In Thursdays stellar, bizarro episode ofThe Good Place,DArcy Cardenshined as Janet.
And as Jason, too.
Oh, and dont forget Tahani!
Credit: Colleen Hayes/NBC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So… that was suitably bonkers.
I texted Mike just the other day, Ill never get over you guys trusting me with this.
How did you prepare for this episode?
Michael Schur
I creepily lurked a lot, especially when we were filming.
They were like, Why are you turning into such a creep all of the sudden?…
The editing team put together did you say game tape?
Things like that are super helpful, but they also can get you in your head a little bit.
So Kristen playing Eleanor, Will playing Chidi, et cetera.
Even just the memorizing of this episode was daunting.
In the days leading up to it, I truly didnt do anything else but just listen to it.
So I pulled over and rolled my window down and blasted what I was listening to.
You kind of lose your mind a little bit.
Not to mention that were in a big white room, so your brains are tripping out anyway.
Any actor wants an acting partner.
Good luck, I dont want to do this anymore.
They were all incredible and so, so helpful.
It was one of the best weeks of my life.
Jason was the most fun for sure, without a doubt.
If I could just switch roles with Manny from now on, I would do that.
I would say Kristen is so subtle, her little things were very hard.
She does so much in such subtle ways that you dont really know if youre capturing it or not.
Will was extremely hard.
I could hear him in my head, and I couldnt do him, if that makes sense.
We didnt really want to do sketch-style impressions,SNLimpressions.
But you had to still know who each character was.
Im talking to myself like a lunatic.
Its all a bit of a weird blur in my head.
Morgan Sackett and the two writers, Josh [Siegal] and Dylan [Morgan] were so helpful.
It was almost like the four of us were sharing a big weird brain.
I relied on them so, so, so much… What do you think?
Help me, help me.
This episode is such a big swing.
How nervous was everyone that this was viable?
I trust you, I believe you.
I remember the first day of filming; it was such a question mark.
We wanted to attempt to get through something like four scenes that day, maybe five.
It just took so long, and there was so much more to it than we expected.
They had definitely crossed everytand dotted everyi.
They were over-prepared, but still it was different than we thought it would be.
It was a bunch of people saying to each other, How can I help the job?
Everybody had the same goal to make this weird thing work.
It was awesome, it was such an awesome experience.
As a big fan of the Medium Place, I was happy to meet Neutral Janet.
How did you approach that role?
Did you just pretend the light went out in your eyes?Yes.
I tried to think what would my face look like if I was dead.
Bad Janet, No.
Neutral Janet, No.
But its so close.
Its almost like 1, 1.5, it is so close.
We had a whole weird walk that Neutral Janet had that we dont really get to see.
We definitely found some fun weird things for Neutral Janet.
Who knows if well ever see her again, but I definitely enjoyed that new version.
And then Bad Janet is just such a thrill.
But its so freeing and fun.
And then obviously I have such a soft spot and love for regular Janet.
Janet Proper is what Mike Schur calls her.
But also, like, who the hell knows what Mike Schur has in store for us?
Ithinkthis is the Good Place.
But also in season 1 I thought it was the Good Place, so dont ask me.
Or, I guess, do ask me and Ill tell you what I think.
Theres a revelation that no one has gotten into the Good Place in more than 500 years.
Does that mean that Jason Mendoza is good enough to get in?
I dont think so, its not looking good for our little group.
What can you hint about the promised land were about to see?
I dont remember what we are Team Cockroach?
Whatever we are, we are in together.
The next few episodes get very wild and thrilling and adventurous.
Its a little mini-adventure for the rest of the season….
Were being very sneaky and were desperately trying to fit in and not get caught.
But, you know, terrified.
So theyre terrified and sneaking around.
Michael is on a mission and were with him.
Were together as a group on a mission.
This is our new goal.
Its really, really, really fun.
Youve been in the non-human skin of Janet for three seasons now.
Does she have fake organs and stuff?
Or is there a robot inside of her?
Or is she made of mercury?
I dont know what it is, but I want to know.
I guess heres a question that Ive had since day 1 about Janet: Will she ever fully Pinocchio?
Will she ever become a real boy like Pinocchio?
Is that whats in her future?
The Blue Fairy makes Pinocchio [into] a real boy.
Will anybody ever do that to her?
Is that where were going?
Because I truly dont know.
Speaking of which, so many people love the Jason-Janet romantic relationship.
Do you like them better together or apart?I do like them together, I really do.
And thats selfish because I absolutely love doing scenes with Manny, just little one-on-one scenes.
But I just think theyre so sweet and theres some very innocent love going on there.
Theres no two hotter people on earth than Jameela and Manny, so I love seeing them together.
We all like watching them kiss, but Im rooting for Janet and Jason.
