The Good Place Review: "Category 55 Doomsday Crisis"

The Good Place has reached the five episode mark, and that feels like a good sample size to start assessing whether or not this show is worth dropping or keeping around. Based on how each episode has improved upon the last, I would say it fits firmly in the latter group. When shows start with big concepts, like this one did, it's hard to keep them on track. "Category 55 Doomsday Crisis," was proof that not only can this show hand the many plot lines it has started, but it can do so while also developing its characters into increasingly fascinating and complex people. 

Front and center in this episode was the friendship/mentorship/soul-mate(ship?) of Chidi and Eleanor. Chidi has been a great "straight man" on the show so far (his consternation at the antics of both Eleanor and Jianyu/Jason has been one of the show's most reliable sources of jokes), but nearing the midway point of the season, it was time for the show to develop him better as an individual. In this episode, we learn that not only does Chidi sometimes resent Eleanor for being a burden in his afterlife, but he mourns the fact that he won't ever actually get to experience what it is like to have a soul-mate, since that was something he did not experience in life. 

Eleanor, as a result of her time with Chidi, has started to show signs that she is a better person. It's a fine line for the show to walk. On the one hand, if Eleanor never becomes a better person, then the premise of the show starts to feel pretty hollow pretty quickly. On the other hand, Eleanor's moral growth can only move so fast without seeming completely unrealistic. This episode was a perfect example of how the show can balance both aspects of Eleanor. The frozen yogurt scene at the beginning of the episode showed how Eleanor subconsciously did something good by not holding up the line of customers, but also how she can be selfish by not bringing Chidi the frozen yogurt she said she would, and then insisting he should go get it because she was too tired. 

While Jianyu/Jason only appears briefly at the beginning of the episode to tell a surprisingly accurate (and unsurprisingly absurd) story that illustrates utilitarian philosophy put into practice, Tahani got much more to do in this episode than she did in the last one. I'll admit I'm a sucker for stories where the somewhat unlikable "rival" of the main character is shown in a sympathetic light that makes viewers see them as a person. Jane the Virgin did a fantastic job of turning Petra into one of it's more lovable characters, after spending an entire season making her the villain of the show. While Tahani has never been the villain of The Good Place, it's great to see more layers of here character here. Her flashbacks presented a very real fear that she would always be overshadowed by others (namely her sister), and does a lot to explain why Tahani has an almost competitive drive to be the best at being a good person. 

Michael was given an appropriate amount to do here, and Ted Danson has continued to be one of the show's most reliable joke machine's . Janet on the other hand hasn't been very effectively used since the third episode, which took full advantage of a character whose personality can literally be reprogrammed. Why she was working at the frozen yogurt store at the beginning of the episode, is beyond me, but that's a small complaint coma in an otherwise great episode. Here's looking forward to what the show can cook up next week.