History Recap / TheGoodPlaceS1E13MichaelsGambit

** All the residents of Neighborhood 12358W? They're demons acting out the roles of "good people."
** And the main four? They're all "bad people."

** Meanwhile ''Shawn'' foresaw it coming, and appropriately advised Michael earlier to do away with the complexities and send them all to the mundane tortures of the Bad Place.

* FirstEpisodeTwist: Relatively speaking, this is the BIG twist to the first season of the show and redefines the entirety of the series afterwards. It's impossible to discuss season two without revealing what happens in this episode.

-->'''Eleanor:''' What the fork is a Chidi? Why can't I say "fork"?

* MemoryGambit: Eleanor has 30 seconds to think of some way around Michael wiping their memory and starting The Good Place experiment over again. Knowing Janet would be the only constant and she can't eat anything, Eleanor writes down a simple phrase and puts it in Janets' mouth. After the reset and Eleanor is alone for the first time, Janet gives her the paper which simply says "To Eleanor - Find Chidi."

* TemptingFate: Michael while boasting about the fake Good Place, assures his fellow architects he can make the humans in there torture themselves for 1000 years. [[GenreSavvy Shawn doubts it]] and tells Michael he'd be very lucky if he gets even 6 months out of them. By the end of the episode, Shawn is proven correct.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Janet is revealed to be this, as she's the only part of Neighborhood 12358W that actually is from the real Good Place, and thus was genuinely trying to do her purpose of making the humans afterlife experience more easier and enjoyable.

* XanatosSpeedChess: Eleanor revealing herself several episodes prior completely through off Michaels' long term plans, [[OffTheRails as they never anticipated she would fess up like that]]. Everything since then has been Michael trying to re-rail the system and pit them against each other, including bringing in the "real Eleanor." When Michael reveals the plan to wipe their memories and try again, Eleanor has to think fast to [[MemoryGambit deliver some form of clue to herself in the next cycle]].

** While Eleanor and Jasons' flaws are easily apparent, the reason Chidi and Tahani were also in the Bad Place is set up by connecting their {{flashback}}s over the season with the established rules of what it means to be good. Chidis' neurotic indecisiveness caused havoc with his friends and family, and his refusal to change is a major character flaw. Tahani being TheUnfavorite means nothing as Eleanor had AbusiveParents she [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse couldn't pass the blame to]] and her charity work was for innately selfish reasons.

* MassiveMultiplayerScam: It's revealed that the characters are in the Bad Place. Almost all the residents are demons whose goal is to psychologically torture the only four real humans.

*** According to the podcast, this wasn't originally intended to be a Chekhov's Gun. It was just written as a throwaway gag. It wasn't until writing this episode that it was considered being used as a Chekhov's Gun.

* OneTrueLove: No matter what Michael did, no matter what ridiculous permutations or scenarios he set up, Eleanor always found Chidi, always asked him for help, and he always helped her.
-->''There is no answer. But the answer is Eleanor.''

** Jason recalls that he told Eleanor they were in an alien prank show. Eleanor congratulates him for getting it right.