The Good Place S3 Episode 1...

[shadowkat]

Was brilliant and true to form. Also it cut off the final minute of the show...so if anyone knows what happened in that final sixty seconds...please tell. It may have been thirty seconds. Stupid DVR.

Other than that...I laughed throughout (which rarely happens with American Sitcoms). I adore Chidi (who yes, bears a shocking resemblance to Lando Take 2 at work, who hereinafter will be called Chidi in discussions about work.) I honestly think the Chidi and Eleanor and Michael sequences were comic gold.

[Tahani and Jason continue to grate on my nerves. But this may change...and there wasn't too much of them in the episode.]

Perfect cure. Laughter.



* Where have I seen the Doorman before, he looked familiar, anyone know?

* Loved Michael fiendishly sneaking in and out of Earth.

* The theme of the episode seemed to be, are we eternally doomed to revert back to our old bad habits or form? Is this ingrained in our DNA? Is it escapable? Can you become a better person? Can you change?

I know of a few behavioral psychologists who think it is possible. But can behavioral patterns truly change?

I'm thinking the addition of Simone, the neurology professor, may mean we're going to start delving into the psychological philosophical theorems. The frustrated philosophy/psychology major in me is leaping up and down with joy.

* Speaking of Simone, adored her comment about Chidi..."yes, the tendency philosophy majors have to endlessly argue the same question for eternity is what drives the rest of us crazy".

And in regards to Eleanor and Chidi:

"What do you two have in common besides a total disregard of office hours?"

* Janet: Is Jason still really cute?
Michael: Eh, he looks about the same.
Janet: Cute then.

Also dumb as toast.

I mean they've really taken Jason and Tahani to extremes regarding complete lack of self-awareness.

* Eleanor: I was going to offer for you to stay with me in my Motel Room, since I have a pull-out bed but with everything you got going on there...I'm thinking you might be happier finding your own place.
Tahani: Quite right. Thank you though.

* Michael: Don't worry about the Judge, she's busy binge-watching NCIS in her quarters. There's 308 episodes...it will take her a while.


Poor Michael -- he has to keep tinkering. Now they are all in a psychology/philosophy experiment regarding the effect of near death experiences on behavior and if you can change and become a better person after almost dying.

Snicker.

* Meanwhile in the Bad Place -- the demon boss cocoons whoever pisses him off. (Hmmm...nifty talent that, wish I could cocoon people. Make life so much easier.) OR he just does it for fun.

Glenn: Cocooning underlings again, I see. You really need to give me more warning before you do that.
Demon Boss: Cocoons her. "Yeah, I'll think about it."

They hack into the Judge's records by using a back door left open when Michael jumped to Earth to talk to Jason.

* Jason: And then I met this guy names Spaz Mataz and we started talking about my life and then..
Michael: That's me, I'm Spaz.
Jason flustered: Oh.
Michael decides with Jason, you have to be direct and obvious, otherwise he won't get it. HE's too clueless to take a hint.: Hey, want to met people who went through something similar? A near death experience just like you did? And learn from them?
Jason: Uhm okay. Maybe.
Michael: Go to Australia -- I'll show you where. And you can participate in a cool study.

So far so good. It surprised me again, it showed last year's ending from Michael's perspective, which made it clever and hilarious. Watching Michael jump back in time and save each of these people on Earth.



Cheered me up greatly. Now, see, you television writers can be funny without making me want to smack them upside the head with a bat. It is possible.

Comments

[dlgood]

The Doorman is played by actor Mike O'Malley, who has been in a bunch of sitcoms and first gained notice as "The Rick" in a series of ESPN commercials about 20 years ago.

At the end, a new member joins Simone & Chidi's study. He is Trevor, the Bad Place demon played by Adam Scott.

[shadowkat]

Oh thank you.

I couldn't place either of them. And my DVR cut it off just as Trevor showed up.

[cjlasky7]

It's back. Looked forward to it all week....

Got to admit, I was slightly thrown by the realignment of our cast, and their interactions in the new setting. I was used to them reacting in controlled panic in Michael's neighborhood, and it was weird seeing them so....relaxed. (Well, maybe not Chidi. He's never relaxed.)

