The Good Place thrives on a sense of manic improvisation, both from its characters, and from itself. Nobody embodies that sense of “Screw it, let’s try the next plan/idea/iteration of the planet Earth” better than Ted Danson’s Michael, who’s been scrabbling for three seasons now, first to keep Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason trapped, and now to help them make their way somewhere Good. In the process, he’s told a lot of lies, and come up with a lot of harebrained schemes, but now, in this exclusive clip from the cold open of t omorrow night’s new episode, it looks like he’s finally getting desperate.


Said clip, from “Jeremy Bearimy, ” picks up right where “The Snowplow” left off, as the former members of The Brainy Bunch stumble across Michael and Janet talking about Afterlife Points, the Good Place, and also standing in front of a big, flashy interdimensional portal back to the Judge’s realm . But despite Eleanor’s threats to have Chidi beat him up (unlikely) and Janet’s omniscient doubts (pretty plausible) , Michael decides to roll right into the next lie, one more Hail Mary attempt to keep his friends safe: Friends, meet FBI Special Agent Rick Justice and his partner, Lisa “Frenchie” Fuqua.

Now, will this particular lie last more than five minutes past the end of the chapter card? Given how fast The Good Place can chew through a premise, we doubt it. But it is a reminder of how many plates Michael has spinning at the moment, and how far the old demon is willing to push himself to try to set things “right.”