History WMG / TheGoodPlace

Pip, from [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E28ANicePlaceToVisit A Nice Place to Visit]]. It never caught on because it was a lot of work to create a whole Bad Place just for one person.

The Good Place was specifically designed to house the people who can only be happy by knowing how much better they are then everybody else, that is why that are all told that a perfect system calculated their life scores and told that only the people with the very highest scores get to go and not to think about everybody else. The rest of the good people live in another place that is not to restrictive but has all the same benefits.

[[folder:Confirmed ('''SPOILERS''')]]

* Confirmed in episode 13, since [[spoiler:the four main characters really are in a Bad Place.]]

* Confirmed in episode 13, when [[spoiler:they all start fighting, leading Eleanor to figure out that their neighborhood is actually The Bad Place, and Michael designed it so Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason would psychologically torture each other for all of eternity.]]

* Jossed. It genuinely was a mistake because [[spoiler: [[ContrivedCoincidence two women named Eleanor Shellstrop died in the exact same accident]] and there was a mix up within the CelestialBureaucracy when their cases were being processed.]]
* And then sort of confirmed. It wasn't a mistake because [[spoiler: this is really a Bad Place, and all four leads deserved to be there.]]
* And by the end of Season 3, [[spoiler: it really is used as an experiment to test this notion, with the leads re-creating the neighborhood with new subjects and removing the malice from its challenges.]]

* [[spoiler:Confirmed. She's a demon named Vicky who Michael hired to guilt trip Eleanor even more.]]

** Partial. [[spoiler: The train was a ruse to lure the demons away. The humans weren't on the train.]]
** Confirmed (ish), in "Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent", as the humans try to get to [[spoiler:the portal leading to the Judge]].

* Kind of done in Season 3, where [[spoiler: Chidi elects to have his memories rebooted again because Simone is part of the new neighborhood experiment and he would have to work with her and risk blowing it. Thus, Season 4 is set up with the main cast mostly all on the same page, but Chidi being alone in set back to square one as he is introduced for the first time...again...to the afterlife.]]

[[spoiler:When the Bad Place sent Chris in as a mole, they knew or wanted him to get caught]] so the Bad Place could send a train. When Good Janet went to remove the trespasser, she was replaced by a Bad Janet, who, like Good Janet, was rebooted multiple times to make her advanced enough to be capable of acting like Good Janet without melting down.

[[folder:Jossed ('''SPOILERS''')]]

* Jossed. There is only one good, and one bad place (at least for humans). Anyone who makes it past a given point threshold would go to the good place, and everyone who doesn't would go to the bad place.\\

* Disproved. [[spoiler:It's not a test, and Eleanor, as well as Chidi, Tahani, and Jason are really all in the Bad Place.]]

* Partially disproven in episode 13; [[spoiler: While she did offer to go to the Bad Place in the place of someone else, towards the end of the episode it was revealed that she's really an agent of the Bad Place who's working with Michael to torture them all.]]

* {{Jossed}}. The Bad Place is described pretty unambiguously as a FireAndBrimstoneHell, [[spoiler:with the exception of Neighborhood 12358W, which is a false paradise.]]

** Disproven. In episode 13, it's revealed [[spoiler: that they are all actually in the Bad Place. Their flaws are what got them there.]]

* Jossed -- [[spoiler:there is no mistaken identity, it was all a convoluted torture for Eleanor and Jason.]]

* Partially confirmed. In episode 13, it's revealed [[spoiler: That neighborhood 12358W is actually a Bad Place neighborhood. They don't belong in Good Place, and they are all really in the Bad Place.]]

[[spoiler: A mediocre place already exists.]]

Disproved in episode 13. [[spoiler:Neighborhood 12358W is a bad place neighborhood created to torture them.]]

* Jossed. There's a separate Mediocre Place, [[spoiler:and anyway, Neighborhood 12358W is The Bad Place.]]

** {{Jossed}} In season two , where not only is it real. But [[spoiler: Eleanor and Chidi have visited it over a dozen times in order to escape the Bad Place. As well as to plan ways to escape. Each time fails and sooner or later they end up back at Mindy's door.]]

* {{Jossed}}, we see how she dies in episode four. More embarrasing then mysterious. [[spoiler: She is killed when her sisters Statue falls on her crushing her to death.]]

* Jossed

* Seemingly jossed. [[spoiler:Michael and his experiment were being honored in the Bad Place for innovation by the time Shawn realizes what Michael had done.]]

* As of "Best Self," [[spoiler:the neighborhood has been decommissioned and destroyed.]]

* Well... [[spoiler: they do but only because Gen and Michael arrange for them to have a second chance at life.]]

* Potentially {{Jossed}}: [[spoiler:Tahani escaped death because Michael shoved her out of the statue's way, like with Eleanor and the stack of carts. It's unlikely she'll end up in a hospital.]]

