814 – Girl From Arizona Part 2 | The Good Place to Sleep S4 E2

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and friends beyond the binary, it's time for the podcaster who wants to help. I don't know what else to say, patrons. You help me, I help you. Really, it doesn't get more beautiful than that. It's really what it's all about. I can't believe it. I'm really honored to be able to tell you bedtime stories and that you make it possible. If you're in a situation, let other patrons know about these secret messages because I think sometimes people miss out on these. They don't know I'm talking right to you. Let my second favorite patron know about it because you're my favorite, right? Am I right? Okay, yeah, because I know exactly how to adjust the bottom of your bed here. You want the comforter there? Okay, then that, okay, got it. All right. Thanks, patrons.

Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do a bedtime story. All's you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play. I'm going to do the rest. And what I'm going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you can set aside whatever's keeping you awake. Whether it's thoughts you're thinking about, things on your mind or more … That's one thing I do. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, physical sensations, waking up. I don't like to go too deep into my … I don't want to make this about me, because I'm here to put you to sleep. But I just sometimes I like to know … like you to know that I can relate to waking up repeatedly, over and over again.

Thanks to Sandperson for shutting out … I don't know what kind of sand you dusted on me last night, but … Anyway, so thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, changes in schedule, routine, whatever it is that's keeping you awake. Travel, other people traveling, anticipation, work schedules, life stuff. Whatever it is, I'm here to help, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to try to create a safe place where you can set all that aside. I got it here, set aside plenty of room. And a safe place that you have earned and deserved already. And it's only my job to make it … Say hey, check this safe place out. It's kind of like an open house, you say, “Come on in, look around.” Oh yeah, believe me, we've got everything. You could just kind of do it at your own pace and check it out. It is linear, so I don't know what that means for an open house of a safe place. But come check it out, look in from the outside. See what you think.

I mean that's one thing. I almost went into an open house the other day because I think I was on a run. I was. It was a condo. I'm not in the market for a condo, but it was where I run every Sunday. I run past it and this one Sunday just happened to be the open house or open … I don't know what you call it when it's a condo. I think it's still an open house. One, and you might be skeptical if you're new, you might. I guess you're right, I should go back to this. But I'm already in this tangent and you're there. Also, I don't run, I jog. Just in case you see my running fast, no. I'm moving at a pace, a walking-like pace.

But so the first thing I thought, when I ran by the first time, is, “Huh.” But then, another part of me said, “Open house, really? Is it invite only?” And then I was thinking, “Hmm, I'd just like to see what that layout is.” I said, “How many room? It's tough for me to estimate from the outside, especially …” I don't know what the difference is between a condo or split-level, or a townhouse, any of those things are. But this was in a row of connected units or something. But each had its own entrance and so I said, “Well, how many?” I just wondered how many rooms were in there. I live in the Bay Area, so I said, “Well, that'll be good for …” I don't know if it's called a laugh, when they say, “Well, how much are you asking for this thing? Oh, 45 square feet, eh?”

I don't know, bu then my brain said, “No, no, they're going to be asking too many questions.” And then I said, “Okay, you're probably right. They're going to want to know what I'm there for.” Just look around. Don't worry, I'm not here for the snacks. I'm just here to look around and check this safe place out. If that's how you're thinking now and you're saying, “I'm skeptical about this open house.” What if I was just to do that? Say, “Well, I'm here testing out the openness of your open house.” And they say, “Well really, it's to try to sell the condo.” And they say, “Yeah, but I'm just really trying to get a feel for your style of open …” And you say, “Well, my favorite realtor? Yeah, my favorite realtor is Teesha Smith. She does the best. Her open houses are totally open. Her open houses feel like a safe place where I could just look, I don't even need … I just go there one day, so that would be … What was my point? I'm in the middle of a early intro. This might be one of our earliest tangents, if you're new. Don't worry, I'll get back to where I'm supposed to be, but I guess I just had this.

So, I kept running and then I said, “Well, it'd be interesting. You know this little kid part?” And here's the spoiler, I didn't go in, just for anybody that wants to fall asleep. You'd say, “Scoots, I couldn't possibly fall asleep unless I heard if you went into this open house.” And I say, “Well, I wish I, maybe if I …” But I didn't. But I did say to myself, I almost went in, because I said, “What could be a better deflection of … The truth in this case would have been a great deflection, if they wanted to ask me questions about why I'm there, if I'm in the market for a, whatever the thing is called, a condo, a townhouse, a thing? Then being on the tail end of a jog run, and a pretty long one, so I had looked pretty … You say, “Well, no, I just saw it. I was running by, and I figured I'd run right … walk right in here.”

“You don't run your houses like Teesha does. No offense, but this is pretty … because he doesn't ask any questions. She just smiles and nods, like a welcoming nod. Okay, so yeah, no I'm just here. I was just here to look. I was just curious.” So, if you're here just curious, okay. So I'm trying to create a safe place with that type of feel, where you just say, “I might come in and check this out. I'm under no pressure.” That's one. And the way I'm going to do that is I'm going to send my voice across the deep, dark night. I'm going to use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents. Holy cow, was that a superfluous tangent, or what? And I tried to reel it in a few times there because I said, “Wow, what about there was other stuff I could've …” So superfluous tangents, I'm going to go off-topic but I'm here to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff as you drift off.

