Line #27 Recap/TheGoodPlaceS2E03TeamCockroach


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tgp_teamcockroach.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Oh, let's not get all caught up on who lied to whom or which one of us created an entire fake reality in order to cause eternal misery for the others; that's ancient history."]]
3
4	->''"The Bad Place is about to be outsmarted by a cowardly traitor, four dum-dums, and a robot."''
5	-->-- '''Eleanor'''
6
7	Michael seeks to form an alliance with the four humans, revealing to them his plan--he will reboot the neighborhood but secretly leave their memories intact, and they will feign ignorance to throw the other demons off. If they refuse, Michael asserts they will again detect the ruse, Vicky will expose him, and the humans will be remanded to traditional, hellish torture, while Michael himself will be forced into retirement. Furthermore, Michael promises that he can get the four into the real Good Place.
8
9	Chidi agrees quickly, accepting that his work on ethics in life was unsuccessful. Jason is oblivious, but Michael's bow tie earns his trust. Tahani insists she belongs in the Good Place, but concedes after Michael helps her remember how she died: she was crushed by a statue of her sister Kamilah that she pulled down in a fit of jealousy at having been upstaged by her again, demonstrating Tahani's self-obsession.
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11	Eleanor, however, plans to flee to Mindy's house, but accedes to Michael's plan after Michael informs her that Chidi never refused to help her when she asked for it. She adds a condition: Michael must participate in Chidi's ethics classes. Even though Michael sees humans as "cockroaches," he agrees. The neighborhood is rebooted, with Vicky taking on the role of the top point earner and honorary mayor. The newly christened "Team Cockroach" meet in secret and are joined by Janet, whose programming compels her to make humans happy; thus, she will support the only real humans present.
12
13	!!Tropes:
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15	* AllLovingHero: Eleanor asked Chidi for help 800 times. He agreed to help her 800 times.
16	* AppropriatedAppellation: Michael contemptuously refers to the humans as the equivalent of cockroaches. At the end, Eleanor proudly refers to the group as [[TitleDrop Team Cockroach]].
17	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Exploited. When Jason is asking dumb questions, Eleanor tells Janet to give him something shiny to play with. She gives him a sparkler.
18	* BaitAndSwitchComment: When Jason asks if the Jacksonville Jaguars would ever win the Superbowl, Michael tells him he can't see the future... but then still tells him that, no, they won't.
19	* BottleEpisode: Other than Tahani's flashback, the entire episode takes place in Eleanor's house. It also fits the trope by having no special effects and a plot that just consists of the six main characters having a conversation.
20	* ByNoIMeanYes: Jason asks if the Jaguars will ever win the Superbowl. Michael replies, "I can't predict the future, Jason. But no they won't.".
21	* ClueEvidenceAndASmokingGun: When Chidi accuses Eleanor of running away, Eleanor asks him what made him think that. He lists several good reasons, such as the fact that she has a bag full of clothes and hid a mop under the bed covers - and also that he literally caught her red-handed trying to sneak out of the back door and run away.
22	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: After remembering her death, Tahani is more embarrassed by the fact that she died in Cleveland than anything. Lampshaded by [[TheComicallySerious Michael]]:
23	-->"I don't think that should be your biggest takeaway from that story."
24	* DealWithTheDevil: Mentioned by Eleanor as what they are about to do if they agree to go with Michael's plan.
25	* DeathByIrony: Tahani, who spent her entire life [[SuccessfulSiblingSyndrome trying to get out of her sister's shadow]], was killed because the statue of Kamilah she had been trying to topple fell on her.
26	* DopeSlap: After Jason suggests they trust Michael simply because he is wearing a bow tie and tells a stupid story of how he thinks you should always trust someone with a bow tie, Eleanor slaps him across the face so hard it knocks out the lollipop he was sucking on.
27	* EasyRoadToHell: At the end of her life, it doesn't matter that Tahani raised $60 billion for charity. None of it counted towards her score, because she did it for SecretlySelfish reasons,
28	* EpicFail: Michael describes his least successful prior attempt: one that he accidentally rebooted mere seconds in, because he sat on the button.
29	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Most of this episode is played out in real time, so, in other words, majority of this episode occurs in the course of about twenty minutes.
30	* GetYourMindOutOfTheGutter: Parodied.
31	-->'''Michael:''' I gotta say, it took me a long time to get used to the hanging bits.\
32	'''Eleanor:''' Gross.\
33	'''Michael:''' Oh, get your mind out of the gutter, Eleanor. I was talking about my testicles.
