The Good Place (Season 4)

I'm glad that The Good Place only went on for four seasons. It's nice when a show gets to end on its own terms and doesn't overstay its welcome, but also this was easily the weakest season of the bunch.

Season 4's first half is probably my least favorite part of the whole series. The main premise is the group is trying to run an experiment just like that of Michael in Season 1 in an attempt to prove that the right people can help each other improve. In theory, this sounds like a neat idea to bring the whole show full circle in its final season. In reality, it's kind of a repetitious bore. I think the big problem here is that I just don't care about most of the new characters, which kinda comes with the territory when you introduce a bunch of new faces in a show's final season. My favorite episode in Season 4's first half is Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy, the only one to mostly focus on the established cast that we already know and love. My other big issue is in regards to Brent, one of the test subjects who's a very blatant alt-right dude who's easily the hardest for the cast to improve. While I'm always fine with a show taking the piss out of the alt-right, he comes off as frustratingly one-note. He never changes, he never develops, he spends the entire first half of the season being incredibly unfun to watch and only makes a change in the final minutes of the experiment.

Just like in Season 3, though, the season does get a lot better after the halfway point. After the experiment ends, the Judge rules that the system is flawed... only to decide to restart the universe, so the last few episodes go back to focusing on the characters we all know and love as they try to pretty much fix the entire afterlife system, once and for all. While there aren't too many big surprises here, I still think most of the solutions the characters come up with are clever and well thought-out, and simply getting to focus on the important characters for once really brings this part of the season above the first half. But then there's the last two episodes, which are easily the most divisive parts of the show. So, the group finally arrives at The Good Place only to find that everyone there has become bored zombies since they're basically stuck there eternally, so they decide to create The Door that lets people leave The Good Place (to who knows where) whenever they choose. People seem to have interpreted this in a lot of different ways, whether it's applying it to their own religion, or more problematically, feeling like it gives a pro-suicide message. Personally, I like this plot point, I think it's a great solution to the issue of eternal boredom and wouldn't at all compare it to suicide since the show implies people leave through The Door when they're content with their time in the Good Place and not if they want to escape it.

Highlights:

The Funeral To End All Funerals: This episode gives off Best Self vibes, a more low-key and introspective outing as the characters wait for some big event that happens at the ending. In this case, most of the episode has the cast hold each other's funerals to show off just how much they've grown throughout the show, and the ending has the Judge plan to reset the universe only for Janet to hide the button and Michael to restore Chidi's memories so that he can help them find another solution.

What's Changed, Man?: What's Changed, Man? feels like the climax of the whole show, a pretty tense episode where the group figures out how to fix the afterlife system for good. Once again, I think the solution they came up with, having the Bad Place perform afterlife experiments on a person as many times as needed until they improve, is pretty clever, and seeing Shawn and Michael finally be on the same footing about something felt pretty satisfying. Also, Timothy Olyphant's guest appearance was pretty great.

Whenever You're Ready: Regardless of what you think of The Door, I still think The Good Place has one of the most rewarding and emotionally impactful finales any sitcom has ever had. Every single character doesn't just get an ending that feels earned, but they also each get their own individual goodbyes. Tahani becoming an afterlife architect was pretty clever, Jason being the first to leave despite having the most plans for The Good Place was pretty interesting, Chidi's farewell to Eleanor was a pretty massive gut punch, and Michael getting to live life as a human is a perfect ending to who is probably the show's best character.

Overall, if Season 3 was a mixed bag and Season 4 is even mixier. The opening story arc is fairly dull and repetitive aside from a fun subplot about a mole, but once the experiment ends, I think the season does a good job delivering in an emotional, morally interesting, and satisfying end to the show.

3/5 Stars

My ranking of The Good Place seasons is:

1. Season 2: Easily the best season of the series, expanding on Season 1's big twist, fleshing out the cast, experimenting a lot, and ramping up the pacing to the point where every episode is fresh and fun.
2. Season 3: The first half isn't the best, but once the cast leaves Earth, Season 3 has some of the absolute best episodes in the series.
3. Season 1: A fantastic build-up to a fantastic final episode, though it probably holds a lot more merit overall as a rewatch due to all of the foreshadowing.
4. Season 4: That first half is really not that great, but once again, the season picks up again in the second half, and the ending is fantastic.

My ranking of The Good Place finales is:

1. Michael's Gambit: I adore this finale. The twist is just perfect, incredibly well-foreshadowed, impeccably executed, and filled with so many ramifications that even if you were spoiled or saw it coming, there are still plenty of surprises in store.
2. Whenever You're Ready: As mentioned above, this is one of my favorite season finales. It's satisfying, emotional, complex, and thought-provoking, and it stands tall as one of the best episodes of the show.
3. Pandemonium: While it doesn't really resolve much, Pandemonium packs a serious emotional punch and I like that it doesn't mindwipe the entire cast again. Just Chidi this time.
4. Somewhere Else: While I like the idea of the Earth twist, I hated the fact that everyone lost their memory again, especially since the episode hurriedly paired up all the couples right before that happened just to rub it in.

Favorite Episode: Michael's Gambit