# The Good Place \[edited title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545 "2016-09-21T23:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/302 "2017-09-22T00:42:43Z")
I wasn’t sure S2 was going to be as good as S1, but it was and it was a relief. I think it’s the first of my shows to come back for the new season so it wins bonus points. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/303 "2017-09-22T04:52:42Z")
Watched it online. While it was interesting to have them figure it out quickly, they can’t be doing that in every episode. Where did Jason get the bike gear from? He took apart the front wheel (I may need to watch that again) Brian ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/304 "2017-09-22T06:46:43Z")
How are you all seeing Season 2? I go into my Netflix and only Season 1 is available. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/305 "2017-09-22T06:51:16Z")
It’s on NBC. It’s not a Netflix production; they just have the first season so far. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/306 "2017-09-22T07:29:22Z")
Ooohhhh. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/307 "2017-09-22T11:51:04Z")
> [@Fugazi](#): > > How are you all seeing Season 2? I go into my Netflix and only Season 1 is available. > **[The Good Place - NBC.com](https://www.nbc.com/the-good-place?nbc=1)** > > The Good Place - Watch episodes on NBC.com and the NBC App. Kristen Bell and Ted Danson star in this comedy about becoming a better person. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/308 "2017-09-22T14:18:08Z")
It’s also available on Hulu the day after it airs; that’s how we watched it last night. “Thank you magic amulet.” I really want more Janet, she constantly cracks me up. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/309 "2017-09-22T14:36:59Z")
I wondered why they stuck with Jason’s mistaken identity as Jianyu in the reboot. I would have thought Michael would try something different with him in round 2. Although having his soul mate be another Buddhist monk was funny. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/310 "2017-09-22T15:05:34Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > I wondered why they stuck with Jason’s mistaken identity as Jianyu in the reboot. I would have thought Michael would try something different with him in round 2. Although having his soul mate be another Buddhist monk was funny. I guess that was one pick for how-to-torture-a-human that still seemed reasonable. Why fix what ain’t broken? Whereas more changes were necessary for Tahani and Chidi if they weren’t going to be tortured by their human soulmates. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/311 "2017-09-22T17:36:19Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > … (3) My current theory is that Michael can erase his victims conscious memory, but not their subconscious (or soul?). Each time through the cycle Eleanor improves herself a little bit until finally her ethical level is high enough that the last time she wakes up she is really in the good place. I’m thinking so too. Clearly each of them responded to the new circumstance differently than they would have if they had been placed there in the first place, note in Janet’s mouth or not. They have had growth that has addressed their basic flaws. Eleanor was taking giving a speech seriously and resisted drinking; Chidi made a decision fairly quickly and tried to follow through on it; Tahini quickly admitted her lack of perfection, that she was not all about others all the time, and was self-aware of her jealousy of her sister; and Jason ran from the situation and to both his true goofball bro-ness and to Janet as a soulmate much quicker than the first time. They don’t remember learning but they learned, and apparently Michael cannot undo that. > [@N9IWP](#): > > Watched it online. While it was interesting to have them figure it out quickly, they can’t be doing that in every episode … I am also wondering how they proceed from here without it getting old. As they figure it out a third time does Michael try to recruit them to be actors to fool the other tormentors and in particular Sean that they are being tortured? That plays with this being Sean’s tormenting of Michael even as the four humans are not in on it. Former Real Eleanor, now cat owning limping pizza lady with a trapeze incident past, may play the role of tormenting Michael with being the one always suspicious of what Michael is doing. Because, yeah, she’s too good of an actor to keep in the garage. (Why wouldn’t v.2 have needed a real Eleanor at some point anyway?) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/312 "2017-09-22T17:45:36Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Each time through the cycle Eleanor improves herself a little bit until finally her ethical level is high enough that the last time she wakes up she is really in the good place. I had a similar thought while watching it but I imagine it would be pretty hellish going through eternity waiting for the other shoe to drop. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/313 "2017-09-22T19:52:50Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > …(Why wouldn’t v.2 have needed a real Eleanor at some point anyway?) I think that this may be a key question. And the showrunners are trying to hide it in plain sight (succeeding well enough that you felt impelled to put it in self-effacing parentheses). If Eleanor’s torture is to realize that she isn’t qualified to be in The Good Place, then it’s logical that at some point the explanation ‘someone with her name was supposed to be there but a mixup occurred’ would have to arise. The answer to the question ‘how they will keep season 2 as interesting as season 1?’ is that, once again, what we are led to believe is happening is not what is actually happening; already some in this thread are theorizing that it’s actually Michael who’s being tortured. That may be it, or may not be. But whatever it is, it _won’t_ be ‘Michael, an ambitious official of The Bad Place, is trying to innovate a new way to torture the four humans, and a staff of demons is helping him.’ It’ll be something we haven’t yet seen. (Purgatory?) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/314 "2017-09-22T20:11:20Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > (Why wouldn’t v.2 have needed a real Eleanor at some point anyway?) At some point, sure, but Michael thought separating the four of them from each other would force Eleanor to maintain the deception indefinitely. I wonder more about why he had Fake Eleanor in his back pocket during the **first** runthrough, which he thought would last a thousand years. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/315 "2017-09-22T21:42:51Z")
