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

Episode Rankings: The Good Place

The Good Place is hands-down one of the best shows from the last few years. It's a brilliantly creative fantasy-comedy that manages to deal with ethical themes in some really unique ways. It also happens to have the greatest plot twist in all of media, a twist so good that the rest of the show isn't quite able to top or even match it. Here's my ranking of its episodes:

1. Michael's Gambit (S1.13) - I repeat, this was the best twist ever.
2. Whenever You're Ready: Parts 1 & 2 (S4.13)
3. Dance Dance Resolution (S2.03)
4. Janet(s) (S3.10)
5. Chidi Sees The Time-Knife (S3.12)
6. Everything Is Great: Part 2 (S2.02)
7. Rhonda, Diana, Jake, And Trent (S2.11)
8. Most Improved Player (S1.08)
9. Mindy St Claire (S1.12)
10. Don't Let The Good Life Pass You By (S3.09)
11. Chidi's Choice (S1.10)
12. The Funeral To End All Funerals (S4.08)
13. Best Self (S2.10)
14. What's Changed, Man? (S4.10)
15. The Eternal Shriek (S1.07)
16. Everything Is Great: Part 1 (S2.01)
17. Everything Is Bonzer: Part 1 (S3.01)
18. Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy (S4.04)
19. Derek (S2.08)
20. Pandemonium (S3.13)
21. Patty (S4.12)
22. The Burrito (S2.12)
23. Jeremy Bearimy (S3.05)
24. Someone Like Me As A Member (S1.09)
25. The Book Of Dougs (S3.11)
26. Team Cockroach (S2.04)
27. Everything Is Bonzer: Part 2 (S3.02)
28. Somewhere Else (S2.13)
29. Help Is Other People (S4.07)
30. What's My Motivation? (S1.11)
31. Leap Of Faith (S2.09)
32. Tahani Al-Jamil (S1.03)
33. The Worst Possible Use Of Good Will (S3.08)
34. The Trolley Problem (S2.06)
35. The Ballad Of Donkey Doug (S3.08)
36. A Girl From Arizona: Part 2 (S4.02)
37. Everything Is Fine (S1.01)
38. Mondays, Am I Right? (S4.11)
39. The Answer (S4.09)
40. Jason Mendoza (S1.04)
41. Janet And Michael (S2.07)
42. A Girl From Arizona (S4.01)
43. What We Owe To Each Other (S1.06)
44. The Brainy Bunch (S3.03)
45. Existential Crisis (S2.05)
46. A Chip Driver Mystery (S4.06)
47. Flying (S1.02)
48. The Snowplow (S304)
49. Category 55 Emergency Doomsday (S1.05)
50. Chillaxing (S4.03)
51. Employee Of The Bearimy (S4.05)
52. A Fractured Inheritance (S3.07)

The Good Place (Season 3)

Season 3 is generally considered to be the weakest season of The Good Place, and I definitely understand why. A lot of time is spent on Earth with is way less interesting than the afterlife. However, I think Season 3 has a lot going for it, and would definitely say it's better than people give it credit for being.

Season 3 starts with the cast back on Earth, given another chance to improve their morality. Michael tries to manipulate things by going to Earth and getting everyone to meet, only to get stuck there and forced to find a way back. Look, there's a lot of great stuff in this storyline. Michael struggling to adjust to Earth life? Hysterical. All of the subplots fleshing out the cast pre-death? Fantastic. The Good Place is still as funny and sharply-written as it ever was in Season 3... but you can tell something's off. Part of why I like The Good Place is the colorful and surreal afterlife world, and to be perfectly frank, Earth is kind of a boring setting in comparison. Sure, it's novel at first but the longer you have to wait until the characters go back to the afterlife, the more Season 3 feels like it drags. It's this reason that I understand why many fans think this one is the weakest, the Earth storyline has its good moments but it's generally pretty dull and goes on way too long.

Thankfully, once the characters leave Earth, Season 3 kicks into high gear and never lets up once. In the course of five episodes, we get some of the best plot twists in the series, probably the only ones to even come close to topping Michael's Gambit. Essentially, it's revealed that the Good Place system is incredibly flawed, and that hardly anyone has made it in, not even the guy who predicted it, Doug Forcett. So, these last few episodes really revolve around the cast trying to think of a new solution and prove that they deserve to be in The Good Place, culminating in the decision to recreate Michael's original experiment. It's the show at its most morally fascinating. But even better are the surprising emotional beats that happen in this part of the season. All of Season 3, even the Earth stuff, had a pretty heavy focus on Eleanor and Chidi's relationship, but it's in these last few episodes where everything really pays off for them and it ends up feeling incredibly impactful.

