"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

The Good Place: "Chapters 14 & 15" Review

The Good Place came back as strong as ever this week with a one hour premiere, that had a lot of new plot to establish after last season's twist ending. Some brief thoughts on the premiere and the show moving ahead:

Beginning Again:
When last we saw Eleanor Shellstrop, she had just received the note that she had left in Janet's mouth before Michael reset his fake-"Good Place" scenario, instructing her to find Chidi. As the events of the episode played out, she indeed did find Chidi and the rest of her human cohorts and once again they were able to figure out that they were not in the "Good Place." Perhaps the more important development, however, is that Michael is on thin ice with Sean, who believes his experiment is doomed to fail again. 

Sean of course is right. Eleanor proves to be too skeptical to be duped into falling for a Michael's scheme a second time, while Chidi, Tahani, and Jason are all able to figure out pretty quickly that their new afterlives are way too miserable to actually be paradise. Ultimately though, its the mistakes made by Michael and the other inhabitants of the "Bad Place" that make it obvious to Eleanor and Co. that things aren't right. Michael fails to understand that his plan is inherently flawed, and that's where the show finds its most interesting material. 

"Out of many, one":
Michael's main failure, is where The Good Place finds its meaning. Despite what Michael thinks of these four people, none of them are completely bad, and all of them are capable of incredible good. By sticking these characters in a scenario where the whole point is judging them, the show allows us to see the complicated mixture of good and bad that makes up any person. Season one posited that when four very different and, more often than not bad, people are put together in a situation where they are challenged to make each other better, they can become better people. 

When Michael resets his fake-"Good Place" scenario, he assumes that all four of these people will behave as they would have at the beginning of the first scenario. Eleanor foregoes getting drunk at the party the first night in order to have a clear head for her speech, which allows her to find Chidi. Chidi puts aside his relationship triangle drama to help Eleanor. Tahani tries to make amends with Eleanor after drunkenly ruining her speech, and Jason and Janet reform a connection despite having their memories wiped. 

Watching these two episodes I couldn't help but think of the movie Run, Lola, Run. Each time the story resets, Lola remembers certain skills that she learned on her previous runs (for example: how to use a gun). The Good Place resets our heroes' circumstances, but also establishes that their experiences together have changed them in ways they don't even remember. At the core of the show is the idea that together we can grow, despite our worst instincts. It's a beautiful sentiment in a year that has been as bleak as 2017. For that reason, The Good Place might just be the most important show on TV right now. 

Looking Ahead:
The main concern about a show like The Good Place is that the premise wears out pretty quickly. In season one alone the premise when from being about Eleanor learning to be a better person, to Eleanor outing herself and the whole group coming to her defense, to Eleanor figuring out that they are already in the "Bad Place." By the end of the first two episodes of season two, Eleanor and her friends had already figured out pretty much everything they had forgotten from the first season, and Michael had reset their memories and started over another time. 

Obviously like the show's original premise, we can only watch Michael reset this afterlife scenario so many times before it becomes a stale plot point. Michael Schur is arguably the greatest working sitcom creator, and so far he had done an excellent job of not allowing the show to run in any one direction longer than it should. He's earned the trust of viewers, and I have no doubt he has a well crafted plan for the future of the show. What that plan entails, remains to be seen. 

Other Thoughts:

  • The cast did a lot of great work in the first season, but in season two everyone feels much more comfortable in their roles. 
  • The entire cast is amazing and you've got comedy veterans like Kristen Bell and Ted Danson around elevating everything, but D'Arcy Carden remains this show's secret weapon.  

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