[The Pandavas and Draupadi hear footsteps coming down the hall approaching the room where they are still tied to their chairs.]
INDRA [enters the room]: Hello. Most of you know me as Indra. [starts pacing around them in a circle] I met some of you briefly when you first got here. I designed this lovely Good Place that you all apparently rejected. That wasn't very wise of you to defy karma like that.
BHIMA: What are you going to do to us?
ARJUNA [angrily]: You're not a very good architect if you let Duryodhana rule the Good Place that you designed for us! You're also not a very good father for leaving me trapped in the Bad Place!
PANDAVAS AND DRAUPADI [in unison, looking at Arjuna]: Father?!
INDRA: Arjuna, my arrogant son, don't you remember anything that Krishna taught you? Everything is a result of karma. Everything that happens here is a reflection of your previous life. The consequences of karma do not end just because your life did.
[Arjuna blushes out of embarrassment and remains silent.]
YUDHISHTHIRA: There must be a mistake with the karma calculations if Draupadi was sent to the Bad Place but Duryodhana got into the Good Place.
DRAUPADI [frustrated]: Thank you, Yudhishthira! I know I wasn't perfect, but I am definitely more deserving of the Good Place than Duryodhana!
INDRA: I am not in charge of karma, the boss is in charge of that. However, I can assure you that Chitragupta's accounting team calculates the points according to Dharma's point system, and Dharma makes no mistakes. Sorry, Draupadi, you simply didn't make the cut and managed to drag everyone else down with you.
[Draupadi turns red and steams with anger.]
INDRA: I must say, Yudhishthira, I'm most disappointed in you. I really thought that you had a solid grasp of karma, but you clearly don't since you blatantly defied the results of karma like that.
YUDHISHTHIRA: Alright, you clearly aren't in charge around here...so who is?
[The Pandavas and Draupadi hear footsteps approaching again.]
CHITRAGUPTA [enters the room]: Great question, Yudhishthira. Everyone, meet my boss, Dh--
YUDHISHTHIRA [before Chitragupta can finish his sentence]: Dad?
PANDAVAS AND DRAUPADI [in unison, looking at Yudhishthira]: Dad?!
DHARMA [enters the room and looks at Yudhishthira]: Hello, son. I'm glad to see that you remember me from our encounters on Earth. [looks at the Pandavas and Draupadi] Hello, I'm Dharma. [looks at Indra] Indra, thank you for your...input...but that'll be all [shows Indra the door].
[Indra stubbornly leaves the room.]
YUDHISHTHIRA: I don't understand. Dharma makes no mistakes; how could you allow such a grand mistake to slip through your fingers?
DHARMA: Yes, Yudhishthira, you are correct that I make no mistakes; this indeed was no mistake.
[Dharma snaps his fingers. Suddenly, the ties that bound the Pandavas and Draupadi to their chairs vanish. They examine their wrists and look at each other in amazement.]
DHARMA: Congratulations, Yudhishthira, your understanding of karma and justice has paid off. You truly are my son. This was all part of my plan for you noble earthlings. On your journey to Mount Meru, you all died according to your karmic balances. Draupadi fell first, then Sahadeva, then Nakula, then Arjuna, then Bhima, then Yudhishthira. When you all died at the lake after not answering my riddles, your karmic balances were in the negative and you would have been sent to the Bad Place. However, after your time in exile, you learned how to live according to my laws, which greatly improved your karmic balances. Then, defeating the Kauravas bumped your karmic balance into the positive. Yudhishthira solved my riddles and saved you from suffering in the Bad Place, so it was only just that he saved you again here.
BHIMA: We all tried to save our family from the fate of suffering in the Bad Place. Why was Yudhishthira the only successful one?
DHARMA: Yudhishthira was the only one who acted in accordance to Dharma. His intentions were to help the helpless. As for the rest of you, your actions were fueled by fear and anger. This will result in karmic consequences that you must pay off in your next lives, but that is a discussion for later at the end of your time in the Good Place.
YUDHISHTHIRA: If we go back to the Good Place, we will still be suffering since we have to live under the rule of Duryodhana...
DHARMA: Do not worry. That was not the real Good Place. That was part of an illusion I put on as a final test. Indra was also in on it and was an amazing actor. [speaking loudly to Indra] Indra, you can come back in here.
INDRA [walks in and gives Arjuna a hug]: Sorry, everyone. That was really hard for me. I have genuine respect for all of you.