So structurally what to expect? A little late for this because of that lovely tangent, which works because I say, “Well, that's my whole job is to earn your … to have you check this safe place out and see if it works for you.” So, structurally, what to expect? The show starts off with a little greeting, friends beyond the binary, then there's business. That's essentially keeping the podcast free for everybody. I do not want the podcast behind a pay wall. And sponsors and the patrons enable us to do that, so thanks. The cool thing is if just a small percentage of you guys that take action support it for free for everybody else, so that's wonderful. So that's the beginning of the show. Then there's the intro, which sometimes people get the business, which is about four minutes mixed up with the intro, if you're new, which is understandable. But the intro is fourteen to eighteen minutes of me kind of talking about nothing. If you're new, I mean don't worry, regular listeners, I know the intros are important in that you love them. But, for a new person, you say, “Were you just talking about an open house? You know they're not called that anymore?” I say, “Oh, okay, what are they? A real estate buying opportunity is what they're called now.”

“Oh.” I say, “Okay, well, count me out then, forever, of those.” “Expression of purchase interest, EPI.” You say, “Okay, count me out of those, too. I'll stick with my imaginary realtor, Teesha, because there's no pressure on her end.” Okay, so where was I? That's what the intro is, to do that, to say, if you're new, that you feel welcome. You kind of get the feel for the show, which is goofy, nonsensical, but friendly and caring is what I hope I get across. Because I do care, I try to be friendly, but I'm also a bit of a goofball.

And then as you become a regular listener, you can kind of figure out how the intro's going to work for you. There's a small percentage of people that skip ahead to eighteen or twenty minutes to get to the next section of the show, which tonight will be talking about The Good Place, season four episode two. So that'll be good. There's a small percentage of people that skip ahead to that part. But a lot of people use it as part of their wind down. That's also why the intro's twelve to fourteen to eighteen to seventeen to sixteen to fifteen to thirteen minutes is because then you can ease into bedtime. You could either get ready for bed, you could be in bed unwinding, you could be doing something else and listening, or you could just be getting comfortable. Or, as I always recommend, petting your pets. Or, doing some self-soothing, whether it's hand clasping, pillow puffing, not … having me on playing and then daydreaming. Whatever it is.

So, the intro can be kind of you see how it goes. I guess some people fall asleep during the intro. Some regular listeners fall asleep real fast. So kind of see how it goes. So that's the intro, then there's business between the intro and the story part, or the TV show part tonight. Then, I'll talk about The Good Place.

Really it'll be like just a meandering recap of episode two and some stuff that came up. Then, the show has some thank yous at the end. So, that's structurally what to expect. The other things to know is there's no pressure for you to listen to me or to fall asleep. My job is to keep you company as you drift off, but the reason the shows are an hour is if you can't sleep, or if you're like me last night, bafflingly, whatever my subconscious was processing, it was doing some heavy lifting. Even though I was like, “What are you? You're doing some serious …” It was layering unrelated things. I don't know if you ever had … That's a pretty vague description, but it was like, “Okay, this thing went on today, this thing and this thing.” And so it was doing some heavy lifting. Maybe tonight I'll try to go to bed earlier or something. But it got in the way of me being restful and sleepy. Probably some sort of necessary processing, and it was not anything stressful, but somehow the layering and the processing … I don't know, what am I? I just tell the bedtime stories.

I'm just a person who can't … who has trouble falling asleep and staying asleep and getting to sleep. So I guess that's the thing, if you can't sleep, I'm there for you until the very end. Because I'd love to help you fall asleep, or I'd love to keep you company because I've been there. I truly do believe you deserve a good nights sleep, and I'd like to relieve you or offer you a reverse of the bedtime dread because I've been there. As soon as last night, I've been there. Or today, where I kind of am not rested. I know how that feels, too. And so, I want to help.

Now, the other side of it is the podcast does not work for everybody and some people find they react to it very strongly and so you could check out, if you're feeling that way. Give it a few tries honestly, or check it out sleepwithmepodcast.com/nothankyou. Although most of the people that check that out are fans of the show, but if you're not a fan of the show, you could check it out as well because there's other sleep podcasts and sleepy stuff on there. But I really hope I can help, so give it a few tries. See how it goes because that's just what most listeners and reviewers say.

So I'm glad you're here. I work very hard. I yearn and I strive, and I really hope tonight I can help you fall asleep. Thanks again for coming by. And here's a couple ways we keep this podcast free for everybody.

All right, my Soul Squad fans or Soul Squad superfans it's, holy shirt balls, is it time for another episode of The Good Place. The good place to sleep, in this case. And season four, episode two, A Girl From Arizona. I think I put a girl from Phoenix, Arizona. Part two. And it made me think of Arizona Iced Tea. I don't think that was mentioned and then, what does this say? Lost, live, Linda, shirtless, Chidi. Okay last time on the episode, that's what that meant. I'm just going through my notes and then I'm going to play the episode. And we'll kind of flip flop back and forth. Last time they showed the shirtless dude. Did I ever remember his name? Aaron Rodgers is the name of the quarterback. He usually has a beard though, where the shirtless man … I'm not even positive it's the shirtless mailman from season one, although I suspect it is. He was undercover as Linda. Oh yeah, that's what that says. Last time, Linda shirtless dude, Chidi and then we're at Mindy's.

And here's an important questions, at least to me, it says, “Why is the bad place doing something so obvious? And is this a hint or not?” I know nothing, just so you know, but I said, “Huh. Oh boy.” Michael says they're desperate, that's why and then Michael says, “Good news. We can get rid of Linda and put Chidi on the other emoji board.” I think the blowing heart kiss emoji, we'll see in a second when I play the episode. He's still using this team leader verbiage. Great news, team leader. Super cool, actually. Then, Eleanor talks about, because they say, “Well, Geez. Okay well, we got to use Chidi to get Simone. We got to work on Simone via Chidi.” And she says, “Geez, this is going to be manipulating my ex, which normally I didn't enjoy, but I guess that's what we're going to have to do.” Then, they talk about the dude, how did I forget his name? I want to call him, it's not Derek. I've got to look through my notes here. The Polo dude. Mr. Splaining. Brett, is that his name? Is that right? Brett or Brent. He seems more like a Brent, but I think he's a Brett.

