# 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:** 37
**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:** [October 12, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/722 "2018-10-12T01:34:06Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > I’m starting to think that this season isn’t really on Earth at all, It’s a fake created by the Judge to test Michael and Janet’s moral growth. Regardless, It’s great so far. It is up to you how canon you consider things outside the show, but Schur said on the Good Place podcast, they are really truly alive and really truly on Earth. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/723 "2018-10-12T13:06:52Z")
Yeah, I think the ending of last night’s episode destroys that theory anyway. This season has has so many false starts and so much misdirection, I can’t tell where it’s going at all. I thought that the season would be about Michael and Shawn’s rivalry, then it looked like it was going to be about how Michael and Janet coped with being stranded on Earth… Now, I just don’t know. And we’re only three episodes in. I also loved Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, and Wonderfalls. So much potential, wasted. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/724 "2018-10-12T13:35:42Z")
I love this show and am enjoying the season but I hope they stick on one direction for a bit longer at a time from here. Plot developments are being flown past fast and, like Trevor by Gen, just casually tossed aside. Yes it is good to not be able to see what is coming and to have your expectations be wrong (I certainly did not expect the end of last night’s ep, or the fast forward tempo of the whole ep) but with this many false starts and misdirections the show is feeling like a boy who cries wolf. It is harder to invest in any plot tension when the point is just gone by the end of the next ep and off in another angle. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/725 "2018-10-12T14:37:39Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I love this show and am enjoying the season but I hope they stick on one direction for a bit longer at a time from here. Plot developments are being flown past fast and, like Trevor by Gen, just casually tossed aside. > > Yes it is good to not be able to see what is coming and to have your expectations be wrong (I certainly did not expect the end of last night’s ep, or the fast forward tempo of the whole ep) but with this many false starts and misdirections the show is feeling like a boy who cries wolf. It is harder to invest in any plot tension when the point is just gone by the end of the next ep and off in another angle. I think that 13 episodes of headfakes would be exhausting. But I have a lot of faith in the writing staff. At the same time… wtf happens now? I’m certainly eager to find out. I thought this was a solid episode. Highlight was Tahani offering condolences when Eleanor won $18K on a lottery ticket. (Having Janet remember everything from before she lost her powers, allowing her some freebies like knowing lottery tickets without having full Janet powers, was very clever.) (I’m of course curious about the more mundane aspects of Michael and Janet’s existence during their year on earth. Do they eat? Go to the bathroom? Where do they live? Can they be injured?) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2018, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/726 "2018-10-13T00:11:07Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > …(I’m of course curious about the more mundane aspects of Michael and Janet’s existence during their year on earth. Do they eat? Go to the bathroom? Where do they live? Can they be injured?) Well presumably they don’t have bodily needs like going to the bathroom since Trevor didn’t, but I also wondered how they were supporting themselves for the last year. Janet’s knowledge of lottery results can only go so far. Ultimately it’s not important to the plot though. Ironic that just as the Gang figured a way to stay together without Michael’s help they stumbled upon him & Janet standing before the gateway to the afterlife. I wonder what happens if they walk through it while still living? Whatever’s next I really hope it isn’t another reset and memory while (at least for the humans, Michael’s a different story) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/727 "2018-10-13T00:39:20Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > but I also wondered how they were supporting themselves for the last year. Janet’s knowledge of lottery results can only go so far. Well, she would know where every lost bit of money or treasure on the planet was located. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/728 "2018-10-13T02:07:49Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Well presumably they don’t have bodily needs like going to the bathroom since Trevor didn’t, but I also wondered how they were supporting themselves for the last year. Janet’s knowledge of lottery results can only go so far. Ultimately it’s not important to the plot though. Ironic that just as the Gang figured a way to stay together without Michael’s help they stumbled upon him & Janet standing before the gateway to the afterlife. I wonder what happens if they walk through it while still living? Whatever’s next I really hope it isn’t another reset and memory while (at least for the humans, Michael’s a different story) I hate every single thing about these episodes on Earth. Sydney is one of the most expensive places on earth to live. Imagine telling someone from another country that they have $18,000 to live on for a year in New York. And Chidi’s classes can’t take up much of their time. Even an hour a day five days a week is more than most college courses take up. What have they been doing in Australia all that time? How has Jason been living at all? How could he possibly have the ability to get a passport? Mostly, though, Earth is deadly dull. Which of course is why the show has been ridiculously fudging it with caricature. Every tiny aspect of “The Good Place” was fascinating to explore, since all of it was pure imagination. Earth isn’t. I hope, hope, hope that this is the last episode on Earth. Even The Middle Place would be better. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2018, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/729 "2018-10-13T02:34:27Z")
