The TV show, “The Good Place” takes place in the afterlife for people who supposedly lived good lives. Each person there is given a perfect life, including a house and a soulmate. Eleanor, however, ends up in the Good Place by mistake, as she was an extremely selfish person on Earth. She decides to keep this a secret, only telling her soulmate, Chidi. She asks for his help in making her become a good person. Chidi, who spent most of his life studying ethics and morality, is conflicted and not sure whether he should help her or not.

In the second episode, the good people are offered the opportunity to learn to fly. When a group of people volunteer to clean up trash instead, Eleanor laughs to Chidi about their stupidity. He immediately volunteers the two of them to help clean up the trash. Eleanor is devastated, but Chidi says it is an act of selflessness that she must endure in order to be a good person. Throughout the episode, Eleanor is extremely envious of the other residents as she watches them learn to fly. Eventually, she sneaks away from cleaning and attempts to learn to fly. However, as soon as she lifts off the ground, she is struck down by a magically appearing trash storm.

While this scene could be written off as humor, it can also be interpreted with deeper meaning. Rain, for example, is often associated with cleansing. However, the trash coming from the sky falls on Eleanor as a way of keeping her out of the sky. As Eleanor is corrupted by her own selfishness, the storm prevents her from actually flying. The characters that are able to fly are free from guilt. Later in the show, Eleanor learns how guilty she actually feels about her past. She cannot fly in the scene because she is chained down by her own guilt. The garbage rains down on her, since it was her responsibility to pick it up, and she did not follow through. The trash with its paradoxical cleansing ability, keeps Eleanor from flying as she is not clean of her own guilt.