Jason and Michael travel to the Bad Place, determined to rescue Janet. Meanwhile, with Derek left to run the fake neighborhood, Eleanor and Tahani conspire to make sure none of the real test humans catch on to a genuine emergency.
Tropes for this episode
- All Part of the Show: Despite Shawn repeatedly insisting otherwise, the demons at Demon-Con all think Michael and Jason breaking in and rescuing Janet is all part of the seminar.
- Apologetic Attacker: Michael is reluctant to turn Rufus the security guard into goo due to the fact that they were roommates, but ultimately goes through with it when Rufus doesn't back down.
- Bait-and-Switch: Janet points out to Jason that Blake Bortles actually was kicked off of the Jacksonville Jaguars and that Nick Foles is replacing him... and Jason is ecstatic.Jason: Nick Foles? Are you kidding me?! (Beat) He won a Super-Bowl! We're gonna be unstoppable!
- Big "NO!": Jason makes one upon learning that Nick Foles just broke his clavicle. Apparently the final scene of the episode takes place on September 8, 2019
Earth time, though Jeremy Bearimy muddies the waters on that point. - Balance Between Good and Evil: Here, Michael literally spells it out that before his Heel–Face Turn, he (and presumably the rest of his kind) did what he did because he believed that what they did was for "the moral balance of the universe" convinced that humans are irredeemably evil, the Heel–Face Turn coming from the realization that humans are capable of change even after death.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: When Jason changes from "Bortles!" to "Foles!", both Janet and Michael join him.
- Buffy Speak: Michael warns Rufus he will use the "demon exploder" on him if he steps closer. Shawn scoffs at the name of the item, only for Michael to prove it really is a demon exploder by shooting Rufus.
- Call-Back:
- The title (and the topic that it's based on, the Bad Place's Employee of the Bearimy wall) is a reference to the Timey-Wimey Ball nature of the afterlife explained in "Jeremy Bearimy".
- After regaining his memories of his first time in this afterlife, Jason remembers throwing a Molotov cocktail in the Bad Place.
- Shawn mentions the Butthole Spiders; sadly the tortured humans are getting used to them and, even worse, the spiders are bored.
- Janet explodes the Bad Place entrance way in a similar way to how she blew up the accounting portal door in "The Book of Dougs".
- Character Development:
- Jason puts aside his usual impulsive nature to impersonate Glenn and rescue Janet.
- Michael is horrified and guilty when remembering how he used to be and vows to keep improving.
- Derek reboots himself to run the neighborhood better.
- Chekhov's Gun: The not-lie detector. It's used to help Michael, Jason, and Janet make their escape.
- Continuity Nod: Jason says it was hard to go back to his old high school because the junkyard machine crushed it into tiny cubes, referencing how his high school of Lynyrd Synyrd High School was a bunch of tugboats tied together in a junkyard.
- Damned by Faint Praise: Shawn says Glenn is a really good pick to play Jason, because they're both idiots.
- Dare to Be Badass: Michael makes this speech to the other demons at Demon Con. He tells them that, like all of them, he believed he was following the rules and making the world a better place by torturing "bad" people but has since learned that humans and demons can improve, and they don't have to abide by what Shawn says.
- Didn't See That Coming: Shawn didn't consider that Michael or any of the humans would willingly return to the Bad Place to mount a rescue.
- Didn't Think This Through: Shawn asks who's in the Jason suit, and Michael hesitates, implying that he hadn't thought of that. Thankfully, he answers with Glenn (who is probably the best demon he could have picked) and Shawn never suspects anything.
- Escort Distraction: While Michael and Jason go rescue Janet, Eleanor sends the humans to a lake house far away from the neighborhood for a little vacation; that way, the neighborhood can power down until Janet can get it running at full capacity again. Unfortunately, Chidi has decided to stay behind, which throws a monkey wrench in the works.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- Vicki's impression of Michael is terrible because she claims she doesn't understand his inherently good motivations, to which Janet claims that is why the Soul Squad will win. Vicky even says "ew" in response to that.
- Shawn likely never imagined that Michael and the humans would find out that Janet was replaced with a Bad Janet, nor that they would go into the Bad Place to mount a rescue.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The bee poster that Jason points out has the tagline "Has your torture gotten a little stale? Time to add a little sting."
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Eleanor tells Tahani's skill in event management is this, as it keeps them (and the four humans) calm and entertained in the face of eternal torture (and how all of them managed to bond in the first place).
- Heroic RRoD: Derek is unable to maintain the neighborhood and the fake residents, finding himself being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of energy he has to use. This makes him shut himself down so that he can then get rebooted and become stronger.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard:
- Shawn spearheaded the invention of the Michael suit, which gives Michael the opportunity to infiltrate the Bad Place by pretending to be Vicky in disguise. Moreover, Michael's better at pretending to be Vicky than she is at pretending to be him.
