Comedy NBC's Good Place - From the Creator of Parks and Rec

[flickchick85]

Season 4.

‘The Good Place’ Renewed For Season 4 By NBC

Fan-forking-tastic.

 

[Sawyer]

Season 4.

‘The Good Place’ Renewed For Season 4 By NBC

Good news, to be sure, but I'm curious to know just how close we are to the endgame. Schur had to make this with at least a rough roadmap in mind, so I'm just curious about how much road we've got ahead of us.

 

[NotNickFury]

Given how much acclaim Michael Schur has brought to the network already with the likes of The Office and Parks and Rec, I imagine that if Schur wanted to keep the show going as long as possible, so long as there's new material to keep things fresh, NBC would definitely let him. But five is a good, solid run for shows nowadays, especially how fast they get axed. Maybe things wrap up in five seasons?

 

[flickchick85]

Five seasons is the sweet spot, imo.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Season 4.

‘The Good Place’ Renewed For Season 4 By NBC

 

[Kaleb]

 

[flickchick85]

Happy to see the show and KBell get Golden Globe nods. Danson's omission seems odd, but it's the Globes, they rarely make sense. Just nice to see the show starting to get recognized.

 

[Persona]

So a lot of buzz after tonight's episode and some are claiming it as one of the top Good Place episodes ever.

I think it is mostly a context thing because it is so refreshing to see the metaphysical hijinks back in a major way after a season where they were largely minimized.

There are a LOT of concepts in this one--I mean, they really pack it in, and it does remind me of how much I missed this sort of setting even though I already knew I was missing it. It just really reinforces that this is the kind of setting where the show soars. Not all of it works, some of the humor is a little forced, but all in all it was a return to the kind of high-flying conceptual humor and relentless plot shifting and crackin' character dynamics that we love about the show.

That said, I have a major misgiving about one of the key character beats in the episode. Like, it just feels very off and wrong, and I am not sure I've ever said that about any of the character beats in the show before. I'll be curious to see what the rest of you think about it (or if you can guess which beat I am talking about, but it is very much a front and center moment) but I will wait to talk about it until everyone's had a chance to watch the episode off their streaming or DVRs.

 

[NotNickFury]

D'Arcy Carden pulled a page from Tatiana Maslany's book last night. And it worked.

 

[Sawyer]

If Carden doesn't get a supporting actress Emmy nomination for this...

 

[Persona]

So...

SPOILERS


I really had a problem with Eleanor's identity crisis. This is the kind of thing that The Good Place does on the regular in terms of throwing something at you from out of left-field in the middle of an episode or whatever, but a few minutes is barely enough time to thoughtfully sketch out a representation of a person with as strong a personality as Eleanor suddenly having a severe identity crisis. I get how Janet's void initiated and escalated the whole thing but I think maybe I would have responded better to Tahani or Chidi being the one with this crisis, I dunno. It could have worked with Eleanor's character if it had been something they had been building up to--and maybe that's what they were trying to do when they first brought back to Eleanor the memories of her time with Chidi, but it never felt to me like that stuff was building to Eleanor losing all sense of her self. It was like this episode suddenly decided that they wanted that arc to come to a head here in a very uncomfortable way.

But the resolution for this crisis was the worst part. Eleanor has to stand in front of Chidi, breaking down like a child, and Chidi basically has to tell her who she is and then seal it with a kiss, and--like magic--identity crisis resolved. There's probably some benefit of doubt that can be given here but my gut reaction to that moment was, "Ew." So the strong-willed firecracker of a woman has to have the man tell her who she is and affirm her and kiss her to give her back her identity? Again, there's all kinds of ways that a similar story point could have been fleshed out and presented in a way that respected the characters but maybe, given the quick-moving and glib nature of the show, this was the kind of conflict and resolution they should have just steered clear from.

But, anyways, lots of fun gags in this one. And excited about the momentum. Feels like the story's finally getting somewhere good--wink wink.

 

[Pennywise]

Carden did an awesome job with the mannerisms and speech patterns of Jason, Chidi, Eleanor, and Tahani in yesterday’s episode! Some of her best work yet!

 

[DarthSkywalker]

The best bit was when she was playing Eleanor, playing Jason. That is some skill.

 

[Pennywise]

Question: Anything on The Good Place? (Janet, specifically.) —Whitney
Ausiello: Everyone’s favorite not-a-robot will be forever changed by having the humans materialize in Janet form, creator Michael Schur teases: “The way to really have empathy for people is to walk a mile in their shoes, and she did, like, the inverse of that. A bunch of people walked in her weird body for a decent amount of time… so that is another contributing factor to her evolution.” He adds that the season finale “has some pretty wonderful ‘compare this version of Janet to the one you saw in the pilot’ kinds of scenes.” So enjoy, Janet fans!

Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on Good Place, Riverdale, Timeless, B99, Resident, Million Little Things, Flash and More

 

[flickchick85]

The best bit was when she was playing Eleanor, playing Jason. That is some skill.

Yep, like when Tatiana Maslany played a clone pretending to be another clone on Orphan Black. Just really, really impressive.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Lily Adler]

Loved tonight's episode and the revelation to how the point system works.

 

[Persona]

Yeah, that was one of 2 or 3 episodes this season that I put on par with S1 or S2. The show's ideas and humor just work so much better in the afterlife setting. Plus the guest stars they had on were a lot of fun. And, yeah, the central plot revelation has so much relevance to how we live in the modern world and how inevitable it is that we end up complicit with injustice, environmental harm, etc.

On the negative side, the Eleanor-Chidi romance really isn't working for me. They had a great relationship as friends, this iteration just feels kind of awkward and forced. Hoping the show either finds a comfortable groove for it or hits it up with a paradigm shift.

 

[Lily Adler]

I actually liked Chidi with Simone.

 

[flickchick85]

I actually liked Chidi with Simone.

As did I.

I'm not feeling the romance either, but this episode was delightful. I hope we see that Good Place Postal Service lady again.

 

[Lily Adler]

Ah yes I loved it she tried to shake her fist.

 

[Sawyer]

I don't mind Eleanor and Chidi, but then again, I literally just ship Eleanor/Chidi/Tehani/Jason/Janet/Michael as a collective, so...

 

[Persona]

So after a succession of 5 or so episodes of each one better than the last, here comes the best episode of the season yet and I'm fully on board The Good Place train again.

I loved this episode for so many reasons. I don't want to spoil anything too soon. But Martini Man.

 

[Sawyer]

I was never even remotely off the Good Place train, but I definitely wasn't crazy about the early episodes this season.

 

[Persona]

Well, that's what I mean, it wasn't as enjoyable a ride as it was in previous seasons and I wasn't sure I liked where it was heading, but it was still a good train, er, show. But now it's on a roll again, full steam ahead, and I'm loving it.