* Just like that previous WMG, potentially {{Jossed}}. [[spoiler:Michael shoves Tahani out of the way before the statue crushed her.]]

* [[spoiler:Partially confirmed in episode 13 when it's revealed that Michael is really a Bad Place architect, and they are all in the Bad Place, in a neighborhood Michael designed to look like the Good Place, where they are meant to psychologically torture each other for eternity.]]

* Zig-zagged. Within the show's internal logic, those who get sent to the Bad Place are supposed to be doomed to spend an eternity being tortured with no hope of salvation. However, [[spoiler: the four human protagonists are in a unique position where the demon who's supposed to be torturing them has screwed up so badly that he needs their help in order to survive himself and he uses the possibility of taking them to the Good Place as a bargaining chip to gain their assistance. With that possibility being on the table, they all begin studying ethics to try and improve themselves so that they may somehow improve their chances of actually being accepted by the Good Place when they arrive.]]

* As of mid-season 2, [[spoiler:1235W has been destroyed.]]

* Confirmed. Tahani becomes an architect.

[[WMG: There really is a demon called Trent who looks exactly like Chidi.]]
And at some point, William Jackson Harper is going to have a lot of fun playing him.E

* Spoilers for "Jeremy Bearimy" incoming:

* Confirmed...as of now.

** By giving his shoes and kowtowing to the demands of the pesky neighbor, for example, he might have empowered his ego and allowed him to do more bad things. Any number of his decisions could have backfired in this manner.

** [[spoiler: Confirmed, but not at all in the way the WMG implies; Chidi's memory is wiped, making the breakup more one of necessity]]

[[WMG: The theory of the Bad Place tampering with the point system is a subtle metaphor for the investigations against UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump.]]

* While she is aware that he's got flaws, Eleanor doesn't really see him as a flawed individual. He's still this all-powerful, all-knowing figure much like a child sees their parent. Part of her arc as the architect in S4 is coming to realize - really realize - that Michael shouldn't be put on a pedestal because it's unfair to him (and a byproduct of her own faults). Part of that will be a shift from her constantly looking to him to fix everything to learning how to fix things herself (at the least, the things that she is more than equipped to fix herself),

* In order to see that the humans can be good, Eleanor and the others will have to put them through tortures, like they experienced, to help the humans unite and support one another
** Basically confirmed in [[spoiler: "Help Is Other People", when Chidi guesses they're in the Bad Place, and Michael and Eleanor, in a last ditch effort to get Brent to change, pretend he's right (acting exactly as Michael did when Eleanor figured it out at the end of Season 1)]]

* They want to see if Michael is an anomaly so they'll test if other demons can change under these circumstances.

* Think about it. Gen doesn’t know about Derek and Good Janet could’ve easily decided to hand it over to Derek after the shuffle ended.

** Confirmed.

** Possibly confirmed to some degree as [[spoiler: part of the reason no one has gotten in is that the world is so intricately connected that many actions have bad consequences. Connecting the West and Eastern hemispheres was certainly a huge paradigm shift for humanity.]]

Due to [[spoiler:his essence disintegrating across the universe in the finale]], not only is Jason hypothetically Florida Man, every act attributed to Florida Man was in fact inspired by him.

[[WMG: There are separate good places and bad places based on how good someone is.]]
It makes since because there ARE multiple Good Places.

[[WMG:Gen’s Earth redo thingy is actually in Derek’s void]]

[[WMG:That was standard procedure]]
Everyone who dies has to earn their place in the Good Place by teaming up in a four humors style team and rescuing humanity. This truth is never revealed, as it would undermine the whole thing.
[[/folder]]

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[[WMG: The real Good Place is in fact empty because the forked up way the system judges humanity]]
Let's face it; if your ''nationality'' automatically determines your place in the afterlife -- according to Michael all French people end up in the Bad Place, there's no forking chance anybody can be good enough to get in.
* Seemingly confirmed in "Don't Let The Good Place Pass You By" as Shawn is confident he'll see the main four's friends and families in the Bad Place, which clues Michael in that something is very wrong.
** Shawn's dogged pursuit throughout the third season strongly suggests Michael, Janet, and Team Cockroach are going to uncover and possibly fix fundamental flaws in the afterlife judgement system. It wouldn't make sense to chase them so aggressively if they didn't present a severe threat to the status quo - like, for example, proving that the judgment system is enormously biased toward the Bad Place. Or the team's experience with post-mortem moral improvement might prove - if presented to the proper authorities - that condemning '''anyone''' to eternal torment is wrong.
** Partially confirmed as of Season 3's Janet(s). People ''have'' gotten into the Good Place before... but the last one was over 500 years ago.

