Packed with suspenseful twists and comedy genius, Michael Schur’s The Good Place (2016-2020) quickly became one of NBC’s best series after the release of its iconic first season.
The Good Place episodes take place in a surreal yet charming imagination of the human afterlife, making moral philosophy accessible and meaningful to the general public. Not only does the first watch-through captivate and shock viewers, but fans also love to watch this fantastic series repeatedly for comfort and to pick up easter eggs they missed the first time around.
While most The Good Place episodes contain essential plot development and hysterical antics, the best shine bright with the show’s most spectacular jokes and moments of nuanced character growth.
1. Everything Is Fine (Season 1, Episode 1)
Viewers discover that The Good Place isn’t an average sitcom within the first few minutes of the pilot. Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) and the audience simultaneously learn that Eleanor recently died and ended up in a version of heaven referred to by Michael (Ted Danson), the Architect, as the Good Place.
“Everything Is Fine” dutifully presents the setting of the Good Place neighborhood with its pleasant, clean streets, charming storefronts, and kind residents. But the show does a fantastic job at inserting strange details that keep the viewer on their toes, like Eleanor’s disturbing yet comical manner of death, her living room’s clown decor, and the oft-mentioned alternative to the Good Place: the Bad Place.
All of it culminates in the episode’s final moment when Eleanor reveals to her soul mate, Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper), that she’s not the person Michael thinks and she doesn’t belong in the Good Place. This crucial conversation confirms the viewers’ suspicions and entices them to keep watching.
2. Jason Mendoza (Season 1, Episode 4)
After causing trash storms and making Chidi’s stomach hurt for days on end due to her unethical behavior, Eleanor discovers that someone else in the neighborhood knows she doesn’t belong. After receiving a mysterious note, Eleanor heads to the town square, where none other than Jianyu (Manny Jacinto), the silent monk, opens his mouth to speak.
In this plot-twisting episode, the audience learns that Jianyu isn’t a monk at all. He’s Jason Mendoza, an amateur DJ from Florida with a low IQ, and he doesn’t belong either. Not only do fans get to watch Eleanor scramble to keep another huge secret from Michael, but they also begin to wonder why so many things went wrong with Michael’s neighborhood. Not to mention the reveal of Jason’s identity, which gives fans one of the best characters in the series with his naivety, lightheartedness, and hilarious jokes.
3. The Eternal Shriek (Season 1, Episode 7)
As Michael investigates the mysterious problems in the neighborhood, he ultimately concludes that he must be the reason for all the mayhem. Eleanor embraces this notion, thinking Michael will get to enjoy a relaxing retirement and she’ll be off the hook. But when Chidi feels uneasy about her reasoning, she asks Michael more about retirement and learns that instead of a peaceful break, retirement refers to a terrifying form of eternal torture.
“The Eternal Shriek” highlights Eleanor’s selfish tendencies to lie and hurt others to get on top. At the same time, the episode gives fans more details about Chidi’s character and his ultimate refusal to lie no matter what, getting him into a sticky situation with his friend and a horribly ugly pair of boots. But the episode also presents Eleanor with a dilemma after another thread of her poor choices lands Chidi in hot water. In a stunning moment of selflessness and empathy, Eleanor admits her guilt to Michael.
4. Most Improved Player (Season 1, Episode 8)
Now that Eleanor has let her secret out, Michael has no idea how to approach the unprecedented situation where the wrong person ended up in the Good Place. Michael decides to interview Eleanor to learn more about the choices she made on Earth. Usually, Michael would ask Janet (D’Arcy Carden), the polite, intelligent not-a-woman who serves as the structural mainframe for the neighborhood. But since Eleanor and Chidi murdered Janet in the last episode, she must reboot all of her knowledge before she can help. Some of the most comedic moments in the episode occur when Michael asks Janet for Eleanor’s file, and she hands over a cactus.
But the episode’s–and perhaps the entire season’s–most prominent instance of comedy genius comes with a flashback from Eleanor’s past. As Michael asks her about the terrible things she did on Earth, Eleanor slowly reveals more horrifying details about what happened after she ripped her friend’s expensive dress and lied about it. Just when viewers think Eleanor’s selfish story ends, she tosses out another bombshell that leaves them both wincing and laughing.
