The Good Place follows Eleanor, Chidi, Jason and Tahani as they find themselves in the afterlife in the so-called "Good Place" but come to wonder if they really belong there. Each of the four main characters makes up one piece of the morality puzzle. Every one of the four has something to teach the others about how to live morally, with their strengths combined, the four together add up to one complete moral person.

Each central character in the good place has one piece of what it takes to be a good person, Eleanor is the will, Chidi is the conscience, Jason is a kindness on a personal scale, and Tahani is kindess on a larger community scale. Each of these elements is a very positive thing, but none is enough on its own. The characters eventually understand that they make each other better by being together and likewise, if we want to be moral people, we need all four of these components.

1. as the Will Eleanor implements the others' abstract desires and turns them into the action. She has the drive of act that the others often lack, especially Chidi. But Eleanor's drive to act can be either for good or more often when shes's left to her own devices, for bad. She need to learn what the philosopher Immanual Kant called "good will". According to Kant, good will has two parts (1) First, using reason to recognize the right thing to do, (2) and second acting based on this sense of moral obligation or duty. So the two steps are essentially the "good" plus the "will". Eleanor has the "will" part down. What she lacks, and need to gain from others is the "good". During the group's test, the judge evaluates Eleanor is selfishness, you're supposed to do good things because you're good, not because seeking of moral dessert, because without the good in "good will" there's nothing to prevent us for making purely self-serving choices. Eleanor starts filling in that missing first step and understanding how to reason out her moral choices. Thanks to lessons from her new friends, Chidi provides that the "reason" that sorts out the good from the bad, and Jason and Tahani provide the kindness and the desire to do good. But the kindness and good intentions of the three are useless without Eleanor's ability to carry them out. She becomes the decision maker of the group, and even feels like the leader most of the time because she has the will to make change happen.

2. Chidi represents the knowledge of right and wrong, and this basically makes him the conscience of the group. He knows virtually everything there is to know about how to be a good person, and this knowledge is essential for behaving in a moral way: without it, Eleanor, Jason and Tahani would remain ignorant, still, what Chidi lacks is the ability to translate his knowledge into the action. He's paralyzed by his hyper-awareness of the moral ramifications of every tiny decision. His test from the judge is simply to make a choice, and he feels miserably. He needs Eleanor to execute his reason in behavior, "the best version of me is just as much about my effect on the world around me as it is about my own egocentric self-image. This key revelation from Chidi finally makes this connection between his intentions and the result or impact of his actions. He spent his life trying to embody an abstract, perfect good. But since goodness has to be expressed in action, it can't be perfect except in theory "I spent my whole life trying to learn about right and wrong, and apparently, i failed. Chidi spent his life thinking about good instead of doing it, and that's why he ended up in the bad place, "indecision caused you so much agony in your life"

3. Jason embodies kindness on a personal level, unlike the other three, he actually had close supportive friendships while he was on earth. He's always understood the value of relationships with other people, which is something that Eleanor, Chidi and Tahani are still learning. He's very sweet, and his first instinct is always to be nice to people, "and i promise to always be nice to you". Showing others kindness is an important part of being a good person, but what Jason needs to gain from the others, and especially Tahani. is a broader understanding of how to be good, not just in the moment, but in the long run. He fails his test from judge because he doesn't even bother to figure out what the test really is : he sees the video games, something that will bring him immediate happiness, and he jump on it without examining the consequences. "Your test is about impulse control, but you never asked if you could opt not to play, I mean, you basically told me, an all-knowing judge, to just shut up and go away". So Jason needs to find the will to improve, and develop the foresight to consider how the moment at hand affects the future, "it's basic consequentialism the morality of an action is solely judged on its consequences".

4. While jason is kind to the individuals in his life, Tahani represents good works for the benefit of the community, and the world. She's a phillanthropist who has made the world a better place in a quantifiable way. The results of her charitable generousity are an indisputably positive, meaningful contribution to the greater good. But the problem is that her motivations are entirely selfish. Despite the good outcome, her behavior is lacking morality because is never grounded in love for other people, and that's what she needs to learn from Jason, "you are awesome, be nicer to yourself".


Eleanor and Chidi, and Jason and Tahani are paired as fake "soulmates", precisely because they're complete opposites. Michael assumes these people are so ill-matched, they'll torture each other. But ironically, Eleanor and Chidi, and arguably Jason and Tahani too become each other's soulmates. What makes them total opposites actually allows them to bring out the best in each other. Eleanor's will forces Chidi to stop being so hesitant and wishy-washy. And Chidi is a conscience helping Eleanor decipher right from wrong, he's the voice inside her head she keeps referring to. Jason shows Tahani the importance of sincerely meaning the kind things you do. And Tahani helps Jason understand the impact of his actions.

What is a soulmate, then?
We might picture our soulmate as someone we have a lot in common with, who's a mirror of us, made of the same stuff we are. But The Good Place is saying a soulmate is more the thing you're missing. And opposites don't just attract, they also complete each other. Fundamentally, your soulmate is just the person who makes you better than you can be without them. So the show telling us you don't necessarily need to find that perfect cosmically chosen match. you and your partner can develop into a soulmate by working on yourselves together. The Good Place's overriding message is that it's our love for one another that makes us good. Being a good person is hard work, but if you truly understand the value of the people in your life, it's hard work you want to do.