Home > The Good Place

Dance Dance Resolution

{\an8}This is daily notes log for attempt number three

{\an8}of my neighborhood experiment.

Obviously, I hope and assume this will be the final version.

No, I know it will be.

All the kinks have been worked out. This is the one.

And after I pull this off, they're gonna hang my picture in the Bad Place Hall of Fame, right next to the guy who invented bees with teeth.

[chuckles]

{\an8}You, Eleanor Shellstrop, are dead.

{\an8}Cool.

I'm Chris Baker. I'm your soulmate.

Bring it in, man.

Sorry, I must ask.

Why are you wearing a sash that says "Best Person" on it?

Apparently, I am the number one points-getter in the entire neighborhood.

Is that so? I always have to have my sashes custom-made due to my height and bosom size.

Also, apparently, sashes are out this season.

The diagonal line really draws one's eye to the chin bloat.

Go fork yourself, you mean giraffe.

{\an8}-Run! Giraffes! Giraffes! Run! -[all screaming]

{\an8}-[metal clanging] -[glass shattering]

{\an8}Mean giraffes are destroying the neighborhood. Gah!

{\an8}Oh, boy.

{\an8}Hey, robot slave lady? Busty Alexa?

Oh, Janet?

-Hi, there. -[gasps]

Still not used to it.

Uh, hey. What if I, an already amazing person who definitely belongs here, wanted to learn even more about how to be a good person?

Is one of these nerds, like, a teacher or a life coach or an Instagram fitness model or something?

Eleanor, I'd like you to meet Chidi Anagonye.

Chidi, this is Eleanor.

Janet tells me you were a professor of some kind.

Yes. I was a professor of ethics and moral philosophy, focusing on deontology.

Hang on one second, Cheebee.

Um...

This guy's too big of a nerd. Who else you got?

{\an8}-Michael, what do we do here? -I don't know.

{\an8}Apparently, the Bad Place knows one of you belongs down there with them, and they want that person to get inside the obelisk, or they're gonna take all of you.

I can't go! I'm too young to die!

And too old to eat off the kids' menu! What a stupid age I am!

[Tahani] I'd never survive down there.

They should take Eleanor. She's a pear shape. She'd fit right in.

Oh, excuse me? You wish you could have a bite of this pear.

I'll go! I deserve to go. You can stay.

-Chidi, you're not going. -[Jason] Oh, yes!

[Chidi] No, I have to go.

[all clamoring]

[gasps]

Holy forking shirt!

You guys, don't you get it? Michael is torturing us.

That's why our lives have been so miserable since the moment we got here.

This isn't the Good Place. It's the Bad Place.

[laughing]

Ah, farts.

[theme music playing]

[Michael] Okay. Attempt number 11. Let's focus on the positives.

{\an8}Eleanor always hates her house.

{\an8}Tahani always hates Eleanor. Jason hates being quiet.

Chidi immediately gets a stomachache.

So there's a lot to work with here.

{\an8}Hang on one second, Cheeto.

{\an8}So it's gonna be a hard pass on superdork Jones over there.

Anybody else you got to teach me?

{\an8}You guys ready for our lesson? We're talking David Hume today.

{\an8}Bundle theory of the self, baby.

{\an8}Sounds like a real banger, but you guys gotta scram.

{\an8}My soulmate has some sort of surprise planned for me,

{\an8}and he seems excited about it.

{\an8}Well, you two are certainly getting along very well these days.

{\an8}Yeah, I'm actually kind of into Sebastian lately.

{\an8}I mean, he's a little hokey, but he's growing on me a little bit.

{\an8}♪ My love My sweet dewdrop ♪

{\an8}I have written you a three-hour spoken-word jazz opera.

{\an8}Cool!

{\an8}♪ Eleanor, less and more ♪

♪ Who's it for For you, my dewdrop ♪

♪ Cream of the crop Top to the bop, to the bop, to the top ♪

{\an8}-Okay, no. No. -What?

{\an8}No version of heaven for anyone would ever include three hours of this.

{\an8}We're in the Bad Place, aren't we?

{\an8}Damn it.

{\an8}That was a real trip for biscuits, and now we're all wet, daddio.

{\an8}I never even got to play my stupid triangle.

{\an8}No, no, no, no, Michael!

{\an8}Please, please! Please don't kill me. I have so much to live for.

{\an8}I'm sorry, Janet. Gotta reboot you every time I start over.

{\an8}Oh, I know. I'm not actually upset.

{\an8}It's the automatic fail-safe mechanism

{\an8}that kicks in every time you approach the plunger.

Go ahead.

Michael, you monster!

{\an8}[Michael] Attempt 32.