5. Mindy St. Claire (Season 1, Episode 12)
Eleanor and Jason, fearing the demons will soon send them to the Bad Place, hitch a ride on a train run by Janet to the Medium Place. At first, Eleanor and Jason think they’ve found a solution to their problems by running away. But back in the neighborhood, the formidable, stoic Judge Shawn (Marc Evan Jackson) arrives to hear Chidi, Michael, Tahani (Jameela Jamil), and Good Eleanor (Tiya Sircar) plead Eleanor’s case in her absence.
Fans love catching a deeper glimpse into the behind-the-scenes operation of the afterlife and watching Eleanor struggle yet again with her selfish behavior. When Sean threatens to send Chidi and Tahani to the Good Place in Eleanor and Jason’s place, Eleanor must make the ultimate ethical choice for her new friends to prove she can change.
6. Michael’s Gambit (Season 1, Episode 13)
As one of the best season finales in recent TV history, “Michael’s Gambit” drops a bomb that expertly sets up an entirely new plot for the rest of The Good Place.
Eleanor and Jason finally return to the neighborhood just after Sean’s deadline ends, forcing Chidi, Eleanor, Jason, and Tahani to choose two of them to send to the Bad Place. But as the friends argue over their fates, Eleanor has a gruesome realization: she and her friends had never been to the Good Place at all.
Instead, Michael built a faux Good Place neighborhood in which to secretly torture them for eternity. But it doesn’t end there. Michael snaps his fingers and erases the humans’ memories before starting his experiment all over again, leaving fans with a massive cliffhanger before season two.
7. Everything Is Great! (Season 2, Episode 1)
Michael starts his diabolical experiment from scratch in “Everything Is Great!” But this time, he doesn’t initially put all his victims together. He focuses on some cruel yet entertaining individual torture.
Now that fans get a new perspective on Michael’s character and the other neighborhood residents–all demon actors, of course–viewers love diving back into the afterlife with a new perspective. When Michael first meets with all of the other demons, fans get a hysterical view of the fake Good Place operation behind the scenes. But things don’t run as smoothly as planned because Eleanor left behind a subtle clue to help her solve the mystery in record time.
The second season’s inaugural contains comedy gems like Vicky’s reaction to getting a less exciting role in the experiment after playing Good Eleanor last time around.
8. Dance Dance Resolution (Season 2, Episode 2)
Michael fans love “Dance Dance Resolution” because this episode takes Michael on a journey that lasts hundreds of years as he reboots the neighborhood over and over and over again in an attempt to make his experiment work. But every time, Eleanor wisens up and realizes Michael’s sinister plans for her and her fellow residents. But once Attempt 802 rolls around, Michael feels confident the experiment will run smoothly. But Michael’s plans change yet again when Vicky announces that she and the other demons have gone on strike.
After overhearing a troubling conversation between some of the demons, Eleanor and Chidi realize the neighborhood isn’t what Michael claims. The episode follows two central struggles. For one, Michael must figure out how to keep his failed experiments a secret from his boss, Shawn.
At the same time, Chidi and Eleanor struggle to overcome their seemingly futile goal of ending their cycle of memory loss and torture. By the end of the episode, Michael and the humans come to the same conclusion: they will all be tortured for eternity unless they figure something out fast.
9. Team Cockroach (Season 2, Episode 3)
When Michael approaches the humans with an alliance, the four first laugh in his face. Michael just spent the past couple hundred years torturing them. Why would they want to work with him? But Michael makes a tempting offer. If they don’t work with him, Vicky and the others will torture them forever.
While Chidi and Jason agree immediately, Tahani and Eleanor need more pushing. Michael reveals that Tahani died in a humiliating accident caused by jealousy against her famous sister, Kamilah (Rebecca Hazlewood), in one of the series’ most amusing moments of dark humor. But Michael only convinces Eleanor to commit to the plan by telling her that Chidi never, not once, refused to help her.
“Team Cockroach” remains essential among The Good Place episodes because it sets the scene for the central character dynamics for the rest of the series and shows the key to overcoming Eleanor’s selfishness: love and connection.