DHARMA: Yudhishthira, you have proved your understanding of Dharma. You will rule alongside me in the real Good Place.
[Dharma snaps his fingers and Chitragupta's office vanishes before their eyes. The Pandavas and Draupadi find themselves standing on a cliff surrounded on all sides by a bright white void with nothing else in sight except for a river flowing peacefully below them.]
DHARMA [as a booming voice coming from the white void surrounding them]: The river you see is called the Ganges. Jump into this river and you will be transported to the real Good Place.
[Yudhishthira looks down and sees his reflection in the river. He quickly realizes that the figure in the river is not his reflection, but Krishna in his divine form waving for them to join him in the Good Place. The Pandavas and Draupadi look at each other and link hands.]
YUDHISHTHIRA [smiling]: See you guys on the other side.
[The Pandavas and Draupadi, still holding hands, leap forward and dive off the cliff and into the water below, disappearing into the Ganges river.]
Author's Note: In The Sons of Pandu portion of Donald A. Mackenzie's Indian Myth and Legend (1913), we learn the celestial sires of each of the Pandava brothers. Dharma is Yudhishthira's father and Indra is Arjuna's father, which is why they each refer to their celestial sires as their father in this story. In The Good Place show, the architect designs specific Good Places for different inhabitants, so I included this element to make sense of why the Good Place that Arjuna experienced here is different than the one he spent five years in with Indra, as mentioned in the Arjuna and Indra portion of Donald A. Mackenzie's Indian Myth and Legend (1913). Arjuna knows that Indra is his celestial sire from this encounter, but the other Pandava brothers were not with him when this was revealed, and the Mahabharata does not make it clear whether or not Indra and Arjuna told the others that Indra is Arjuna's father, so my story assumes the other Pandavas didn't know and thus are surprised when Arjuna calls Indra his father in this story.
In the Riddles at the Lake portion of Donald A. Mackenzie's Indian Myth and Legend (1913), Yudhishthira encounters his celestial sire (Dharma) for the first time in the form of the yaksha, Yama. In the original story, the other Pandavas ignore the yaksha's warning to not drink the water and end up dead. Yudhishthira is the only one who attempts to answer the riddles proposed by the yaksha, and when he answers them correctly, the yaksha reveals itself to be Yama. Yama brings the other Pandavas back to life. Yudhishthira encounters Dharma again in The Pandavas Depart portion of the Mahabharata when his dog transforms into Dharma right before Yudhishthira enters Indra's swarga. Yudhishthira recognizes Dharma immediately in this story because of these encounters on Earth, but his brothers and Draupadi were already dead when Dharma was revealed as his dog, and his brothers were still dead when Yama told Yudhishthira that he was his father at the lake, which is why the others were so shocked when Yudhishthira called Dharma his dad in my story.
In the Bhagavad-Gita portion of the Mahabharata from Edwin Arnold's The Song Celestial; Or, Bhagavad-Gita (1885), Arjuna discusses karma with Krishna, which is what Indra is referencing here in this story. Just like in The Afterlife portion of the Mahabharata from Donald A. Mackenzie's Indian Myth and Legend (1913), the Bad Place was a final test for Yudhishthira. In this version, the Good Place with Duryodhana as king was still an illusion, but the Bad Place wasn't an illusion and the other Pandavas also were tested. In Hinduism, Maya is an illusion put on by the gods. The Ganges river is also mentioned in The Afterlife portion when Yudhishthira bathes in the river and becomes a celestial. In the Mahabharata, Yudhishthira is greeted by Krishna in Swarga, so seeing Krishna through the river makes the river like a portal where Yudhishthira gets a glimpse of the Good Place before he enters.
From The Pandavas Depart portion of the Donald A. Mackenzie's Indian Myth and Legend (1913), the order in which they died is Draupadi, Sahadeva, Nakula, Arjuna, Bhima, then Yudhishthira. In Chapter 18, Section 3 of The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli (1883-1896), Yudhishthira, as well as Bhima, Arjuna, and Draupadi, are all shown hell through an illusion, which is partly what inspired me to include the others in the test. Like on Earth, Yudhishthira shows a better understanding of Dharma than his brothers. The other Pandavas struggle with fully grasping Dharma on Earth.
Yudhishthira's realization that they would suffer even in the supposed Good Place is similar to Eleanor's realization in The Good Place TV show that they are in an illusion of the Good Place that is actually the Bad Place.