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S02.E06: The Trolley Problem


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I knew Michael was still torturing them as soon as they were on the Trolley! Glad Eleanor figured that out. 

I was wondering if Janet would "remember" she was married to Jason. No luck so far. I'm excited to see where the glitching story goes. It likely means more Janet and that's always a good thing.

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"Such a Shelstrop thing to do. Oh god, what does that say about me?"

Favorite line of the night and that's saying something. Chidi covered in gore, who would think that would be so funny. Michael can't help torturing. And Janet gliching, I think someone's jealous of Tahani and Jason. I love this forking show!

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You lose more points for stealing a baguette, because it's more French. :)

Maybe that's the real reason Chidi wound up in the bad place-- close proximity to French things and French people. I'm sure the bad place doesn't care that he's only a francophone because he happened to grow up in a country that was colonized by France.

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2 minutes ago, CaptainTightpants said:

I think it is pretty clear that despite Kristen Bell's fantastic chemistry with every single member of the main cast, Eleanor and Michael are the true soulmates here! They totally get each other, deep deep down in shrimp dispensing ways. 

 

Yes, this. I immediately wondered if that was the precursor to some sort of future with Eleanor and Michael.

Probably because my kids were just watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Mr. DVD immediately asked if that was the trolley from that show.

I literally laugh out loud every week at this show. I can't handle the brilliance.

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If all of France is categorically eliminated, there's gotta be, like, less then 20 people in the actual Good Place. Just extrapolating given all that we're told about what gets you credit. I know they're all jokes, but given all the things that give you negative points (Red Hot Chili Peppers fandom!) it'd be reserved for only the true Saints among us.

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I'm pleased they had Michael take the opportunity to torture Chidi. Because A) it was awesome seeing Chidi get splattered by the casualties of his ethical test, and B) Michael has spent literally all of time torturing others, he's not going to ditch his instincts now that he's Team Cockroach. I was so proud of Chidi standing up to Michael and demanding an apology. That shows real growth on his part, that he's not willing be made a fool or be mistreated, that he's confident in his abilities and commands respect.

Tahani impressed me tonight, too. She recognized she was overriding Jason's thoughts and she backed off and let him have his private session with Janet. Janet's malfunctions are bizarre, and my guess is that they have to do with Jason. We saw her and Jason bond, and now perhaps she's experiencing jealously over Tahani and Jason's relationship. I hope that's the direction they go in, because every though Janet isn't human, it's her warmth and humanity that make her special.

We've got to get Jason a new Pikachu balloon, y'all, I hated seeing his sad face. And Eleanor pigging out on an admittedly gross combination of food, haven't we all been there?

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Oh I forgot, it's disgusting, but I so want that shrimp dispenser!

And I do think Janet is glitching because of Jason. Somewhere in her 800 upgrades she remembers something about Jason. But I'm not trying too hard to figure it out, the writers have been good enough that I'm just going with it.

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I have gone back and watched blood-splattered Chidi 4 times now, and I am nowhere near done! The poor guy's teeth are absolutely drenched with Henry in the second trolley massacre

11 minutes ago, Linny said:

We've got to get Jason a new Pikachu balloon, y'all, I hated seeing his sad face.

I really think that Michael should have sprung for an ACTUAL pikachu, not a balloon. Probably budgetary concerns with the show. The build-an-actual-bear birthday party episode must have cost a fortune!    

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56 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

Prisoner's Dilemma. Pascal's Wager. Schrodinger's Cat. Plato's Cave. Let's face it, a lot of philosophical thought experiments can double as torture scenarios.

Absolutely. Applied Moral Philosophy can easily be torture. 

What better way to torture Chidi, a morality and ethics professor, than to force the man who shuts down when making choices to tackle the very same ethical dilemmas he teaches in practice as opposed to theoretically? 
It does also reinforce just how hard those decisions could be. Eleanor was there the whole time, how would she have fared at the controls or any of us, really? I know it was to torture Chidi, but I wonder what she would have done. 

Who knew a comedy could work so well on so many levels?