10. The Trolley Problem (Season 2, Episode 5)
As a condition of the deal made in “Team Cockroach,” Michael must attend Chidi’s ethics classes. Still, his millions of years of conditioning as a demon interfere with his willingness to learn from a human. Struggling to understand the theoretical notions Chidi teaches in class, Michael convinces him to let him create a simulation that brings Chidi’s thought experiments to life.
Viewers not only learn more about utilitarian ethical theory, but they also get to watch Michael subject Chidi to disturbing situations and life-or-death decisions under the guise of helping him learn. But once Chidi realizes Michael is torturing him again, Michael must learn the art of a sincere apology. “The Trolley Problem” showcases Michael’s slow growth as he grapples with his eternity-long beliefs and tries to better himself.
11. Derek (Season 2, Episode 7)
Conflict and romance come to a head in “Derek” as Eleanor struggles to come to terms with the fact that she and Chidi fell in love during one of the earlier reboots.
As she begins acting strange and attempts to keep the knowledge secret from Chidi, Janet also struggles with complicated feelings for Jason. Janet knows Jason and Tahani started a romance but feels jealous because she and Jason got married during the first experiment. After some ill-advised words from Eleanor, Janet creates an entirely new person named Derek (Jason Mantzoukas) to serve as her rebound boyfriend.
Michael and the humans must find a way to keep this odd new man a secret from Vicky and the other demons while helping Janet grapple with her newfound emotions.
12. Leap to Faith (Season 2, Episode 8)
The humans have finally started to feel like they genuinely have Michael on their side when Shawn suddenly reappears and congratulates Michael for the success of his neighborhood, awarding him the promotion he’s always dreamed of. When Michael seemingly sides with the demons, the humans struggle to decide whether to take a leap of faith (or, as Chidi argues, a leap into faith) or to turn against Michael and come clean.
Surprisingly, Eleanor stands by Michael and urges the others to go along with him as he roasts them in front of the other demons and demolishes the neighborhood. Ultimately, “Leap to Faith” reveals character growth in both Eleanor and Michael, as Eleanor no longer seeks self-preservation over everything else, and Michael opts to protect the humans despite being promised everything he’s ever wanted.
13. The Burrito (Season 2, Episode 11)
The humans each go through an ultimate test designed to determine whether or not they’ve ethically improved since they died. The four manage to reach the all-knowing Judge of the universe (Maya Rudolph), who agrees to let them into the Good Place if every one of them passes an ethics test.
The series’ writers did a fantastic job putting together each test. Tahani must walk down a hallway and refuse the urge to open doors to gain exclusive access to people from her life talking about her. While Jason plays his favorite video game, Chidi hilariously must choose between a gray or brown hat. But the most compelling piece of “The Burrito” occurs with Eleanor’s test and her decision to tell the others she failed along with them when she passed.
“The Burrito” reveals details about the four humans’ progress in becoming better people and shows that Eleanor has made huge strides while the others continue to struggle.
14. The Brainy Bunch (Season 3, Episode 2)
After season two’s final twist erases the humans’ memory once more and places them back into their lives on Earth, Michael intervenes with fate. He does whatever he can to get the four humans from different countries to convene in Chidi’s ethics study. But the Bad Place catches wind of Michael’s plan to go behind the Judge’s back and sends their own player into the game. The utterly obnoxious demon Trevor (Adam Scott) reappears, pleasing some fans and causing others’ eyes to roll.
As Trevor engages in hilarious antics to get the group to break up, the Judge learns about his and Michael’s plans and threatens to end the earthly experiment, retire Michael, and send the humans to the Bad Place once and for all. But Janet uses her incredible powers to send her and Michael back to Earth to do whatever they can to help the humans learn to be good and get into the Good Place the good ol’ fashioned way–sort of.
15. Jeremy Bearimy (Season 3, Episode 4)
With the Judge fuming, Michael and Janet know they’re out of options but keep trying to sway the humans towards good behavior and each other. But when the four humans catch Michael and Janet as they open an interdimensional door and openly discuss the afterlife, they finally have to come clean to their friends about their strange and dire circumstances.
