There May Be More Bad People In 'The Good Place'

Viewers are four episodes into The Good Place , and already the very foundation of the heaven-like neighborhood is collapsing. I'm not just talking figuratively: in "Chapter Four" of NBC's new sitcom, a sinkhole literally appeared in the middle of The Good Place's new restaurant. The reason? Eleanor destroyed a cake that the very happy (but very intense) chef spent lots of time, energy, and love baking. However, Eleanor smashed the cake for a reason: Jason, the man formerly known as Jianyu, was about to spill the beans about not belonging in The Good Place after all. Unfortunately, it wasn't merely the destroyed cake that distracted the residents of The Good Place from Jason's confession — it was also the sinkhole that opened up in the ground as the result of Eleanor tainting the goodness of the good place. But could there be more than just Eleanor and Jason destroying The Good Place? They can't be the only not-so-good people around.

Much like Eleanor, Jason has no idea how he wound up getting assigned to The Good Place, rather than the terrifying Bad Place. Jason revealed in "Chapter Four" that he was never a Buddhist monk at all, but took advantage when Michael asked him if he wanted to maintain the vow of silence he held on Earth. It turned out to be a good call for Jason, because he definitely didn't belong in The Good Place. Jason's job on Earth was to sell fake drugs to college kids (not unlike Eleanor's gig of selling fake meds to the elderly... hmm...) but his real passion was for EDM and DJing at night clubs in Jacksonville. (His dream, of course, was to DJ at clubs in Tallahassee, or possibly even Tampa.) Now that Eleanor has caught on to Jason's schtick, he's also taking ethics classes taught by Chidi, making Eleanor the smartest kid in school.

But is that it? Are Eleanor and Jason the only baddies in a sea of near-perfect people? The sink hole's expansion at the end of the episode suggests the answer may be no. So far, we've only seen bad stuff happen in the neighborhood directly after Eleanor has done something less than noble, and the sink hole's expansion occurred after the drama had seemingly died down. That might mean that someone else in town is causing the problems. It could be someone we haven't met yet, or it could be someone we're just getting to know, unaware that they, like Eleanor and Jason, are a fraud.

Of course, there's always the possibility that inexperienced architect Michael created a seriously unstable heaven environment doomed to collapse in on itself no matter who is a part of it. If that's the case, perhaps Eleanor and Jason can prove that they are good people by attempting to save The Good Place from destruction. They may have been selfish in life, but in death, they could learn to be better people.

Image: Justin Lubin, Ron Batzdorff/NBC