"Janet(s)" is the tenth episode of the third season of the American fantasy-comedy television series The Good Place. The thirty-sixth episode of the series overall, it originally aired in the United States on NBC on December 6, 2018, as the show's mid-season finale. "Janet(s)" was written by Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan and directed by Morgan Sackett.
After rediscovering the afterlife earlier in the season, Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason help others on Earth alongside afterlife architect Michael and assistant Janet. In the episode, the four humans find themselves transformed into versions of Janet as they seek to escape demons from the Bad Place. Eleanor tries to address her romantic feelings for Chidi and has an identity crisis when he denies any feelings for her. Meanwhile, Michael and Janet visit Accounting, the section of the afterlife that calculates point totals for people's good and bad actions during their lives, to determine if the Bad Place is manipulating the points system.
The premise of the episode originated during production of the show's second season, and the writers studied concepts of identity and the self for the episode. D'Arcy Carden, who plays multiple versions of Janet in the episode, prepared for her role by watching rehearsals of her castmates and following the actors between scenes. Filming took place in July 2018 and required significantly more visual effects than normal; several crew members wondered during production if the finished product would make sense.
Seen by 2.58 million viewers in its original broadcast, "Janet(s)" received praise from critics; Carden's performance earned widespread acclaim. The episode was ranked as one of 2018's best television episodes by many publications. Analysis has focused on its discussion of the meaning of the self, as well as why nobody had reached the Good Place in over five centuries. The episode won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, and Siegal and Morgan were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for their work on it.
Plot
When Janet (D'Arcy Carden) brings Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason into her void – an alternate dimension tied to her essence – the four humans are accidentally transformed into versions of Janet. The original Janet gives each person different clothes to identify them before she and Michael (Ted Danson) leave to visit Accounting. The humans stay in Janet's void, as they are now fugitives within the afterlife.
Michael and Janet meet the head accountant, Neil (Stephen Merchant). Neil insists the Bad Place cannot be tampering with the afterlife points system, but agrees to show them the system anyway. He explains that everything someone does on Earth is assigned a positive or negative point value. If something new occurs, an accountant gives it a value based on its intentions, effects, and other factors. Every new value is verified by three billion other accountants, leaving no room for tampering. Despite this, Michael asks to see Doug Forcett's file. Neil finds the Book of Dougs and says Doug is on track for the Bad Place. Michael considers this proof of tampering, as Doug has spent his life devoted to good actions. He asks to see a file for someone on track for the Good Place; Neil reveals nobody has reached the Good Place in 521 years.
In Janet's void, Eleanor-Janet talks with Chidi-Janet about their past romantic relationships. Chidi-Janet argues those experiences happened to him in different lives. He cites several philosophers to prove his point, but Eleanor-Janet becomes frustrated and thinks he is avoiding a discussion of his feelings. Meanwhile, Jason-Janet and Tahani-Janet discover signs of Janet's romantic feelings for Jason. After more failed attempts to get Chidi-Janet to talk, Eleanor-Janet wonders why she is bothering to reach out to him. Her resulting identity crisis causes her to change into random bodies, and Janet's void begins to collapse. To restore her identity, Chidi-Janet lists off Eleanor's memories and the good things she has done before ultimately kissing her. This causes the four humans to both regain their normal appearances and be ejected from Janet's void. Michael, Janet, and the humans flee from the accountants; Michael takes the Book of Dougs with him. The six escape via a pneumatic tube and arrive in a mailroom. Eleanor (Kristen Bell) realizes they are in the Good Place.
Production
Development and writing
According to series creator Michael Schur, the idea for an episode featuring multiple Janets originated during the show's second season, over a year before the episode aired. The crew discussed locations that had not been explored yet, as the characters had visited the Bad Place already and were going to visit Earth in the second-season finale. One such location was Janet's void, which led to the idea of Carden playing all four humans. Schur and the other writers were initially concerned such an idea might be too challenging to accomplish, but realizing that other shows such as Orphan Black had pulled it off provided them with the confidence to move forward. Planning for the episode began right after the second season ended production. At one point, the idea was only going to be included in the first act, but the writing staff did not want to use the concept as a "gimmick", so they reworked the idea to have Eleanor question her sense of self while trapped inside a Janet. The writing staff also met with philosophical advisors Todd May and Pamela Hieronymi to learn about concepts of identity and the self before writing the episode. Writers Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan sent a draft of the script to May for input; he suggested small tweaks to improve how the relevant philosophical theories were explained.