My DVR cut off just as Janet reopened the Door. What happened after that?! ---
**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:** [October 13, 2018, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/730 "2018-10-13T02:46:23Z")
Heh, heir B and B – when you need to rent a blimp hanger. USC – the humans enter the room where Michael and Janet are and see the glowing doorway. Brian ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2018, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/731 "2018-10-13T04:38:06Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Just like Kristin Chenoweth. _applauds_ I, too, loved Pushing Daisies, and I really like The Good Place, too. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/732 "2018-10-13T14:55:18Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > My DVR cut off just as Janet reopened the Door. What happened after that?! The humans walk in, see the door, one of them says “what the heck is that” or something, end of episode. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2018, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/733 "2018-10-13T23:50:47Z")
In the episode Janet told Michael to lose the accent. So his Aussie accent was deliberately awful. It made me wonder whether they will bring Vicki back some how because she complained in season two that she never got to use the great Australian accent she developed. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/734 "2018-10-14T03:47:37Z")
Does anyone else think that Simone is an angel? Twice this episode she was able to get Eleanor back to the group, telling her to get over herself and have a free cupcake and later explaining why she had the tantrum and that she needs to not be mean to the group since she obviously cares about them. I know it’s dumb to make predictions on this show since anything can happen and I’ve definitely not predicted any of the other wild turns, but she’s been extremely helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/735 "2018-10-14T15:36:04Z")
> [@Sam\_Lowry](#): > > Does anyone else think that Simone is an angel? Twice this episode she was able to get Eleanor back to the group, telling her to get over herself and have a free cupcake and later explaining why she had the tantrum and that she needs to not be mean to the group since she obviously cares about them. I know it’s dumb to make predictions on this show since anything can happen and I’ve definitely not predicted any of the other wild turns, but she’s been extremely helpful. I was going to post the same question. Yes, she does seem to be very conveniently positioned to give Eleanor good advice JUST when she needs it. And she and Chidi don’t seem that truly romantically involved, but he does seem to have a lot more initiative since he’s been with her. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/736 "2018-10-14T15:57:29Z")
Apologies for the double post, but I thought of another point after the edit window closed. But one criticism I have about the new season so far is so focused on plot twists and surprises that the show has seemed to stray away from the ethics lessons. While we see the Brainy Bunch going to Chidi’s ethics classes, we haven’t actually had any stories concerning classic ethical dilemmas such as the trolley problem. To me, that the real heart of the show and what sucked me in more than all the plot twists. so far, we haven’t seen the gang wrestle with any real philosophical problems. We simply see them show up at class and never actually see anything about it. Even Eleanor’s meltdown in “Snowplow” seemed more like a sitcom contrivance than a real ethical dilemma. I’d like to at least a few episodes with Eleanor & co. struggling with a real moral quandary, especially now that they are on Earth and their actions have more meaning. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/737 "2018-10-14T16:20:33Z")
I’m starting to wonder the same thing about Simone; could she actually be from the Good P l.j ace? Of course this could mean either that the Good Place is going behind Gen’s back too, or Gen is aware of what they’re doing, but doesn’t want Michael to know. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/738 "2018-10-19T06:08:05Z")
Great episode tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/739 "2018-10-19T10:02:19Z")
…huh. That didn’t go the way I thought they were going to take it at all. Which, considering that happens nearly every episode, shouldn’t have come as any surprise at all 🙂 But I loved it. Best of the season for me. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/740 "2018-10-19T11:12:10Z")
As I expected, the first couple of episodes tread water, then the game changes. Now I’m intrigued again. [ul] [li] **Note the first:** The accents all sounded authentic to me this time.[/li][li] **Note the second:** All the places they went to had initials as their names.[/li][li] **Note the third:** I don’t think you can get Peeps in Australia. I’ve certainly never seen them anywhere.[/li][li] **Note the fourth:** Even though I am very familiar with our money, seeing it on TV in the hands of Americans looked very weird to me.[/li][li] **Note the fifth:** Larry Hemsworth is played by Ben Lawson, who is Josh Lawson’s brother. Josh Lawson was in _House Of Lies_ opposite Kristen Bell. It’s a meta-joke - the lesser Hemsworth is actually a lesser Lawson.[/li][/ul] ---
**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:** [October 19, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545/741 "2018-10-19T12:54:35Z")
Didn’t quite feel the same level of love for this one, but now that we are set up to believe that _because_ they all (Michael and Janet inclusive) believe they are doomed no matter what good works they do (as result of that knowing about points impugns their motivation for doing good), and therefore are now doing good for no sake but for doing good, so therefore their good works will count for points and get them in … what direction will they _actually_ go? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545.md?page=36) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-good-place-edited-title/766545.md?page=38)