"I only play games I can win. And I played this game, so that means we can win."
— Eleanor
It's the last day of the experiment, and the four humans do not appear to have made much progress. So as a last ditch effort, the group arranges a party with special test of the group's morality. Meanwhile, Simone has begun to sense that this neighborhood may not be what it seems and decides to get to the bottom of it with Chidi's help.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Affectionate Nickname: It's revealed Simone calls Chidi "Ducky", while he calls her "Muffin". John finds this hilarious.
- Ambiguous Situation: It turns out that since the new neighborhood is already in the Medium Place, we have no idea where Simone and John have driven.
- Assurance Backfire: At the end of the episode, Brent tries to turn to Chidi for reassurance on thinking they're both going to the "real" Bad Place. Chidi bluntly tells them they're not friends and no one in the group likes him because he's a terrible person.
- Audience Surrogate: Brent's initial remark to learning they're in the Bad Place is clearly meant to mimic the audience's reaction to the very same revelation in season one.Man. Crazy twist, huh?
- Blatant Lies: "AAAAAAA! I'm not scared! I'm just shouting so you know I'm still alive! I'm very brave!"
- Both Sides Have a Point:
- Whether or not Chidi should have told Simone about Jason's "secret". They don't know that it's a lie in itself, since Jason is supposed to be there. Chidi maintains that he was keeping a promise to a friend and helping him become a better person. Simone points out that it's still a big thing to hide from your "soulmate". Of course, the same goes for hiding all the data sampling that Simone was collecting so she's not exactly one to talk.
- The decision to save Brent, and who makes or doesn't make their decision. John and Simone, who are relatively better people but pragmatic, note that saving him would be dangerous and not worth it because Brent has been an unrepentantly and consistently racist and sexist jerk. Chidi points out that it doesn't matter if Brent is terrible; it's not worth risking someone's life, or afterlife in this case.
- Call-Back:
- Jason suggested using a Sadistic Choice to invoke the Power of Friendship as it had in Seasons 1 and 2 in the various reboots, since it brought Team Cockroach together. He had the right idea, but Chidi was the only group member that actually believed in that bond.
- Brent falling in the sinkhole and Michael "reassuring" him that there's a dove in his pocket mirrors the sinkhole from Season 1 and Michael "reassuring" Glenn that he'll save the soup for him in a container.
- Two of the humans pull a Screw This, I'm Outta Here and take off for parts unknown, the way Eleanor and Jason did with Janet as their train conductor back in "What's My Motivation". Unlike Eleanor and Jason, they're already in the Medium Place so there's nowhere to escape to unless they end up in either the Bad Place or even the real Good Place.
- Once again, the experiment ends right when the humans declare to Michael that they've figured out they're in the Bad Place.
- When Chidi declares to Eleanor and Michael that he knows they're in the Bad Place, their reaction is almost identical to Michael's in "Michael's Gambit", complete with Scare Chord and an Evil Laugh. Eleanor even mimics one of Michael's lines from the original scene: "I can't believe you figured it out!"
- Calling Me a Logarithm: When Jason offers unusually good advice, Tahani expresses her surprise with, "Jason, that was... coherent." Jason apologizes and says he didn't mean to, clearly having no idea what that word means.
- Character Development: Chidi, in his 802 attempts, never figured that he's in the Bad Place, having Eleanor and Jason to point it out to him. This time, he himself declares he's in the Bad Place.
- Very small, but the weight of Brent's actions hitting him made him decide to sincerely apologize to Chidi, rather than the off-handed way he did in the last episode.
- Chekhov's Skill: Simone's experience with collecting data. She uses it to show the other humans that this is most definitely not the Good Place.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends right when time has run out for the neighborhood. Eleanor, Michael, Tahani, Janet and Jason have no idea if they have succeeded or failed.
- Comically Missing the Point: Once again, Chidi assumes he didn't make it to the Good Place because he still drank almond milk despite knowing it was bad for the environment. Eleanor and Michael fail to correct him in time, especially since the truth is more complicated.
- Continuity Nod: After making a somewhat intelligent remark, Tahani jokingly suggests that Jason could actually be a demon in a Jason suit. This heavily mirrors the conflict in "Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy".
- Cruel to Be Kind: Eleanor lets Chidi think he's going to the Bad Place to motivate Brent to change for the better. It does pay off, even though it happens at literally the last second.
- Cut a Slice, Take the Rest: Eleanor asked Janet to prepare margarita cocktail for the end of the experiment. Janet brings her a jug and offers her one glass. The experiment didn't go as well as they had hoped, so Eleanor grabs the jug and takes a swig. It looks like she'll drink it all in one go.