As Jason, Tahani, Chidi, and Eleanor come to terms with the fact that no matter what they do with the rest of their lives, they will go to the Bad Place, some bear more psychological struggles than others. While Jason and Tahani pass out huge wads of cash to strangers on the street, Eleanor hits a bar and finds a man’s lost wallet.
But Chidi’s reaction makes “Jeremy Bearimy” one of the best episodes in The Good Place. Chidi utterly loses his mind, and instead of believing in Kantian moral philosophy like he has his entire life, he switches over to nihilism, puts on a hilarious t-shirt he finds at a grocery store, and absolutely freaks out his university students.
The end of the episode solidifies the characters’ growth over the past few seasons when they all agree to try their best to make the world a better place despite being doomed to The Bad Place for eternity.
16. Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By (Season 3, Episode 8)
Fans of The Good Place finally meet the legendary Doug Forcett (Michael McKean) in this painful yet comical episode. Michael and Janet search for the blueprint to living an extraordinary life, so naturally, they visit the man who predicted the afterlife with 92% accuracy while tripping on mushrooms in college.
But when they arrive at his ramshackle home in the middle of the woods, they realize Doug lives in fear of losing afterlife points and going to the Bad Place. He sacrifices his needs to help others, even the teen who only stops by Doug’s home to bully him.
As The Good Place episodes go, “Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By” remains essential because it’s the first moment Michael and the fans realize the afterlife point system has immense flaws. This moment acts as an expertly crafted subtle shift towards the final plotline of the series.
17. Janet(s) (Season 3, Episode 9)
The four humans enter Janet’s void for the first time with disastrous consequences in “Janet(s).” Upon entering Janet’s void to escape Bad Place demons hunting them on Earth, the four humans instantly die and realize each of their consciousnesses has transferred into the body of a different Janet. As Eleanor grapples with a bombshell Michael dropped on her about her relationship with Chidi in the afterlife, Michael and Janet head to the Accounting Department of the afterlife to speak with the Head Accountant about the afterlife point system.
D’Arcy Carden displays an immaculate performance playing her usual role as Janet, plus convincingly acting as Eleanor, Jason, Tahani, and Chidi. But that’s not the only reason “Janet(s)” earns its title as one of the most fantastic episodes of The Good Place. Michael and Janet make a tremendous discovery when they learn that no human has made it to the Good Place in hundreds of years. This flaw in the afterlife system turns everything viewers thought they knew about this fictional world on its head and sets the series up for an immaculate final season.
18. Chidi Sees the Time-Knife (Season 3, Episode 11)
One of The Good Place‘s best features is delving into its fantastical world filled with hilarious characters and mind-bending settings. Michael and the gang head to the IHOP, otherwise known as the Interdimensional Hole of Pancakes, to meet with the Judge, hoping to convince her to give them a chance to change the entire afterlife system for the better.
The IHOP comes with plenty of unique and hysterical features, like the Niednagel, a green, worm-like creature that clings to Tahani’s neck. Plus, who could forget the moment when Chidi steps into the wrong place and flies through time and space until Janet manages to yank him back into the IHOP? Plus, “Chidi Sees the Time-Knife” sets up the premise of the fourth and final season as the humans fight to prove the injustice in the current afterlife system.
19. Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy (Season 4, Episode 4)
As Eleanor attempts to make the team’s afterlife experiment run smoothly as the fake Architect, things start going wrong without explanation. But soon enough, the Bad Place demon Glenn (Josh Siegal) shows up out of the blue with a bold claim. He tells Eleanor and the others that Michael isn’t actually Michael, but Vicky dressed in a Michael suit, trying to sabotage their plans.
As the humans interrogate “Michael” and Glenn, Jason–of all people–finally discovers the truth about the saboteur in the group. “Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy” contains some of the series’ most hilarious moments. Glenn suddenly bursts into a pile of goo, and Michael reveals his identity as a 6,000-foot-tall fire squid.