Actually, one Brett, I'm trying to think of any Brett's I've really known well and the one that I actually knew well, most well, was in my school days. And he was the most charismatic person I ever knew. Not a splainer. Hopefully he didn't become one. I don't know if he wore a lot of polos, but really really a charming and very kind and generous person. Anyway, I think that's his name, Brett. He was born on third base and thinks he invented baseball. I liked that line.

Holy peacocks, okay. So, previously on The Good Place, we see Linda, we see Eleanor, we see Michael, we see Eleanor remove the suit. Again, we know there's a Michael suit out there, but we don't know if it's in play. We see Michael clap and now we're at Mindy's. The obelisk is there. Oh, here, this is interesting, so I didn't notice this. This is why we replay these things. So Tahani's at the breakfast bar reading a magazine. I didn't know they had magazines up there. Eleanor's on the couch thinking. They're moving Chidi over. Oh, the emoji's not blowing kisses. It's blowing a party thingamajig that goes … not a party streamer, what are those things called? It has a name. You buy it in a pack. It makes a sound, like that, cackoo, whoopee and it blows out a … Why can't I think of the names of those things? Party blower. Personal noise streamer. Do those get used on New Year's Eve? Probably not. I think those are probably just for birthdays. Because this one has a birthday hat too.

Here's the good news. His name is Brent Norwack. So they're talking about him. Everybody's thinking. I got it on mute, that's why you say, “Scoots, what are you talking about?” Eleanor's arms are crossed, if anybody's wondering. Michael is really good at acting, it makes it even better. Now, we got the green Good Place, chapter forty-one. And now an episode of That Was Your Life. So let's go to my next page of my notes first. First, there's some more notes. “If he could listen to others and see how much better they are than him, he would realize he doesn't belong and then maybe have some teary poofs.” Eleanor says, “Which would be nice.” So they set up this, so then the show opens, then they set up this TV show, kind of like a talk show. I'm looking at a wide shot of it. I really wish I could have seen this setup at and I'm guessing this is Universal. That Was Your Life, is the name of it. They have laughter and applause signs, some circles. I don't know if those are lights or just to add a sense of like containment. The audience is in lovely looking black chairs. I don't know if they're office chairs. I think, no, they're theater chairs. They look very, very comfortable.

The floor, there's a rug with risers because they're on stage blue. Eleanor's at a desk, just like she's a late-night talk show host. She has blue cards. She's talking to a woman, we'll get to that, who's next to her desk in a chair. Her hands are in her lap. She may have a cardigan on and she's talking. Then there's a table with three mugs on it. Then there's a couch, which is, I guess, aquamarine. I don't know if it's teal. I wish I had more words in my brain, but I don't. And Chidi's on the couch. His legs are crossed, he's got a sweater vest on his chine … One of his arms is on a armrest of the couch, or sofa if you prefer, and he's looking thoughtfully. Brent is on the other end. I don't think he has socks on and he's looking down. He's not paying attention. That Was Your Life and the dialogue kind of goes … Anyway, long story short, there's still ducks. They saved all the ducks in the world. Chidi sighs, there's an applause. Or maybe she sighs, and they say, “Chidi.”

He gets introduced, he goes, “Geez, hold on. Literally you saved every duck in the world.” And she goes “In essence, I did.” Which I didn't quite understand, and then he says, “Geez, well now I feel a little …” And then then she goes, “Also, horses. I save all the horses in the world.” So Chidi goes, “Uh-huh. I feel a little inadequate here.” We also hear a laugh track, which that's always funny. Jason, oh, then Jason pitches Michael on a crazy idea to have 100 Janet babies do a flash mob. It'd be chaos.

Yeah. I'm running through my notes here. Then Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, which I paused and then rewound, so I could count how many times it was, and then Michael said, “I learned at some point if I say that five times or I said it five times, it would make my headache go away.” And then Michael's a little stern. I feel like Jason's getting the short end of the stick this episode. He goes, “Dude, you got no control over your impulses. That's why we made you a monk, because we knew it'd be hard for you to be quiet and not do anything. Just give Janet some space and show her you can control your impulses.” And then Jason has this lucid moment, he says, “So you're saying wanting to do something isn't a good reason to do it?” And Michael's very happy, so happy he touches Jason's face.

So this maybe a sign that we don't have to worry about Michael, because in this scene, I mean unless the good … I mean I guess because The Good Place's writing's so good they could figure out a way to do this, where it's like … I don't know. But he touches his face, he seems very happy and then I think Jason says something like, “I wish someone taught me that on Earth, back when I was on Earth.” Then we go back to the show, Brent says, “Sure I'm pretty interesting.” He goes, “I'm from Chicago, suburb of course.” I said, “Brent, you make me ill.”

Then he said, “I've been running my family business for 18 years, I brought it from a $90,000,000 company to a $94,000,000 company.” Which I think is not good, because within 18 years the … What do you call that stuff that just goes up? Inflation is more than that, like every year if it was 1% that would be … Well, if it was 100,000,000 it'd be 1,000,000 a year, so it'd be 18 mil, and it's now 1% I think it's higher. So Janet, he calls Janet, has her bring him a Perrier, something … Oh, he goes on, he has to mansplain a few things. Something says, “Next eight at $38.” I don't know what that means.