- Don't Explain the Joke: Part of why Michael's magic act is so bad.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Zigzagged. The Soul Squad goes with Jason's idea because it's logically sound to do a "private run" and hope that the new humans have grown better to do good for no selfish reason. It fails because Jason overestimates everyone's fundamental goodness, except for Chidi's.
- He also correctly describes Brent as a toilet full of broccoli, and follows that up by describing their effort as a hail mary.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Simone is able correctly figure out that nothing in "the Good Place" is what it seems, having spent the past year gathering sound evidence to support her hunch, but her and Chidi's conclusion is that they're in the Bad Place.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Jason, having proven his Hidden Depths over and over, provides Eleanor with one last burst of inspiration: You can blow up the same thing twice. Time to confirm the Internal Reveal and convince Brent, finally, he's in the Bad Place.
- Everyone Has Standards: Michael's attempts at stage-magic are so awful, even Janet can't bring herself to encourage him.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Chidi tells Brent that they're not friends and he doesn't even like the other guy. Brent doesn't understand, then, why Chidi tried to save him if they're not friends. Chidi acknowledges that he still abides by a code of ethics and cares about others. This actually makes Brent look horrified.
- Evil Laugh: Eleanor and Michael share one when Chidi declares that this is the Bad Place.
- Fatal Flaw: Simone's cold logic, though you can't blame her for refusing to save Brent. Just because someone is right does not mean they can save their relationship if you disagree on fundamental values.
- Foil: The new four humans compared to Team Cockroach. Michael had specifically handpicked Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason so that their personalities would clash and serve as a form of torture. They ended up bonding instead under the group desire to become better people upon realizing their flaws. Here, the Bad Place chose humans that were incompatible friendship-wise and ultimately Simone and John bail because they realize that they don't want to help someone who has been a jerk.
- Foreshadowing: Chidi is a Determinator like the rest of the Soul Squad, Simone ducks out.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Brent believes his own hype and despite various confrontations the group has learned to tolerate him at best. Chidi has to tell him outright that they are not friends and they are really in the Bad Place before Brent gets the hint that he has lead a bad life.
- Friendship Denial: When Brent says "you're my only real friend", Chidi is finally irritated enough to bluntly tell Brent that they are not friends and he doesn't even like Brent.
- Giftedly Bad: Michael wants to show off his magic act to the neighborhood, but he is very bad at it. He's so bad, even Janet wouldn't put in the effort to give him an applause. This ends up being part of the act.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Michael's Secret Test of Character of knocking Brent into a fiery pit for the humans to rescue and get them to bond fails miserably. Simone and John bail out almost immediately, fall out of favor with Chidi, Chidi literally falls in attempting to save Brent on his own, requiring Tahani and Jason to save them, Brent learns nothing from the experience and Chidi lashes out at Brent for his selfishness.
- Grew a Spine: Chidi realizes that Simone is right and this isn't the Good Place. With nothing left to lose, he finally tells Brent exactly what he thinks of him because there's no point to holding it all in anymore and bluntly tells Brent that he's a terrible person.
- Heel Realization: Brent finally realizes how much of a Jerkass he's been... but the experiment ends right as he apologizes to Chidi.
- Hidden Depths: Dumb as he is, Jason Mendoza sure knows his football strategy.
- Honor Before Reason: Chidi states that this was the only reason why he helped Brent despite hating the man's guts.
- Humble Pie: Let's just say that Brent is a wreck by the end of the episode, realizing that no one likes him, not even the person who saved him from a fiery pit, and that he was actually sent to the Bad Place.
- I Lied: Eleanor and Michael confirm there is no Best Place; they tell Brent they made it up to mess with him.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Eleanor told Janet to prepare margaritas for when the experiment ends. Since Simone and John failed Michael's Secret Test of Character by not helping Brent out of the sinkhole and the experiment ended just as Brent was apologizing to Chidi, Eleanor forgoes the glass and goes for the pitcher.Eleanor: Well, you know what they say... "It's zero o'clock in the sky somewhere.
- Irony:
- Eleanor, through several hundreds of reboots, kept figuring out that she and her friends were actually in the Bad Place, Michael would laugh with frustration and snap his fingers to reset their memories. Learning about the reboots, in turn, would upset Eleanor because it would erase her bond with Chidi. This time, she and Michael pretend this is the Bad Place and pull one last trick in the hopes that Chidi will turn around Brent's character. It works... maybe?
- Chidi went through over 800 different versions of a pseudo-Good Place neighborhood, yet the one time he actually wasn't in the Bad Place was the only instance in which he concluded he was.
- Liar Revealed: Both Simone and Chidi were hiding important secrets, with good intentions but for different reasons. Simone wanted to prove this wasn't the Good Place and Chidi was doing it to protect Jason.