39 minutes ago, Fukui San said:

If all of France is categorically eliminated, there's gotta be, like, less then 20 people in the actual Good Place. Just extrapolating given all that we're told about what gets you credit. I know they're all jokes, but given all the things that give you negative points (Red Hot Chili Peppers fandom!) it'd be reserved for only the true Saints among us.

Florence Nightingale, the Lady with the Lamp, didn't make the Good Place according to Michael, but that could have been just something Michael said to Eleanor to make her more aware of not belonging there. We don't know if he was truthful about any of the criteria he's listed or who really is in the Good or Bad Place. Many of them are indeed jokes or Michael Schur's pet peeves. 

21 minutes ago, CaptainTightpants said:

I really think that Michael should have sprung for an ACTUAL pikachu, not a balloon. Probably budgetary concerns with the show. The build-an-actual-bear birthday party episode must have cost a fortune!    

Knowing Jason, he'd try to pick him up and shock himself. 

28 minutes ago, mammaM said:

And I do think Janet is glitching because of Jason. Somewhere in her 800 upgrades she remembers something about Jason. But I'm not trying too hard to figure it out, the writers have been good enough that I'm just going with it.

After all the resets, Janet may be the most advanced  Janet in the universe. Maybe she's remembering that he was the only person who really ever treated as more than just a fountain of all knowledge and procurer of almost anything. He treated her like a person despite not being one. Perhaps it's jealousy against Tahani for stealing her man? I'm looking forward to what's going to happen too.

I half expected her to cough up a cactus instead of a frog. 

Edited by DrScottie
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I usually don't agree with Eleanor's views on things, but in this case, a shrimp dispenser is amazing!  Best gift ever!!

Should have known Michael would use Chidi's ethics classes to find a way to torture him.  Surprised how violent they actually got with it, but I loved seeing the actual Trolly Problem played out.  Although I really wish I could have saw the one where Michael made him pick between five William Shakespeares and one Santa Claus.  I do wonder how sincere Michael's apology was at the end.  I'd like to think he could end up actually learning from all of this, but will it ever be possible to change him?

Still not quite sure what to make of Tahani/Jason in the long run, but I like the stuff here, with Tahani's vanity making her feel embarrassed about forking... err, "shagging" someone like Jason, but slowly realizing that there is a reason she likes him.  Again, I don't know if they are going to workout in the long run, but I'm enjoying it for now.  That said, I'm totally thinking that Janet's glitches are because she unknowingly is jealous of the relationship.  

Chidi actually saying forking was great, followed by Eleanor's face when he said that.

Damn, so now everyone from France automatically goes to the Bad Place?!  I really want to know who can actually make to the real Good Place.

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1 hour ago, DrScottie said:

After all the resets, Janet may be the most advanced  Janet in the universe. Maybe she's remembering that he was the only person who really ever treated as more than just a fountain of all knowledge and procurer of almost anything. He treated her like a person despite not being one.

Did he, though? Weren't his exact words "I like her because she gives me stuff?"  And although she was only Version 2 at the time, Janet certainly didn't have the capacity to care about him other than her usual role.

I know we fans have enjoyed the idea of J&J, but I'm not sure it was meant to be more than "Jason's so dumb he thinks a robot is his soulmate."

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14 minutes ago, Amarsir said:

Did he, though? Weren't his exact words "I like her because she gives me stuff?"  And although she was only Version 2 at the time, Janet certainly didn't have the capacity to care about him other than her usual role.

I'm taking this from the "What's My Motivation?" episode (Episode 11). 

Janet: "My suspicion is that when I was rebooted, I bonded with Jason in a way that I have never bonded with anyone before. I seem to have gained a new understanding of love."

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The glitches for Janet, imo, have less to do with Jason, specifically, and more to do with human emotion. She's not supposed to feel or have these spontaneous bursts of thought and emotion, but she is. It is rocking the balance, it doesn't belong, and it's causing dysfunction. Which I'm entirely enjoying and look forward to more of it!

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I laughed through every scenario in the tram, I'm trying not to think too much about what that says about me.

2 hours ago, mammaM said:

Oh I forgot, it's disgusting, but I so want that shrimp dispenser!

 

Oh yes, a never ending shrimp dispenser is definitely my idea of The Good Place.

