Eleanor Shellstrop is a self-proclaimed Arizona dirtbag, but throughout her time on The Good Place, she became better. From Team Cockroach to the Soul Squad, Eleanor's character makes leaps and bounds of improvement as she befriends Chidi, Jason, Tahani, and Michael.
Now that the show is over, fans look back fondly on everything the protagonist said. Whether they were words of wisdom or a poor choice of words, Eleanor always had a way of making the fans and her friends laugh. In truth, Eleanor is at her best when she makes problematic statements. It's what made her so relatable.
"Bonus, anything she left in your apartment now legally belongs to you."
Eleanor understands the unwritten rules of breakups. She's not one to dwell on failed relationships, but she will be petty about them. Why should an ex get their stuff back when they left it in her apartment in the first place?
If anything, it's their fault they lost their stuff. Eleanor just follows the simple rule of finders keepers, losers weepers. That doesn't make her a bad person. It just makes her practical.
"This is how I always got out of escape rooms. If you break enough stuff, they open the door and kick you out."
The point of the escape room experience is to figure a way out. They didn't specify it had to be through solving the puzzles they put in place for the patrons' enjoyment. Eleanor simply outsmarted the system and played by her own rules.
She shouldn't be considered eligible for the Bad Place just because she was smarter than the fools who created an escape room. Technically, she escaped. She just did it her way.
"Why do bad things always happen to mediocre people who are lying about their identities?"
What makes this quote so funny is that Eleanor knows exactly why bad things happen to her. She's self-aware of her shortcomings and when she's doing wrong. But that doesn't mean she'll stop doing wrong if it means taking the easy way out.
Then again, the part about mediocrity isn't a lie. Everyone takes shortcuts to get through life a little bit easier. If everyone's doing it, should it be punished?
"Side note, I might legit be into Tahani. But that’s for another time."
Thanks to the brilliance of Kristen Bell, Eleanor Shellstrop became something of a bisexual icon. Her constant flirtations with Tahani Al-Jamil brought so much joy to the audience. She never hid her feelings about her attractions and embraced them fully.
She sometimes made comments that could be misconstrued as lewd, but Tahani knew Eleanor meant it all from the heart. What's a little flirting between friends, after all? Plus, Tahani didn't mind the attention all that much.
"I guess 'try and enjoy this' is a better plan than 'have the anxiety sweats.'"
At a certain point, Eleanor learned that some things were out of her hands. She learned to stop scheming and worrying, and simply enjoy the moment with her loved ones, no matter the outcome of the situation.
But her candidness about anxiety sweats is what gave the fans a chuckle. Who couldn't relate to anxious sweating? It was a moment that solidified just how much Eleanor's character resonated with the audience.
"Are you Chidi Ana...Kendrick?"
Eleanor's mispronunciation of Chidi's name always rang problematic on so many levels. Even in her second chance on Earth, after going months as a good person, she still managed to be a jerk about his surname.
Once again, she took the easy way out and made a joke out of not knowing someone's name, going for the celebrity name drop to lighten the mood. It can't be denied that it worked. Eleanor had a way of charming people even when annoying them.
"How dare she steal the identity I stole?"
The indignation of someone stealing an identity Eleanor stole first absolutely killed the audience. It was very much in character for her to be petty about others treating her the way she treated them.
Statements like this showed how much she needed to grow to get into the Good Place. But what made the fans laugh was how much they still sided with her, even when she was wrong. Her ability to get the audience on the same page with her was uncanny.
"But I was a good person for six months. That’s like five years."
Eleanor understood how time worked in real life. Equating six months of goodness to five years of practicing it was the most human thing she ever said. Everyone could relate to the exhaustion of a task that seemed to never end.
The Good Place never downplayed how hard it was to practice being a good person. But that's what made the audience love Eleanor even more. She voiced out loud what people really thought about being a good person.
"It’s not a joke. I’m a legit snack."
The statement on its own shows how confident Eleanor is in herself and that she understands her value. But the way she cries through the statement as she tries to make light of a sucky situation hits at the heart.
At this moment, Eleanor makes both the audience and Chidi laugh, which is her true intention even if she never admits it. She has a way of using humor to deflect negative emotions, and that is something most people can relate to.
"Ya basic!"
Eleanor's favorite catchphrase became a phenomenon among the fan base. It was such an infectious mantra that even Michael used it to insult his demon boss Shawn, explaining its devastating connotation. The funnier part of her constant use of the line was its origins. She heard the insult throughout her childhood from her mother, a woman she despised for never being a real mom to her.
Later when she got a second chance to reconcile with her mother, Eleanor told her she was basic, and that it was okay. It transformed from an insult to a statement of validation, showing how much Eleanor had grown.