He misquotes MLK Jr and Eleanor I think. And he goes, “And that's what …” He talks about personal … he just goes, “Personal responsibility, that's what's wrong with this country.” And then he goes, “Oh, daddy's got a tee time, no golfie daddy gets grouchy.” And then a SUV pulls up, he says, “Chad? Docker lady? See you later.” Which is also kind of like a SUV limo. What does that say? Pinata? I don't know what that means.

Metaphorically another bad place, standing Michael, oh no face, okay. Okay, so this is their plan and then the beginning beats of 25 of 624, or the riffs happen. So let's look at, on mute, I notice Chidi's got a really nice sweater vest. As sweater vests go it's a gray one with blue and lighter gray stripes. Kind of like in a few different patterns. Really I mean like a smart … I'd just say actually fashionable.

Brent has his New Rock Industry polo on, Jason is dressed as [Jeanu 00:26:26], Michael's in a gray suit. Blue pin stripe, Oxford type shirt. Similar bow tie as before, navy and then a nice pocket square, multicolors. Whoa, whoa, oh boy, I just saw a jet pack. I guess I got to see what the name of this restaurant is because jet pack. I have to rewind it a few times here to see, see I'm here live with you trying to read a sign behind Michael that has jet pack in it. Still credits are still rolling, Michael's thinking. Jet pack, I don't see the full sign, “Jet Pack ‘n …” The letter N is in quotes, but the Jet Pack ‘n, Jet Pack ‘n, it's probably some joke like that ja packing? But I don't know what food that would be, ja packing cakes maybe?

So let's see, Michael's still talking, Jeanu Jason is making his point, come on, dude. Really you think Ted Danson has been in so many reinventions of … Yeah, I guess I can't even say some of the shows that I'm thinking of. Well, now we see the railway station Tahani comes up, “Showtime.” Oh, she says, “Show time.” Now Brent's getting called up. They even have this That Was Your Life coffee mugs and Brent has a watch on, silver watch, blue face, maybe, no, gold watch. Of course. He has boat shoe, are those boat shoes? I think that's what they're called, and no socks on. He's got I wouldn't say good hair, but I would say pretty quality hair. I mean better hair than I.

Chidi's thinking that's good when the Perrier shows up. Brent's still expounding on his brilliance, his stable genius as they say. Yeah, he's holding his hand to his heart as he falsely quotes MLK, Eleanor's jaws like just staring mouth open. Let's see, looking at the backdrop. His legs are crossed which I think is kind of standard, there's also a bowl of nuts or something on the table in addition to the mugs. Oh, “Jet Packs ‘n Such.” There we go, we saw it when the SUV pulled up, Jet Packs ‘n Such. Jet Packs ‘n Such, Jet Packs ‘n Such, jet Packs ‘n Such, I guess I don't know if it's a pun or just where you get your pet packs. Now Eleanor and Michael are kind of saying, “Brent's hopeless, what are we going to do here?” And then Eleanor gets an idea and Michael says, “Oh, no, no, no. No, no.” She goes, “This is the only move we got, man. Let's do it.”

So let's see, is that what he says? Oh yeah, Michael, oh no face. She goes, “Geez, let's try another bad place plan, it worked on me.” And this is when the song say … for me at least, it was a little bit before my time, so I always hear it and I'm like, “Who sings this?” But I did look it up for this episode and I think I had known it in the maybe … because it was on another episode and I had to look it up and the actual name of the episode is 25 Or 6 to 4? 25, the number, Or, O-R, six the number, T-O, four the number. “I don't know if this is the right move, but it's our only move.” Is what Eleanor says as the riffs start.

Then we have a giant Princeton tiger, orange puffy, puffy clouds, Brent, everyone is in orange and black because before they were in Michigan PJs, gold, blue and gold. I think that was the Michigan blue and gold and now they're in orange and black PJs which are the Princeton colors or maybe I think orange and black, could be orange and a dark, dark navy. Perrier rain, giant golf balls, everyone's running around. Simone's not though, she's chilling with her coffee, SUV's everywhere, Brent grabs Eleanor and Michael, he goes, “This is all about me, it don't belong here.” And then it goes … So let's go through that and then we'll go to the next short scene. Oh giant, Princeton flag, I think they're holding it. Oh, Brent's in a robe, maybe a Princeton bathrobe and dad pajamas. I don't know how else to describe them. Maybe the title is Golf Balls, I'm not sure.

There's Simone, she's just like, “Oh well.” Golf ball rolls by her, giant size golf ball. Also there's rose petals it looks like, raining. I don't know what that has to do with Brent and he says, “Okay, this doesn't belong to me. I don't belong here.” Michael goes, “What do you mean you don't belong?” He goes, “Yeah.” And then they think they have him, he goes, “I must be in the wrong place, I don't belong in the good place.” Oh yeah, you got to watch this, the acting is so strong by both Christine Bell and Ted Danson. So then he says, eyeballing her, “There must be a better place, that's where I belong. Or the best place.”

Michael turns away and Eleanor has this unbelievable face, and Michael just turns away in this just brilliant way. I mean I'm not an actor so I don't know if I could ever come up with a move like this. Almost like a dance move of like … I can't believe this guy. They're also in orange, it's not PJs it ends up, they're three piece, four piece suits. It cuts to a ad, then they cut back and Michael and Eleanor are like, “What do you mean you don't belong here? Let's go through this.” Also there's a lot of flowers around them.

