The Good Place (2016–…): Season 4, Episode 10 - You've Changed, Man - full transcript

Ugh. All Janet voids are nothing,

but Neutral Janet voids are,
like, the most nothing.

Judge, please, please
don't cancel Earth.

Why not?

The system's broken. You guys proved it.

I just want to reboot the whole thing,

and go back to my chambers.

I am on season three of "Justified,"

and can I just tell you,
it is... so good.

I, like, binged all of
season two in a day.

Think of all the amazing
human achievement



you'd be eliminating.

The works of William Shakespeare.

The Pyramids.

Timothy Olyphant.

Ooh, that one stings.

There's, like, 50 gallons
of man in a 10-gallon hat.

I'm, like, oh!

Look, I'm the freaking Judge,

and I made a freaking ruling,

and it's gonna freaking happen,

soon as I find the
freaking clicker thing.

All right, what do I search for?

Humanity eraser button garage
door opener thingy judge.

_



Well, it wasn't in you. Any last words?

These are my last words. End of words.

Yes. Really boring.

Bye!

All right, who's next?

Your dad's pimply butt, you fat dink.

That is so interesting
because last time I checked,

I didn't have a dad.

That's why I'm attracted
to all the father figures

on the TV shows I watch.

Mm-kmm?

We can't play keep-away forever.

Keep trying. Get her to see the light.

I already showed her the light.

She wasn't impressed.

To be fair, she was there
when it was invented.

- Hey, bud?
- Hi.

I know you're trying to
think of ways to save

every soul who's ever lived
and whatnot, but, um,

we may only have a
half hour left to exist,

so I just wanted to check
in with you vis-à-vis...

us.

Oh, okay, yeah. Cool.

I love you.

Whoa. Really?

Yeah.

I love you. So, uh, do you love me?

- Yeah, I do.
- Well, then, cool!

You and I are on our way to Coolsville.

You seem oddly sure,
which is unlike you, but...

it's kind of doing it for me.

Should we get out of here?

No, but I like the confidence.

Well, when you have a thousand
different versions of yourself

over multiple timelines fused

and instantly placed
into your consciousness,

it gives you a real sense of clarity.

You saw the time knife, huh?

Yep. Saw the time knife.

It was neat.

Okay, let's save humanity, shall we?

Can one of you Janets
get me a chalkboard

and a copy of Judith
Shklar's "Ordinary Vices?"

Oh, and maybe some warm
pretzels. If we going out,

I'm going out with a belly
full of warm pretzels.

Yummy, yum, yum.

Yummy!

_

Okay, before we try to completely

redesign the entire afterlife,

has anyone just thought of a good reason

the Judge shouldn't cancel Earth?

Because it would be a bummer.

Yeah, we might need more than that.

Are you at least gonna write it down?

Did you actually write it down,

or did you just do a scribble-scrabble?

Okay, we need to think bigger.

We need to come up with an
entirely new afterlife system

that both the Good and
Bad Places agree on,

which seems impossible.

Nonsense.

Compromise is always possible.

I was once in Portofino with Bruno Mars,

LeBron James, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer...

We don't have time for
this right now, babe.

Fine. Long story short,

LeBron performed a
successful tracheotomy,

the son won multiple Grammys,

and everyone was really happy.

Well, now I want to hear the story.

No, you're right. Let's focus.

So, in this essay,
"Putting Cruelty First,"

Judith Shklar contends
that we should consider

cruelty as society's primary flaw.

I'm sorry, are you
wearing roller skates?

Yeah. I got them from Disco Janet.

Thanks, Disco Janet.

- Solid.
- Anyway, here's her point.

Imagine someone sells a joint

and then gets locked away in
a dangerous prison for years.

The crime isn't cruel,
but the punishment is.

- That's a problem.
- Tell me about it.

I once went to jail for a week

just because I stole a hot dog.

Well, a hot-dog-shaped car.

I stole the Wienermobile.

This is the problem with
the current system.

Live anything less than
the most exemplary life,

and you are brutally tortured
forever with no recourse.

The cruelty of the punishment

does not match the cruelty of
the life that one has lived.

Now, watch this spin.

So we need to come up with a system

that will result in the least amount

of cruelty and suffering to
those who don't deserve it.

This is a problem of justice.

Hearing you talk about
philosophical concepts

of justice is sexy.

- You want to get out of here?
- Yes.

No. Keep going.

Ugh. Bad Janet voids are the worst.

Music off!

Oh, right, I forgot.

Make it louder!