Highlights:

Don't Let The Good Life Pass You By: This is the point where Season 3 really gets good. Most of the episode involves Michael visiting the real Doug Forcett only to learn that he's basically driven himself crazy trying to do everything he can to get into the Good Place, which is already a great storyline on its own, but then the episode ends on a crazy bar fight that ends with Janet dragging everyone from Earth.

Janet(s): And in case the last episode wasn't amazing enough, Janet(s) is an easily contender for best The Good Place episode period. Since most of it takes place in Janet's void, pretty much every character is played by her actress, D'Arcy Carden, and she nailed every single personality to a tee. Even more, we learn that not even Doug is getting into the Good Place, Chibi and Eleanor officially get together, and the episode ends with the group finding themselves in the actual Good Place.

Chidi Sees The Time-Knife: This episode probably came the closest to topping Michael's Gambit in sheer plot-twistery. In the course of a single half hour, the Judge is convinced that the system is flawed, Shawn is brought in and forced to work with Michael, the group plans to re-do Michael's initial iteration as an experiment to prove people can improve, and the episode ends with Michael having a panic attack forcing Eleanor to take over for him. I swear, watching this live was wild.

Pandemonium: Compared to the first two finales, Pandemonium was a bit more low-key, trading in crazy plot twists for sheer emotional gut punch. Shawn brings in Chidi's love interest from Earth, Simone, to be one of the participants, so Chidi decides to get a mind wipe at the cost of having to break up with Eleanor. While I may have been a bit tired of mind wipes at this point, the tragic feel of the episode and the fact that only Chidi suffered from it this time still left me liking it. 

Overall, Season 3 is a mixed bag for me. Its first half, while still fun, lacks the creativity and spirit of the earlier seasons due to taking place on Earth. However, once the characters leave Earth, I'd say the second half of Season 3 is probably the best stretch of episodes in the whole series, packed with fantastic twists and strong emotional punches.

4/5 Stars

The Good Place (Season 2)

Season 1 of The Good Place ended on one of the greatest twists in all of television, to the point where many feared that it was so good, the show would be a one-trick pony. Thankfully, that's not the case, and Season 2 is absolutely fantastic.

After the big reveal that Eleanor and her friends were in the Bad Place the whole time and that Michael was orchestrating their torture, Season 2 starts with a series of loops as Michael repeatedly tries to wipe their memories and start the experiment over again. After hundreds of iterations, Michael decides to form an alliance with the humans to break out and try to make it to the actual Good Place, basically kickstarting the main storyline for the rest of the show. Season 2 is a far more propulsive and action-packed season than the first, nearly every episode has some massive change in the status quo and every time you think something couldn't possibly happen, it does, even down to the last few episodes having the team sneak into the actual Bad Place. The level of quality in pretty much every single episode is off the charts, and I was pretty much hooked throughout.

Though even with all of the crazy storylines, Season 2 doesn't let go of what made the first season so fantastic, and if anything, expands on it even further. Even with the memory wipe, all of the characters are still great and well-developed, with Michael once again being a massive highlight. His whole redemption arc is really as fun as it sounds, and is elevated by Ted Danson's still fantastic performance. This season is also really funny, and it isn't afraid to put the characters in weird scenarios. There's a bunch of bottle episodes, an episode about Janet and Michael only, the debut of some incredibly goofy side characters like Derek and the Judge, and a legendary roast sequence. The philosophical elements are also there in spades, since one of the core tenants of the main storyline is the cast trying to figure out how to enter the Good Place. My only gripe with this otherwise fantastic season is actually the finale. It has a fine twist (though it obviously doesn't stack up to Michael's Gambit), but I hated how it had to wipe the characters' memories again. It was fine the first time because it was a shocking and interesting twist, but now it just feels like the characters are being reset every season.

Highlights:

Everything Is Great: This two-part premiere feels like a fantastic microcosm of the first season, containing pretty much all of its character development and big moments into a tight, tense hour. I also think it's hilarious that in Michael's second experiment, the cast figured out the truth about the Bad Place even earlier than the first time.

Dance Dance Resolution: The opening of Dance Dance Resolution is probably my favorite sequence in the entire series. That montage of alternate iterations and experiments, and the wide range of Eleanor's potential soulmates is absolutely hysterical. The ending where Michael asks the humans for an alliance was also a pretty great shock.

Best Self: Despite basically being a bottle episode that takes place in the "Good Place" town, Best Self was easily one of my favorites in the show. It's very low-key and introspective, as the team struggles with not being able to find a way to the Good Place. It also works as a nice farewell to the town where the show started, since we end the episode watching it disintegrate.

Rhonda, Diana, Jake, And Trent: As mentioned, the final few episodes has the team try to sneak into the Bad Place and find the Judge, and Rhonda, Diana, Jake, And Trent is easily the most tense and fun of them all. It's practically a thriller, with the cast deep in "enemy territory" and trying to blend in, not to mention all the insight on how the Bad Place works is really fascinating. 

