History Recap / TheGoodPlaceS3E03TheSnowplow

* CallBack: Eleanor [[Recap/TheGoodPlaceS1E04JasonMendoza punches a hole into a cake]], this time in a fit of anger rather than to purposefully ruin Tahani's party.

Michael and Janet are stuck on Earth, not daring to go back to the Judge's Zone as they're afraid of Gen's wrath. With nothing else to do they decide to continue to monitor the four's progress. They get Eleanor a winning lottery ticket to give her the funds she needs to stay in Australia, and set Tahani up with her ex-boyfriend Larry Hemsworth in order to stop her from hooking up with Jason.

Some time later, Tahani announces that she and Larry are now engaged, and that they'll be moving back to England. Chidi and Simone acknowledge that this is a natural stopping point for the study. Upset about losing the first group she's ever connected with, Eleanor lashes out at Tahani's engagement party, but a talk with Simone puts it into perspective. Eleanor goes back inside to apologize to the rest of the Brainy Bunch, and they resolve to meet up yearly.

* AesopAmnesia: Once again, Michael's perfectionist nature manifests itself to his detriment. Having learned nothing from his 800 failed fake Good Place experiments, he goes from gently nudging the four in the right direction to trying to micromanage them so they never leave Australia. Predictably, life doesn't work like that--especially in the real world, where they are surrounded by other humans. Janet tries to talk some sense into him, but he refuses to listen, instead believing he needs to reset the timeline. Luckily he doesn't make it that far.

* NotHelpingYourCase: When Simone asks Eleanor is she's ever really identified with a group before, Eleanor mentions having joined the Girl Scouts. Under a fake name, so she could steal cookies.

** After suggesting that Eleanor's behaviour is because she's never really learned to sublimate her own desires and become part of a group, Simone suggests the alternative is that Eleanor is "just kind of a dick."

All this time, Janet and Michael have been attempting to manipulate events to keep the group together, to no avail. Frustrated that the group is breaking up, Michael resolves to sneak back into the Judge's chambers and reset the timeline despite Janet's protests. However, Chidi, Jason, Eleanor, and Tahani find them opening the door.

* AesopAmnesia: Once again, Michael's Perfectionist nature manifests itself to his detriment. Having learned nothing from his 800 failed fake Good Place experiments, he goes from gently nudging the four in the right direction to trying to micromanage them so they never leave Australia. Predictably, life doesn't work like that--especially in the real world, where they are surrounded by other humans. Janet tries to talk some sense into him, but he refuses to listen, instead believing he needs to reset the timeline. Luckily he doesn't make it that far.

* ForgedMessage: Michael writes a not-so-convincing email under Trevor's name to make an excuse for his sudden absence (he was dragged back to the afterlife and flung into indefinite darkness by Gen last episode). The email says, "I'm sad to inform you that I am too ugly and stupid to be in the study and I'm going home to my mommy."

* HollywoodHomely: Parodied. Larry Hemsworth is extremely handsome, in great shape, and is a pediatric surgeon, but since his brothers are more famous and renowned for their good looks he considers himself fat, ugly and a loser, to the complete bafflement of everybody else. [[invoked]]

* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Inverted: lack of misery ''fails'' to build character. Keeping the gang away from their problems ultimately leads Eleanor to a temper tantrum, and she needs Simone's help to be able to actually examine why she did what she did.

** Michael tries to stop Tahani and Jason from becoming a couple (again), instead hooking her up with Larry Hemsworth ... which slowly begins to disintegrate the group. It also has the unintended effect of undoing Tahani's CharacterDevelopment as she's paired with a soulmate who only encourages her neurosis; when she was with Jason she slowly began to lose her snobbery.

* FreudianSlip: Janet declares she'll go deal with Jason, except she first calls him "Sweet Cheeks" and then corrects herself to "Jason's butt" before finally correctly saying his name.

Michael and Janet are stuck on Earth, not daring to go back to Judge Zone's as they're afraid of Gen's wrath. With nothing else to do they decide to continue to monitor the four's progress. They get Eleanor a winning lottery ticket to give her the funds she needs to stay in Australia, and set Tahani up with her ex-boyfriend Larry Hemsworth in order to stop her from hooking up with Jason.

