7. Janet and Michael

Complete story — includes the ending

Before beginning his experiment, Michael steals Janet from a warehouse and claims to be a Good Place architect; they build the neighborhood together. Now, Michael troubleshoots Janet while Vicky is distracted by torturing Chidi with needles. When Janet's manual suggests the glitches are caused by falsehoods, Michael blames himself for lying about the neighborhood's real purpose. But, when a glitch occurs while Janet is speaking to Tahani and Jason about their relationship, he realizes the problem is Janet's own subconscious lies – she is not really happy for the couple because she has retained her second incarnation's love for Jason. Janet advises Michael to activate her self-destruct mechanism, but he makes excuses and ultimately refuses because Janet is his friend. They solicit Eleanor's advice instead and Eleanor successfully talks Janet through processing her human emotions. Acting on Eleanor's recommendation of a rebound relationship, Janet creates a boyfriend named Derek whose mental state is infantile, excitable, and easily distracted.