Loveday Writing

Eleanor – Eleanor spends the majority of the premiere trying to figure out what the note means or is trying to tell her. Her first attempt in figuring it out is asking Bart and Nina whether there is a phonebook-like directory of everyone in the neighbourhood, but this doesn’t work. She then runs into Jason, who gives her a medal cog without saying a word. Moments later, Michael asks her to give an hour-long speech and a “Best Person” sash to wear at the welcome party.

While she is at the party, she keeps trying to tell her soulmate, Chris, her secret but he stops her by tearing off his shirt and declaring he’s going to the gym. The other demons try to get her drunk to no avail, refusing ostensibly to keep a clear head while she gives her speech but in reality is refusing because she knows something is amiss in the Good Place.

Just as the demons are beginning to notice that Eleanor’s behaviour is off, she gives into temptation and pours herself some shots, only to overhear Chidi’s name mentioned by another resident. She gives her drinks to an unknown person before introducing herself to Chidi and telling him that they need to talk.

Chidi – After Eleanor introduces herself to Chidi, the episode then cuts to Chidi opening his eyes and meeting Michael in his office. After expressing his desire to eat with the great philosophers he has idealised, only for Michael to inform him that they all went to the Bad Place, Chidi sets off with Michael to meet his soulmate. Michael informs him that he has three soulmates – Angelique, Petro and Pevita.

Chidi decides to eat with them alone, one at a time, to get to know them and decide which person is right for him. Just as he is about to decide that Angelique, who he had the biggest connection with, is his soulmate, Michael informs him that there has been a mistake in the calculations and Pevita, who he had no connection with, is his soulmate and Angelique is Petro’s soulmate.

Chidi and Pevita go to the party together, and Chidi starts to have a conversation with Vicky (who is now known as Denise) only for Angelique to interrupt the conversation so she can talk to him. Chidi asks her if she feels the same way about him being her soulmate, as he does about her. She walks away. Eleanor then comes up to him and tells him they need to talk. Eleanor then forces him into another room, she shows him the note and the medal cog, and tells him that something strange is going on. She asks for his help, but he refuses as he is too caught up in his soulmate problem. Michael then announces it’s time for Eleanor’s speech.

Tahani – After Michael announces it’s time for Eleanor’s speech, we then cut to Tahani meeting Michael. Michael introduces Tahani to her soulmate, Tomas, a doctor in the International Rescue Alliance, who is short. Michael then takes them to their house, which is incredibly small (and Michael makes it even smaller by removing the second floor) and has a portrait of Kamilah on the wall. When Tomas tells her he’s dressing casually for the welcome party, Tahani dresses down in solidarity – going to the party in cargo pants, a t-shirt and denim jacket.

When Michael sees Tahani unhappy at the party, she confides in him that her house is too small and that Tomas and her haven’t clicked yet. Michael tells her that adjustment pains are common and that she can ask for anything she wants, but also makes her feel guilty for wanting frivolous things. Tahani then goes to the bar where Eleanor gives her the shots she poured. When she discovers she is wearing the same cargo pants another male resident is wearing, Tahani drinks the shots.

As Eleanor is making her speech, a drunken Tahani pushes her away and makes a scene, expressing her dissatisfaction about her afterlife and accidentally starts a fire.

Jason – After Tahani accidentally starts a fire at the welcome party, we then cut to Jason meeting Michael and being introduced to his soulmate, Luang, another Buddhist monk under a vow of silence. Michael tells him that Luang is going to be his best bud, a platonic rather than romantic soulmate.

Jason quickly grows tired of Luang constantly being around him, to the point where Jason removes a medal cog from Luang’s bike, which is revealed the be the cog he gives to Eleanor. Jason tries to ride away, only to be caught by Luang, who meets him back at the yurt they are living in.

Jason and Luang go to the party, where Michael gives them yak’s milk to drink, much to Jason’s disgust. Later when Tahani has set the fire, Luang stares at her as if he’s in love. In this moment, Michael asks himself what is going on, catching on that something is amiss.

Michael – After Michael realises that something is amiss at the welcome party, we see things from his perspective. Admittedly, the viewers are shown a more rushed recollection of events through Michael’s perspective in comparison to the other main characters, however his perspective provides more of an insight into how the second attempt of his plan is operating.

At the party, the demons inform Michael that something is up as Eleanor is not drinking, and Vicky is constantly asking for a back story for her new character, as well as a bigger part.

While Michael is distracted by helping Tahani after she set the fire, it’s revealed that Jason snuck out of the party, and Chidi pulls Eleanor aside to tell her that the paper she wrote the note on is from a book in his library, and concludes that they do in fact know each other somehow.

Later, Michael is having a meeting with the demons about the fact that everything is going awry. When the demons reveal that they don’t know where the gang are, Michael sends the demons away to look for them. Meanwhile Eleanor and Chidi are shown at her place trying to figure out what to do about their situation, while Jason is shown wandering around the neighbourhood. He calls for Janet and confides in her about his real identity and dissatisfaction with his afterlife.

Michael then goes to Eleanor’s place to try and get Chidi away from her, only for Tahani to arrive with the “Best Person” sash to apologise to Eleanor for ruining her speech, and comments that she has noticed something is off about the Good Place. Everyone’s soulmates start to arrive and Michael tries to get them to leave, only for Janet to arrive with Jason. When Michael tries to get Luang to take Jason away, Jason lashes out and reveals who he really is to everyone.

Eleanor figures out again that they are not in the Good Place and reveals the note to everyone, including Michael. Michael compliments Eleanor on her quick thinking and expresses his relief that there was an explanation as to why his second attempt failed so fast. He then resets everything again.

The next day, Michael has a meeting with the demons and informs them there is no note this time. Jessica asks Michael if he told Shawn what happened. Michael tells her that he did and Shawn was supportive, only for the final moments of the episode to reveal that Michael was lying, and Shawn still thinks Michael is on his second attempt. Michael then invites Eleanor back into his office to start his third attempt.

As I mentioned at the start of my review, I felt that this was one of the best season premieres I’ve ever seen, due to its flawless writing. This is because the non-linear structure allowed for subtle lines and moments between the characters throughout the episode to be portrayed as throwaway lines and moments, only for them to be crucial. Due to this non-linear structure, no throwaway line and moment went to waste and no loose end was spared. Michael’s meetings with Shawn at the start and beginning of the episode were great bookends, especially the final one as it provides the springboard for the season’s story arc – Michael’s third attempt and lying about it to Shawn.

On another note, the non-linear structure of the episode and almost every line and moment repeated (with slight deviations depending on the perspective of each character), reminded me of The Simpsons episode, Trilogy of Error.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of the season and seeing where we go from here now that Michael is on his third attempt, and that Eleanor managed to figure out that she and the gang were in the Bad Place much faster than the last time.

Stray Observations:

Running gags: Chuck’s desire to bite the gang, and Vicky’s desire to have a bigger part in Michael’s plan/create a backstory for her character.

–According to Michael, the demons aren’t trained in large scale deception.

–Chidi once had a panic attack at a Make Your Own Sundae bar.

-Apparently each demon works in a specialty department: Luang’s job is to burn people with fire and Chris worked in the twisting department, twisting people in half until they broke.

-According to Michael, Eleanor brought a flask with her when she did her driving test.