The Good Place Roundtable: The Burrito

The Good Place Season 2 Episode 12, “The Burrito,” saw Team Cockroach fighting for their lives in more ways than one. While Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason are taking their tests to see if they deserve to be in the good place Shawn is taking Michael hostage instead of killing him.

It doesn’t take long before Janet reveals that she impersonated Bad Janet and knocks Shawn out for Michael, leading them to the portal to see the judge as well.

Tell-Tale TV writers Ali Hanford, Janelle McCammack, Christina Cerutti, and Cade Taylor discuss this episode below.

• Ali Hanford  (@Ali610)
• Janelle McCammack (@schoolsoutlaw)
• Christina Cerutti (@teen_hale)
• Cade Taylor (@cadehtaylor)

1. There were so many plot twists on this episode. Which was your favorite?

Ali: Good Janet finally learning how to be a convincing Bad Janet so that she could save her friends was a highlight.  It was awesome to see her take out Shawn and save Michael from having to avoid reading all of those issues of the New Yorker.

Christina: My favorite plot twist was Good Janet pretending to be Bad Janet the whole time. I didn’t see that coming at all especially with how in the last episode she was doing a horrible job at impersonating Bad Janet.

Good Janet saved the day, and the look on Michael’s face when he realized it was her was just equally amazing.

Janelle: When Maya Rudolph is revealed as the burrito adoring judge! I was clutched over in glee for each hilarious morsel from the judge, especially the insistence on Tahani repeating the word “aluminum” and the “envy sauce” to add a little zing to her burrito.

Each of the judge’s Good Place entry tests was delightful and surprising, and I am looking forward to even more Rudolph as the judge in the season finale!

Cade: My favorite plot twist is when Good Janet reveals that she took Bad Janet hostage and was impersonating her. Janet is one of my favorite characters and to see the progress she’s made is fantastic. I, also, loved Maya Rudolph being revealed as the judge. She fits in the show so perfectly.

2. Were you surprised that Eleanor was the only one who passed the judges test?

Ali: It was obvious that Eleanor was the only one who was going to pass the judge’s test. She and Michael are the only ones who have made any real strides towards improvement, and she’s amazing at figuring out other people’s deceptions.

After all, she was the first one to figure out they were really in The Bad Place.

Christina: No, I wasn’t. She’s been working so hard to be a better person because she wants to be. Not that the others don’t want to be, but Eleanor to me has had the most growth. She’s come to terms with most of her demons.

She accepts that she was considered bad but is really trying to redeem herself.  Jason is just really not smart and can’t grasp anything; Tahani still doesn’t have closure with her sister, and Chidi still hasn’t found the deep-rooted cause for why he can never make a decision.

Janelle: I wasn’t surprised that Eleanor was the only one who passed the judge’s test, but I am continually surprised how simultaneously despicable and loving Eleanor can be. Yes, Eleanor recognizes that she’s working with a stand-in Chidi because she loves him, but I honestly feel that Elanor would have been able to figure out the trick with any of her best friends.

She has fallen in love with all of them, including Janet and Michael. Amidst this witty, plot-twisting episode is this gorgeous love.  Eleanor also gets The Bad Place. She relates to Michael on a deep level.

I was surprised that Chidi wasn’t really Chidi, but my husband wasn’t! My husband proudly exclaimed, “that’s not really Chidi!” right before the reveal. What can I say, I married well.

Cade: Honestly, no. I thought that maybe Tahani would pass because she’s been working hard (in her own way), but sadly she failed. Eleanor will always be the star student of the class because unlike the others she knows how bad of a person she was and she truly wants to change that about herself.

3. If you were in Eleanor’s shoes, do you think that you would have lied about passing the test as well? What do you think about her not telling the truth to the others?

Ali: I think that Eleanor’s decision not to tell the others that she passed really shows how far she’s come. This way, she saves them all the guilt of knowing they kept her from The Good Place.

Bonus points: It gives us an exciting revelation to look forward to – like when Buffy finally let the cat out of the bag and told the Scooby Gang they pulled her out of Heaven. (Maybe they can also do their big reveal in a musical episode.  We all know Kristen Bell can sing.)