Walk, oh, walk me through the sprint. He goes, “Well, if this is supposed to be the good place, where is everybody that … all my crew that I used to hang with?” He makes up all these nicknames, “Where are my guys?” He says, “Plus Janet's not wearing the gifts I've been giving her.” And Michael goes, “You've been asking her to make clothing for herself that you give her as a gift.” And Eleanor goes, “Yeah, you're doing the math right there.” And then Brent says, “Figure it out and get back to me or something.” He goes, “I belong in the best …” He goes, “There must be a best place, that's where I belong.”

So [inaudible 00:33:54] So funny. So yeah, they're trying to play along with it without their heads just splitting open and being like, “Holy fork and shirt balls, dude. You talk about titles in …” It's funny because Brent kind of like is … It's the kind of person that would use the word S-N-O-W-F-L-A-K-E about other people, but he kind of is that. I really like those really beautiful colors on all the buildings on the alley they're in. It's still raining and people are still running around in the background too.

Eleanor's like, “Oh goodness.” And we go back to Mindy's, a big meeting there. There's another painting, possibly Madonna in the background in Mindy's kind of dining area. Michael says, “We need to talk about the team leader.” Somebody, oh no, Tahani says, “Michael, we got to talk about the team leader.” He goes, “Yeah, she's going to shower soon.” And then Janet says, “No, it's not about that. It's about her kind of progress. There hasn't been any progress.” And even Jason says, “Eleanor's dope, but she keeps messing things up and that's my thing.” Then Eleanor walks in, she goes, “We're talking a change in leadership?” They go, “Well, it's nothing personal.” Janet says, “When we started there was a 9% chance of success, now it's 7.1. You're pooching it.” Eleanor calls them, “Ash faces, snork boxes and grumps.” Or something. And this is just one of the best hidden jokes in here because you're actually …

I mean especially when I watched this so many times and I'm trying to write this stuff down and then I'm thinking, and then Michael says it, just under his breath, he goes, “Which curses are those?” He says it so quietly, just another moment of small brilliance. And they say, “Michael's supposed to be in charge or maybe Tahani, Jason. Maybe Jason could save humanity with a Jacksonville carnival?” And Jason goes, “Oh, okay. Yeah, just need a bouncy house, some stars from N-I-N-J-A's and some vans for people.” Then she goes, “Good luck, fork face. Shellstrop out.”

Okay, we're running through it here now. Michael's making his point, Jason's kicked back on the couch, Tahani and Jason are standing, backs to the door. Thoughtful, making their cases. “What are we going to do about this? What do you think?” Tahani's making the case. This scene did seem a little dissonant for me, but I guess it makes sense, again to push Eleanor over the top or maybe it'll make sense later in the season. Actually Jason's not on the couch, she's in one chair, but slumped, his legs are over the arms of the chair. Eleanor comes in, catches everybody talking about her, Jason stands up. Maybe that's when he says, “That's kind of my thing. Oh yeah.” He's trying to smooth it over or tell the truth. Now Janet's saying, “9% to 7.1%.” Michael's kind of watching, Eleanor's frowning and looking down, Jason is holding his hands. Eleanor's said, “No.” She's calling them glomboxes or whatever, fork consumers. Now she's pointing, “Yeah, good luck. You're supposed to be in charge, Michael. Why don't you put one of these other snork butts?”

I think that's one of the … No, I guess it wouldn't be snork, it'd be snork something though. Now Jason's saying, “Okay yeah, Jacksonville carnival? Sure.” Tahani sighed and rolled her eyes. El Shellstrop's out.” So that's the end of that scene, then everybody's like, “Oh boy, what are we going to do?” Then Eleanor's back on the That Was Your Life set, which is a little deteriorated from … There's even an SUV and a picture of lemonade. It's not in great shape from the dream sequence.

She's on the couch, Michael says, “Geez, you get it out of your system?” “Yeah, sorry.” She goes, “Yeah, forget it.” He goes, “You don't get to quit this like your seventh grade band or three hours into a two week juice cleanse.” There's also a lot of mist going passed the applause sign, Eleanor kind of vents about why she's quitting, “I'm not meant for this, I can't save the universe. I'm just a girl from Arizona and that's it. A normal girl from Arizona. I did a bad job being in charge of my own life, how am I going to save everything?” Michael looks on, then he sits down, he goes, “Geez, when I started my experiment I thought I'd have four bird brains and in three months, whatever you got me, then 800 more tries.” He goes, “Human beings are weird, this job is for humans. Tough, empathetic, something, something big headed, world class bullshit detector. You're the only one could do this.”

And there's a slow zoom which we'll probably go to, “Like it or not, the only person I could save is a girl from Arizona.” And Eleanor says, “Geez, everything always blows up in my face. I'm like a hot Wiley Coyote, hot blond Wiley Coyote. I keep trying, maybe 1,001's idea will work.” And Michael goes, “I hope you go take a ..>” Oh she's drinking, she had a pitcher of margaritas I just saw and she's drinking a margarita, and he goes, “Yeah, shower first and then go meet me.” And then there's an ad.

Let's see, so there's kind of just standing, each on either side of the couch talking. Michael's just kind of silently looking on as, yeah, Eleanor kind of vents. He's nodding knowingly and in a caring way, because he cares, yeah. He does care. Let's see, any other things? I'm just going back to my notes here. Then there's a night shot of the bridge. Oh yeah, just a random night shot of the bridge and back in the office, I think, the good place office, back with the B- leadership.