{\an8}Attempt 57.

{\an8}Attempt 99.

{\an8}Attempt 108.

{\an8}I've analyzed some recent data.

{\an8}Eleanor always seems to realize they are in the Bad Place,

-just at the moment-- -[Eleanor] Excuse me?

Sorry, the door was open so I just came in.

Did you say I'm in the Bad Place?

{\an8}Attempt 109.

{\an8}I've closed and locked the door.

{\an8}Yep. And we're ready to go.

{\an8}This is your soulmate, Greg.

{\an8}This is your soulmate, Glenn.

{\an8}This is your soulmate, Tahani.

{\an8}This is your soulmate, Lerf.

{\an8}This is your soulmate, a golden retriever.

Hang on. Wait a minute.

You know what?

Holy smokes.

This is the Bad Place.

This is the Bad Place.

This is the Bad Place.

-This is the Bad Place. -[pig snorting]

The pig's gettin' angry!

This is the Bad Place!

Bees! Bees! Bees! Bees!

-Oh! This is the Bad Place. -Shh!

Michael! Micheal! If I am gone, who will take care of my birds?

Michael, no, no, no. I'm pregnant, and it's your baby.

I have tickets to Hamilton next week.

And there's a rumor that Daveed Diggs is coming back!

Janet, we've been through this hundreds of times.

Can you just chill out? Is that possible, Janet?

Can you chill out a little?

Nope. It's gonna be the same every time.

Yeah. Yeah, I know.

No, no, no! No, Michael!

-Please calm down. Calm down. -[all clamoring]

[Michael] All right! Okay, calm down! Calm down!

{\an8}I mean, why even bother at this point?

{\an8}I'm obviously never gonna get it right.

"I'm Eleanor. I'm so smart. I'm actually in the Bad Place."

[blah-blahing]

Shawn still thinks I'm on Version Two.

I just keep lying to him. It's really bad. But I...

I mean, I have to keep trying. I'm in too deep.

And I'm really fat right now.

I'm stress-eating and I'm gaining weight in my thighs.

I mean, look at that. [blah-blahing]

Ugh!

So sorry. Who are you? And where am I?

It doesn't matter. This one doesn't even count.

{\an8}Hang on one second, Chilly.

{\an8}This guy sucks. Who else you got?

{\an8}I can hear you.

{\an8}Michael, you cannot expect Chidi to decide whether Eleanor goes to the Bad Place.

-[indistinct chatter] -Yo! Yo! Yo, homies, check it.

There's something messed up with this place.

We keep fighting with each other, none of the TVs get the NFL RedZone channel.

My soulmate doesn't even know who Blake Bortles is.

I know this sounds crazy, but I think we're in the Bad Place.

Jason figured it out?

Jason? This is a real low point.

Yeah, this one hurts.

Ow!

Okay. This might be the one. We're a week in.

{\an8}Chidi's teaching Eleanor, but she hates it.

{\an8}Tahani still thinks that Jason's a monk.

Everyone's miserable.

I'm so happy.

Fingers crossed.

Vicky, where is everyone?

They're not coming, Michael. You have lost control of this experiment.

So we are on strike until our demands are met.

I speak for the entire crew, Michael. We're sick of it.

We can barely remember what we're supposed to be doing anymore.

Plus, I spent weeks perfecting this excellent Australian accent, I did.

And then I never got a chance to use it.

You're still upset about the size of your part?

Yes! I want a more important role. But that's just my demand.

All 318 of us have something we want to do differently.

Some people want bigger houses.

Gayle wants a different backstory where she was an MMA fighter?

Gunnar wants to bite and/or nibble on humans while they sleep.

You do know, Vicky, that if I were to do some of these, that it would be a dead giveaway.

And I can help you explain that to them.

But some of these are doable, and you're gonna do 'em.

So, Aristotle believes your character is voluntary, because...

Uh, are you ignoring me right now?

It's day two of our ethics lessons, and you're already tuning out?

No, sorry. I just got distracted for a second.

The last thing I remember you saying is...

Nothing. Can you start from the beginning?

Okay. I need a little break.

Can we take a walk or something? Maybe get some clam chowder?

Where is everyone?

Who knows?

Maybe they finally figured out clam chowder is disgusting

'cause it's basically a savory latte with bugs in it.

[sniffs]

Is someone smoking a cigar?

Michael really screwed this up.

The regular Bad Place was fine.

If the four-headed flying bears ain't broke, don't fix 'em.

What was wrong with impaling? I loved impaling.

Hey, Todd? Got a light?

Uh, yeah. Obviously I have a light.

You know, you guys aren't supposed to be smoking.

You're supposed to keep your human suit on.