Overall, Season 2 is easily my favorite in The Good Place. Following Season 1's fantastic ending, it's fast-paced, tense, exciting, and ambitious, all the while keeping the great character work, fun comedy, and philosophical elements that made the previous season work.

5/5 Stars

The Good Place (Season 1)

Can a season finale be so good that it makes the entire season better in hindsight? If the first season of The Good Place is any indication then absolutely.

The Good Place is a sitcom about Eleanor dying and going to heaven (which in this show is called The Good Place), which leaves her shocked since she was a pretty awful person during her lifetime. Adamant that she doesn't belong in The Good Place and that something's not right, Eleanor spends the season adjusting to her new unlife, getting to know the others in The Good Place, and unraveling the mystery of what she's doing there. As you can tell from the summary, The Good Place is incredibly high concept for a sitcom, seeing as it takes place in heaven. The show uses special effects fairly frequently and isn't afraid to use its uniquely fantastical sandbox to creative some truly weird and trippy gags. But even with all the fancy set-dressing, The Good Place is as funny as any sitcom written by the guy responsible for The Office, Parks And Rec, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. If anything, the setting allows for even more comedic creativity. There are a lot of very smart, witty, and quotable lines in pretty much every episode that just wouldn't have been possible outside of that heaven setting. The cast is also absolutely fantastic and has incredibly strong chemistry with each other, with Ted Danson as Michael and Jameela Jamil as Tahani being the most noticeable highlights for me.

The Good Place does two things that really sets it apart from other sitcoms though. First, there's the fact that the show actually deals with philosophical themes and morality. What would earn someone the right to go to a theoretical heaven? Are selfless acts really selfless if they have a motivation behind them? Is it possible for someone to reform and redeem themselves? The Good Place tackles some really complicated and heavy questions, but manages to do so in an impressively light and easy-to-digest manner. The Good Place is incredibly close to being an educational show about philosophy, which makes it all the more admirable that it manages to balancing being entertaining and discussing these topics without watering them down. The other thing that makes The Good Place, especially this season, stand out is the utter lack of a status quo. The Good Place became known for its ridiculously fast plot progression, plot twists that repeatedly pull the tablecloth out from under you, and unwillingness to stay still. Nearly every episode has some big twist or reveal, all culminating in the phenomenal finale where we learn The Good Place was actually The Bad Place (hell) all along. It's a perfect twist, expertly foreshadowed, incredibly unpredictable, and it makes you want to rewatch the season to see how brilliantly everything has been set-up. The only problem is that Season 1 of The Good Place hinges on that twist, so the season can actually be a bit slow-moving on first viewing, especially before the midseason finale where things really start to kick into gear. Unfortunately, even with the meticulously twist planning, not even The Good Place could really escape sitcom growing pains.

Highlights:

Most Improved Player: The Good Place's midseason finale was a big turning point for the series in terms of quality and stakes, as Eleanor publicly announces that she doesn't belong in The Good Place. Most Improved Player does a great job at following up with that cliffhanger by giving a bunch of juicy The Bad Place lore with the introduction of Trevor and "real Eleanor". Trevor also happens to be played by Adam Scott and his devilish (literally) performance adds a lot of humor to the episode.

Chidi's Choice: In between a lengthy streak of big plot twists, Chidi's Choice feels like a bit of a breather, and it's all the better for it. Chidi's Choice is pure comedy from start to finish, from Jason's bizarre wedding with Janet, to the love triangle shenanigans that get blown completely out of proportion, to Chidi's indecisiveness that's at least funny for most of the episode.

Mindy St Claire: Coming right before the season finale, Mindy St Claire lays the final bit of groundwork for the big twist, while also revealing a lot more lore as we learn about the titular character and her "Medium Place". The episode also introduces one of my favorite running gags in the series, Jason's molotov cocktail.

Michael's Gambit: I pretty much said everything I needed to say about the big twist in Michael's Gambit earlier on in the review, it's a perfect twist. It fits perfectly into the information you've been given while also recontextualizing everything to the point where you want to rewatch the whole season. The delivery is perfect, from Eleanor's big "ah-ha" moment to Michael's sudden burst into demonic laughter (amazing performance from Ted Danson there, by the way). And even if you did see the twist coming or were spoiled, there's still a pretty massive cliffhanger that can easily leave you just as blindsided. Michael's Gambit is a phenomenal piece of television and one of my favorite episodes of all time.

Overall, while it probably fares better on a second or third viewing, this is a strong first season for The Good Place. The cast is memorable and has great chemistry, the writing expertly blends great humor with thought-provoking philosophical discussions, and the final twist completely recontextualizes the season in the best way possible.

4/5 Stars