History Characters / TheGoodPlaceMichael

* CharacterDevelopment: In Season 1, he's malicious demon who acts as a FalseFriend to the gang for the purposes of driving them crazy as their eternal punishment. Near the start of Season 2, he teams up with them, but only so they will play along with his attempt to dupe the other demons into thinking that the plan is actually working, and they won't report him to Shawn, and initially is hardly any kinder to them than he was before. But over the course of taking ethics lessons with them and working with them to hide the truth from the other demons, he starts to bond with them and genuinely care for them, to the point where, when Shawn offers him a place on the high council for the neighborhood's supposed success, he gives it up to rescue them from spending eternal torture in the real bad place. From that point on, he's a full fledged hero, determined not only to help the gang achieve salvation by any means, but strives to fix the newly discovered issue of humanity wrongfully being judged for unintended consequences of their actions.

->''"With all the joy in my heart, and all the wisdom in the universe - take it sleazy."''

* CharacterTic: He tends to take off his glasses when frustrated or overwhelmed.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Michael should have really expected better than to let four humans torture each other than letting the demons do it, for which Shawn gloats to him, as even Shawn admits they could never get humans to torture each other willingly in all these eons.

-->'''Michael:''' Jason?! ''Jason'' figured it out?! Oh, this is a new low.
* HumanOutsideAlienInside: His human appearance is not his real form. It's also been mentioned that he doesn't have any organs, nor does he need to perform any biological functions like defecating. In season four, it's revealed that his true form is a horrific four hundred foot tall fire squid.

...[[TheReveal or so it seems]]. In reality, Michael is actually a Bad Place architect and the neighborhood is his personal pet project to psychologically torture small sets of humans for eternity, with Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason as his first subjects. Once their repeated successes in figuring out the truth threaten to get Michael [[AFateWorseThanDeath retired]], he forms an uneasy alliance with them to find a way to save themselves only to find himself growing increasingly fond of them and humanity in general.

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* HumanityIsInfectious: After he teams up with the human cast, Eleanor remarks several times upon his increasingly human-like attitude and behavior. Eventually, they collectively name him an "honorary human", much to his delight. [[spoiler:In the series finale, he actually becomes a human for real]].

* HumanOutsideAlienInside: His human appearance is not his real form. It's also been mentioned that he doesn't have any organs, nor does he need to perform any biological functions like defecating. In season four, it's revealed that his true form is a horrific fire squid.

* TheDragon: He served as this to Shawn, until he pulls a HeelFaceTurn and works against him.

[[Characters/TheGoodPlaceNeighborhood Neighborhood 12358W]] ('''Characters/TheGoodPlaceMichael Michael''') | [[Characters/TheGoodPlaceAfterlife The Afterlife]] | [[Characters/TheGoodPlaceEarth Earth]]-]]]]]

...[[TheReveal or so it seems]]. In reality, Michael is actually a Bad Place architect and the neighborhood is his personal pet project to psychologically torture small sets of humans for eternity, with Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason as his first subjects. Once their repeated successes in figuring out the truth threaten to get Michael [[AFateWorseThanDeath retired]], he forms an uneasy alliance with them to find a way to save themselves.

* ReformedButNotTamed: He becomes this after his HeelFaceTurn. While he no longer tortures humans, he is willing to break the rules, lie to bystanders, and cheat to help the Soul Squad achieve real paradise.

* RestoredMyFaithInHumanity: Michael has always been fascinated with humans, but his outlook on them used to be incredibly cynical. It was only when he truly began to interact with humans in his neighborhood was when he realized that humans are capable of improvement.

* SharpDressedMan: Like most of the other male Bad Place demons, he always wears a suit and tie/bowtie. [[spoiler: However, upon becoming a human, he switches to a shirt and jeans.]]

* WhiteHairBlackHeart: He's a demon with hair as white as snow. Subverted as he learns more about ethics and becomes a somewhat more moral individual.

* PinocchioSyndrome: [[IntriguedByHumanity Michael's biggest desire has always been to know what it feels like to be human,]] and at times it's implied that this desire is so intense that Michael wishes he was a human himself. [[spoiler:This is outright confirmed by the finale; Michael is given the opportunity to become a human, which he accepts with awe, excitement, and wonder. Eleanor even tells him, "You're going to be a real boy, Pinocchio."]]

...[[TheReveal or so it seems]]. In reality, Michael is actually a Bad Place architect and the neighborhood is his personal pet project to psychologically torture small sets of humans (i.e. the main cast) for eternity. Once their repeated successes in figuring out the truth threaten to get Michael [[AFateWorseThanDeath retired]], he forms an uneasy alliance with them... and in the process finds himself getting more and more enthralled by humanity.

...[[TheReveal or so it seems]]. In reality, Michael is actually a Bad Place architect and the neighborhood is his personal pet project to psychologically torture small sets of humans (i.e. the main cast) for eternity. Once their repeated successes in figuring out the truth threaten to get Michael [[AFateWorseThanDeath retired]], he forms an uneasy alliance with them... and in the process finds himself getting more and more fascinated by humanity.

* ReformedButNotTamed: He becomes this after his HeelFaceTurn. While he no longer tortures humans, he is willing to break the rules, lie to bystanders, and cheat to help the Soul Squad achieve real paradise. Heck, he was willing to take on Shawn and an army of demons to protect the humans and would have done so alone if Janet hadn't stepped in to take down most of them. Not to mention it was gutsy of him to break into the Good Place mailroom to save the Soul Squad from the accountants.