Chapter 10: Chidi's Choice

## Chidi's Choice

**Chapter 10: Chidi's Choice** is the 10th episode of Season 1 of *The Good Place*.

## Plot

Everyone gets in touch with their inner feelings— Eleanor (Kristen Bell) makes a surprising personal discovery. Meanwhile, Michael (Ted Danson) tasks an indecisive Chidi (William Jackson Harper) with coming to an important decision and Jianyu (Manny Jacinto) makes a big announcement.

## Summary

Tahani has confronted "Jianyu" and realized he isn't a Buddhist monk, wants to know who he is. Jason starts with the movies that define him, but he says he's really Jason Mendoza, from Florida, a professional amateur DJ, and, as she soon realizes, "*barely even a regular functioning person*," he's a real low-wattage jerk. He has no idea why he's here, but doesn't want to get thrown out.

Michael meets with the Eleanor Shellstrops, Chidi Anagonye, and Bambadjan, a human-rights advocate, to plan what to tell Shawn the judge, so Fake Eleanor can stay in the Good Place.

Bambadjan and the Eleanors discuss Fake Eleanor's time in the Good Place, which was frankly not a series of successes until she started studying with Chidi. But she confessed when she saw how upset Chidi was.

Real Eleanor compares Fake Eleanor's experience with death row inmates (in a way that, for a moment, makes Fake Eleanor wonder if Real Eleanor is making a romantic play for her, which she says could be fun).

Although Fake Eleanor denies that she loves Chidi, the others notice how often she refers to him, her real feelings are obvious.

Michael wants help from Chidi on building up preparations for Shawn, but Chidi finds making choices hard, especially under pressure, and Michael presses on him: he doesn't need the Chidi that can't choose, but the one who flat-out told Michael what needed to be done.

Michael does press a bit on Chidi's inability to make decisions, starting with: "*Pen or pencil*?"

(**Flashback:** *Chidi as a school child, with a dozen schoolmates, and he needs to choose players for a pickup game of soccer, but he can't until he considers "all the factors". His friend Uzo tries to get him to choose, but he delays his simple choice until the bell rings, ending recess*.)

Fake Eleanor continues arguing that she doesn't love Chidi, and starts recounting the things about him that bug her that, by the way, show how much attention she's been paying to him, and after a while she realizes: "I'm in love with Chidi."

Tahani looks at the painting that Jason gave her earlier, the three ballerinas that look like Tahani, calling it "*yet another lie*," Jason had made some other painting, and it was Chidi who got the ballerina painting made, so it would please her more. Jason says that Chidi also taught him most of the nice things Jason ever said to make Tahani happy. Tahani starts thinking of what Chidi must be thinking of her.... Oh, of course, Chidi loves her.

At Michael's office, Chidi is still discussing the pros and cons of pen or pencil. Michael is pleased when Eleanor comes in to borrow Chidi, he's probably had all of Chidi that he can stand for now.

Eleanor gets Chidi to her house, and starts by summarizing the guys she's dated and dropped, but she's realized that Chidi's different, she wants to stay in the Good Place because of him, because she loves him. Having said that, she doesn't want him to reply, she just wanted it off her chest, but as she starts to leave Tahani barges in to say "*Jianyu*" is a fake, he's also not supposed to be here. Tahani doesn't notice Eleanor in the room as she goes to Chidi and tells him that he loves her, and she waits for him to admit that he loves her too. Ack, it's as if Chidi has to make a choice, he rushes out.

Jason is sitting in his room, watching videos of him on TV. He summons Janet, tells her he may be in trouble, and asks her for something to get him out his sadness. Janet seems to be working much better, she instantly gives him a package of wings from his favorite place. Jason realizes that he loves Janet.

Tahani and Eleanor are discussing their love for Chidi, and Tahani feels this isn't ideal, but Chidi will have to make his choice, and the loser will have to accept that. Eleanor doesn't plan to be a nice loser, but then goes on to say that she and Tahani aren't going to be insulting to each other, they're going to maintain their complicated friendship, and Eleanor still cares about that.

Eleanor and Tahani are watching a TV show about two women from very different backgrounds who became friends. That done, Eleanor suggests they take bonding to "the next level": braiding Tahani's hair.

Chidi returns to Michael's office and asks, which is his soul mate, Real Eleanor or Fake Eleanor. Michael says the system determined it was Real Eleanor ... although the system did screw up, so at this point it may be impossible to tell, especially since he has now bonded with Fake Eleanor. Now Michael realizes: Chidi's indecisiveness is spreading, and Michael is catching it, so Chidi has to make a choice, or the neighborhood could fall apart.