They only brought the other Eleanor in _after_ Eleanor confessed. She was an ad hoc addition to deal with the problem. The second episode led the groundwork for how they’ll avoid being repetitive: Michael lied to Sean and didn’t mention he rebooted again. You can bet that will be important. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/316 "2017-09-23T00:09:27Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The second episode led the groundwork for how they’ll avoid being repetitive: Michael lied to Sean and didn’t mention he rebooted again. You can bet that will be important. Yep. That’s my guess. He’s going to have to eventually enlist the human’s aid in maintaining a deception so Sean doesn’t retire him. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/317 "2017-09-23T03:38:27Z")
This season, Michael kicks a _cat_ into the sun. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/318 "2017-09-23T20:13:30Z")
> [@Fugazi](#): > > Yep. That’s my guess. He’s going to have to eventually enlist the human’s aid in maintaining a deception so Sean doesn’t retire him. If what he’s trying to hide from Sean is an extra reboot, and he wants help from the humans to hide that there’s been an extra reboot, then what sort of help can he get from them? \*\*\* If he confides that there’s been a reboot to keep them from learning that they’re actually in the Bad Place, then they now know they’re in The Bad Place. Michael has failed again. \*\*\* If he confides that there’s been a reboot but tries to sell the idea that it’s a reboot of the Good Place, the humans will reasonably want to know why the Good Place had to be rebooted–and why Sean would care whether or not it’s been rebooted. If it’s the Good Place, then how much _danger_ could one angel (or this show’s equivalent) be in from another angel? They’re forces for good! Why would one of them fear personal harm ? \*\*\* If he confides nothing but tries to manipulate them into behaving in some particular way that would tell Sean ‘this is the first reboot, not a second reboot’–in other words, if the humans have no idea that a reboot has taken place–what behavior of theirs would convince Sean of _anything_? …I mean, you could be right, and part of the fun of the show would be to learn how the writers could get the humans to try to help Michael, without their realizing that what they are helping Michael to do, is to torture them. I’m skeptical, but I’m willing to await developments. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/319 "2017-09-23T20:59:00Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > If he confides that there’s been a reboot but tries to sell the idea that it’s a reboot of the Good Place, the humans will reasonably want to know why the Good Place had to be rebooted–and why Sean would care whether or not it’s been rebooted. If it’s the Good Place, then how much _danger_ could one angel (or this show’s equivalent) be in from another angel? They’re forces for good! Why would one of them fear personal harm ? Back when all the human characters and most viewers believed this story really was set in “The Good Place”, we were told that Michael was going to suffer a horrific fate for failing to create a perfect neighborhood. The idea that there can be mistakes even in “The Good Place” has been present since the first episode, when Eleanor realized she’d been mixed up with a much better person of the same name. We the viewers now know this was all an elaborate trick, but since the human characters have had their memories wiped it’s plausible enough that they would fall for it again – at least for a little while. The first season had so many twists that I’m not even going to try to guess where season two is heading after one episode. What I’ll be curious to learn is whether “The Medium Place” is real. It didn’t seem to be part of Michael’s scheme last season, but there could be more layers of deception here than Michael realizes. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/320 "2017-09-23T22:34:04Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Back when all the human characters and most viewers believed this story really was set in “The Good Place”, we were told that Michael was going to suffer a horrific fate for failing to create a perfect neighborhood. The idea that there can be mistakes even in “The Good Place” has been present since the first episode, when Eleanor realized she’d been mixed up with a much better person of the same name. … You’re right; I do remember Michael mentioning consequences of some sort. But I can’t remember the language used when he said (just to Eleanor? I can’t recall) that something was on the line for him if the neighborhood wasn’t perfect. Did he say or imply that pain or worse was in store for him? If so, how would that have fit in with Eleanor’s belief-at-the-time that this was a potential development happening in, essentially, Heaven? ‘Mistakes’ in the neighborhood seem like something the humans might be able to accept–since the “person” administering the neighborhood is not presented as being infallible. However, a ‘reset’ seems like something that would inspire them to ask serious questions. Why does essentially-Heaven need a _reset_? Anyway, as I said, I’m along for the ride to learn how the writers deal with all this; I’m just expressing some skepticism about the concept that this season will be ‘Michael enlists the humans to help him hide the number-of-resets from Sean.’ It seems to hand-wave some important questions. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/321 "2017-09-23T22:37:19Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Did he say or imply that pain or worse was in store for him? He went into vivid detail of what would be done to him - such as being dangled by a rope tied around his genitals - and mentioned it was called The Eternal Shriek. So…yes, yes he did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545.md?page=17)