| “ | Ha, ha, ha...Oh man! I can't believe you figured it out! | „ |
| ~ Michael after Eleanor realises she's in the bad place. |
| “ | Take it sleazy. | „ |
| ~ What Michael would want his last words to be. |
Michael is the deuteragonist of the 2016 sitcom The Good Place. He is the lead architecture on his new experiment trying to push mental torture. He is an incredibly sadistic and manipulative demon who ends up redeeming himself through spending more time with the 4 main humans of the show.
He is portrayed by Ted Danson.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- Tortured a vast majority of humanity In the Bad Place for eternities.
- He even earns an award for being 'torturer of the month', proving his willingness and eagerness to do so.
- Shows major sadism during torture, even sadistically laughing when Eleanor realises she's in the Bad Place.
- Acknowledges the fact the 4 humans were getting morally better and yet still treats them the same, showing Michael didn't actually care that they were bad people. He just wanted to let out his sadistic tendencies.
- Brainwashes the 4 humans over 800 times with no remorse while trying his experiment.
- Treats his demons awfully, refusing to accept their requests even though some were 'doable' and only conceding to doing so once they threatened to tell Shawn how many times the experiment had failed.
- As soon as they do this, Michael seeks the 4 humans in order to manipulate them into helping him stop the demons and get back into power.
- While Michael is working with the humans, he continues to torture them using the trolley problem.
- Steals a Good Janet in order to try to manipulate the humans further, allowing for the place to look better and seem more like 'The Good Place'.
- Technically murders the 4 humans when they find him on Earth during a later experiment, though this is extremely minor considering he thought he had to and had genuine good intentions for being on Earth in the first place.
- He intended to restart the universe as a means of giving the 4 humans a fresh start in getting into the good place, with this being the very thing he would later try to stop Judge Gen from doing in season 4.
- Ultimately is a mass manipulator who manipulates both his fellow demons and the 4 humans. Considering his sadistic desire to do so, it is reasonable to assume Michael would likely have done this continually with all other humans had his experiment worked in the first place.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- Has a massive character arc where he ultimately redeems himself and chooses to genuinely work with the humans with no ulterior motives.
- Chooses to try to help the humans get into the actual Good Place.
- Tries to fix the system of who gets to go to the Bad and Good place to save all of humanity from eternal torture.
- Tries to come up with a new way to fix it once the Judge threatens to erase the Earth in order to save all of living humanity.
- Fixes the Good Place since the population of it were tired and bored, making a door where people could choose to leave.
- Saves Janet from Shawn and Vicky's torture.
- Renounces his former self when looking at his 'Demon of the Month' poster.
- Has many detracting comedic moments which take away from his villainy, including but not limited to:
- Flossing to distract the Judge.
- When pretending he is going to die, he says 'take it sleazy'.
- Wanting to do a magic show as "Dr. Presto".
- Kicking a puppy right before a resident asked where their puppy was.
Trivia[]
- He is so far one of only two 'The Good Place' Inconsistently Heinous villains, the other being Shawn.
- Ironically, both of these villains are redeemed.
External Links[]
- Michael on the The Good Place Wiki
- Michael on the Villains Wiki