(Flashback: An adult Chidi in a restaurant, with his childhood friend Uzo, trying to choose from the menu, and he can't. Anyway, Uzo is getting married, and Chidi is his best friend, and he wants Chidi to **NOT** be his Best Man, because if Chidi had to plan the bachelor party, and all the other responsibilities, Chidi couldn't handle it.)

Eleanor is braiding Tahani's hair, and she apologizes for not telling Tahani about Jason. Tahani forgives her, and wonders whether Eleanor and Jason might be soul mates. Eleanor is stunned, but wonders if it might be true, Jason fits her type, a "*hot dummy*," they've both been in trouble in similar ways ... she might be right. So maybe the system paired them up. As she says this, Janet pops into existence, and announces that she and Jason are getting married, in ten minutes.

Chidi and Michael are at a frozen yogurt place, and Michael uses three cups to show Chidi three soul mates: Fake Eleanor, Real Eleanor, and a theoretical third person. Michael tries to get Chidi to make a decision, to do something, not to think about it, not letting his indecisiveness stop him, which ruined his life, up to the day he died....

(**Flashback:** *Chidi is with Uzo, the wedding is in twenty minutes, and Chidi still has eleven different versions of his speech to choose from, they don't have the rings, there was no bachelor party. (Somewhere in this, Chidi knocks on the room's window air conditioner, it's not working.) Chidi realizes, Uzo was right, Chidi shouldn't be the Best Man. Now Uzo reveals that the wedding really isn't for a month, he's been doing a test to see if Chidi could handle it, and Chidi failed, as expected. Chidi is embarassed, but relieved.*)

(*Chidi and Uzo go for a beer... and Chidi can't even decide what bar to go to, as they stand outside on the street below his apartment, when the window air conditioner falls out of the window and smashes Chidi, causing his death.*)

Back in the yogurt place, Chidi realizes he just needs look the women in the eye and trust his gut.

At Tahani's mansion, it looks like Jason and Janet's wedding is starting, with only Eleanor and Tahani in the audience. Jason Mendoza is acting wild, but that's him when he doesn't need to act like Jianyu. He reads Janet a poem (as good a poem as a fifteen-year-old would make). She thanks him for being kind to her when she was rebooted. They exchange marriage promises, and Janet declares them married.

Jason is trying to feed Janet some wedding cake, which doesn't go anywhere, but they both seem amused about it. Tahani remarks to Eleanor that she was disappointed to learn Jianyu wasn't her soul mate, but seeing Jason as he really is, she's "dodged a bullet". Real Eleanor joins them, to be sure Fake Eleanor was doing all right, and Fake Eleanor says, if she had had them as friends on Earth, she would really have gotten into the Good Place.

Chidi enters the mansion and sees Tahani and the Eleanors. Time for him to make a choice, right? But Fake Eleanor walks back a bit of the *"I love you*" she said earlier, she's been emotionally all-over today, and she loves Chidi in a more "*best friend afterlife savior*" kind of way, less "*hot for teacher*" than "*eternally grateful*." Tahani also apologizes for her insisting that Chidi loved her, she was just flailing from losing Jianyu as her soul mate, and yes, they have a connection, but not true love. By the way, Tahani says she's figured out a way for Fake Eleanor to stay, she and the Eleanors hurry off to see Michael. Chidi stands there stupefied, alone watching Jason and Janet dance.

## Cast

Kristen Bell as **Eleanor Shellstrop**
William Jackson Harper as **Chidi Anagonye**
Jameela Jamil as **Tahani Al-Jamil**
D'Arcy Carden as **Janet**
Manny Jacinto as **Jason Mendoza**
**and** Ted Danson as **Michael**
**Guest Starring**

Keston John as **Uzo** *(flashback)*
Jonno Roberts as **Gawlff** *(flashback)*
Tiya Sircar as **The Real Eleanor Shellstrop**
**Co-Starring**

Bambadjan Bamba as **Bambadjan**
Jonathan Bray as **Zach Czytchu** *(flashback)*
Dallas Dupree Young as **Young Uzo** *(flashback)*
Jayne Entwistle as **Dierdre**
AJ Hudson as **Young Chidi** *(flashback)*
Abigail Marlowe as **Margaret**
Mataeo Mingo as **Femi**
## Trivia

* Original broadcast audience: 3.53 million
* Tahani's favorite (or in her case, favourite) British sitcom, *Deidre and Maragret*, supposedly ran for 16 years on the BBC and "did nearly 30 episodes". This joke about "British brevity" isn't as much of an exaggeration as it might appear. Perhaps the epitome of this is *The Vicar of Dibley*, which despite being hugely popular (and judging by what we see of *Deirdre* *and Margaret*, just the sort of sitcom Tahani might enjoy), still produced only 20 episodes over a 13-year span.