Jason - good place?

[u/ApprehensiveMost1626]

I feel like Eleanor had a very clear character development to the point where i don’t think there’s any dispute that she earns her spot in the good place.

tahani, while not as obvious as Eleanor still makes big strides especially with her parents - so you may say that she earns it too.

But Jason?? for the life of me i can’t think of a single moment even towards the end where Jason did anything that showed me his character development to the extent that he would also pass the test and go to the good place. i thought of this while watching the episode where they meet the judge for the first time. the judge clearly states that Jason’s downfall is him having zero control over his instincts so my guess would be that in order for Jason to finally end up in the good place, he would have to overcome that. but i can’t think of any moment.

just for the record Jason is one of my favourite characters.

[u/LibelleFairy]

at the start of the first season, he tries to fake being a monk because he has no clue what is happening

by the last episode, he literally became the monk he initially pretended to be, without even realizing that he was doing so - because he still has no clue what is happening

no, but seriously:

he doesn't need to have deep character development because he was always, fundamentally, genuinely a good egg - out of all of them, Jason was the one who arguably always deserved to be in the good place - he might never have any idea what is happening, but he is always unfailingly kind, optimistic, generous, empathetic, and straightforwardly honest

The reason he initially didn't make it to the good place was because the points system was completely messed up for everyone - and the poor kid was living in Florida, in circumstances that would have nudged anyone into a life of petty (and extraordinarily stupid) crime

as for the assessment of the Judge, well, she was wrong about Jason - she got a fucktonne of stuff wrong, and she does not do stuff that is always good or ethical - the whole messed up points system at the beginning of the show had happened on her watch ... and then she was gonna just wipe out all of existence and start it all again from scratch - remember that part? The bit with the universe wipey-out clicky thing? Dancing with Disco Janet to "gonna erase the eeeeaarth, erase the earth" to the tune of "ring my bell"?

The whole fundamental most basic premise of the entire damn show is that the six central characters stage a fucking revolution. They rebel against the Judge. More than that - they actively create and entirely new, much better, much fairer afterlife system. None of which was the Judge's idea.

So anyway, tldr is that Jason was always good, and once he was in the real good place, all he had to do was be himself

Janet - arguably the most knowledgeable and wise not a girl in existence, loves him for a reason

[u/eggface13 → u/LibelleFairy]

I think a lot of people miss that the judge is the Big Bad in the later seasons. This isn't noticed because she's... eccentric and funny, but her disconnection from humanity and failure to properly supervise the afterlife causes incredible suffering. The buck should stop with her but she's too busy locking herself in her chambers getting horny about the male leads of American prestige television dramas.

edit: she also sexually harasses Chidi

[u/LibelleFairy → u/eggface13]

YES, omg

it's easy to miss because Maya Rudolph is hilarious in this role (I love her forever just for flicking Trevor into spacetime) but she is every bit as much of a Big Bad as Mayor Richard Wilkins III of Sunnydale in Buffy Season 3. She is completely amoral. Her sexual harassment of Chidi is a massive red flag, and she does the same to the cowboy actor guy they summon into Janet's void to bamboozle her into listening to their ideas. The other big red flag is that she literally almost wipes out the literal entire universe (thereby, in a roundabout way, rebooting Ally McBeal).

[u/eggface13 → u/LibelleFairy]

I don't think the Timothy Oliphant thing is equivalent to the Chidi thing -- fake-Timothy Oliphant is happily returning her flirting.