Still, Kristin Bell and William Jackson Harper are a great odd couple, no matter what the setting. Eleanor's no-bullshit attitude bounces beautifully off of Chidi's tightly-wound exterior, and the addition of Simone adds an extra dimension to their relationship. I'm not an E/C shipper, and their current status as teacher/student and good buds suits me just fine.

Of the three character flashbacks, I thought Tahani's had the most bite to it. A merciless parody of celebrity self-help nonsense, capped off perfectly by Michael's New Age flim flam man, driving home the toxic vanity of the whole enterprise. That whole discussion between "Gordon Indigo" and Tahani was kind of vicious--maybe there's a little bit of demon left in Michael, after all.

Judging from the reaction on the internet, people loved Jason's flashback; but to me, the Florida slash stupid guy jokes are cheap and lazy, and play to a writing staff's worst instincts.

(I do think the IDEA of Jason is intetesting: if The Good Place is a study of whether humanity is innately good or evil, then Jason is a perfect "control" subject--a man who reacts on instinct, almost completely without thought. Doesn't make him an interesting character, though. Not yet, anyway.)

Random Notes:

-- "We Crumb from a Land Down Under": thank god they've taken the food service puns back to Earth.

-- Richard Marx gave Schur permission to use "Right Here Waiting" as Shaun's Bad Place motivational soundtrack. Wow. One hundred Good Place points for good sportsmanship, Richard.

-- Janet was in that little room all episode. Me sad. (Let's hope she can go down to Earth in future episodes and just let it rip.) She's still hung up on Jason. Me sadder.

-- Adam Scott (Trevor)! Yay!

-- The pop culture jokes will date this show eventually, but yes, that U2 joke was choice.

-- I have blueberry muffins all the time. Should I feel guilty?

[shadowkat]

I was used to them reacting in controlled panic in Michael's neighborhood, and it was weird seeing them so....relaxed. (Well, maybe not Chidi. He's never relaxed.)

It does help a great deal if you have a lengthy three months between S2 and S3 to get used to the idea. I'm not convinced the series binges well. I think it's better if you watch it and let if percolate.

I'm not an E/C shipper, and their current status as teacher/student and good buds suits me just fine.

I'm not really romantically shipping anyone...(admittedly I prefer platonic relationships on television than romantic ones, mainly because most television writers are afraid of romantic relationships and can't write a sustainable one to save their lives. I have no clue why. Note to television writers -- it is possible to write an interesting and long-term romantic relationship without a)lots of sex, b) lots of sexual tension, c) lots of will they or won't they. Platonic relationships on the other hand they do remarkably well.)

Also I don't think any of the actors have sexual chemistry at all.

Of the three character flashbacks, I thought Tahani's had the most bite to it. A merciless parody of celebrity self-help nonsense, capped off perfectly by Michael's New Age flim flam man, driving home the toxic vanity of the whole enterprise.

But weirdly not funny. Or I just didn't find it funny so much as pathetic and sad and annoyingly true. I think that was my problem with it -- it was just yet another commentary on our narcissistic culture. Tahani - an example of narcissism. (Although I think her sister is far worse.)

Also seemed too easy, and too neat. And done. But not funny or entertaining. Hollywood writers adore writing about their narcissistic culture and their own narcissistic tendencies..but it is getting old.

Judging from the reaction on the internet, people loved Jason's flashback; but to me, the Florida slash stupid guy jokes are cheap and lazy, and play to a writing staff's worst instincts.

Agreed. See Tahani. Again, too easy. And not funny. I know a lot of people enjoy stupid people jokes...but I just found them to be pathetic, sad, and annoying. Stupidity isn't funny -- it's painfully tragic and why were in the mess we currently are in. And Jason isn't so much stupid as just plain lazy...he doesn't want to think, and much like Tahani, when he does..it's about himself.

[The two weak links remain Tahani and Jason, through no fault of the actors.]

if The Good Place is a study of whether humanity is innately good or evil, then Jason is a perfect "control" subject--a man who reacts on instinct, almost completely without thought.

Except it's not really unmotivated instinct, there's aim. And intent. Jason -- wants to have fun. That's all he cares about. Note that he's given several options to change his life: 1) How to Change Your Life for the Better by Helping Others, 2) Stomp - a Dance Contest, (I don't remember the others..). He picks the one that is fun.

