Loveday Writing

Michael and Eleanor welcome their next resident, Linda Johannsen, who turns out to be a boring person who doesn’t seem to care about or be interested in the Good Place. This makes Eleanor question who Linda was sent to mess with. The next resident they welcome is Brent, an entitled chauvinist who treats Janet as his personal secretary.

Back at Mindy’s house, Michael tells the group that Matt from Accounting (who last appeared in Janet(s)) has been assigned to monitor the progress of the subjects, while Eleanor tells everyone that the first week of the experiment is to figure out what makes the subjects tick . Michael has all the residents meet in the town square to watch a video to make everyone face who they were on Earth and to gauge the subjects’ reactions. When Michael catches Simone shaking someone by the head, he and Eleanor go to speak to her, and she tells them that she believes she’s in a coma and the afterlife is a hallucination due to brain damage. Later, back at Mindy’s, Michael tells Eleanor that Simone’s reaction is a common one, however if Simone doesn’t believe that the afterlife is real, she won’t become a better person. Jason says that Chidi can help Simone become a better person, and Michael agrees.

Later at Tahani’s welcome party, Simone’s behaviour worsens when she knocks over the cake table and pushes people into the pool, due to her belief that the afterlife isn’t real and there are no consequences for her behaviour. Eleanor introduces Chidi to Simone, but she refuses his help and he’s put off by her behaviour. Meanwhile, Jason reboots Derek as he is trying to fight for Janet’s love, but Derek’s murder alert goes off in the neighbourhood.

Later, Tahani asks if anyone finds it suspicious that the Bad Place sent someone so dull. When Michael has Janet throw a flying day, and he and Eleanor try to convince Louise to fly, she punches them both in the face, flies, and starts attacking the other residents. Later, the group has a conference call with Shawn and The Judge where it’s revealed that Louise was the demon, Chris, in disguise. Michael tells The Judge that Shawn’s choice to have a demon in disguise be one of the subjects puts the experiment at risk and The Judge agrees. The Judge has Chidi be the fourth subject in the experiment.

The first part of the premiere ends with Bad Janet arriving to pick up Chris and take him back to the Bad Place.

The second part of the premiere kicks off with Eleanor hosting a ‘That Was Your Life’ talk show-like event with everyone in the neighbourhood. Eleanor has Chidi, Brent and another resident on stage, with the goal to make Brent internally compare himself to the others and realise he doesn’t belong in the Good Place. While this is going on, Jason asks Michael for advice on his relationship with Janet. Michael tells him that the only way to repair his relationship with Janet is to give her space and show that he can control his impulses.

When the talk show-like event fails, Eleanor suggests subjecting the neighbourhood to the same chaos she experienced in the original experiment. Michael and Eleanor think Brent has had a breakthrough when he realises that the chaos is about him and even says he doesn’t belong in the Good Place. However their happiness at Brent’s “breakthrough” is short lived when he tells them he believes there is a better place out there for him, the “Best Place”.

Later Tahani, Jason and Janet tell Michael that they need a change of leadership, however Eleanor walks in. Eleanor points out to them that she didn’t ask to be the leader and is only doing the job because Michael had a nervous breakdown the moment that the experiment started. She angrily quits and leaves. Michael finds her in the town square where she admits she did a bad job of being in charge of her own life and feels incapable of running the neighbourhood. Michael reminds her that she managed to outsmart him over 800 times due to her humanity, and that only humans can understand other humans and how they can improve.

The next day, Eleanor tells the group that she has a new plan for Brent. She and Michael decide to let Brent believe that there is a “Best Place” but tell him he needs to commit good deeds to get there. While Michael points out that his points won’t go up as his motivation is corrupt, Eleanor tells him that her motivations were the same, but she eventually started committing good deeds out of habit rather than self-preservation, so Brent may eventually commit good deeds out of habit over time. Michael also admits to faking his breakdown so Eleanor would have to step up and take over the neighbourhood.

Meanwhile, Janet comes to see Jason and tells him that she can’t be in a relationship with him right now, as it may endanger the experiment. She tells him that they need to take a break until it is over. This sends Jason into a depression, with Tahani comforting him.

