It's been a while since Good Place fans learned that Michael was just torturing the four main characters. Some of those tortures were ingenious. But some of the worst tortures on the show didn't even happen in the Bad Place; they happened after the Brainy Bunch was out in the world again, or running from the Judge.
In short, some of the worst tortures weren't even intentional. Some of them were just part of life going horribly wrong. Here's a list of the worst ways characters have been tortured throughout the show, both in and out of the Bad Place.
Jason Playing Wise And Reserved
Jason loves to blurt things. He especially loves to blurt bizarre stories, often about his dance crew or various unique criminal activities. He is neither subtle nor particularly smart. There are few things more challenging than pretending to be smarter than you are, so being forced into both silence and faked wisdom is just about the worst way to torture Jason.
And it's really about the only thing that could torture him; for someone as carefree and out-of-touch with reality as Jason, there isn't so much a good-evil spectrum as a fun-boring spectrum. Forced boredom may be the only kind of torture he understands.
Tahani's Silent Soulmate
Placing a socialite with someone who has to be silent is bad, but insisting that they're soulmates is worse. Because if they're soulmates, that leaves the socialite to try to talk themselves into liking the person or making it work, for fear something is wrong with them.
This is exactly what happens to Tahani, she struggles to make the relationship bearable for herself, because they've convinced her this is supposed to work somehow, and that must mean she's doing something wrong. And what kind of socialite can't get someone to talk? It's enough to make her doubt her primary talents.
Living Like Doug Forsythe
Apparently the only way to avoid afterlife torture is to endure during-life torture. Doug Forsythe is the only human to figure out the point system and live by it every day as much as possible. But when Janet and Michael pop in on him as part of their investigation into the point system, fans learned how much it sucks to be Doug.
He eats primarily lentils because he has to consider carbon footprint, and recycles his own pee for water. Accidentally stepping on a snail is an earth-shattering event for him, because he genuinely believes it'll help send him to hell. That's just no way to live.
The Dead Janet Alert
One of the most hilarious moments on the show was one of the most paralyzing for Chidi. Fans can't possibly forget the big-screen Janet announcing "Attention: I have been murdered." Any doubts about the ethical implications of rebooting Janet are cheerfully erased with the use of the word "murder," sending Chidi into his worst stomachache ever.
The publicity of it just makes it that much worse, because Chidi's not used to hiding guilt. Not knowing how long the inevitable reveal will take and having to wait is pretty gut-wrenching. This wasn't necessarily an intended torture, either; it's one he accidentally brought on himself.
Dinner With "Real Eleanor" and Chidi
No one likes to feel replaced. But it's way more insulting to have people start referring to you by adding "fake" to your name, and even worse when you find out someone you've grown to have feelings for likes this person better within moments.
When Eleanor has to watch Chidi conversing with the goody-goody Eleanor whose place in heaven she supposedly took, it becomes clear that they have way more in common. That may not have bothered her before, but at that point, Eleanor had gotten close to him. It's a unique torture in that it uses her self-improvement against her.
Chidi Keeps "Bad Eleanor's" Secret
Chidi's obsessed with ethics. He doesn't just want to do the right thing, he's incredibly anxious about the possibility of doing the wrong thing. So when faced with sending someone to hell or possibly destroying a neighborhood in heaven, Chidi was bound to have a hard time.
Living a constant lie was terrible, but he also had to deal with a very difficult student and the possibility that his soulmate was still out there somewhere (and eventually he met the supposed "real" soulmate). Oddly, this wasn't necessarily an intended torture, either; Michael didn't know that Eleanor would be honest with Chidi about the mistake or ask for help. But it was still pretty effective.
Knowing They're Doomed To Hell
Plenty of people worry about the possibility of hell. But being flat-out told by otherworldly beings that you've already been to hell and you're doomed to go back is devastating. Hilarious as the peep chili rant may have been, this is a serious existential crisis.
The whole group was going to have to go about the rest of their lives with the knowledge that whatever they did, they were still going to hell. That would give them plenty of time to mull over the details of what hell could possibly be like, and even become terrified of their inevitable deaths. It would make it really hard to get up in the morning.
Eleanor Seeing Mom's New Family
This was completely unintended torture, but it's definitely one of the worst. After Eleanor's upbringing turned her into the selfish jerk that went straight to the Bad Place, she had good reason to be angry with her parents. But finding out that her mom is not only still alive, but treating her stepdaughter better than she treated Eleanor is just awful.
It's one of the few things that actually hits Eleanor's seemingly boundless self-esteem; she doesn't want to believe Donna's changed because it makes her question whether her stepsister is more deserving than she was, or if her mother just loves another child more.
Relationship Counseling Tahani and Jason
It takes talent to torture someone who's not even human and not meant to have emotions. But somehow Tahani and Jason managed it.
After a reboot, Jason and Tahani end up together, but Janet still loves Jason from the time before that he can't remember. It's her nature to help, so she can't very well refuse when they ask for relationship advice, but she does so at her own expense. The first part being a minor glitch that makes her thumb float off. Most humans would want to go home and scream afterward, or at least quit their job. But Janet doesn't get to quit answering questions or helping and doesn't know how to express her newfound pain.
Chidi's Memory Wipe To Save Humanity
Love is often touted as the most precious thing in the world. So to willingly forget it in order to save humanity is a brutal, though noble sacrifice. But Eleanor has to live with the secret as well and watch Chidi fall in love again with someone else, not remembering who she is or what they were to each other.
Whenever she's tempted to tell him, she has to remind herself the fate of humanity is at stake, and if she's selfish, she undoes everything that Chidi taught her. Honestly, though, what's more difficult than telling someone you still love that someone else is their soulmate?