What if you start humanity
over from scratch,

and humans evolve over millions of years

and they end up worse?

What if they invent rap-rock sooner,

and it becomes the only kind of music?

Do you really want to
oversee an entire world

of Limp Bizkits run by Emperor Kid Rock?

Not my problem.

All right, here we go. Software update?

No, cancel.

Why is it doing it now?

This computer sucks.

_

Okay, mama. See you in the next life.

Before you marbleize me,

can I just make one final statement

to summarize how I really feel?

I think I know where this is going.

Okay, Disco Janet, you're up.

Out of sight.

What are you guys still doing here?

Just go back to Mindy's
and have a lukewarm beer,

and wait for me to end you there.

Except for you, cookie-puss.

I'll always make room for you.

Wait a second. That's it.

I agree. Chidi should
hook up with the Judge

to get us out of trouble.

I'd done that a bunch of times.

It's called a Jacksonville plea bargain.

No, Mindy's house.

Eleanor always thought there
should be a Medium Place

for people who led medium lives.

That's the answer.

We make the Medium Place a third option.

Of course. Maybe if you score
negative points on Earth...

sorry, you blew it.

Enjoy having your penis flattened.

Over a million or whatever, party time.

And everyone else in between

gets their own personal Cincinnati.

It's definitely less cruel
than the current system,

but it's not great.

Well, it might be the best we
can do given the circumstances.

Let's try to sell it to the brass.

Hello, all.

Thought as the universe is ending,

you'd be less cheery.

Hard not to be cheery when you're eating

this delicious frozen yogurt.

I got a small amount of each flavor.

It's the only way to ensure
a mouthful of compromise.

- You are so right.
- Well said.

Shut up! Shut up.

Hi. Shut up.

- I'm confident now.
- Oh, sorry.

We're just short on time.
Look, we have a new idea

about how humans could be
placed in the afterlife...

We love it. We're in.

You don't even want to hear it?

Nope. If you guys came up
with it, it must be good.

- Oh, yeah.
- Guys, they said yes.

Let's take the win.

Now all we have to do is convince Shawn.

I'll take the lead.

If I can convince Dr. Ruth
not to sue Bruno Mars

over songwriting credit
on "Uptown Funk,"

I can handle this.

Okay, you gotta tell me
that story on the way.

So anyone who doesn't meet the threshold

for the new Medium Place Neighborhood

is yours for the taking.

The Bad Place still has
plenty of people to torture.

I have to admit this does make sense.

And I like that your side is
settling for a crappy deal

while my side stays mostly the same.

What the hell. I'm in.

- Really?
- No.

You actually believed me?

Dude, in 20 minutes, all of humanity

is going to be erased forever.

And?

The Bad Place will get emptied out, too.

You will have no one to torture
for billions of years.

Everyone loses.

Oh, I know.

But here's the thing.

I don't care if everyone
loses as long as you lose.

- Shawn, listen to reason.
- Why should I?

None of this would've
happened if you hadn't

mucked around with your Neighborhood

and your new ideas.

New ideas are gross. They sicken me.

Shawn, you used to be cool,
but you've changed, man.

I'm gonna go write an evil speech

for when this is all over.

It is gonna be so long.

♪ You can ring my bell ♪

♪ Ring my bell ♪

Whoa!

♪ You can ring my bell ♪

Wait a second.

What was I doing?

I'll tell you what you were doing.

You were tearing up the dance floor.

No, I was looking for
the stupid clicker thingy.

God, those infectious disco grooves.

So wait, wait, wait, wait.

We have this amazing new idea,
and Shawn is almost on board.

Maybe if you talk to him,

you could nudge him
towards an agreement.

I don't take sides. I am the Judge.

My only concerns are
fairness and impartiality.

♪ Gonna erase the Earth ♪

♪ Erase the Earth ♪

That song is really my yam.

Humanity eraser thingy.

Welp. Later, skater.

Keep on truckin'.

Next!

Even for a demon,

Shawn is being a real knob.

Guys, I know what we have to offer him

to get him to change his mind.

- What?
- Something he wants.

Once we figure that out, we're golden.

It's pointless.

He's so focused on beating us

that he's willing to
burn everything down.

There's nothing we can offer him.

Actually, there is something he wants.

Cruelty.

So let's give it to him.

Oh, hey, guys. Just smashing some stuff.

- What's up?
- Listen, demon,

we know how much you want us to lose,

so we volunteer to lose permanently

if you agree to let the Judge

establish a real Medium Place.

You can torture the four of us...

forever.

- Really?
- Yeah.

This is a classic trolley problem.

