The Good Place Season 3, Episode 4 recap: Chapter 30

This week on The Good Place, Michael and Janet interfere in the lives of The Brainy Bunch. As expected, nothing goes according to plan.

In last week’s episode of The Good Place, Chidi asked Eleanor to give him and the study one month before leaving and returning to her life in Arizona. This week, we were able to see one year in the life of the “Brainy Bunch,” and Michael and Janet’s interference with them, through the metaphor of snowplows.

The episode starts where we left off. Michael and Janet arrive through the door back at the university. After fielding a call from an angry Judge, they set up shop in a room on the empty journalism floor at the university. Since they don’t have their powers, or a magical way to track points, Janet sets up cameras and microphones in order to keep tabs on the group, and make sure they are earning enough points to make it into The Good Place.

The group gets free cupcakes, a wonderful group picture of the main four, and then we fast-forward three months after they start the second stage of the study where they learn philosophical principles. At the end of the first three months, Eleanor is looking like she needs to leave the group and go home. She has run out of money and she needs a job. Worried that getting a job will derail the progress of the group, Michael comes up with the first snowplow.

More from NBC

• It’s Thanksgiving Eve! Tune into the SNL Thanksgiving special to get into the spirit of the holiday
• Final season, release date set for La Brea season 3: Everything we know so far
• Law and Order: Organized Crime season 4 release date revealed!: Everything we know about the new season
• QUIZ: Finish these Friends quotes from “The One With All the Thanksgivings”
• Is Quantum Leap on tonight? (November 22, 2023)

Michael and Janet go to a local store and play the lottery, well, cheat at the lottery. They leave it where Eleanor can find it and she wins $18k. Boom, first problem solved. The group gets to stay together!

Fast forward another three months and there’s another problem brewing. Jason is bummed about the different time zones and having to watch his Jaguar football games alone. Tahani volunteers to watch with him, but as she confesses to Eleanor, it’s mostly because she wants to sleep with him because she’s lonely. This sends a red flag to Michael and Janet. Tahani and Jason sleeping together would ruin everything. Cue the next snowplow!

Michael and Janet arrange it so that Tahani runs into her ex Larry Hemsworth, the less famous of the Hemsworth brothers, and someone with really low self-esteem. They end up hooking up, and that’s another problem dodged. They also decide to meddle just a little bit more, and they get Jason invited to an Australian chapter of the Jaguar fan club and they upgrade the study group’s tech.

We then take another large leap in time, jumping forward six months, to Tahani announcing she’s going to get married to Larry and they are moving back to London, breaking up the Brainy Bunch. Tahani invites the group to her “Heir B&B” (heh!) to an engagement/farewell party. Michael and Janet come disguised as caterers to try to break up the engagement, or at least convince them to stay in Australia.

At the party, things just start falling apart for the study group. Chidi tells Eleanor that it’s time for the group to take a break for about a year so he could study the results. And this really makes Eleanor upset.

Michael decides to come talk to her and try to get her to keep the group together. He gives her a really moving pep talk that she really takes to heart.

Tahani wheels out a cake with the picture the group took at the beginning of the episode with the cupcakes. Eleanor stands up and makes a very heartfelt speech about how much the group means to her, and that she thinks the group should stay together. And…Chidi explains that that’s not going to happen. Eleanor rips her face off the cake and storms off.

Outside, Simone finds Eleanor and they have a really good talk, full of sociological references to the “me vs us” and “us vs them” mentalities. And they come to the conclusion that Eleanor is scared to be alone after finally finding a group she belongs to. Eleanor goes back inside and apologizes. The Brainy Bunch comes to the compromise that they will have yearly reunions, starting next year in Jacksonville, because it’s sinking into the ocean so they should hurry up and visit.

Michael is very understandably upset that they group is splitting up. He comes up with the plan to go into the Judge’s office, and reset the timeline on Earth while Janet causes a distraction. He opens the door, and he turns around to find the Brainy Bunch. They have seen the door.

What did you think of tonight’s episode? Do you think the group is still going to split up after they saw that door? Please let us know in the comments below.

The Good Place airs Thursdays nights at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.