The Good Place ended last night with an hour-long finale (Season 4, Episode 13 and 14), titled Whenever You Are Ready.
In the episode, the main characters, including Eleanor, Jason, and Chidi, decided to exit The Good Place through the door that Janet created, and end their existence.
When Chidi was about to leave, Eleanor tried to make him stay because she could not bear to continue being without him. Chidi agreed to stay, but when Eleanor realized he was not entirely happy about it, she let him have his way as a final selfless act.
Jason also left, but only after he found the necklace he made for Janet. He lost the necklace when he was going to leave earlier in the show but stayed to find it. He finally gave the necklace to Janet before exiting.
Tahani decided not to end her existence. Instead, she chose to become a Good Place architect.
Michael is not human, so he could not end his existence. However, Eleanor was able to persuade the Judge to let him become a human and experience life on Earth.
Eleanor turned into specks of light when she exited
When Eleanor exited, she was transformed into specks of light that floated up into space. The specks then floated to Earth, where they found a man who just trashed a letter delivered to him in error.
The speck appeared to influence the man to retrieve the letter from the trash and take it to the intended recipient.
The recipient of the letter turned out to be Michael, who returned to Earth to experience human life. Michael took the letter from the man and opened it.
He found that it contained a reward card for Coyote Joe’s. Michael was pleased with the man’s kind gesture. He thanked him and told him to “Take it sleazy.”
Both men smiled.
‘Take it sleazy’: The ending explained
According to The Urban Dictionary, “take it sleazy” is a lighthearted exhortation to someone to keep on “being corrupt and immoral.” However, in the context of the scene from The Good Place, it could be understood as a play on the common expression, “Take it easy.”
Fans who have been following the series will likely link the man’s decision to retrieve the letter from the trash with Eleanor’s previous good deeds.
For example, in Season 3, Episode 4, titled Jeremy Bearimy, Eleanor returned a wallet she found at a bar to the owner.
In last night’s series finale, she selflessly allowed Chidi to exit The Good Place before she was ready to leave and helped to persuade the Judge to allow Michael to come to Earth as a human.
One could, therefore, interpret the specks as reflecting the power of our good deeds to touch others and inspire them also to selfless deeds of their own even after our lives have expired.
The letter the man returned to Michael did not contain any particularly important message. This fact could express the idea that good deeds and acts of selflessness are mostly the little things we do that touch other people’s lives, even in the small but positive ways we think are inconsequential.
Yet, such seemingly inconsequential acts of kindness and selflessness add up to make our world a better place.
Someone needs to watch the first season again. Especially episode 7, Michael’s speech about 10:30 into the episode. Following the beautiful “foible” line.