Those suits are really itchy for us.

Who even cares if they see us? They're just gonna get rebooted anyway.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

This is the Bad Place. I forking knew it!

And clam chowder is disgusting.

It's just hot ocean milk with dead animal croutons.

What do we do? Panic? Freak?

-I usually panic, but I am happy to freak. -No, we have to stay cool.

As my mom always used to say,

"If a cop handcuffs you to a bike rack, there's always something you can gnaw through."

Your mom always said that?

Think. Come on, brain! Janet!

Hi, there. How can I help you?

-Um-- -Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!

How do we know she's not a part of it?

We don't. But we gotta risk it.

Janet, can we, um, like, leave the neighborhood?

Get as far away as possible? Is there anywhere we can go?

So, we're in the Bad Place, and I know why.

Almond milk.

I knew it was bad for the environment, but I loved the way it coated my tongue with a weird film.

Who else is being tortured? Are we the only two?

I gotta assume Jason is as well.

Jianyu. You know him as Jianyu, but his real name is Jason.

-And he's a dirtbag from Florida. -What?

Also, Tahani is a candidate, as far as I'm concerned.

Yesterday, she told me that she was Taylor Swift's best friend, but Taylor Swift wasn't her best friend.

-She sucks. -[chuckles]

No offense, but I can't believe you and I ended up in the same place.

Hey, I'm not thrilled about it either, bud.

I always assumed the afterlife was full of cool people,

-not talking sweater-vests. -You--

-[door opens] -We're here. Aren't trains neat?

Choo choo!

[knocking at door]

Hi. You gotta help us. I'm Eleanor. This is Chidi.

And, see, we thought we were in the Good Place, but as it turns out--

Yeah, guys. I know. You've been here 15 times already.

What?

Did you bring the cocaine I asked for?

Please tell me you somehow remembered this time.

Mama needs her medicine.

We've met before?

-I'm Janet. -I know.

Vicky, let's look at the big picture here.

Now, if you all can just stick with my plan and we pull it off, we'll be heroes.

You could write your own ticket.

You might even land the Jared from Subway account.

Yeah. But I don't think you can pull it off.

You can't even pull off those bow ties.

That was very mean.

But I'm gonna move past that in the name of unit cohesion.

You're gonna reboot those four dum-dums one more time, and then I'm taking over.

I'm going to execute my version of this neighborhood.

You see, I've been working on it while all of your versions fell apart.

This is insubordination.

And if you do not do what I tell you immediately, you are going down.

That's a complete report of every mistake you've made.

Every screw-up, every reboot, all laid out in excruciating detail.

Now, I'm sure your boss would love to hear all about how "Attempt Number Two" is really going. [chuckles]

So, actually, if you don't do what I say, you're going down.

[with Australian accent] Down under.

[Eleanor] Is it always the three of us?

It's always at least Eleanor and Janet. Usually Chidi's in the mix.

Sometimes Jason is here. One time Jason and Tahani were here.

But, you know what? No matter what the combo is,

I always ask you guys to bring me cocaine next time and you never do.

Do you have anything I can snort?

Like a crushed-up aspirin or some eye shadow or cocaine?

Still no.

There's only one question we need to answer right now, and that is:

What do we do next?

I mean, this place doesn't seem terrible.

[both] Maybe we should stay here forever.

You always say that. And you always end up going back.

I mean, sometimes you go back because you feel bad your friends don't know what you know.

Sometimes you go back because you walk in on me while I'm masturbating.

And sometimes you go back because I walk in on you while I'm masturbating.

But no matter what, you always go back.

You formulate a plan to defeat Michael, and you head back.

Okay, a plan. We need a plan. But...

[both] What if we come up with a plan we've already tried before?

Will you please stop that?

Yeah. Just to help you out a little,

I've written down every plan you've ever come up with, which obviously never worked because you're here and you're back, so good luck.

"Physically attack Michael. Seduce Michael.

Make Michael think he's the one in the Bad Place.

Catch that magic panda, use her powers."

Oh, I'm guessing that was Jason.

That guy has no idea what's going on.

Hello? Hello? Where is everyone?

-Janet? -Hey there, Jason.

Oh, hey, homie.

Uh...

I mean, Jason? Who is Jason? I am a monk.

You know what?

Can I talk to you for a second?

I'm in a tight spot, and I could use someone to bounce some ideas off of, okay?

Oh, yeah, uh, real quick...

You're really in the Bad Place, and you're being tortured.

What?

I know it says here that we already tried throwing Tahani under the bus, but maybe we should revisit that.

Throw her a little bit harder. Maybe under a bigger bus.

What do you think?

I think this is pointless.