One of your boys sets off a
stink bomb on the trolley,

causing a commotion so
the rest of the group

can pickpocket people as
they run off the train.

That's very wrong,
but in a roundabout way,

you kind of got where you needed to be.

I'll even give you a head
start on my torture.

I cannot pull off the "mod" look.

You can take me, too.

I couldn't live with myself

knowing you four were
down there without me.

Wow. This is a toughy.

On one hand, I would love

to get some spiders in those buttholes.

On the other hand,
there would be billions

of buttholes going
completely un-spidered.

How about this?

Everyone who dies go to the Bad Place...

and I get to torture all of you.

Sounds good to us.

No, dummies.

That's already how it works,

except we're also tortured.

Look, I put forward a proposal.

Are you not even going to negotiate?

He's got a point. The fair
thing for us to do is

just keep on giving up more and
more stuff we want unilaterally

until this demon's finally happy.

Fork this.

If we're gonna lose,
let's lose on our own terms.

Let's come up with a completely new idea

that actually makes the universe better.

Amen. At least then,
we can hold our heads high.

Okay, we need to come
up with our ideal plan

in about 10 minutes.

Guys, it's all come to this.

Everything we've been through...

multiple lives you led on Earth,

all the lives you led here,

all the ethics training
and lessons and journeys

to the farthest corners of the afterlife

all happened so that we
could be here together...

as the very best versions of ourselves,

to solve the ultimate problem...

in the nick of time.

Cool speech. Now it's nine minutes.

Chidi, can you do this?

Actually, what you just said,

the very best versions of ourselves,

gave me an idea.

Huh. Turns out it was a cool speech.

Not in you, either.

I just have one thing left to say.

No.

Not falling for that again.

Man, she is committed.

That just leaves you.

Your Honor, we have an idea
we'd like to present...

Not interested, stretch.

How can we convince her of our plan

if she won't even listen?

Well, if she's not gonna stay out here,

you gotta go in there.

But that didn't really
work great last time.

Yeah, it wasn't an amazing,
but she's gonna marbleize me

in, like, two minutes,
so we might as well try.

Are we all gonna be...

- you again?
- I don't think so.

Going through that once
changed me and all of you.

But if the Judge wasn't gonna
listen to us out here,

what makes you think
she'll listen to us in there?

I know one thing that
might keep her attention.

_

Idiots.

Aw, nuts.

How did I fall for that?

- Please, have a seat, Your Honor.
- I already told you.

I'm not interested.

Give me one reason why
I should hear you out?

Okay.

Here he is.

Ma'am.

You made me an Olyphant?

I think you should hear them out, Judge.

Only seems fair.

Yeah, you're probably right.

Well played, Janet.

I don't mind taking in the view

when the scenery is so pretty.

Oh, I should call Shawn for this.

Aw, man.

I had just gotten all the puppies

to climb into the cannon.

All right.

Floor is yours.

So the problem with the afterlife

is not only that it's
cruel, but that it's final.

You get one shot on Earth,

and regardless of the
context of your life,

you're placed somewhere,
usually the Bad Place,

forever with no chance for redemption.

My Neighborhood was
built to torture humans,

but it made them better.

We want to create a system

that works that way intentionally,

a system designed to give
people a fighting chance.

Huh.

Interesting.

Why don't you walk us through it?

Yeah, we're gonna, man. Just chill.

Your time on Earth won't be a test

that you either pass or fail,
but instead a class you take,

and the test will come in the afterlife.

The first part stays the same.

You live your life,
screw up a bunch of stuff.

Like, a lot of stuff.

Like, to the point where
people are, like...

this is mess up, even for Florida.

But you can't hear them because
you fell into the swamp

trying to spray paint a Taco
Bell logo on a snapping turtle.

We rest our case, Your Honor.

- No, no.
- No, no, no, no, no, we don't.

We barely started.

So when you die, you still
have a points total,

but in the new system,
that number will serve

as a sort of baseline

to determine how hard or
how easy your test is.

Sorry. I'm just trying
to play catch-up here.

Who's designing these tests, exactly?

A Good Place architect
and a Bad Place architect

will work together to design a scenario

to make you confront
your moral shortcomings,

like Eleanor's selfishness,

Jason's impulsivity,
Chidi's indecisiveness,

and my complete inability
to carry off a mod look.

- That's not...
- I know I have other faults,

but that is a big one.

The test could be anything.

Maybe you show up and you're told

you're in the Good Place,

but you know that it's a mistake.

Maybe the test looks just
like your regular life,

or a twisted version of your life.