Everybody says, “So sorry. I'm back, baby.” And they say, “Geez, we got a new idea for Brent. People like him are never wrong, so let's tell him he's right.” And this is another brilliant at least attempt and then they show Brent. He's at lunch or something with a Bloody Mary, lobsters, cigars, sky blue polo and they basically explain to Brent like, “Right, there is a best place and you got to qualify for it.” Or they say, “Can you keep a secret?” He goes, “Yeah, I'm a smart guy. I've routinely something HR.” They say, “Yeah, there is a best place, for the upper echelon, the something elite. VIP.” And Brent goes, “Okay, so this is some kind of like big good deeds contest?” And, yeah, they go, “Yeah, you got to do some morally upstanding results.” Or something like that and Brent goes, “Mum's the word.”

So yeah, let's see, so back in the live place, Eleanor and Michael are still talking. Michael actually has a different … he's got a nice, navy suit on with a kind of shiny or silky or bigger electric blue tie. I think his pocket square matches it. His suit might be checkered a little bit, or striped, really sharp. He stands up, “Go take a shower by the way.” He says. He buttons his suit coat, he walks off, we see Eleanor kind of sitting, looking around, she smelled her pits.

Then a shot of the bridge, then Eleanor walking in, now she's in a sweater, Michael's in the same suit as before, everyone else is still dressed the same and she's saying, “Yeah, I got a new plan for Brent. Let's tell him he's right.” Smiles. Now we have Brent eating his lobster, he may have another plate of food. Looks like he has sunglasses and car keys too. Michael does the old touching of the nose to keep a secret symbol. They say, “Okay, Brent, he really is …” He says, “Oh, don't worry. I know what I'm doing at Norwack Materials.” And Brent's kind of pointing at everybody, Michael's saying, “Brent's got a smug look on his face.” He said something like, this is really good on mute, because he's not as annoying on mute. Yeah, she kind of looks like happy go lucky, a bone head or something. But now he's thinking thoughtfully as he's listening to Michael. He actually talks less on mute, he says, “Oh, a good deeds contest, ha ha ha ha. Of course I got this.”

Goes, “I don't want to tip off my competition though.” He picks up a fork that somebody dropped and he goes, “Oh yeah, look at that. Mum's the word.” Then Jason's at a fountain waiting for Janet. Janet appears, he stands, he says, “Geez, I bought you this chalk just as a gift, but then I ate them all so I could describe you to them.” And it's funny, another great joke at the beginning and Janet goes, “Geez, I need you to give me some space and I can't be in a relationship with right now.” And this is something we've been waiting for, those of us that are in the know at least. And she goes, “We got to take a break basically.” And Jason's kind of down, but then it gets even higher because she goes, “Also I hate to break it to you, but …” And she takes this big breath and she goes, “Jacksonville Jaguars Cup, they [inaudible 00:45:23]” And obviously Jason's crestfallen, you just wonder how they were going to do that.

So then we see a sign for Foot Logger, Brent opens a door to, “Enjoy your yogurt.” That says, “Vest Country??” Lots of umbrellas, is that another store, Vest Country? There's lots of umbrellas, Eleanor and Michael are watching and Michael says, “Geez, the problem is is we've saddled him with a bad motivation.” And Eleanor says, “Well, that was my situation too, so hopefully he starts doing good things out of habit, just like you.” And then they share this long look and then Eleanor says, “Geez, you tricky little devil.” Oh yeah, vest, it's like behind Michael, vest, vest, I can't see it. It's like, vest O-O-N-E-R-Y, Vestornery. Just a small sign.

But she goes, “Oh, you tricky devil.” She goes, “You put me in charge of stuff on purpose.” Like, “You led me to this leadership role.” Then she goes, she's trying to help Simone and Chidi get together. This is going to be very, very tough and painful and then we have like really a … Let's see, really they're talking, they're watching Brent. I think he shakes somebody's hand, but I mean they talk about Eleanor having to sacrifice her love of Chidi to get Simone and Chidi, or Simone, into the good place basically to say … Or to get her to the good point, the good place good points. So now she's saying, “Geez, you tricky little devil pooh, you really …” And Michael's kind of watching, smiles, yeah, yeah.

There's also pinwheels in the background I saw. Those pinwheels, pinwheels spinning around. Look at my pinwheel, see what I've found. That used to be a TV show. Okay, Eleanor kind of says, “I'm not looking forward to this Chidi-Simone thing.” She kind of does this thing where she's goes, “Whoa boy.” And leans back. Yeah, but then Michael says, “You're really the one sacrificing, you're the one with the hardest job. I'm proud of you.” Then she walks off.

Now we have Jason, sad, Tahani walks up to him, he's in the garden. He goes, “Janet was my whole afterlife.” Tahani goes, “Well geez, why don't we do my breakup thing? Champagne, listen to Alanis Morissette, usually I do it at Adele's.” And Jason goes, “Usually I do something with Mountain Dews, ATVs and Panda Express.” So Jason says, “Well, I'm just sad, I don't know.” And then she goes, “Well, at least you get to go through this with friends.” And they give each other a hug and then he says, “I didn't even tell you the worst part about Blake Bortals.” He's sad.

Then Eleanor and Chidi are eating together at like a outdoor tea café or something, and she goes, “Remember the Samoan?” He goes, “The Third Eye Blind superfan, that's cutting off people's ponytails?” “Yeah, he's drinking tea out of a small tea cup.” And Eleanor says, basically she works up to it, she goes, “You and Simone are soulmates.” And Chidi goes, “Soul like …” He goes, “Hand mates? Complete certainty?” Eleanor says, “You and Simone are such soulmates, basically.” And Chidi kind of can't believe it, something about bananas. Oh boy, and then he says, “I have a happy stomach ache.” And then he goes, “Geez, I think I have some great books on simulated realities.” Something, “A book for my …” Oh, he goes, “I wonder if I could summon a book for my apartment here.” And then Eleanor says, “Well, good luck.” And he's really happy, he goes, “Geez, I never fell in love.” And Eleanor goes, “I know, I do indeed.” And then the book comes and it meets Chidi.