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The episode glossed over my favorite part of (my loose understanding of) the Trolley Problem: it pits utilitarianism (saving the many vs the few) against making an active choice to kill that one person by switching tracks, vs standing by and letting a bad (equally bad? more bad?) thing happen through your inaction.

As for Michael's apology, I kept waiting for a last second reveal. I think the way he was set up since the s1 finale to have been revealed to be a master liar means I can't trust what seemed on the surface as a wholly sincere apology. Like the saying goes, if you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.

Michael once described Janet as a sort of "foundational mainframe" for the neighborhood, and to judge by the earthquake, he might have meant that literally.

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1 hour ago, piewarmer said:

I'd like mine without the mystery flavor, though.

I'd love a melted white chocolate dispenser; I'd just have it separately from the shrimp. Dessert, yum!

 

1 minute ago, NJRadioGuy said:

I think the shrimp might have a different viewpoint, though.

I don't think shrimp are sentient, so this doesn't bother me.

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Janet's reboots are considered deaths for her, and marriage is (on earth) typically just "till death do you part", so arguably Jason and Janet haven't been married since the end of attempt 1. Or at least, even if there have been some repeats over the last 800 attempts, starting fresh on 802 means Janet died yet again after 801 and is thus not married.

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3 minutes ago, arc said:

Janet's reboots are considered deaths for her, and marriage is (on earth) typically just "till death do you part", so arguably Jason and Janet haven't been married since the end of attempt 1. Or at least, even if there have been some repeats over the last 800 attempts, starting fresh on 802 means Janet died yet again after 801 and is thus not married.

Okay, sure, but that doesn't mean that the emotions aren't still there in whatever equivalent Janet has to a subconscious.

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39 minutes ago, Anisky said:

I'd love a melted white chocolate dispenser; I'd just have it separately from the shrimp. Dessert, yum!

I'd think it would have to change every time you use it in order to truly be a mystery flavor :)

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(edited)

OMG, Jason's sheer joy at seeing that Pikachu balloon slayed me! But that jerk Michael didn't even offer to give him a new one. Demon!

I also loved that even as Eleanor was warning everyone that the mystery flavor was white chocolate and that it was disgusting with shrimp, she was still eating her white chocolate covered shrimp.

7 hours ago, Amarsir said:

Notable that Janet's 3 glitches all followed her referring to herself as "happy".

Not just happy. Happy for Tahani and Jason. I think that inadvertently lying is what's making her glitch, partly because she's always supposed to tell the truth and partly because she's subconsciously jealous.

Edited by ElectricBoogaloo
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3 hours ago, Anisky said:

What I think are causing the glitches for Janet is that she's not supposed to be able to lie, but she's lying without even realizing she's doing it.

I think it has everything to do with Jason. The times she glitched:

Tahani: “How do you feel about giving Jason and me couple's therapy?”
Janet: “I'd feel great.” (Thumb flies off.)

“Aww, I'm happy for you guys.” (Vomits up a frog.)

“I am very happy for the both of you.” (Huge earthquake.)

If some "subconscious" part of her knows that she's married to Jason, then all of those things would be a lie-- she wouldn't feel great about giving her husband and another woman couple's therapy, and she wouldn't be happy for them. Since she doesn't know that they're lies, her programming doesn't prevent her from saying them. But since they are lies, and Janet's aren't supposed to be able to lie, it's causing glitches. 

That's my guess, anyway. 

I also wonder if the "Ride or Die Protocol" has anything to do with it.

Yeah that's what I think as well. 

What's the "Ride or Die Protocol"?

 

Great episode, the show's really running full steam on track (quite literally this week, that subplot was just epic). It's probably way too plot heavy for a large audience to ever really take off ratings wise, but I'll be damned (and off the bad place, where I'll go anyway if the show's scoring system would be applied, so screw it!) if this isn't the best comedy right now. The whole cast was absolutely on fire as well, with no exceptions. Favorite moment this week goes to Jason for popping the Pikachu balloon, that was just perfect comedic timing. Ted Danson is getting better every week (how is that even possible?), his gleeful evil version of Michael is the best thing ever, period. 

Count me in among the "wants that shrimp machine" crowd. Eleanor is right, this is the dream. Who cares about that boring lump of carbon?