Schur told Carden to begin preparing for the episode in March 2018, four months before the episode would be filmed. Carden later said she was surprised when she learned about the episode and was grateful that the writers and producers trusted her to pull it off. For the episode, Carden plays a wide range of characters, including her normal character, each of the four humans as a Janet, a "Neutral Janet" in Accounting, and one scene in which she plays Eleanor pretending to be Jason. The cast began rehearsing for the episode earlier than normal to provide references for Carden's impressions. Her co-stars recorded footage of their performances for Carden to listen to and review, including a rehearsal on set with the cast playing their usual characters. The actors' movements during these performances were also tracked for use with special effects. Additionally, Carden followed the actors around when she was not in scenes and would mimic what they were doing. The other cast members provided help in various ways as Carden was learning to portray them; for instance, William Jackson Harper sent a copy of Chidi's lines the way he liked to memorize them, while Manny Jacinto showed her a video that inspired his portrayal of Jason. Carden later explained that she struggled to perform her impression of Harper as Chidi even though she could imagine it, and she found Bell's subtle actions to be hard to emulate.
Filming
Filming took place over five and a half days in July 2018. For the episode, Janet's void was represented by an entirely white set, though director Morgan Sackett decided to add furniture to prevent the audience from becoming bored by the setting. Filming required significantly more planning and visual effects than normal; Schur later called it "the opposite of how [they] usually make television" due to the precision required. In a separate interview, Schur described it as both "an extreme bottle episode" due to the limited setting and cast, and "the opposite of a bottle episode" because of the level of detail required. Though some scenes used stand-ins in costumes and wigs, many were filmed with only poles to represent the other characters. Carden later called those scenes the hardest part of filming for her, describing it as "kind of los[ing] your mind a little bit". A particularly difficult shot was the climactic kiss due to how Carden's body had to be positioned and the alignment of the shots. To film one part of the scene, she had to kiss a pair of wax lips placed atop a pole. The height differences between Carden and Bell added to the scene's challenges. After combining her multiple roles, Carden spent about 40 minutes performing in the episode, which was only 22 minutes long.
At one point, Eleanor transforms into a series of different individuals as she loses her sense of self. Morgan and Siegal credited the idea to Schur and explained that they carefully scripted what each new person said for both emotional impact and humor based upon who would say the line. Visual effects producer David Niednagel added special effects to simulate the void and the furniture breaking up as Eleanor's struggles continue. As her void becomes unstable, Janet accidentally sings an excerpt of Cher's "Believe". Carden sang a version of the song for the episode, which was then auto-tuned, but the episode ultimately used Cher's recording because it was easier to get permission to use that version. Carden, Schur, and Siegal all remarked that there were instances during filming when the crew wondered if the final product would make any sense.
Merchant, co-creator of the British version of The Office, makes a guest appearance in the episode; Schur worked as a writer on The Offices American adaptation. In the episode, Merchant holds a mug reading "Existence's Best Boss", an allusion to a similar mug used by Michael Scott. The prop was printed with the slogan, but Merchant held it the wrong way during filming, so the words were reapplied using special effects during post-production.
Analysis
One of the episode's themes is the meaning of the self; Chidi even leads a lecture on the topic within the episode. Schur remarked that the premise forces Eleanor to ask herself, "Who am I? What version of me am I right now?" Philosophy professor Alison Reiheld argues that Chidi's understanding of and relationship with Eleanor, not their kiss, is what saves her. As Reiheld explains, stories provide the scaffolding for "moral self-definition"; once Chidi reminds her of her personal history, Eleanor can act in the way that "best reflects who she is and wants to be". Voxs Emily St. James notes that after centuries of other lifetimes, the four humans felt uncertain of their true selves, remarking that "who you are is a little arbitrary, if you stop to think about it". Because of this, Chidi and Eleanor stop thinking about it and simply "hope for the best". Conversely, Dane Sawyer, a professor of philosophy and religion, argues that Eleanor's identity crisis is good for her. Sawyer explains that Buddhists believe attachment to one's sense of self can cause suffering, so Eleanor confronting the idea of "no-self" could be a step towards enlightenment and nirvana. However, Sawyer adds that compassion is one of Buddhism's chief virtues, and a person who moves past one's sense of self will naturally be compassionate, so Chidi's actions were not necessarily wrong.