Then Simone is having frozen yogurt or whatever at the frozen yogurt place and Chidi's there, goes, “Hey, what's up?” She goes, “Have a fake seat.” And Chidi goes, “Did you just say … So you don't believe anybody's here? That's a solecism. Pretty juvenile for somebody with multiple advanced degrees and it's impossible to refute which is convenient.” And then he says, “Geez, if this isn't that real then frozen yogurt's not real and you could just have … you could walk around with frozen yogurt spill on you and it wouldn't do anything.” And she goes, “Point taken.” And they say, “Geez, maybe you shouldn't be such a J-E-R-K, you should treat people better just in case they are real.” And he goes, “What do you have to lose by treating other people with kindness and respect?” And she goes, “Oh yeah, yeah. I see.”

So they're kind of talking here, Chidi's got a kind of like a nice … I think his shirt would be called coral colored with little stripes and Simone really has a nice shirt on. Before she was kind of wearing more costumes. Sleeveless, stripes, kind of like … Oh, Eleanor is looking in, she has a sad then a happy face and she walks off.

Then we're back at Mindy's for the close of the episode. The obelisk is red, everybody … We have Simon, Chidi and Brent in the happy emoji side and just John on the other side. Everybody's on the couch, or Jason's on the couch, Tahani and Michael. We see actually Michael, if you pause it, you can see Michael's socks, he has like nice striped socks on. But they're sitting in chairs, Eleanor's standing in front of the board.

Let's see, let me go to my notes. Mindy's, good news, something to get you something goodwill. Then they say, “Geez, well they did fall in love in the other thing.” And then Eleanor kind of makes a joke about it at the end, she goes, “Geez, you know what he gave up?” Oh, I guess she says, she sits on the couch, this took me a while to figure out but then I realized she can't swear, she goes, “Dead ash.” As she points to herself, then she goes to give Jason a high five but he's still sad so she goes, “Come on, man. You can't leave me hanging.” Here she goes, she sits down, they go, “Well, we all know what he gave up.” And she goes, “Oh yeah, you know what he gave up.” First she's serious and thoughtful, Michael's serious and thoughtful, Eleanor nods softly.

I think this is where Michael says, “You're the one that gave up the biggest sacrifice.” And she goes, “Well, yeah, dead ash.” And then she goes, “High five.” Jason doesn't do it and then he goes, “You're right, that's the rules or whatever.” And then he high fives her and the episode ends. So that was the episode and let me gather some facts and I'll get back to you in a second here.

All right, I want to run through a couple things that came up in this episode 814. Oh, that's a note of our episode. Girl From Arizona Part Two, season four, episode two. I think 41, is that what we're on? Solipsism, so for those of you had taken the SAT or ACT or whatever, I don't know how to pronounce it but to spell it is S-O-L-I-P-S-I-S-M. So like soll, well, it's not two L's, I was going to say sole lips ism, solipsism. Oh, that's how you say it too? Thanks, brain. But I guess that makes it easier to … solipsism, eh? And as Chidi says, it's the idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. The knowledge of anything outside of one's own mind is unsure.

This is a difference between what Simone's, some versions, which is what I'm kind of talking about, Simone believes she's in a … that everything's unreal, where some of this is that it might be unknowable. So subjective idealism it talks about, this is all from Wikipedia. There's metaphysical solipsism. Solipsism. They maintain that the self is the only existing reality, oh, this is kind of what she's dealing with. The external world, we're all representations and have no independent existence.

Then there's epistemological solipsism. Epistemological, something like that. That's a variety of idealism which only directly accessible mental contents of a philosopher can be known and the external world is a unresolvable question, rather than actually false, further, one can also not be certain to the extent the external world exists independently. So then there's methodology, so methodological solipsism. This is an agnostic version, it's in the opposition to the episiastical one. It entertains that the point that any induction is fallible, which goes even further to say that what we perceive as a brain is actually part of the external world, but it's only through our senses that we feel the mind. This is definitely not stuff you want to be sleeping to.

Denial of material existence in itself does not constitute solipsism. It's a worldview, the solipsistic, metaphysical solipsistic worldview is the denial of existence of other minds, since personal experience is … I'm glad Chidi brought this. So Descartes is one, George Berkeley, he argued against materialism in favor of idealism as relation to the idea. So it's a pretty extensive Wikipedia article you could check out.

Which also brings up what Chidi was going to when [inaudible 00:57:49] was like simulated realities, that's the hypothesis according to Wikipedia that reality could be simulated. For example, quantum computer simulation that's indistinguishable from true reality and we have dealt with this in Star Trek: The Next Generation a few times, particularly in the Sherlock Holmes style ones, with whoever Sherlock Holmes' rival is. Of course who's name I can't … Moriarty, those were some classic episodes.