[[WMG: Blake Bortles will make an appearance.]]
* Either Jason meets him on Earth but doesn’t realize who it is, or he will be in the Good or Bad Place.

** Bortles did say in a Reddit AMA that the show tried to book him as a guest star, but he couldn't fit it in his schedule at that point. Could still happen

[[WMG: Michael's [[{{GoodCounterpart}} counterpart in the actual Good Place]] will be played by:]]
* Creator/KelseyGrammer ([[{{IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendofMine}} for obvious]] [[{{Series/Cheers}} reasons]])
* John Ratzenberger (again, the obvious)
* Rhea Pearlman (ditto)
* Creator/WoodyHarrelson (see above)
* Creator/ShelleyLong ([[{{RunningGag}} You may start noticing]] [[{{Series/Cheers}} a pattern here]])
* Or to take it to another direction, Creator/MarySteenburgen
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic, because he's supposed to be guest starring at some point.
** Sadly, Michael never got an opposite number during the course of the show's run.

In addition to the Good Place, the Bad Place, the Medium Place, Accounting, theres a Disco Place. THERE must be a reason for Disco Place

* We only see what happens to one character (Eleanor, who turns into a bunch of spirit mote things, which can somehow positively influence people). Maybe it's different for each person, based on what they want (some just cease to exist, others reincarnate, others might become some fictional character they liked in life in a ParallelUniverse, others might have some fate that's [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm not even imaginable to humans in their current state]], but still presumably a good thing.)

It would help to alleviate the [[FridgeHorror Fridge Horror]] inherent to the idea of a person ending up in eternal torment after a lifetime of philanthropic escapades and magnanimous behavior. Eleanor (and at least some others like her) will use The Bad Place as a chance to cut loose, whether that simply means taking more time to enjoy themselves (if there's any truth to the above) or [[BewareTheNiceOnes embracing their inner psychopaths]]. When we inevitably encounter her, she will balk at the idea of entering The Good Place and choose instead to remain where she is.

* Jossed. It is, or rather, was, actually even less generous than we've been led to believe..

* For Neighborhood 12358W to run smoothly, Eleanor, Jason and Tahani ''must'' believe that the standards are absurdly high. For the former two, it's so they can't make excuses about "probably being good enough" or anything like that, allowing them to half-ass their deception or otherwise get too complacent. As for Tahani, this is specifically required for the neighborhood rankings, which are otherwise pointless; if she was just in a neighborhood with Good Enough People, she might question how she's so low-ranked to begin with, [[SpottingTheThread which might in turn lead her to the conclusion that it's because of self-serving intent, only for her to wonder if THAT shouldn't have disqualified her altogether
* Jossed. It is, or rather, was, actually even less generous than we've been led to believe.]].

* For Neighborhood 12358W to run smoothly, Eleanor, Jason and Tahani ''must'' believe that the standards are absurdly high. For the former two, it's so they can't make excuses about "probably being good enough" or anything like that, allowing them to half-ass their deception or otherwise get too complacent. As for Tahani, this is specifically required for the neighborhood rankings, which are otherwise pointless; if she was just in a neighborhood with Good Enough People, she might question how she's so low-ranked to begin with, [[SpottingTheThread which might in turn lead her to the conclusion that it's because of self-serving intent, only for her to wonder if THAT shouldn't have disqualified her altogether]].

[[WMG: Gen knows about Michael's interfering on Earth]]
She's basically omnipotent - the real reason she imposed those rules was to [[SecretTestOfCharacter test if Michael has changed too]], seeing as he's putting himself on the line to push Team Cockroach together to become better people.
* Additionally, she's Simone. Simone is just as quirky and off-kilter as she is, not to mention both are notably attracted to Chidi - and Gen is offscreen for most of the episode, supposedly watching her shows, the perfect cover to secretly go to Earth and observe the group up close.
* Confirmed on the first point. Gen finds out about Michael and Janet's interference and is going to have Michael retired and Janet marbelized, but they decide to make a run for it. Simone is a real human, though, and Gen has to be convinced to visit Earth for the first time by the gang when the new chance falls through.

** Just because it's technological doesn't mean it isn't the afterlife. Although beings that don't understand humans is, well, understandable. The entire basis of the show is basically "a poory coded heaven".

[[/folder]]

There is a literal [[https://www.reddit.com/r/ScottPilgrim/comments/ahgxyb/ramonas_subspace_door_in_nbcs_the_good_place/ Subspace Door]] snuck in as an easter egg, which leads me to believe that The Good Place is perhaps set in Subspace. The people in there could leave anytime they wanted to, but are unaware of the existence of Subspace or just didn't catch the door.

[[/folder]]

It's all actually just part of TheMatrix. It's a version of the 1st "perfect" matrix. And Eleanor is the human who's going to break down the victim's ease to show them that their world is a lie.