The Good Place (TV Series)

Existential Crisis (2017)

William Jackson Harper: Chidi Anagonye

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Quotes 

• Eleanor Shellstrop : Man, Michael is not into your class. Right now, I'm the best student. I'm going to be the velociraptor.

  Chidi Anagonye : You trying to say "valedictorian?"

• Eleanor Shellstrop : Dude, you broke Michael!

  Chidi Anagonye : No, no, this is good. He's having an existential crisis. It's a sort of anguish people go through when they contemplate the silent indifference of our empty universe. Look, the good news is, if he can work through this, it's the first step towards understanding human ethics.

  Eleanor Shellstrop : And what if he can't?

  Chidi Anagonye : Well, then, he'll be a lifeless shell of misery forever and we're all doomed.

• Eleanor Shellstrop : Look, dude, this isn't your fault. You've been teaching him ethics for half an hour and he's been evil since the beginning of time.

  Chidi Anagonye : Oh! Maybe the reason Michael can't latch onto the ideas is because he's immortal. Look, if you live forever, then ethics don't matter to you, because, basically, there's no consequences for your actions. You tell a lie, who cares? Wait a few trillion years, the guilt will fade. Before I can teach Michael to be good, I have to force him to think about what we used to think about. That life has an end and, therefore, our actions have meaning.

  Eleanor Shellstrop : That's what you used to think about? I used to think about how it's weird they don't make pants that are just one big pant leg for both your legs.

  Chidi Anagonye : You mean a skirt?

  Eleanor Shellstrop : No! Thi... You're not getting it, and my thing is different, so shut up.

• Chidi Anagonye : An existential crisis is an acknowledgement that life is absurd and that absurdity needs to be confronted. But this is just denial. And at any moment, that denial could collapse and he'll be a mess. He is a Jenga tower of sadness.

  Eleanor Shellstrop : For an immortal being, he's pretty fragile. I mean, the guy contemplates his own death for one forking minute and completely loses his grip on reality?

• Eleanor Shellstrop : I think Vicky bought his excuse, but we need to snap him out of this. Which one of these confusing French books will make him normal again?

  Chidi Anagonye : It's not that easy. I mean, emotionally, he's all over the map right now. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't think this can be solved with a book.

  Eleanor Shellstrop : What's the big whoop? I dealt with death and I was fine.

  Chidi Anagonye : Were you? You never had one moment where you were freaked out by the permanence of death? Never one moment like that?