboi
- Rebecca Hazlewood as Kamilah Al-Jamil
- Ajay Mehta as Waqas Al-Jamil
- Anna Khaja as Manisha Al-Jamil
- Keston John as Uzo
- Angela Trimbur as Madison
- Meryl Hathaway as Brittany
- Kurt Braunohler as Ken
Co-Starring[]
- Josh Siegal as Glenn
- Noah Garfinkel as Doug Forcett
- Mele Ihara as Beadie
- Tom Yi as Albert
- Todd May as Himself
- Pamela Hieronymi as Herself
Trivia[]
- This is the highest rated episode of The Good Place with a rating of 9.5 on IMDb.
- This is the final episode of Season 4.
- Michael tells his neighbor to "Take it sleazy". This is a reference to Chapter 7: The Eternal Shriek when Michael says he wanted to do many more things before retirement. One of them was to to have a brief chat with someone and tell them to take it sleazy.
Gallery[]
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