Hah, I just noticed during the “Three-hour Spoken-Word Jazz Opera”, the band was named “The Jazz-Splainers”.
Season 2, episode 2 was a benchmark for me; it was the first time in an eternity that I watched an episode through three times. (IIRC the last time I did that was an episode of The Simpsons while I was in college.) It was just so incredibly packed that that’s how many times it took for me to catch everything!
Wow. Charm, humor, action, twists, amazing use of CGI, suspense. And thus far not one single irritating or unwatchable character, pretty remarkable considering that they all have their little annoyances…outstanding characterization! (I’m actually missing Trevor a bit, to put it into perspective.) And this really needs to be said: It is damn pretty to look at. Bright and colorful and clean, plenty of natural beauty. Might not seem like much, but after a whole day dealing with ugliness, it’s a real treat.
About the middle of season one, this went from “might be good” to “okay, it’s good”. Last episode was what kicked it to must-see TV for me. I am now eagerly anticipating what’s going to come next, and even better, I’m sure it’ll be another doozy.
Hey, that’s two positive Cafe Society posts in a row. Let’s see how far I can keep it rolling! 
I watched the episode twice, but I rewound and watched the “oh, THIS is the bad place” montage a few times more than that. Really, really well done.
Talking about new episode “Team Cockroach”
Well, that was the first episode of the Good Place for a long time that was merely good, instead of outstanding. I’m pretty sure Michael is still lying his horns off about getting them to the real Good place, but events are likely to get interesting with Vicky making herself way too prominent in every part of every scheme in Bad Place #803
One good thing about this episode is that it clarified a few of the FAQs that we’ve all been wondering. Assuming he’s being honest, which is I suppose all part of the guessing game, though the showrunner claims that a lot of what we know from Michael is factual, as far as he’s concerned.
Yeah, it was just filler exposition. Kind of meh, overall. Though I did enjoy seeing how Tahani died, and the nod to Janet’s reboots was interesting.
I’m going to presume it’s not possible for some reason, but the scheme would go a lot better if only Jason was memory wiped. I don’t see him being able to keep up a pretense very long.
He does pretty well just keeping is mouth shut and being Jianyu.
StG
He’s pretty bad at it I think. In the first iteration he confessed to Eleanor almost immediately and was revealed to Chidi soon after. Tahani caught him despite her self-absorbedness after he pretty much gave up any pretence. Everybody else was obviously deliberately looking the other way. If the demons are genuinely ready to spot anything suspicious I expect Jason to be the weak link.
So what if the other three - Tahani Jianyu and Chidi - are angels working to get Michael (and Eleanor) into the good place? It was the odd names, they kind of sound like cherubim type names, that sent me there.
That would mean the narration itself is lying to us, since we’ve seen pieces of their lives on earth, how they died, and how they react to revelations from Michael.
The show was a slight step back from the utter brilliance of the first two episodes, but no one can keep up that level, and it was still funny.
Favorite line was Jason’s “Who am I? Describe me now!” Second was Vicky singing. A nice touch was how Tahani held her hand when they all touched.
Still marveling at some of the foreshadowing and narrative consistencies. In Season 1, Chidi thought he was in the bad place for drinking almond milk; this season, he said the same thing.
Also the hints last year that Eleanor loved Chidi. She actually said, “I love you, man” before confessing (Danson’s expression in that scene was a marvel of acting – he was both in his role as Good Michael but with hints of the evil beneath). And when she called Michael’s bluff in the final episode, she said that she and Chidi were going to the Bad Place.
The show is a master class in plotting a story. I’ve already started using some of the tricks involved while writing my current novel.
Also, remember that Tahani, Chidi, and Jianyu are not that uncommon for Pakistani, Nigerian, and Taiwanese persons, like Tahani, Chidi, and the supposed real Jianyu.
Last night Michael mentioned “having to reboot every two weeks.” If that is the accurate average, they’ve been at it for 30 years.
Janet continues to be my favorite character. The look on her face when she was reveling in her increased self-awareness as “the most advanced Janet in the universe!” while simultaneously rubbing her stomach and patting her head was priceless.
On the other hand, eyeballing his chart makes the average look closer to 2 MONTHS, meaning they’ve been at it for a bit over a century.
I’m guessing Vicky will also reboot the neighborhood a bunch of times and while Michael will allow the four humans to keep their memories, the “evolution” of Janet will be the key by the end of the season.
The things that really niggle me are more about the nature of the universe that they’re living in.
Specifically, is the point system real? Is it true that only the top .01% of people (or whatever) make it heaven and everybody else gets tortured? It’s a bitter pill to swallow, and if it’s not true then it opens up a lot more doors in terms of possible redemption/purgatory plotlines.
The showrunners have been masterful in creating what seems to be an internally-consistent universe, without referencing specific beliefs of actual religions. But of course they had to build in some jeopardy, and rules for dealing with it, as you mention: the ‘top 0.01%’ cut-off. Which does seem painfully, even unjustly stringent.
For me, too, information about the reality or otherwise of that point system is something I focus on when watching this show. Surely they won’t conclude the story with a confirmation that 99.99% of humanity is doomed to eternal torture!
Question for all: Has there been a scene in which we see more than one Janet in the same room?
Clearly not. Remember, they manipulated Tahani’s numbers so she was next to last.