Jalapeno Poppers
S1 E9: Someone Like Me as a Member
The Good Place, 2016.
There is a point in The Good Place episode Someone Like Me as a Member where the precarious façade of harmony between the realms teeters, and Michael (Ted Danson, with the dignity of a man whose bow tie is the only thing holding his unraveling psyche together) decides he’s had enough.
It’s an extraordinary moment, not only because it features Michael’s declaration of war against Trevor and his motley gang of Bad Place demons, but because it encapsulates the central existential absurdity of the show: fighting for fairness in a fundamentally unfair cosmic bureaucracy. It’s like trying to negotiate with a DMV staffed entirely by gremlins who feed on your frustration.
This episode, written by Joe Mande, stands out for its tonal shifts—an artful dance between absurdist comedy and genuine moral reckoning. Mande, whose comedy chops have graced shows like Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, threads the needle between hilarity and heartbreak. This isn’t just a negotiation about Eleanor’s fate; it’s a negotiation about what it means to advocate for someone deeply flawed yet capable of change. Watching Michael assert himself for the first time against the impish Trevor (Adam Scott at his most gloriously loathsome) is like seeing a substitute teacher finally yell loud enough to make the class listen—oddly satisfying, if overdue.
Production-wise, the "negotiation party" at Tahani’s house is a masterstroke of design chaos. The demons’ bad behavior is underscored by the visual clash of Tahani’s hyper-curated aesthetic and their gleeful destruction of it. One particularly delightful touch? Trevor’s crew’s boorish demand: “Gimme some jalapeño poppers.” When Janet, freshly rebooted, responds, “What is a jalapeño?” followed by “Also: what is a poppers?”—the line lands with the precision of a tiny existential anvil. It's a three-beat joke so tight it should be hermetically sealed.
Meanwhile, Chidi’s quiet dinner with Eleanor and Real Eleanor (oh, the delicate tension of that “Real” modifier) offers a subdued counterpoint to the chaos. It’s a rare moment where Chidi, usually caught in a spiral of indecision, actually connects with someone without spiraling. Kristen Bell’s Eleanor, ever the reluctant group member in her flashbacks, continues her slow crawl toward vulnerability, and it’s as gratifying as it is messy.
The episode ends with a crackling cliffhanger: Tahani stumbling upon Jason in his “meditation room” (a.k.a. his lair of secrets and inexplicable Jacksonville Jaguars memorabilia). It’s a moment that teases out the unraveling of yet another Good Place lie, as Jason’s cover story edges closer to implosion. Simultaneously, Michael’s defiance sets up the stakes for future episodes: the war is on, and Trevor’s ominous promise to escalate matters to Shawn (Marc Evan Jackson, the patron saint of deadpan authority) looms like a dark cloud.
“Someone Like Me as a Member” is a brilliant cocktail of chaos and character development, spiked with a generous pour of ethical inquiry and garnished with a jalapeño popper—crispy, cheesy, and filled with the bittersweet zing of second chances.
Make it! Jalapeno poppers from Allrecipes.