Eleanor may be a fan favorite by the end, but especially at the start of The Good Place, she is just the worst.
The Good Place was one of NBC’s most successful series due to the connection fans shared with characters. One of The Good Place’s most notable characters was Eleanor Shellstrop. Eleanor was full of humor, sarcasm and was most loved by fans for being unfiltered.
Initially, Eleanor was introduced to the audience as selfish and far from being a good person. Throughout The Good Place's 4-year run, Eleanor’s character developed to a great extent. However, this was a long road for the character as there were times fans and other characters loved and hated her.
In season 2 episode 11 “The Burrito”, Eleanor and her friends were given a test by the judge to see if, in fact, they had improved. In this test, all four humans came to an agreement with the judge that if one person failed, all four would have to return to the bad place. Eleanor was tested and passed with flying colors. However, the same could not be said about Chidi, Tahani, and Jason. Eleanor hid the fact she had passed in order to ensure the others wouldn’t feel bad. This moment showed Eleanor at her best as she sacrificed her chances at a good afterlife to be with her friends; an act she would have never done while on Earth.
Eleanor’s time on Earth prior to her death was not a path a good person would lead. She would often be selfish and act rudely to others. In season 1 episode 9, the audience was given a glimpse of just how bad Eleanor used to be. In the flashback, Eleanor can be seen quitting an environmental NGO to work for a Ponzi scheme because it made her more money.
This job involved her selling ineffective drugs to the elderly, a job she had no shame in, and said she was good at. This showcased Eleanor’s past lack of care for others and can be considered as one of her worst moments.
In season 3, a new experiment was proposed by Michael in which all four humans would return back to live their life on Earth so that the judge could examine just how much they had improved. In the season 3 episode “Jeremy Bearimy”, Eleanor seemingly claims defeat wanting to give up on being a good person. While at a bar, she finds an abandoned wallet and despite being upset and wanting to do the wrong thing, she went above and beyond to return the wallet to the owner. This was a rewarding moment for her as she showed that she had in fact changed. Through this act, Eleanor was able to bring happiness to someone else which was a triumphant moment for Eleanor who found value in being a good person all by herself.
In season 1 episode 6 “What we owe to each other”, Eleanor is tasked with house and dog sitting for a friend. Shortly after she begins this task, Eleanor is tempted by a friend to visit Vegas for a Rihanna concert. Eleanor seemed to struggle to make a decision for one minute before she accepted the offer, leaving her friend’s place unattended.
Eleanor also left an abundance of food for the dog which turns out to be catastrophic. Here, Eleanor acted as the worst friend as she abandoned her duty for her own self-interest.
When Eleanor and Chidi first met, she was far from being a great soulmate. In fact, Eleanor often took Chidi’s kindness for granted. But after Chidi becomes frustrated with her for taking advantage of him, Eleanor realizes Chidi’s importance as a friend and potential soulmate. As a result, in season 1 episode 5, Eleanor showcased her gratefulness for Chidi as she makes his afterlife dream a reality by organizing a day for him on the lake, reading poetry. This quickly made the audience fall in love with Eleanor as she listened to her friend and supported his dream, showing an improvement in her journey to become a good person.
In the first episode of the series, Eleanor was advertised to the audience as a good person and role model for her achievements on Earth. However, at the end of the episode, the audience, alongside Chidi, finds out that Eleanor Shellstrop is a fraud. Although this was in fact a part of her “bad place” experience as architected by Michael, Eleanor leading all her good place neighbors to believe she was where she's meant to be, was selfish and cowardly of her.
Following this, Eleanor is seen to be the cause of many glitches in The Good Place. Still, in her best interest, Eleanor forces Chidi to remain quiet in hopes of beating the system. This decision highlighted Eleanor’s worst parts especially as she was even willing to put Chidi at risk to save herself.
The season 3 finale left both the audience and Eleanor in shock. After finding love with Chidi, Eleanor and the group discover that in order to save humanity’s chances of making it into The Good Place, they would have to partake in an experiment that would rip Eleanor and Chidi apart. Chidi also realized that the only way to proceed with the new experiment was to have his memory and love for Eleanor erased so that he could teach the other subjects how to be good just as he did for Eleanor. Although this was painful for both characters, particularly for Eleanor, she was able to make this ultimate sacrifice for the sake of humanity which once again showed Eleanor’s goodness.
It’s been established that while on Earth, Eleanor was neither a great friend nor colleague. Eleanor was always seen thinking of herself before others and in a flashback of her past self in season 1 episode 2 “Flying”, Eleanor tricks her friends into leaving her out of the designated driver rotation so that she could drink and have fun.
Eleanor always managed to skip out on the role while selecting a designated driver by preying on the weakness of her colleagues. When her friends finally catch up to her games, she is given the choice of finally being the designated driver or never being invited to after-work drinks again. Eleanor, being the selfish and mean person she was, abandons her colleagues without a care in the world.
After spending time on Earth in season 3, Eleanor discovers that her estranged mother is actually still alive. The audience comes to find out that Eleanor had felt abandoned by her mother and held a lot of resentment towards her. When she reunites with her mother in the S3 episode 6, she finds her mother happy with a new family which upsets her even more. Despite being suspicious of her mother, Eleanor soon realizes that anger cannot heal her broken heart. In season 3 episode 6 “A fractured Inheritance”, Eleanor acts as the bigger person forgiving her mother and helping her realize the importance of family and kindness. Both audiences and Eleanor’s mother appreciated her gestures which made her a lovable person.
Throughout the series, the audience was blessed with flashbacks from Eleanor’s past giving insight on her development as a character. The most notable one was in season 1 episode 8 “Most Improved Player” where Eleanor uses the downfall of her friend and roommate Madison to her advantage. One night, Eleanor borrows her roommate's expensive dress, and with a lack of care, rips and damages said dress. After she is questioned by her roommate, she blames it on the dry cleaners which leads the roommate into an expensive lawsuit against them. Eventually, the roommate is left exhausted of time and funds and Eleanor revels in her lie despite seeing her friend struggle. To make things worst, Eleanor capitalizes on a viral meme made against her roommate by making T-shirts of her friend as the “dress b*tch”. Out of many of Eleanor’s bad moments, this was by far the worst as it showed her true sabotaging and spiteful nature towards someone she would consider ‘ a friend’.
