The Good Place S01E03 "Tahani Al-Jamil" Recap

Eleanor is suspicious of Tahani's seemingly nice demeanor and wonders if she was the one who wrote her the note. But after taking some time to get to know her, she begrudgingly accepts that Tahani is actually a nice person and tries to form an actual friendship with her. Tahani opens up about how she is saddened by Jinayu's vow of silence since she feels unable to properly connect with him while he is saying nothing.

Michael tries to help Chidi find a new hobby to take up in the afterlife but Chidi only wants to work on his ethics manuscript. Michael then admits that Chidi's book is difficult to read. Chidi is shocked and distraught since it's his life work, and accepts Michael's offer to be his advisor in rewriting it. All the while, Janet goes through a series of different personalities since Michael has been tinkering on her programming.

In a series of flashbacks, we see Eleanor's boyfriend Andy making a conscious effort to be good. However, Eleanor ultimately decides that trying to be good is pointless and far too much work to make happen when the world is full of so much bad.

Michael recruits Eleanor to help him determine the cause of things going wrong in the neighborhood. But before she can fully process the complications of this matter, she ends up meeting Jianyu that night. He breaks his vow of silence and speaks with an American accent, explaining that he was the one who wrote the note because he also doesn't belong in the Good Place either.

The Good Place airs on NBC.