(Note: This post contains mild spoilers from the Oct. 4 episode of “The Good Place.”)
“The Good Place” just rolled out an explanation for some of the weird things that have been happening in our world, like Brexit, and the Jacksonville Jaguars recent successes: demonic intervention.
Season 3 has been all about Michael (Ted Danson) and Janet (D’Arcy Carden) trying to prevent Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), Chidi (William Jackson Harper) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) from winding up in the Bad Place. It started with Michael, who convinced Judge Hydrogen (Maya Rudolph) to reset the timeline at the end of Season 2, saving each of the four from their original accidental deaths, giving them a chance to become better people on Earth and avoid their former fates.
Things weren’t really working out, though, so Michael returned to Earth a few more times to help put everyone on track, driving Eleanor to meet up with Chidi, and then sending Tahani and Jason to join them. Everything seemed to be going great, although Michael had to “cheat” the experiment by returning to Earth again and again (kind of like how he kept rebooting the Fake Good Place).
But in the third episode of the season, “The Brainy Bunch,” Michael finally gets caught when he and Janet try to stop more intervention in the experiment. Trevor (Adam Scott), a Bad Place demon, has shown up on Earth in order to try to break up the group of humans and mess everything up. When Michael and Janet also go back to Earth, the Judge finally gets wise to what’s happening.
It turns out that Michael’s alterations to the timeline are blamed for some real-world effects. When the Judge brings Michael, Janet and Trevor back to Earth, she explains that their interference in the timeline has created ripple events that have made everything weirder. She mentions Brexit, the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union.
In the real word, the vote for the UK to leave the EU really was kind of weird, and wasn’t really expected to pass. But thanks to the unexpected consequences of Michael messing with the timeline, it did.
Brexit isn’t the only thing the Judge points out that’s a bit strange. She also mentions the success of the Hugh Jackman movie “The Greatest Showman,” the fact that the Jacksonville Jaguars are good enough to make the NFL Playoffs this year, and that comedian-turned-media mogul Byron Allen now owns the Weather Channel. They’re all Michael’s fault.
But in case you’re wondering, there’s one big, weird event you might have expected Michael to be blamed for that didn’t come up: the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Donald Trump shocking win was at least as big an upset as Brexit. Not only did he secure the presidential nomination during a packed Republican primary, he defeated Hillary Clinton in national election despite losing the popular vote by nearly three million votes. That’s how close it was.
But it was probably wise not to go there. No matter which side of the political divide, ascribing Trump’s presidency to the meddling of a demon in human affairs would be one hell of a hornet’s nest-kick. We’re all angry enough as it is without having to get into shouting matches with our families over what is inarguably one of the best shows on TV.