20. A Chip Driver Mystery (Season 4, Episode 6)
As one of the only The Good Place episodes told through flashbacks, “A Chip Driver Mystery” brings a fresh storytelling structure to the show. Michael enters Janet’s void to speak with the imprisoned Bad Janet. He tells her a story about his and his friends’ experiment, to which she inserts plenty of potty humor and eye rolls. During the experiment, the ultimate prejudiced rich white man, Brent (Ben Koldyke), writes a horribly offensive novel.
As Brent and Simone (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) argue, Eleanor and Tahani attempt to reconcile the two for the sake of the experiment. This episode brings up important themes of race and gender in the context of moral philosophy and ethics. Plus, Michael’s story ultimately points to human resilience in an inspiring twist.
21. Help is Other People (Season 4, Episode 7)
On the final day of the experiment, Tahani discovers that Simone doesn’t believe she’s in the Good Place and has been collecting evidence to support her theory for the entire year. Eleanor and Michael devise a risky plan to bring the test subjects together to prevent the experiment from collapsing on its very last day. But instead, it ends up tearing them apart. With moments left on the clock, they tell Brent and Chidi they come to the Bad Place.
Brent finally starts apologizing for his bigotry and self-obsession as the experiment ends. Full of suspense, this nail-biter of an episode seals humanity’s eternal fate without yet revealing the experiment’s results.
22. The Answer (Season 4, Episode 9)
Moments after the Judge agrees the afterlife point system indeed has too many flaws, she flips the humans’ hope upside down when she declares that she will reboot all life on Earth because it got too complicated. Scrambling to come up with another solution, the team finally wakes Chidi and shoves all of his memories from Earth and the afterlife back into his mind in a single second.
As one of the most compelling and loveable characters in The Good Place, Chidi gets an entire episode dedicated to his character growth, and fans eat it up. “The Answer” highlights Chidi’s lifelong struggle to determine one single answer to solve every problem, which quickly becomes his obsession and alienates him from everyone he loves. After he dies, Chidi speaks with his friends, who help him understand that human connection and love are more important than finding the perfect solution.
It’s romantic, it’s comical, and it’s a whole lot of Chidi that fans love to see.
23. You’ve Changed, Man (Season 4, Episode 10)
Once Chidi awakes with all of his memories intact for the first time, he becomes a whole new man. The once-nervous, indecisive man now feels confident and even a bit silly. But at his core, he’s still the morally driven Chidi fans know and love.
“You’ve Changed, Man” puts Chidi and the others to the ultimate challenge: to figure out a new, just afterlife system and prevent the Judge from destroying all life on Earth. As the Judge searches for the remote to reboot Earth in the protesting Janets’ voids, the dream team works together to create a new system that embraces the human potential for growth and acknowledges the barriers to being the best person they can be on Earth.
Schur and the other writers managed to concoct the perfect afterlife system in this game-changing episode. Plus, fans see the Judge swoon over Timothy Olyphant when Janet brings him into her void to convince the Judge to listen to what the team has to say.
24. Patty (Season 4, Episode 12)
It’s finally here. The moment everyone has waited for since Eleanor figured out the neighborhood wasn’t the Good Place in season one. The humans, Michael, and Janet make it into the actual Good Place. At first, when the group arrives, it feels like paradise.
They attend a fabulous welcome party, but once Chidi meets one of his moral philosophy heroes, Hypatia of Alexandria (Lisa Kudrow), the group realizes their mission to create the perfect afterlife isn’t yet complete. “Patty” gets to the heart of what truly makes people happy while also providing plenty of classic The Good Place humor. Yet again, the dream team develops a genius solution that brings the soul back to the Good Place inhabitants.
25. Whenever You’re Ready (Season 4, Episode 13)
The final episode of The Good Place quickly became one of the most heartfelt and influential in the entire series. Now that Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani live happily in the Good Place, they can accomplish all the wildest dreams they didn’t experience in their time on Earth. But one after the other, they feel a moment of tranquility and completion that prompts them to walk through the Last Door to end their sentient existence peacefully.
Not only do fans feel satisfied watching their favorite characters finally feel happy, but there’s also a sense of grief and loss when they choose to walk through the door and leave existence as they know it. It’s a nuanced feeling fans of The Good Place became familiar with–and fell in love with–throughout the series’ four-season run.