So virtual reality is usually distinguished from the experience of actuality, participants are never in doubt that virtual reality is virtual. Simulated reality by contrast would be harder to separate. So there's a simulation argument, Hans Morveck, Nick Bostrom, Descartes. The extent that the examining the probability of our reality being a simulation. I guess my thing, I don't know if Chidi would agree, it's like … Oh yeah, I guess so, because he says, “Either way …” He was talking about solipsism, but why don't you just be nice? Be good for goodness sake. Even though they say that, that was really … So that's a paradox I guess, that has nothing to do with anything I'm talking about, because that's like Santa Claus Is Coming To Town or something, right? And the paradox is that kids are, most of the kids, okay, I can only speak for myself because my I only …

I guess this is very anti-solipsism. I make the show for you, right? Do I? Okay, but anyway, that song goes, “You better be good, for goodness sake.” Even though it's preaching to be good because Santa Claus is coming, right? Computationalism, anyway, back. Dreaming, a dream could be thought of a type of simulated reality. So this is another very dense for Wikipedia and pretty cool. I mean if you're looking to do more reading about it, check it out.

Mum's the word is what that Brent said, which is a popular English idiom. It's related to an expression used by William Shakespeare in Henry XI Part Two. The word mum is a slang version of mommy, which was used between 1350 and 1400 at Middle English, very close to the same meaning. Be silent, do not reveal, which is what Mum's the word means, to keep quiet. And mum is actually a Middle English word meaning silent, maybe derived from mummer who acts without speaking. Notice the similar word mime, meaning silent actor, imitator.

The origin of the phrase can be traced back the 14th century in William Langland's narrative poem, Piers Plowman, “Thou mightest beter meten the myst on Malverne hulles. Then geten a mom of heore mouth til moneye weore schewed!” It could also be from the 15th century Townley plays, “Thou might …”

Okay, and then in King Henry XI Part Two, Act One, Scene Two. “Seal up your lips and give no words but mum.” So that's Mum's the word. How about Emma Stone? One of my favorite actresses about … to be in a movie that's about to come out and according to Wikipedia, one of the most 100 … In my house she's probably in the top 10 most influential people, I'm not even kidding. I've seen La La Land maybe, I don't even know how many times because my daughter likes it, but I like it a lot too.

She was in a production of Wind In The Willows, then In Search Of The New Partridge Family, then her film debut was in Superbad, really? And then the movie, the sequel that's just coming out to Easy A, Crazy, Stupid Love, The Help, Amazing Spiderman and the sequel. She was Gwen Stacey. I didn't see those movies, now I'm going to have to. And she was in Birdman, which is a great movie. Cabaret, oh Broadway cabaret, then La La Land. Oh, Battle Of The Sexes, which she's was Billy Jean King, I enjoyed that one. The Favorite, she had that Netflix comedy and according to just like in the show, she was born in Scottsdale, Arizona. So that's a little bit about it.

I realize I didn't look up anything about the song 25 Or 6 To 4? So I'll just tell you about that, because it's a song by Chicago I think, or Boston. I think it's Chicago, and again, I like Chicago songs I just never … I was just born a little bit too late to be where those songs were just on the radio. But one thing I did learn because I looked it up, I said, “Oh, I'm going to look this up early.” Because I said, “What is this song anyway?” I like this song a lot, it's really good song and 25 Or 6 To 4 is about writing a song in the middle of the night and it's like 25 minutes or 26 minutes to 4:00 in the morning is when the writer of the song … Again, I could look this up, I looked it up on Wikipedia, but I don't know if it would be as boring. So that's another thing.

How about we finish out though, as engaging as that was, what if we finish out with … Arizona came up so I'm just going to do a couple quick facts about Arizona. It's 400 miles by 310 miles, highest elevation is 12.637 feet, that's Humphrey's Peak. Lowest elevation is 72 feet at the Colorado River at the border. I'm more interested in the population, 7,000,000 about 200,000 people. Oh no, is that the population? Yeah, total, it's the 14th largest state, 33rd in density and, yeah, it's in … I think it's timezones are different, like it says UTC, it's in the mountain time zone according to this, but I don't know about daylight savings time. I do know there's a Public Enemy song that I really enjoyed that's not favorable towards certain lawmakers back in the 90s in Arizona and that was on after … What album was that? I could see the cover of it. Not, Nation Of Millions and not Fear Of A Blank Planet. But whatever one that came out after, the one that came out at about '91. Does that sound right? I have no idea, Scoots. Oh, thanks, Scoots.

So that's a little bit about that. And then let's finish up with laugh track from Wikipedia, which is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show, containing the sounds of audience laughter. Sometimes it's live, recorded in front of a live studio audience, they used to do that. But a lot of times it implies canned laughter, artificial laughter, fake laughter inserted into the show. It was invented by sound engineer Charles Charlie Douglas. It became standard in the US, dominating primetime sitcoms from the 50s to the 70s. Douglas Laughter decreased in the 80s when they started using Stereophonic Laughter from rival sound companies. And then as things went to single camera it was less used. They also use it in radio, before radio and television, oh yeah, live comedy was in front of an actual audience. But then they tried to create that feel, so it was sweetening, film sweetening.

In early television most shows were not broadcast live, using single camera where a show … most shows that were not broadcast live using single camera, whereas performance of actors could be controlled, live audiences could not be relied upon to laugh at the correct, in quotes, moments. Other times audiences were deemed to have laughed too loudly or for too long. And Charlie Douglas fixed all those human inconsistencies, an editing technique which became known as Sweetening in which recorded laughter is used to augment the response of a real studio audience if they did not react as strongly as desired. Or to de-Sweeten audience reaction to remove inappropriate applause and make laughter more in line with producers preferred method of telling the story. And again, this is a pretty in depth Wikipedia article so I'll link to that. So that's it, thanks for listening and I'll see you in the next good place to sleep. All right, soul squatters. I'm out.