The episode ends with Eleanor telling Chidi that Simone is his soulmate so he can help her adjust to the afterlife. Chidi goes to see Simone at the frozen yoghurt café, where he tells her that her belief that the afterlife isn’t real and her subsequent behaviour is juvenile, and she has nothing to lose by acting kind and respectful to others. She agrees and they hit it off, unaware that Eleanor is watching them outside the café.

Overall I felt that this was a solid start to the season. There were many callbacks to the previous seasons that felt natural in the context of the developing story arc. I also appreciated Shawn’s sabotage, which was true to his character, and the spanner in the works it created by The Judge’s choice to make Chidi part of the experiment. I also appreciated the fact that the experiment is getting off to a shaky but promising start as it’s true to the story arc, characters and even the premise of the show.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of the final season.

Stray Observations:

-Chidi’s number one dream is summoning philosophy books like Thor’s hammer.

-Disco Janet was around for a while years ago.

-Brent refers to himself as an “equal opportunity offender”.

-Throughout the episode, Derek’s martini glass is filled with pickles, then an onion with an olive sticking out of it, and then cherries.

-Michael refers to Chidi as their “ethical sleeper agent”.

-Mindy once rebooted Derek because he was breathing super loud.

-Mindy describes the obelisk that Matt is in as “Darth Vader’s turd”.

-Michael put a “cheat code” in the neighbourhood: if he says Jason’s name five times his headache goes away.

-Tahani was friends with Adele.

-Jason’s breakup routine is drinking a tonne of Mountain Dew, stealing an ATV and riding it through a Panda Express.

-Brent caused his own death by flying a helicopter whilst drunk (after doing shots with the pilot).

-It’s revealed that the group have taken over Mindy’s house and she had to move into the attic.

Best one liners and interactions:

• “I am so proud of how disgusting and cruel you all are!” (Shawn giving his team a pep talk)
• “All I know is she’s boring, she makes Neutral Janet look like Disco Janet.” (Michael to Eleanor on Linda)
• “Dead eyes, eat heart, can’t lose!” (Michael reciting an old Bad Place battle cry)
• “I know this is bad and we need a new approach, but she is wearing the hell out of those foam fingers.” (Eleanor to Michael on Simone’s outfit at the welcome party)
• “Stupid ethical, reasonable argument. Wish you were a cake, push you over.” “Are you still muttering?” “No, I stopped! Stupid, good-hearing, reformed demon!” (Eleanor-Michael-Eleanor after Michael tells her that they need to have Simone meet Chidi)
• “I graduated in the top half of the bottom half of my class.” (Brent telling people at the welcome party about graduating from Princeton)
• “Attention, I have been Derek’d! Attention murder has been me!” (Derek’s murder alert in the neighbourhood)
• “Are we still boyfriend/not-girlfriend?” (Jason to Janet after a fight)
• “Man I wish someone had taught me this on Earth.” “People tried, mostly judges.” (Jason-Michael on Jason controlling his impulses)
• “If we want him to understand that he doesn’t belong here, we don’t need a drawing board, we need to bust him open like a pinata.” “We tried that in the Bad Place, the goo that comes out doesn’t taste as good as candy.” “No dude, metaphorically!” (Eleanor-Michael-Eleanor on Brent)
• “Michael, I’m afraid we need to talk about Eleanor.” “I know what you’re going to say. She’s just been really busy, I’m sure she’ll get around to showering at some point.” “No it’s not that, although it’s not, not that.” (Tahani-Michael-Janet)
• “Maybe all of humanity can be saved with one good, old-fashioned Jacksonville carnival!” “I mean we could try. All I need is a bouncy house, some ninja stars and a bunch of ambulances.” (Eleanor-Jason when the group want a change of leadership)
• “Everything I do blows up in my face. I’m like a hot, blonde Wile E. Coyote.” “That’s true. About you making a lot of mistakes, not the thing where you sexualised a cartoon.” (Eleanor-Michael)
• “Janet was my whole afterlife, how am I ever going to get over her?” (Jason to Tahani)