- Love Cannot Overcome: Chidi in good conscience cannot leave someone to burn in a fiery pit, even if that person has insulted him and his girlfriend multiple times. Simone disagrees, and she parts ways with Chidi.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Brent after 'realizing' he's in the Bad Place finally understands the way of life he'd been living on Earth and the Medium Place is the reason why he's in the place, and starts off by apologizing to Chidi.
- No Sympathy: Needless to say, Simone and John are not the slightest bit interested in helping Brent because of how much of a dick he was.
- Once a Season: They lampshade the fact that whatever experiment is in play each season tends to go Off the Rails at about this point.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Played for Laughs. Tahani thinks that Jason might have been replaced with a demon when he makes two coherent statements in a row.
- The Power of Friendship: When the new humans fail to save Brent and Chidi is in danger, Tahani and Jason come to pull him up. Go Soul Squad!
- Pun-Based Title: The episode title is a play on the No Exit line "Hell is other people".
- Race Against the Clock: The whole experiment is about to be over and the group has no identifiable proof that any of the humans have improved. Even worse, they are catching on to the inconsistencies in the Good Place story, which may compromise everything at the very end. Thus they have to make some big plays hoping the humans will earn every last little point possible without everything unraveling.
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Brent delivers a string of these just after a string of "I'm a good person" and just before finally apologizing to Chidi.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Chidi gives a brief but harsh speech to Brent after they're made to believe they're being sent to the "real" Bad Place, telling him he's a horrible and selfish person and that's why no one tried to save him from the fiery pit.
- Running Gag: Chidi once again believing he was sent to the Bad Place because he still drank almond milk despite knowing it was bad for the environment.
- Save the Jerk: As part of the test to see if the test subjects truly improved, the Soul Squad set things up to have Brent be nearly swallowed up by a fiery pit and needing to be rescued. While John and Simone decide to save themselves and run away, Chidi is the only one to try to help Brent because his own code of honor won't let him just leave Brent to suffer no matter how much he hates the other man.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Simone and John take off in Brent's SUV, believing that they're escaping from the Bad Place.
- Secret Test of Character: Michael "accidentally" knocks Brent into a fiery pit, where he hangs onto a rock for dear life to try and see if the others have become ethical enough to help the most obnoxious member of the group. Only Chidi passes. Eleanor and Michael then go along with Chidi's hunch that this is the Bad Place to try and make Brent realize that maybe he's not as perfect as he thinks he is... but just when he's starting to realize it, the experiment ends.
- Shout-Out: The title references a play by existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit, in which three people are consigned to an Ironic Hell where they torture each other for all eternity thanks to their flaws. It was one of the major inspirations for the show.
- Simple Solution Won't Work:
- Janet tries to use her powers to spy on Matt and find the point totals. She gets injuries instead of answers.
- Chidi and Simone check Michael and Eleanor's office for clues. They only find their pictures with John and Brent's and an empty whiteboard.
- Skewed Priorities: John is disappointed that, in the midst of an apocalypse, Chidi and Simone have a polite, respectful parting of the ways.
- Spotting the Thread: All year, Simone has been observing everything and collecting data to verify if this really is the Good Place. She concludes that it isn't.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Eleanor and Michael go along with it when Chidi declares that they are actually in the Bad Place in the hopes that it would be the one thing that would get through to Brent. It does.
- Take That!: The episode title is both a Shout-Out and a take that to the Sartre play No Exit. Where Sartre landed firmly on Hobbes Was Right with people successfully tormenting each other in Hell, this series lands firmly on Rousseau Was Right with people saving each other in Hell. Instead of Sartre's classic line "Hell is other people", the title is the opposite, "Help is other people".
- Wham Episode: The experiment ends right when Brent apologizes for his selfishness and displays some genuine Character Development. The question is, will that count to the Judge?
- What the Hell, Hero?: Simone is not happy when she learns that Chidi knew the truth about Jason and kept it from her. Of course, Chidi throws this back at her later on by asking why she'd leave someone to burn in a pit, even if that person is Brent.
- What You Are in the Dark
- Simone tells her friends that they must be in the Bad Place quietly, not wanting to confront Michael or Eleanor. She and John leave rather than stay and be tortured, or save Brent.
- Chidi at the end of the episode realizes that despite being considered bad, he is a good person because when there was no benefit and he was being tortured, he still saved someone he hated. That gives him the courage to confront Michael and Eleanor for being in "the Bad Place" and Brent for being a terrible person.
- You Were Trying Too Hard: It turns out that Eleanor and Michael engaging in one Zany Scheme after another did nothing to curb Brent's ego. All he needed to know was that "This is the Bad Place!" and it may have changed his character.
