The Good Place S03E01 "Everything is Bonzer!" (Part 1)

Judge Gen has only authorised Michael to travel to Earth once. Upon doing so he saves Eleanor's, Chidi's, Jason's, and Tahani's lives so they can live in a new timeline to see if they can still learn to be better people without making it to the afterlife first. Michael is forbidden from meddling with their lives any further.

But Michael and Janet continues to monitor the humans and find that their better approaches to life only last for about six months before they revert back to their old ways. Chidi meets a neuroscientist colleague from the university he is working at. Her name is Simone and he helps him to explore the inner mechanisms of his brain using an expensive MRI machine she has access to for her research. Chidi had become a more decisive person but when he recommends the same philosophy to his coworker Henry it inadvertently leads Henry to be very injured. Despite Henry holding no grudge against Chidi, the guilt is too much and Chidi becomes indecisive once again.

Michael defies Judge Gen's orders and returns to Earth to begin influencing the humans to meet one another. He nudges Eleanor down a path that sees her reunited with Chidi. She wants him to help her to become a better person and Chidi agrees to instruct her on moral philosophy after Michael pried Chidi to say yes.

Michael is worried about the plan working when Eleanor encourages Chidi to be brave and ask Simone out. But Janet tells him not to worry, reminding him that there were other attempts in the neighborhood when Chidi and Eleanor didn't become involved romantically but still managed to establish a meaningful connection.

Shawn is made aware of this new timeline with the humans and orders a Bad Place team to hack into Gen's system to interfere so the humans will not earn their way into the Good Place. Michael's repeated trips to Earth have opened up a backdoor which Shawn's team is able to exploit for their use.

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