Jacksonville Jokes (And More) In 'The Good Place' Episode 'The Ballad Of Donkey Doug'!

By Dan Hamamura | TV | October 26, 2018 |

By Dan Hamamura | TV | October 26, 2018 |

This week on The Good Place, we got our first look at the Soul Squad in action, as they split into two groups, with Chidi, Eleanor, and Janet working on saving Simone, while Jason, Tahani, and Michael focused their efforts on Donkey Doug (and later, Pillboi).

Which means, of course, we get jokes in both Australia and Jacksonville! Let’s dive in.

Randy “Macho Man” Savage Non-International Airport

Pretty self-explanatory here (wait, everyone knows who Randy Savage was, right? Wrestling superstar/Slim Jim hype man? Married for a time to Miss Elizabeth? Liked to say “Ooooh yeeeeah”?), although I particularly enjoy the fact that the “Non” in Non-International Airport looks like it was added later - as if they lost their International Airport status somehow. Probably involving Florida Man.

The Good Place Crew Member Alert!

Gay Perello, who serves as the Property Master on the show, is also, it turns out, a bestselling author!

Also, poor Larry Hemsworth, leaving us as he entered into our lives: his life splashed on a magazine cover. Although… is that him in the magazine? I can’t tell for sure but it doesn’t look like him to me.

Mindy St. Claire’s Foundation

The first (non-monster truck) cab that we see in Jacksonville has an ad for The Mindy St. Claire Rescue Alliance, so her work seems to still be going strong, despite her death sometime back in the 80s.

DONKEY DOUG IS JASON’S DAD?

Tahani is right: it does explain so much.

Meanwhile, Back In Australia…

Another Nemo-based business, and another dead Nemo. RIP Nemo.

But my favorite hidden joke of the night is the Crocodile Dundee reference just in front of the café, as the street signs read:

THATSNOTA ST.

THISISA ST.

Sometimes, it’s the little things that count.

All The Non-Chidi Uses For Janet’s VR System

Although Janet built her VR simulation for Chidi to practice his breakup with Simone, Eleanor and Janet discuss a few different scenarios it could be used to explore, including:

-Jason Statham in a room with a futon and a bunch of red bull
-A very specific Lenny Kravitz concert
-A steam room with Jason wearing an old-timey strongman onesie (but that’s a bug in the system)

Speaking Of That Simulation…

The show naturally used Chidi’s breakup simulation as a callback to Michael’s numerous reboots of the neighborhood in season two, complete with the same music cues and Chidi resetting things with a snap of his fingers. And as an added bonus, Eleanor (as played by Simone) got to step in and mess with Chidi, giving us another parallel to the afterlife our heroes used to inhabit.

Kamilah Remains Insufferable

As the Soul Squad reconvenes in Hungary to tackle their next assignment, Kamilah, we get a preview of her upcoming museum exhibit on the signage: The Persistence of Conception, which sounds appropriately insufferable. The Soul Squad’s gonna have their work cut out for them.

Check The Credits!

Two more credit-only jokes this week, as we get:

Helmut Deutschermann
Jolivia Oowton-Nohn

Good to see that the show’s name game is strong as ever.

That’s all for this week! As always, what did I miss? Should I have noted the fact that Tahani showed enough self-awareness to ask herself why she was ever friends with “weird creep” Elon Musk? Or what about the fact that we may have said goodbye forever to Simone, Pillboi, and Donkey Dad Doug? And of course there’s the latest reveal that Eleanor’s mom is alive!

So much to look forward to next week!