The Good Place: The Eternal Shriek

October 20, 2016 6:12 PM - Season 1, Episode 7

Michael, concluding his unusual presence as an Architect in his Neighborhood caused all the trouble, decides to retire - to an eternity of torture. Eleanor figures the only way to stop this is to press a failsafe button that will kill Janet. Chidi is less than enthusiastic.
posted by Small Dollar (11 comments total)

ATTENTION

I HAVE BEEN MURDERED
posted by Etrigan at 6:53 PM on October 20, 2016 [24 favorites]

She went there! Where do we go now???
posted by tracicle at 12:02 AM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]

I wonder how many other people will stand up and say they are there by mistake too. Somehow I doubt Jianyu is the only other one.
posted by InfidelZombie at 9:50 AM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]

Janet killed this episode, as well as died.

Also, yeah, it seems like we're due for a bunch more people to jump up and admit they don't belong also. But then is the joke on Michael? He mentions having been an apprentice, maybe this some kind of test for him. And if everyone --- or at least a good chunk of people --- admit they don't belong, then do they all have to work out together how to keep the joint on track? Perhaps The Good Place is a ship of fools, rather than a Purgatory.
posted by Diablevert at 5:06 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

Wow, that happened a lot sooner than I thought it would! I'm genuinely surprised.

And if everyone --- or at least a good chunk of people --- admit they don't belong, then do they all have to work out together how to keep the joint on track?

I'm with you.

But I'm doubling down this week on Michael knowing all. I'm thinking Michael is god himself, and all of this oh-shucksiness/off-I-go-into-the-eternal-shriek is part of his sense of humor.
posted by mochapickle at 6:30 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]

[something], [something+1], Janet! is our new go-to at home.

Husband: How many carrots do we have?
Me: One...two...Janet!
posted by tracicle at 4:26 AM on October 22, 2016 [9 favorites]

My bet (which has been a pet theory since the Jianyu twist) is that everybody except Tahani is in the same boat as Eleanor. So either Michael has been lying about what this place is really for (possible) or he's exactly as incompetent as he seems. I think the second is more likely because it keeps the premise lighter, but we'll see.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:33 AM on October 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh, our modern era: that (a) we have this show in the first place, and (b) that Eleanor outs herself for her own eternal shrieking after so few episodes instead of at least dragging it out to the first season (if not seven seasons later). Wow.

So, what are the theories here?
(a) Eleanor gets sent to the The Bad Place and her own Eternal Shriek, everyone else lives happily in The Good Place with no problems except for feeling kinda bad.
(b) Michael has no idea how he's made mistakes (assuming Jianyu gets outed as well), spends time investigating that.
(c) This is all part of some scheme of Michael's to see if bad people can improve in TGP, he's known about this all along.
(d) This is all part of some scheme of Janet's, she's known all along (of course she has).
(e) This is all part of some scheme of Michael's boss, whoever that is.
(f) Eleanor was paired with Chidi so he could have a reason/excuse to discuss ethics all the time in his afterlife. (As for Tahani and Jianyu.... who knows).
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:17 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

I am loving evil Kristen Bell, regardless.

The Janet character and personalization was a little offputting at first but I totally came around to her.
posted by porpoise at 11:25 AM on January 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's "the system" that places people, not the architects. I have the impression that Michael's not the originator of the system, and if it has started making errors it's really not his mistake.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 8:00 AM on September 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

I was skimming through episodes on a rewatch and noticed that when Michael is giving his “all the ways I fucked up” speech at the very beginning and then calls Janet, there’s no obvious cut when she appears and it looks like our view of Michael is stable, but the background behind him suddenly changes as though the camera had moved several yards. Presumably a cgi glitch, I guess?
posted by rmd1023 at 6:44 PM on February 7, 2018 [1 favorite]