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9 hours ago, Mockingbird said:

Michael’s super sarcastic non-apology followed by his sincere, vulnerable actual apology melted my heart. Which is probably why I’d be so easy to torture. 

My own reaction was that his vulnerable actual apology was less apologetic than his sarcastic non-apology.

Edited by Milburn Stone
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8 hours ago, cmahorror said:

I must have a truly sick sense of humor because I found both things absolutely hilarious - YMMV as always.

Chidi's one of those people who, in life, seemed to personify the saying those who can't do teach. He could go on and on about moral philosophy and making proper choices but he failed to actually make those choices in real life - that is why he is in the bad place, his failure to make the proper choices and recognize that he made the wrong choices. This is a man who missed his mother's back surgery so he could help his landlord's nephew program his phone. A man who pretended to like his friend's boots for years and let it torture him to the point that he chose the absolute wrong time to tell his friend, right after the man's surgery, that he hated the boots. A man who still thinks every time he gets rebooted the reason he is in the Bad Place is his love for almond milk.

That being said, I think Michael helped Chidi out quite a bit in this episode even if it was unintentional. Because of Michael's machinations, Chidi was forced to not only make choices but deal with the consequences of those choices. Michael's trolley torture had the effect of making Chidi more assertive and less willing to compromise or put up with Michael's crap. Chidi acted on instinct by throwing Michael out of class and never second-guessed his decision. It was only after Michael apologized, giving Chidi what he demanded, that Chidi changed his mind.

Trying to bribe a moral philosophy professor? Really Michael?

 

Your post makes me wonder if the entire thing was designed to lead to growth in Chidi.  Disguised as torture.  So, like this isn't the Good Place or the Bad Place, but Purgatory.  If not intentional, it is an interesting effect anyway.  Forcing Chidi to choose is probably exactly what he needed.  

Also, "I do sit in gum a lot" was funny.

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I think it is an interesting moral dilemma.  After last week people were complaining that the dog story was too far and are laughing at the physical violence of today’s episode.  That has often been my point.  Even hearing about a dog getting hurt is too much for some but then they turn around and laugh at a guy getting run over my a trolley.  Personally I found both funny.  Tv violence is just that for me.  Tv violence.  Look away.  

Edited by Chaos Theory
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11 hours ago, Panopticon said:

I love this show.

Also, I want to go to the movie theater beside the trollley tracks and see "Bend it like Bentham."

Paired with Strangers Under The Train!

White chocolate is sweetened lard and even on its own is proof that we are all in The Bad Place. 

The little smile Michael got when Chidi said he just knew more than him was fabulous.

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59 minutes ago, SoothingDave said:

Your post makes me wonder if the entire thing was designed to lead to growth in Chidi.  Disguised as torture.  So, like this isn't the Good Place or the Bad Place, but Purgatory.  If not intentional, it is an interesting effect anyway.  Forcing Chidi to choose is probably exactly what he needed.  

I felt this as well. To me (and this might be what you're saying, in different words), Chidi was not so much being forced to choose as being forced to confront that his philosophical studies have been for him a comfortable escape from life rather than a guide in how to live it.

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What's got one thumb and falls more in love with this show every week? This not lady! 

Ted Danson is doing work in this role. The way he transitions between delight, sinisterism, confusion, frustration, and a myriad of other emotions is great. He and Kristen Bell particularly are playing off each other well! 

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This show was giving me Kimmy Schmidt déjà vu with the philosophy rap (and they did something on the trolley problem in passing over there as well). Either that, or everyone is actually doing philosophy raps and I don't know about it (if so, I don't want to know about it).

Tahani and Jason are just Joey and Rachel all over again for me - they're trying to make Jason a bit more wise and self-aware in the scenes where they are together so that it doesn't squick us out, but then he's back to screaming excitement about balloons the very next scene. Which means they need to just come out soon and tell us that Jason isn't as slow as he seems. I did love that Eleanor calls him Chidi's nicest friend, considering the competition involves her, Tahani, and a few hundred actual demons.

Red boot guy! Still getting screwed over by his horrible boots!

With all the disqualifications for getting into the Real Good Place, I'm starting to think that it will turn out to be completely empty, and if they ever get there, they will be literally the only people or entities they ever see again for all eternity. Very Sartre.