You're presented with these challenges.

Do well or badly, at the end,

you're given a sort of evaluation.

Yeah, and the architects
explain what you did badly,

what you did well, and
then you get rebooted

and do it again...

and again and again until you ace it.

Oh, hang on.

It seems to me if y'all get rebooted,

your memories will be wiped out.

How you ever gonna learn anything

if you're always having
to start from scratch?

- Mm-hmm.
- Good point, Timothy Olyphant.

- Tim's fine.
- Okay, great.

In the new system, you
will retain a vague memory

of what you learned in
the evaluation sessions.

That information, what
you did well or badly,

stays with you like...

like a little voice in your head,

helping you become a better
version of yourself.

Okay, that helps. Thank you.

So our guess is that
with enough chances,

people will eventually
make enough good choices

to qualify for the Good Place,
and maybe some never will,

but that's okay because
everyone gets a fair shot.

Hold the phone. What are my
demons doing this whole time?

I have millions of lava
monsters down there

who will be out of a job.

I ask you, into whose throats

are they supposed to pour lava?

Well, bad news is no more throat lava

or penis flattenings.

Then what are we doing to their penises?

Well, largely, ignoring them.

You guys are hearing this.
I'm not crazy, right?

No, I mean, it's a fair question.

Whose side are you on, man?

I don't have a dog in
this fight, little lady.

I'm just looking for clarity.

Shawn, you'll all still have jobs.

Bad place architects
help design the test.

Rank and file demons, they'll play-role

just like they did in my
original Neighborhood.

And remember how much fun
you had playing the Judge?

I don't know, guys.
You think this will work?

It sort of already has.

Chidi just had 800 versions of himself

stuffed into his soul at the same time.

I mean, he's a new man.
He's way cooler now.

I like the old version,
too, but not as much.

It's not just Chidi, Your Honor.

When I started in Michael's
first Neighborhood,

I was nothing more than a
PalmPilot in a cool vest.

But look at me now.

I can hold four humans in my void,

and conjure Timothy Olyphant
in the blink of an eye.

Getting rebooted over and over made me

a better not-a-person
than I've ever been.

Humans should get the same opportunity.

Well?

Mm...

pass.

Well, guys, I really thought you had it.

It has been a genuine pleasure, sweetie.

Oh.

♪ Gonna erase the Earth ♪

♪ Erase the Earth ♪

I hid the clicker as
far away as possible,

but we are seconds away.

I'm so sorry, guys.

Where did Shawn go?

Oh, don't bother.
He's just toying with us.

I know. That's what gives me hope.

Had to do it one last time before
all this goes away for good.

So what are you offering me now?

Nothing. It's over.
That was our last idea.

Good.

Soon, all your precious
humans will be gone.

Yeah. It's too bad.

Well, congrats, bud. You won.

See you in a billion years.

When the humans evolve again,

I'll be right back at
your throat, you traitor.

I mean, yeah, I know.

That's why I said, "See
you in a billion years."

Wait.

I'm gonna do the evil speech now.

If you want.

Since the dawn of time,

good and evil have waged a
furious battle, stemming from...

this feels stupid if you're
not gonna fight back.

How do you not have another plan?

You've always had another plan.

What's wrong, Shawn?

Okay, fine.

Gonna make me admit it.

Fighting you is the
most fun I've ever had.

I mean, you know.

You corkscrew your first eyeball,

and you're like, man, I can't believe

they're paying me to do this.

By the trillionth, it's like...

I should've just been a teacher.

And then you go and get the warm fuzzies

about your little humans,
and something...

something changed.

I was having fun again.

I'm not sure I'm ready for that to end.

I know, buddy. It's
hard when things end.

But one way or the other, this is over.

The only question is... what's next?

I heard your speech at Demon-Con.

You know this system stinks.

You wouldn't have let me try
the original experiment

if things were working.

Let's try a new way...

together.

Okay, finally.

For the last time, I, the
Judge of the afterlife...

Hang on, Your Honor.

Are you kidding me?

Can't a gal just end all
of humanity one time

without everyone getting
all up on her junk?

What is it, man?

Shawn has agreed to our proposal.

Wait, seriously?

In principle, yes.

Still some kinks to work in...

- Out.
- Out.

Sorry. Old habits.

But I think we can find
a way to make it work.

Guys, watch this.

Sorry.

Jeez.

Okay, well,

assuming we are redesigning
the entire afterlife

according to this plan...

what do we do first?

Oh, don't look at me. I'm...

I'm just the idea guy.