- Shawn had sent in a modified Bad Janet to impersonate the main Good Janet so she could sabotage the experiment. She creates a gun that can cause demons to explode into goo, giving Michael and Jason an easy weapon to use in their rescue attempt. It's used on Vicky and Rufus.
- I Hate Past Me: Returning to the Bad Place is very painful for Michael, as he's essentially forced to remember the evil demon he used to be.Michael: I don't like thinking about...who I used to be.
- Indy Ploy: With Derek running the neighborhood and Chidi still downtown, Eleanor has to keep him occupied. She tells him he's on a clue-hunt to solve a puzzle, leaving it up to him make up his own puzzle.
- Parting-Words Regret: In this episode, Jason realizes that the last time he talked to the actual Janet, they were in a fight, and is worried that that fact will affect their reunion.
- Perfect Disguise, Terrible Acting: Vicky's Michael suit is an exact replica, but she just can't get the hang of actually acting like Michael.
- Put Me In, Coach!: Tahani tries to reference this trope when she's unsatisfied with only hosting events for the humans and wants to be more proactive in Soul Squad's current task (which has gone awry). She unfortunately words it wrong and phrases it as, "Insert me, Coachman!"
- Red Is Violent: The introductory sign to the Bad Place is in red, a contrast to the lively green of the series' Good Place title card.
- Refuge in Audacity: Shawn never thought that Michael and Jason would have the courage to enter the Bad Place and pass themselves off as regular demons in skin-suits.
- The Reveal: Turns out Glenn did want to help the Soul Squad, otherwise Shawn would not have fallen for the Glenn!Jason plan concocted by Michael, having known beforehand about Bad Janet's demon exploder.
- Rhetorical Question Blunder: Tahani wouldn't serve finger sandwiches at a lake party, because "What am I, Welsh?" Eleanor's response is "Are you? I don't know. No, right?"
- Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Eleanor points out to Tahani that the reason why she just kept making everything worse was because unlike Eleanor, Tahani was raised in a privileged environment and that while this made her a master at decorum and culture, it makes her terrible at improvising.
- Sarcastic Clapping:
- Michael does this when he first exposes himself to Shawn, under the guise that he's Vicky.
- The actual Vicky later does it herself, in response to Michael's speech about self-improvement.
- Scooby Stack: Jason and Michael do one when they peer in on Shawn's Demoncon presentation.
- Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Right before Michael tries to explode her, Vicky zips up the Michael suit. Michael hesitates, and Vicky proceeds to tell him his biggest fears and insecurities in his own voice.
- Shout-Out:
- Tahani quotes her godfather, Sean Connery, from Finding Forrester, calling it his most problematic role in hindsight, "You the man now, dog!"
- Tahani also misquotes the lyrics to John Fogerty's "Centerfield", "Insert me, coachman!"
- The lakehouse reminds John of The Lakehouse with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.
- He likes movies like "Freaky Friday" and "Simply Irresistible" with Sarah Michelle Gellar.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Vicky tells Michael that he's still a demon and thus a bad being by nature. Michael responds by shooting her with the explosive gun, reducing her to goo.
- Skewed Priorities: When they arrive in the Bad Place, Jason tells Michael he's scared because he's worried all the time apart will have affected his and Janet's relationship. Michael tells him that it would probably be more logical to be scared about the fact that they're in Hell, surrounded by billions of demons who want to torture them for eternity.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When pretending to be Glenn in a Jason-suit, Jason tells Shawn that he is definitely not a bucket of goo.
- Trust Password: Jason tells Janet, "I love you, girl." She responds, "Not a girl."
- Verbal Backpedaling: Blindfolded Chidi hears a noise like someone died, and Tahani tries to reassure him that it was just the sound of a unicorn dying. When he reacts shocked, she realizes her mistake and backpedals to just a horse that got stabbed in the head.
- We Used to Be Friends: Michael doesn't want to turn Rufus, the Demon Con security guard, into goo because they used to be roommates.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Glenn (in goo form) is carried to the Bad Place in a container, and Jason even talks to him on the trip there. Michael, Jason, and Janet return to the neighborhood (seemingly) without Glenn's container and he isn't mentioned.
- Your Costume Needs Work:
- Michael (while pretending to be Vicky in a Michael skinsuit) pretends Jason is Glenn dressed in a Jason skinsuit. Shawn falls for the trick and says the "skinsuit" isn't bad, while criticizing the cheekbones for being overboard.
- Both Shawn and Janet tell Michael (who they think is Vicky) that "her" Michael suit is smelly.Michael: Why does everyone keep saying that? (sniffs himself)
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Eleanor reminds Tahani that her parties are an actual skill, and that she trusted Tahani with the four most important people in the universe.
- Your Mom: Used as a visual gag. The "Welcome to the Bad Place" sign has smaller text on the bottom, reading "Population: Your Mom".