Edited by Lebanna
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12 hours ago, CaptainTightpants said:

I think it is pretty clear that despite Kristen Bell's fantastic chemistry with every single member of the main cast, Eleanor and Michael are the true soulmates here! They totally get each other, deep deep down in shrimp dispensing ways. 

Totally agree, and I've been wondering for a while if it won't go in the direction that Michael will turn out to be more or less the parent Eleanor evidently never had (and really, think about it, a torturing, lying demon would be right at home in Eleanor's family wheelhouse). They DO get each other, and as we know from Elsa and Anna in Frozen, true love (aka soulmates) don't always have to be romantic, LOL.

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15 hours ago, Linny said:

We've got to get Jason a new Pikachu balloon, y'all, I hated seeing his sad face.

He could just ask Janet for another one.

11 hours ago, arc said:

The episode glossed over my favorite part of (my loose understanding of) the Trolley Problem: it pits utilitarianism (saving the many vs the few) against making an active choice to kill that one person by switching tracks, vs standing by and letting a bad (equally bad? more bad?) thing happen through your inaction.

I agree, so I was glad when they switched to the hospital version.  Hippocratic Oath aside, I assume that nearly everyone would agree that you don't kill 1 healthy person to harvest organs for 5 ill people, even if you could guarantee the survival of those 5 people. (Of course, you could introduce variables such as what if the 1 person is a vile criminal; what if the donor, though healthy, is aged and the recipients are all teenagers {I didn't say children, because the organs might not fit}; what if the recipients were the only people who knew how to save civilization from some great disaster; etc.) Even so, most people wouldn't want the doctor to kill anyone.

Yet, in the original version of the trolley problem, by diverting the trolley onto the side track, you are actively choosing to kill someone, even if it appears to be the lesser of 2 evils. Most people would not have a problem with killing in self-defense, or even in defense of others accompanying them, and if no other way out was available, this is considered justifiable homicide.  Could switching tracks be considered a form of defense of others, even if you are not killing the person or persons responsible for the state of affairs in the first place, but are killing an innocent?  What if instead of killing 5 people, you would slam into a wall, killing yourself?  So, it's between your life, and the life of the person or maybe multiple people, on the 2nd track?  This question comes up with self-driving cars, where the car will follow an algorithm which tells it what to do in the event that the car must choose between saving those in the car or hitting other cars or pedestrians.

Edited by ItCouldBeWorse
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44 minutes ago, kirinan said:

Totally agree, and I've been wondering for a while if it won't go in the direction that Michael will turn out to be more or less the parent Eleanor evidently never had (and really, think about it, a torturing, lying demon would be right at home in Eleanor's family wheelhouse). They DO get each other, and as we know from Elsa and Anna in Frozen, true love (aka soulmates) don't always have to be romantic, LOL.

Not to mention architects who can control the environment and, of course, Kristen Bell. There's a lot of Frozen overlap here. :) 

I think Olaf would be Jason in this case. 

Edited by DrScottie
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2 hours ago, biakbiak said:

White chocolate is sweetened lard and even on its own is proof that we are all in The Bad Place. 

Ah, but that's not really white chocolate.  White chocolate is sweetened cocoa butter, with milk solids mixed in, and when well done is sublime.  And perfect for the Good Place.  (The really crappy stuff isn't even lard ... it's Crisco.)

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Just now, mmccpp said:

Ah, but that's not really white chocolate.  White chocolate is sweetened cocoa butter, with milk solids mixed in, and when well done is sublime.  And perfect for the Good Place.  (The really crappy stuff isn't even lard ... it's Crisco.)

I know it’s not actually lard, it’s just what it tastes like to me and yes i have even had supposedly “well done” and ridiculously expensive white chocolate verdict: tastes like sweetened lard and might even be too awful for the bad place. I would however eat shrimp from a shrimp dispenser! 

i forgot to mention I loved Michael’s drawing at the beginning of the episode. 

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The philosophy rap musical! I about fell over.

This is about the first show in 11 years of marriage that Mr. DVD and I actively watch together, both of us as enthusiastic, so that's an accomplishment on its own IMO. :)

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