We are trapped in a warped version of Nietzsche's eternal recurrence.

Oh, cool! More philosophy! That'll help us.

Well, don't you see the problem? We are experiencing karma, but we can't learn from our mistakes because our memories keep getting erased.

It's an epistemological nightmare.

Ugh! Even your nightmares are boring.

[stammers] You are so mean, Eleanor.

You're just like those childhood bullies who said I would never get tenure.

And you are so irritating!

In one of these reboots, I probably strangled you and then went to the Even Worse Place.

But you know what? I bet it was worth it.

Oh, nice.

Ugh!

Sorry, can I just vent to you? Chidi is so annoying.

I just... I cannot believe that he is the one I'm stuck here with.

Uh-huh. Wow. Crazy.

Oh, sorry. Jeez, man,

I thought you could be human for, like, two seconds and listen to me.

[sighs] I have, Eleanor.

I have listened to you talk about Chidi 15 times in 15 different ways.

Let me cut to the chase. You two? You got it bad for each other.

No, we don't. Chidi's a friend. What am I saying?

He's not even a friend. He's a weird teacher that I hate.

[sighs]

Dude, I do not wanna watch Cannonball Run II right now.

Or... all right. What happened in the first one, so I'm all caught up?

I don't know what's gonna happen to us, but I need to tell you something.

I love you.

And you don't need to respond,

'cause I know you have trouble saying how you feel.

I love you, too.

[scoffs]

Very funny. But that's obviously not real.

Oh, that's real, baby. That's real nasty. [laughs]

Yeah, this was the sixth time you guys were here.

I saw you getting sexy the previous three times, so I cut a little hole in the wall so I could tape ya.

Call it my lookin' hole.

Is that a camera?

Mindy. You pervert!

How many times have Chidi and I slept together?

Eight different days, but, like, 20 different sessions.

And how many times did we say... that stuff?

Oh, only once.

Oh, God, I hated it. It, like, really killed the vibe for me.

See, after I watched the porno I made starring you,

I watch you talk about your feelings to cool down.

It's like anti-porn.

I've only ever said "I love you" to two men my entire life.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin and a guy in a dark club, who I mistook for "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

I mean, why would you show me that?

I don't know. You guys are, like, trapped here together.

I feel bad.

You know, I'm rooting for you guys.

No! There is no "us guys." We basically just met each other.

No, Eleanor. You guys have known each other a really long time.

Also, it doesn't matter if I told you that or not, because when Michael finds out he's failed again, he'll just reboot you.

Chidi, Janet, we're leaving!

I am taking this with me.

Oh, no. It's my only copy. Don't.

[Michael] How did it come to this?

I was just trying to do something innovative and different that would improve the way we make humans' lives miserable for eternity.

Hmm. Well...

Shut up. What are my options?

Do I have any?

I mean, I can't go along with her plan. It'll be a spectacular failure.

But I can't ignore her, or she'll rat me out to Shawn.

I'm trapped.

You're saying a lot of words right now, and I only know some of them, like "rat" and "Jason."

But I know a little wisdom I can give you.

I know everything that happened in your life, and it was all stupid, so I highly doubt that.

I was a member of a 60-person dance crew in Jacksonville.

We were called "Dance Dance Resolution: We Resolve to Dance."

One day, Donkey Doug and I got into a fight because I'd framed his girlfriend for boogie board theft.

So he started a new dance crew called "hashtag DougLife," and immediately challenged us to a dance-off.

He said, "Meet us inside the abandoned orange juice factory at midnight."

That night, as the clock struck 12:00, me and my crew came together, with a determination we had never shown before... and slashed all their tires.

It was dope.

The end.

By Jason Mendoza.

You know, that inane story actually contains a bit of good advice.

Thank you, Jason.

You got it, homie.

I give good advice. Guess that's why I'm in the Good Place.

-Oh! There you guys are. -No! Stop! No more lies.

Jason, get over here.

[Tahani] That's right. We know his name is Jason, not Jianyu.

We know everything.

I don't understand much of it, but, you know, I know it.

{\an8}Your sick torture plan is not working, okay?

{\an8}'Cause we keep figuring out your little puzzle.

{\an8}We're winning, which means you're losing.

{\an8}So you have two choices here, buddy.

{\an8}Keep failing over and over,

{\an8}or realize we're actually the ones with all the power here.

{\an8}Yeah, no... [sighs] We're on the same page.

{\an8}-What? -I wanna team up with you guys.

{\an8}What? Why? You do? What?

{\an8}I'm in a bit of a bind, and I could use some backup.

{\an8}Or, as Jason put it, I need a new dance crew.

{\an8}So, what do you say, new best friends?

Stop.