The way the scene is directed really enhances this. There's three characters in frame, then the camera zooms in on Michael as he slowly starts to crack and then laughs.

I don't think being dumb got him there, it was being selfish. He could still be dumb as a rock but care about the feelings of others. The system would be really terrible if it condemned him for something he had no ability to change.

I agree with you, but wanted to add that Tahani was also trying to beat her sister, so jealousy was another part of what dragged her down.

Shouldn't people from Florida get credit for time served?

You're right about him mentioning point allocation, but I hope that points are only relevant if you go to The Bad Place. Maybe they use them so they can figure out how much they need to torture you. It wouldn't make sense to send Chidi to the same place as someone that murdered people, for instance.

But it probably can't be sustained for a thousand years.

No, they stole Sean's train. He probably came in on it from outside of this particular Bad Place, so they could use it to leave.

Yeah, it would be over way too fast if Janet could just tell Elanor what a Chidi is, then follow that up with where he's located.

This one is probably just LA block, because it's based on the current population numbers. But there are no doubt similar countdowns going on inside the walls of every Colony in the world.

My guess is the Greatest Day involves some kind of immortality. That's the carrot that convinced Maddie. If she plays by the rules the Hosts will let her and her son live forever with them. And no doubt she thinks she can get her sister's family converted as well, if they'll just stop resisting and go with the flow.…

The Red Hands also seem way better organized and have better information than Broussard's resistance. They deliberately infiltrated a labor camp and somehow smuggled in a large bomb as well.

Humans don't go to The Factory to work. They're the raw material! I don't know what the aliens are making out of them, but it's pretty clear that's why no one ever comes back.

Burke has probably had the mystical ra-ra experience and firmly believes he will be one of the saved on the Greatest Day. Maybe that's why it's so easy for him to kill people. If he thinks they're doomed anyway since they won't transcend, he's just saving them some pain.

That's right. The algorithm was used to pre-pick the people who would become the administrators of the Transitional Authority. (And possibly the mysterious "Black Hat" soldiers.) Redhats are recruited from the general population, and anyone can apply. We've seen the advertisements on billboards.

All of that, plus Maya was in the pod. That was why she got rid of its first occupant. Since it was designed for people who have air masks and funky green fluid in their lungs it probably wouldn't have kept her alive for long. She had to detonate the bomb before the trip killed her.

Dang, I wish I'd read your comment before making mine. Spot on.

I think Charlie realized that his father was just trying to distract him so Lindsey could continue to teach Gracie in peace. He thought his Dad would kick Lindsey out, or teach him how to do it, but when he saw that wasn't going to happen he walked away in disgust..

I don't know if it was a deliberate fake out. I think they're just more interested in making jokes than creating a logical plot that anyone can follow. It makes the show seem a bit cartoon-like.

That would have been funny! Especially since it wasn't the fourth of July.

I don't think the creators have thought it through at all, but the only way it makes sense is if Daniel didn't actually screw up the timeline until he took Chris into the past. If Chris remembers that there was an American Revolution then it must have still happened at that point in the show.