Christina: If I were with three of my closest friends, I wouldn’t want to leave them. I would be so unhappy if I got to go to The Good Place without them. It wouldn’t be considered good without them. She’s an incredibly good person now. Well, she always was, I think, but just deep inside.

She didn’t want to leave her friends that have become her family, so it’s understandable that she lied.

Janelle: To be honest, if I were in Eleanor’s shoes I would be failing, hard. At everything. It’s a great testament to her ever-growing character that she passed the test and recognized that there was a Chidi-bot.

Faced with the complex choice about telling my team that I was the only one who “passed” the test, I think I would have tried to protect my vulnerable heart as Eleanor did, but in a much, much more awkward fashion.

Cade: I think it’s very noble of Eleanor and I agree with Ali that her keeping quiet about passing shows how far she’s come from where she started. I don’t think I could tell my friends that I was the only one who passed, either. It would be soul-crushing to have to leave them, knowing that they’re heading to the bad place for the rest of eternity.

4. Michael and Good Janet show up just in time before the judge sentences Team Cockroach to life in the bad place. What do you predict will happen in the season finale?

Ali: I’m hoping that Michael and Janet will be able to present some sort of new evidence to the Judge, if only so that we can get another episode with Maya Rudolph in it.  However, I doubt it.

I’m wondering if the Judge will go back on her word and send Good Janet and Eleanor to the Good Place and the others to the Bad Place.  It might be interesting to see them try to work their way back to one another.

Christina: I really don’t know. This show really keeps me on my toes, and I never know what to expect, so I’m excited to see what will happen.

Janelle: I have two predictions. First, Eleanor has been plucked from the bad place as a potential judge. I predict that she has been called out as possessing a balance of good and bad place qualities and the judges are in need of a replacement for some reason.

She will be faced with the opportunity to take a seat on the judge’s throne, with Michael by her side. Second, Jason and Janet, because of their pure and genuine approaches to everything, save the day and crack the code that allows the entire Team Cockroach into the good place.

I can’t wait to be surprised by the finale!

Cade: I have no clue! This show has a way of making sure you never really know what’s going to happen. If I had to guess, I’m going to assume that Michael might potentially talk the judge into letting them into the good place if Michael owes her a favor. But, he is a traitor after all, and she is above him, so I’m not sure.

5. If only three members of Team Cockroach can make it to the real good place who would, you choose to make it?

Ali:  I’m sorry — I know this is probably an unpopular opinion — but I’m ditching Chidi.  He has made no progress.  The fact that he spent time debating what hat to choose without realizing that the test was not about the hat, but about his oft-discussed indecisiveness, concerns me.

Christina: I would want Eleanor, Tahani, and Chidi to make it. Eleanor passed the test for one and deserves it, Tahani might not have passed the test, but she confronted her parents, and that’s huge, and Chidi has still a lot to work on but he’s been teaching everyone ethics-he deserves to be there.

The thing is with Jason he’s just so unaware of anything, I think he would be okay in The Bad Place. Jason is the type of person who would get a toy in the mail but only play with the box. He’s so unaware and oblivious I think he would find a way to be okay in The Bad Place.

Janelle: Impossible. I would have to pull a Team Cockroach and insist on an all or nothing! Janet is the hero, and she needs her love, Jason, in the Good Place with her. Michael and Eleanor have the best chemistry on the show, in my opinion.

There is no way either could be in the Good Place without the other. Tahani pulled out some incredible growth on this episode by facing her parents earning their approval. I love watching her discover herself.

The only character on the show I don’t connect with, so far, is Chidi. However, at this point, I have such deep faith in The Good Place’s team, that I know Chidi’s journey is essential to the show’s story-line. They all need to be together, wherever they end up.

Cade: I would want Eleanor, Tahani, and Good Janet. While I somewhat agree with Christina that Chidi should be in the good place because he was the one to teach everyone ethics, I also don’t see why he should get to go when he has made no progress.

He may be the one teaching and helping, but if he doesn’t learn the material and grow himself it does no good for him, and it’s evident that he has a long way to go. I want Michael to get to go to the good place terribly, but I know that will never happen.

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What did you think of this episode of The Good Place? Respond to our roundtable questions with your own answers in the comments below! You can also catch up with our review of “The Burrito,” right here.

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

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