His friend who goes and gets a job, and bails him out of prison -- tells him he's not a screw-up, he's a dreamer. But
he just wants to play. Not work. He doesn't want to do anything that is too hard, and doesn't want to play by any rules. It's thoughtless action...but in the lazy sense of the word.

I'm not sure you can say that's a perfect test subject. Also, I don't think that's what the Good Place is asking if people are innately good or evil...so much as, can people choose to be good or evil, or if there is a spectrum. And will they always make the same choices regardless of the outcome? Does this depend on the person? Does it depend on the outcome? Does it depend on other motivating factors?

Agree more or less on the rest. Although I'm not shipping Janet and don't really care who she ends up with...except I find her by-play with Michael hilarious.

[cjlasky7]

Okay, bear with me--I'm going to go to bat for Tahani and (to some extent) Jason.

Tahani's plotline in "Everything is Bonzer!" follows the pattern of the others: near-death experience, reformation, backslide, join the group. If Tahani's journey is more cartoonishly extreme than the others', let's not forget that she's an incredibly wealthy woman with near unlimited resources; she can go places the others can't because she can afford it. So we get the wild swings in her storyline: opulent self-indulgence, followed by a sincere attempt at spiritual cleansing and asceticism... followed by a relapse of monumental proportions.

When Michael steps in the second time, she has disappeared so far up her own ass that Michael feels only drastic measures will shock her back to sanity. He takes the form of the ugliest, money-grubbing charlatan he can imagine, stares Tahani in the face, and says: THIS IS YOU.

And it works.

Tahani sees herself in "Gordon" and recoils. She's still a work in progress, but she sees the damage her vanity can do the world. So she goes to Australia to help--genuinely help. It's a start.

As for Jason, I have to disagree that he's only in it for the fun. When Michael released him from the safe, Jason was determined to make Dance Dance Resolution a success. He kicked out the stoners, the thugs and the slackers until he had a dance squad willing to put in the work. They trained long and hard until....

Okay, they still sucked. But he tried! He did! Yes, he was too dumb to follow dance competition rules, but he honestly put in the effort. And when he didn't win anything he followed the pattern of backsliding--in his case, petty crime.

I didn't care for his conversation with Michael at the pier, because I don't think Danson and Jacinto could find a rhythm with their characters. Michael's deviousness and Jason's density just didn't mesh. But the one part of that talk I did like--and would like explored--is that Jason is finally beginning to wonder if he needs a new dream. A better dream.

You said that Jason is pathetic and sad in his stupidity. I agree with you. But maybe the writers should lean into that a little more. Imagine this conversation with Eleanor in a future episode:

E: Saw the performance last night.
J: Before or after the fire?
E: Before. Maybe fireworks weren't the way to go.
J: They were kind of a last minute thing.
E: You didn't need 'em. Dance moves were pretty righteous.
J: You really think so?
(Beat)
I-I don't know anymore, man. I've been doing this so long. It's been my dream since I was a kid.
E: Burning down an outdoor stadium?
J: No, man! Dancing for the people! I remember...I was, like, six years old, and I was living out near the docks. And every night around 7, this dude would come out near the boats and do a breakdancing routine for the crowds at the pier. The people would gather 'round and laugh and throw some money, and I thought that would be the coolest thing in the world to make people happy.
(Beat)
'Course, I would go around and pick their pockets, but that didn't mean I didn't love the dancing.
E: Hey, a man's gotta eat.
J: 'Zactly.
E: Any other dreams as a kid?
J: Not freezing to death. That was a big one.
E: You nailed that.
J: I used to see those boats tied up on the docks, and I wanted to just take one of 'em and sail away to someplace cool.
E: Like Australia?
J: Yeah. Like Australia.

[dlgood]

I will followup that we have to both acknowledge peoples' flaws but also not discard them.

Our group is looking out and trying to help improve each other - it's why they've grown - and it can't merely be doing so because they like each other. If it helps start that process, and they need a hook fine. But it can't be the sole or primary reason.

Maybe we need to see more, but Jason seems like someone who no one in his life has ever 'put the work in' on to teach or mentor.

[promethia_tenk]

Somehow I always manage to forget exactly how hilarious and delightful and affirming this show is.

[shadowkat]

I had as well...this was such a good episode. I was hating people and life in general, then I watched the Good Place and felt so much better about everything.
The perfect antidote to a bad day.