In the words of Bad Janet, “what’s up, ya dinks?” We are definitely in for a wild ride this season. The stories of our beloved friends Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, Tahani, Michael, and Janet can go in all sorts of directions that we will not anticipate. Mike Schur and the writers of “The Good Place” have never failed to bombard us with unexpected twists and turns over the last three seasons, which leads me to believe we will NOT see any of the new mind-forks coming. However, I’ve compiled a list of season four theories floating around the internet from fellow fans, in addition to my own theories, that could potentially surface in the upcoming episodes:
- Eleanor will remain an architect and dedicate her afterlife to helping others become better people
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In the season three finale, Eleanor takes over for Michael as architect of their “Good Place” experiment when Michael has a full-on nervous breakdown. This brought us to the first episode of season four, where we see Eleanor give Chidi a tour of the new neighborhood after he was rebooted. She did a pretty good job at playing the part, in my opinion, which leads me to believe that her story will come full circle and she’ll come to love helping others learn to better themselves, as Chidi did for her throughout the entire show.
- Chidi falls in love with Simone, which accounts for Shawn’s torture of Eleanor that could potentially ruin the experiment
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Upon discovering that Shawn chose Chidi’s ex-girlfriend, Simone, from their time on earth in season three to be one of the four humans in the new experiment, Chidi decided it would be for the best if he had his memory erased, so he wouldn’t compromise the results and ultimately ruin the experiment.
Since Simone and Chidi technically do not “know” each other in the afterlife, I think it is a possibility that they will reconnect and fall in love all over again, which would devastate Eleanor because Chidi does not remember being in love with her either. This could definitely be a method of torturing Eleanor that benefits Shawn because it has the potential to ruin the experiment as well. This brings me to theory number three:
- Eleanor’s heartbreak and jealousy may cause her to accidentally expose the experiment to Chidi
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If theory #2 ends up happening, then this would most likely be a result. It would be extremely difficult for Eleanor to watch the love of her life fall in love with someone else, let alone his ex, knowing that he does not remember being in love with either of them in the first place. Revealing the truth about the experiment to Chidi would ruin the entire thing and get them all sent to the Bad Place.
- A similar theory to #3
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Chidi discovers the truth for himself by finding Eleanor crying over him or overhearing Michael, Janet, Eleanor, Jason and Tahani discussing their plans and next steps.
- Michael gets retired and the core four remain in the neighborhood they built in the Medium Place forever
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This might be a stretch, but I think that if the experiment goes south, Michael may try to convince the Judge to retire him as a form of self-sacrifice in order to save the core four from being sent to the Bad Place. He already proved that the four of them became better people in the afterlife, but if he fails to replicate the results with the four new humans, Shawn and the demons of the Bad Place win.
Honestly, literally anything can happen at this point, and I wouldn’t be surprised if none of these five theories prove to be true. If there’s one thing I know for sure about “The Good Place,” it’s to expect the unexpected.