!!Tropes:
* AesopAmnesia: Once again, Michael's Perfectionist nature manifests itself to his detriment. Having learned nothing from his 800 failed fake Good Place experiments, he goes from gently nudging the four in the right direction to trying to micromanage them so they never leave Australia. Predictably, life doesn't work like that -- especially in the real world, where they are surrounded by other humans. Janet tries to talk some sense into him, but he refuses to listen, instead believing he needs to reset the timeline. Luckily he doesn't make it that far.
* BirdsOfAFeather: It seems one of the reasons Tahani and Larry Hemsworth bond is that they both are deeply frustrated by living in the shadow od their siblings.

* GaveUpTooSoon: Michael was too busy freaking out about the plan failing that he misses the group deciding to meet yearly, which would have most likely worked in his favor. Had he not then tried to go back to the Afterlife in a desperate attempt to redo it, the group wouldn't have found him out.
* HollywoodHomely: Parodied. Larry Hemsworth is extremely handsome, in great shape and a baby spine surgeon, but since his brothers are more famous and renowned for their good looks he considers himself fat, ugly and a loser, to the complete bafflement of everybody else.
* ImplausibleDeniability: When Simone spots Eleanor lurking outside the Heir B&B after leaving the party, she asks to confirm it's her. Eleanor, who has evidently been drinking, replies instantly with "no".

* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Inverted: lack of misery ''didn't'' build character. Keeping the gang away from their problems ultimately leads Eleanor to a temper tantrum, and she needs Simone's help to be able to actually examine why she did what she did.
* MissingStepsPlan: Michael's plan to re-reboot the timeline. First, he plans to sneak back into the judge's office, knowing full well Gen is waiting for him (since it's ''her office'') and Janet to come back and is still massively pissed at them, with no idea how to actually reboot the timeline beyond "poke around and hope I find what I need", in the hope this will get things back on track.

** Michael tries to stop Tahani and Jason from becoming a couple (again), instead hooking her up with Larry Hemsworth ... which slowly begins to disintegrate the group. It also has the unintended effect of undoing Tahani's CharacterDevelopment as she's paired with a soul-mate who only encourages her neurosis; when she was with Jason she slowly began to lose her snobbery.
** Michael's advice to keep the group backfires spectacularly as Eleanor's heartfelt plea to keep the group together doesn't work. So she lashes out. Luckily Simone is there when she needs it most giving her a much needed pep talk, which gives Eleanor the courage to apologize; which leads Tahani to proposing that they compromise and do yearly reunions.

** After suggesting that Eleanor's behaviour is because she's never really learned to sublimate her own desires and become part of a group, Simone suggests the alternative is that Eleanor is "just kind of a dick".
* PunnyName: The retail worker that sells Janet the lottery ticket is called Ken. His surname in the credits is listed as Garoo, making his full name Ken Garoo and hilariously appropriate for the current Australian setting.

** Larry Hemsworth grumbling about his supposed lack of status and/ or attractiveness, in full defiance of objective truth.

* SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome: Parodied with Larry Hemsworth, who, despite being a classically handsome pediatric surgeon with "almost an 8-pack", is hilariously insecure about not being as famous as his actor brothers. This is apparently something he and Tahani have in common.
* TimeSkip: The episode has multiple skips. The first two are three months and the last one is six months. Quick montages of these timeskips show the study group making smooth progress and celebrating events such as Chidi's birthday, emphasising how much time they've spent together and making it harder for Eleanor when the study group is about to break up.

* BrickJoke: Larry Hemsworth, the non-famous Hemsworth brother Tahani mentioned dating, appears in the flesh.

* PrecisionFStrike: When Michael and Janet use the old "we're breaking up" trick to hang up on Gen after she calls them through the frog key, she calls them both dicks, something rather profane both for her and the series in general.

* EnormousEngagementRing: Tahani receives a very large diamond ring form Larry when he proposes. Eleanor jokingly wonders how she's even able to raise her hand with it on.