As one of the most high-concept sitcoms ever produced, The Good Place took viewers on an incredible journey. It followed a group of recently deceased people who entered the afterlife as they tried to navigate its bureaucratic oddities with the help of a celestial being and a sentient AI operating system.
One of those formerly living individuals was Jason Mendoza. Initially, he was known as Jianyu Li, a monk who had taken a vow of silence. His real identity was eventually revealed as was the fact that Jason was a shockingly ludicrous person, especially when he was alive.
10 His Best Friend Is Named Pillboi
Everyone needs a friend who will literally get up to anything with them. For Jason, that person was Pillboi, whose real name was Steven Peleaz. They did some incredibly stupid stuff, including the attempted robbery that got Jason killed.
Again, Steven went by the name Pillboi, and that was enough to tell viewers all they need to know about him. Just like Jason, he was an aspiring DJ and a member of the same 60-person dance crew that also included Jason’s dad.
9 Calls His Own Father Donkey Doug
Speaking of Jason’s dad, Doug Mendoza, he also had a nickname. The guy insisted that his own son referred to him as Donkey Doug. Occasionally, he would let Jason call him Donkey Dad but that really was somehow worse.
The crazy part about this is viewers weren’t aware of this right away. The way Jason would talk about Donkey Dan, everyone thought he was just another friend. Eventually, their real relationship was revealed. It was a true glimpse into why Jason was the way he was.
8 Framed Donkey Doug’s Girlfriend For A Crime
Jason, Pillboi, and Donkey Doug were all part of a 60-person dance crew in Jacksonville. But at one point, Donkey Doug was looking at leaving the crew because of his girlfriend. Jason was concerned because Donkey Doug was their top pop and locker.
As such, Jason did the only logical thing and framed Donkey Doug’s girlfriend for a crime. This got her out of the picture, but it was an absurdly terrible thing to do, not to mention completely unnecessary. It was a 60-person dance crew, after all. Someone else could have stepped in.
7 Won A Jalapeno Poppers Eating Contest At Stupid Nick’s
Outside of the dance crew, Jason wasn’t really what anyone would describe as competitive. He wasn’t an athlete and didn’t really get involved in anything sports-related. That being said, he was a big Jaguars fan, so he may have gotten involved in the occasional pickup game.
But he did manage to win a Jalapeno Poppers eating contest at Stupid Nick’s. Declaring victory meant eating 50 of them in under a minute, an act that sent him to the hospital. The hospital staff was quite impressed, though.
6 Kept Going To Stupid Nick’s
As a general rule, Jason was quite a loyal guy. When he decided that something or someone was important, there was no changing it. Keeping all of that in mind, it was kind of absurd that he kept going to Stupid Nick’s.
As previously mentioned, the guy at 50 Jalapeno Poppers in under a minute and ended up in the hospital. One would think that he would have stopped going after that but Stupid Nick’s became his favorite restaurant. Jason was apparently determined to die in one way or another.
5 His Career As Mr. Music The DJ
In addition to his work with his insane and over-the-top 60-person dance crew, Jason also wanted to be a DJ. The only problem was that he was absolutely terrible at it, which was true of pretty much everything Jason did.
But he was an especially terrible DJ. Anyone who thought seriously about booking him probably should have guessed that based on his ludicrous name, Mr. Music the DJ. That alone should have made people second guess him.
4 Posing As Acid Cat
As part of his attempt to gain some recognition, Jason sent demo tapes of Mr. Music the DJ to all of the other DJs around Jacksonville. Almost all of them absolutely ignored his demos, except for a DJ named Acid Cat.
Not to be confused, Acid Cat also thought Jason was a terrible DJ. But Acid Cat performed under a mask and used Jason as a stand-in for gigs he couldn’t make it to. Jason’s greatest contribution while on Earth was posing as a local Jacksonville DJ. It was simultaneously the saddest and funniest thing he did.
3 Destroys Acid Cat’s Boat With Pillboi
Unfortunately, Jason couldn’t handle being Acid Cat. He realized that the crowds were cheering for Acid Cat and not him, which Jason found quite depressing. To be frank, it was kind of surprising that he was self-aware enough to have even that profound a realization.
Jason broke the contract and was sued by Acid Cat. As an act of revenge, Jason and Pillboi committed arson by straight-up burning one of Acid Cat’s boats to ashes. That’s the Jason fans got to know and love. Act first, never think.
2 Making Money By Robbing A Mexican Restaurant
Jason never really had a lot of money to speak of. That’s not surprising since he was a terrible aspiring DJ who had a 60-person dance crew with two guys named Donkey Doug and Pillboi. That’s not really how success starts.
At the same time, he wanted to take care of his friends. While out for a meal at a local Mexican restaurant, Jason came up with the plan of robbing that restaurant. It was yet another bad idea in a lifetime filled with them.
1 Hiding In An Air Tight Safe
Even the intention of robbing the random restaurant to make money was ludicrous. There was no way he and Pillboi were going to pull this off successfully. These aren’t the kind of people to mastermind any kind of nefarious plan.
In this case, the plan was for Jason to hide in a safe and use a snorkel to breathe, then spring out and rob the place. Being that said safe was airtight and the snorkel was as useless as Pillboi, Jason suffocated. That absurd death was how he ended up in the Bad Place.
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