The Good Place: Somewhere Else

“Hot diggity dog!”

We yet again wrap up a season with a mind wipe that I have mixed feelings about but set up a new season full of ethical goodness.

Yeah…the mind wipes. I’m not crazy about them. They erase all of the progress our characters have made and it feels…a little wrong? Like, the one at the end of season one was exciting, the hundreds in “Dance Dance Resolution” were hilarious but I officially think we’re pushing it. The past two seasons now literally haven’t happened for the humans and we’re right where we started which feels a little redundant.

The humans have been returned to life on earth and saved from their untimely deaths. There was some initial confusion about whether the humans had been placed in a simulation or really brought back to life, which, I don’t know…could speak to bad writing? I think it was vague. But the writing team soon took to Twitter and declared that Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani are alive and kicking.

Eleanor, fresh off her near-death experience, is determined to be a better person. She quits her job, finds a new one, fesses up to the whole Dress Bitch saga, and tries vegetables. And for a while, it works. But eventually Eleanor realizes that she’s putting more effort into being good than she’s getting in satisfaction so she reverts. At which point she gets touched by, well, not an angel.

I’m too young to have watched Cheers (I did see the odd episode on Nick at Nite) but I’m sure seeing Ted Danson behind a bar again must have been very rewarding for a certain segment of the viewership. I’m kind of surprised they stopped there and didn’t have the song playing or something but whatever. Michael sets Eleanor on a new path (again), leaving her with the phrase “what do we owe to each other” which leads her to…Chidi. I’m not entirely sure why he comes up first on her search instead of the actual book by Scanlon, but who am I to question Google?

Eleanor, despite having an overdrawn bank account, is somehow able to purchase a plane ticket to Australia. I dutifully checked and the going rate is about $1400, which, to be fair, is less than I thought. Anyway, Eleanor shows up at Chidi’s door, mimicking a scenario Chidi mused about in “Best Self” when he suggests he would normally meet a romantic partner at a philosophy conference or when they showed up at his office to talk about philosophy. Cute but subtle callback.

This episode was good but, quite frankly, I’m having problems writing about it without spoiling what comes next so I think I’ll leave it here. I’ll just say the show shoes huge potential having the humans on earth again BUT it risks losing what made it special in the first place: the ensemble cast and the crazy afterlife hijinks.

Ethical Bits

Chidi kisses Eleanor! The S.S. Cheleanor has officially set sail.

Did we already know that Eleanor’s date of death was her birthday?

The Good Quotes

Eleanor: “The little voice in your head sounds like the old lady from Downton Abbey?”
Tahani: “Oh, yes. Sorry. Maggie Smith is my godmother.”

Jason: “Man, think about everything that’s happened to us. We died, Michael tortured us, we teamed up with him, we went through the portal, the judge ruled against us, then Michael showed up. This has been one of the craziest years of my life.”
Chidi: “One of?!”

Eleanor: “Your friend sounds like she’s one pickle short of a pickle party.”

Three and a half out of four near-death experiences


1 comment:

Billie Doux said...

Congratulations, Team Good Place! Thank you so much for completing seasons one and two!