34	* HeelRealization: It takes her a minute, but Tahani finally understands what Michael was trying to tell her by showing her how she died. She never did any charity for the right reasons, but because she was trying to be better than her sister.
35	* ImStandingRightHere: Chidi finds it weird that Eleanor tells the others she's up for helping Michael because "That's what Chidi would do".
36	-->'''Chidi:''' Yeah, but, you're talking about me like I'm not here...
37	* InsultMisfire:
38	-->'''Michael:''' I'm an immortal being with abilities you can only dream of.\
39	'''Eleanor:''' Yeah, and we're an Arizona dirtbag, a human turtleneck, a narcissistic monster, and literally the dumbest person I've ever met.\
40	'''Jason:''' And who am I? Describe me now!
41	* ItsAllAboutMe:
42	** Tahani refuses to believe she actually belongs in the Bad Place like the others, especially due to how terrible Eleanor is and that she could be in the same place as her. When the four humans are debating over what to do, Tahani suggests that the three of them all belong in the Bad Place and the whole thing is a SecretTestOfCharacter for her to get into the Good Place, and later, she tries to outright abandon the others by insisting to Michael she belongs in the real Good Place.
43	** Eleanor gets frustrated with everyone else when they believe trusting Michael is the best thing to do and tries to escape back to Mindy St. Claire's on her own. She eventually realizes her selfishness is her FatalFlaw and agrees to trust Michael after learning how Chidi never refused to help her in any of the past attempts.
44	* {{Jerkass}}: Kamilah wasn't exactly a great sister, admitting that she barely even thinks of Tahani (when not considering her an embarrassment, that is).
45	* LoopholeAbuse: Janet can't lie, but since she's designed specifically to help humans, she can do just that to the demons.
46	* MindScrewdriver: A lot of the episode is dedicated to clearing up any confusion or speculation the viewer might still have after the season one finale twist.
47	** While Michael is certainly a liar, he reveals that he tried to tell the truth as much as possible as he believes that makes lies more convincing - ergo, we don't need to second-guess ''everything'' we were told about how the afterlife works in season one.
48	** Mindy St. Claire is clarified to be a real person who was actually sentenced to a Medium Place when she died, and not a demon playing a part.
49	** It had been hinted at in previous episodes, but the demons are explicitly elaborated to be wearing things called "skin suits", which are basically costumes afterlife beings wear that are designed to look like humans. The demons wear them to better understand how the human body works in order to know how to most effectively torture it.
50	** Tahani's flashback addresses the fans who felt that raising ''billions'' for charity should've gotten Tahani automatically sent to the Good Place (even if her motivations weren't entirely pure) by showing that her jealousy of Kamilah literally got her killed.
51	* MyGodYouAreSerious: Michael laughs when Jason asks him if the Jacksonville Jaguars won the Super Bowl the year before. Until he realizes that it was a serious question.
52	* NoodleIncident: Tahani once found herself in a "similar situation" with Creator/JavierBardem in Creator/VanessaRedgrave's panic room. It is never specified how Bardem was like Michael or the panic room was like the fake Good Place.
53	* NotHelpingYourCase: Eleanor tries to argue that she isn't that selfish. Janet bings in and informs her that her cocaine and escape train are ready.
54	* ObliviousToHisOwnDescription: Eleanor mentions that she is in the room with the dumbest person she ever met. Jason looks around and asks who that would be.
55	* SleepingDummy: According to Chidi, Eleanor prepared one for herself before trying to sneak out and leave to the Medium Place.
56	* StatusQuoIsGod: Michael mentions that they're retrying a lot of things from the first attempt, as most of the demons liked that one the best. So, in other words, all the aspects we had grown accustomed to in season one (frozen yogurt shops, Tahani's mansion, Janet's initial outfit) return for this season.
57	* SuddenSoundtrackStop: The background music stops when Chidi catches Eleanor trying to sneak out the back door.
58	* SurroundedByIdiots: Eleanor gets frustrated when everyone says they should trust Michael, an actual demon, and says everyone except her is an idiot.
59	* TeamHandStack: The group does one to seal the DealWithTheDevil.
60	* WhatWouldXDo: Eleanor agrees to join Michael because it's what Chidi would do. Chidi himself is discomfited by them talking about him like he's not in the room.

Context Recap / TheGoodPlaceS2E03TeamCockroach