In this show, there is an afterlife. When humans are alive, every single behavior either increases or deducts their points. After they die, depending on how much points they earn, they are either sent to the good place to enjoy their paradise for eternity or the bad place for eternal damnation. Michael is one of the demons responsible for torturing humans who are sent to the bad place.

One day he comes up with a new idea to torture human. He builds a neighbourhood and puts four humans there, making them believe that they are in the good place. He then makes use of their weaknesses, trying to let them torture each other emotionally.

Tahani is a rich, pretty and tall British aristocrat. She is one of the four humans Michael puts in his experiment. Tahani easily believes that she is in the good place, because of all those people she has helped, all the money she raises for others when she is alive.

Yet, her motivation is corrupted. She never cares about the people she helps. She raises all that money so as to prove her parents wrong and stick it to her sister. In season two, when she finds out that she is actually in the bad place, she wants to be the person she pretends to be.

In the last season, Tahani has shown significant change. This season starts with their experiment with the system in the afterlife. In order to prove to the judge of the universe that humans are capable of self-improvement and shouldn’t be tortured forever after they die, the main characters need to improve the character flaws in four test subjects.

John is one of the test subjects. He is a blogger who spite celebrities including Tahani when he is alive. His pettiness is a result of feeling excluded by the powerful and rich people.

She recreates all the luxurious things and invites him to participate. He enjoys them but whenever Tahani brings up self-improvement, she faces resistance from him and makes no progress. One night, she realizes that she was as lonely, miserable and jealous as John when she was alive because she was too obsessed with social status. She goes to find him and tells him a story of hers.

She was invited to a celebrity’s birthday party once, and only the wealthiest, most famous members were invited. Once abroad, she finds a VIP deck and an even more exclusive room which one could only access with a secret pin within the deck. She promptly entered. But no one was there. The party raged on outside, but she was so obsessed with status that she never left, spending the entire night talking to no one. She said to him, 

“if all you care about in the world is the velvet robe, you will always be unhappy no matter which side you’re on.”

In another episode, she says to Eleanor, all she ever does on Earth and since she dies is throwing fancy parties. She wants to learn some real skills, something meaningful and fulfilling. After the team makes it to the real good place, she learns different skills, like paving a driveway, cooking, etc.

At the end of the show, she finds her purpose. Since she is good at making chairs, has a breadth of knowledge and the desire to genuinely help people, she becomes an architect intern to design tests that test whether people are qualified to go to the good place.

When feeling unsatisfied, sometimes we may think more fancy stuff will make us happier. At some points in my immature teenage years I have thought that myself. But the story of Tahani tells us something different. When on Earth, she has fame, money, social status, good looks, acquaintances with celebrities (that she likes to mention). But being obsessed with these makes her feel lonely and unhappy. And as Michael points out, her whole life was empty and pointless. Learning meaningful skills, genuine work, however unglamorous, and her purpose of helping people are what truly fulfil her.

Her life on Earth was empty, but eventually she finds meaning and purpose in her afterlife. We may or may not have an afterlife, and we wouldn’t want to waste the chance to live a more fulfilling and happier life if we can only think and feel once, so we take action now😁

this video is quite funny, can show Tahani’s vain and also funny sides

(credit to the owner of the video saschavos)

Thanks for reading.

(all photos credit to the owners of the show)