Possibly unanswered questions?

[jpollo02]

Having watched the series through a second time, here are the things that baffle me a bit.  Some of these probably have obvious answers I'm missing.

• I understand all of the imagery when the world first breaks down in ep 1 (rolling medicine bottles, giraffes, flying shrimp, etc) except for why everyone  (except Eleanor) is wearing yellow/grey zigzag clothing.  What does that represent?
• Can Michael reprogram Janet?  This seems like it's key to her trustworthiness.  I know he says she's from the Good Place (which could be a lie, of course), but in ep 2, he tinkers with her personality over and over again.  In re-watching it, these scenes seemed kind of purposeless things for him to do (in light of the revelation about his true nature) unless they were to tip us off regarding his power in this respect.  In a similar vein, is it possible that Bad Janet is just a reprogrammed Good Janet?  I'm struck by Tahani seeing Bad Janet in action and saying, "what is even the point of having something like that?", to which Michael says, "Unclear."
• What exactly is the effect of rebooting Janet?  We're told she eventually regains all of her knowledge of the universe, and logically, that would include the things that happen in the Good Place.  But are we to understand that she regains her knowledge of everything *except* what happens in the Good Place?
• Why does Janet say that Tahani’s sinkhole joke is “exactly 9 days too soon”?  Is that in fact how long the sinkhole took to repair itself?

[ThoughtAFool]

I thought the zigzag clothing was blue/yellow - University of Michigan colors (Eleanor's sleep shirt is University of Michigan Law School, presumably Good Eleanor's alma mater)

I have a lot of the same questions about Janet's programming.  Can we treat her information as 100% reliable?  Maybe if she's really a Good Place Janet, we can.  But... if Michael can tinker with her personality, can he make her give inaccurate information? In particular, I wonder about her professed inability to answer questions about the Bad Place except for playing the alleged live audio ("the bear has two mouths!")

ETA:  Another thing that hinges on Janet's reliability:  if Janet's 100% reliable, Mindy's Medium Place might actually be real, rather than something staged by Michael and friends.

Edited February 8, 2017 by ThoughtAFool

[Isazouzi]

- About the "exactly 9 days too soon", I thought it just meant that people were still too upset about the sinkhole to laugh about it, and that 9 days was the required amount of time for them to get over it. Just like in the real world, when comedians immediately joke about something tragic (deaths, terrorist attacks, what have you), saying you should be able to laugh about everything, when actually people are still too hurt to be able to enjoy the jokes.

- About Janet's trustworthiness, I've mentioned it in the episode thread but here's what's puzzling me. Janet takes Jason and Eleanor to the Medium Place, but once they're back and discussing who's going to be sent to the Bad Place, she tells Jason that it's impossible for her to go there. But she already is in the Bad Place! Also why could she go to the Medium Place then? And how did Michael managed to steal her in the first place?

My opinion is that the Medium Place isn't real, that it was all an act. I think most of what we saw was designed to mess up with their heads, including Bad Janet, Trevor and his crew and the tinkering of Good Janet. It made her almost useless, which was the point, a subtle kind of torture. Everything was torture, in one form or another. Even the Medium Place.

It doesn't answer the question about Good Janet though. If Michael hadn't said he stole her from the Good Place, I would have thought she was just a Bad Janet designed to act as a Good Janet. And now that I think about it, why even bother to steal one? OK now I'm lost!

[Mabinogia]

5 hours ago, Isazouzi said:

but once they're back and discussing who's going to be sent to the Bad Place, she tells Jason that it's impossible for her to go there. But she already is in the Bad Place!

I assumed that the reason she couldn't go TO the bad place was because she was there and you can't go to a place you are already in. I think she's been forbidden via programming to tell them they are in the bad place but she herself knows they are.

I am very interested in how/why Michael stole a good Janet. Authenticity maybe? Can bad Janet's not be programmed to be good? And who did he steal her from? Was our Janet meant for a good place? Did they have to get a new Janet? I want to know more about how the whole Janet system works. I also want my own Janet. Screw Suri or Google Home or whatever else they have out there now. Give me a Janet! She's awesome.

[Isazouzi]

18 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

I assumed that the reason she couldn't go TO the bad place was because she was there and you can't go to a place you are already in. I think she's been forbidden via programming to tell them they are in the bad place but she herself knows they are.

 

Ah! Good thinking!

But see, what I don't understand is this: Michael stole a Good Janet, meant to be in the Good Place. So I assumed he had to reprogram her somehow to fit his scenario and, as you said, not tell people the truth about being in the Bad Place and everything. So it means Janet is programmable. So why steal one? Why not program a Bad Janet?

 

18 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

 Screw Suri or Google Home or whatever else they have out there now. Give me a Janet! She's awesome.

Siri. Suri is Tom Cruise's daughter, and I'm sure he believes she's magical, but still ^^

Edited February 9, 2017 by Isazouzi

[Mabinogia]

6 hours ago, Isazouzi said:

So it means Janet is programmable. So why steal one? Why not program a Bad Janet?

That is what I want to know. I hope we get an answer. Maybe it is extremely involved to reprogram a Janet's entire personality. What I'm curious about is why steal one rather than, go to the Janet making department and ask them to make him a good Janet for his experiment. I got the impression, given that he was having meetings about it, that this experiment was approved by someone, so why would he have to steal from another department? Or is there more to architect world than we know. I just feel like he could have requisitioned a Janet for the project that fit his needs. I give this way too much though lol

Edited February 9, 2017 by Mabinogia

[secnarf]

I think we can trust Janet and that she is unaware of Michael's scheme because she gave Eleanor the piece of paper at the very end.

I have no idea why he needed to steal her, but perhaps it was a way of making things authentic? We also don't know where the architects or Janets come from, or how rare they are. It's a different world that doesn't follow our rules, so anything is possible.

[whiporee]

Janet is above all these shenanigans. She works directly for God.  She might be God.  

[Loandbehold]

19 hours ago, whiporee said:

Janet is above all these shenanigans. She works directly for God.  She might be God.  

God and Jason sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S ... no. I refuse to even contemplate that. Janet may a god, but she is not The God.*

 

* To quote Groundhog Day.

[Isazouzi]

Yeah, I don't buy it either.

[Affogato]

On ‎2‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 4:18 AM, Isazouzi said:

 

It doesn't answer the question about Good Janet though. If Michael hadn't said he stole her from the Good Place, I would have thought she was just a Bad Janet designed to act as a Good Janet. And now that I think about it, why even bother to steal one? OK now I'm lost!

I wonder if Janet is an essential utility that keeps the pocket universes running. If she is rebooted and placed somewhere she grows to resemble it, the pipes and wires look like the pocket universe she services. Maybe she carries some of this wherever she goes, you can sell a car and return the mileage to zero but probably still tell if it was run in a place near an ocean or over salted roads. An 'evil janet' might unconsciously undermine the project? Add fecal flavours to the frozen yogurt, always a tip off?