Just finished season 1 binge last night (that’s all Netflix has so far). I did NOT see the whole ‘we’re actually in the bad place’ thing coming. The writing so far has been great.
Is it fair to expect Jason to change when clearly he isn’t smart enough to understand the morality issues at play? Even if he had the IQ, the education system clearly failed him. If someone was never taught right from wrong how can one be judged as bad?
Agreed. His lack of mental capacity means he does not understand the reasons that certain things are wrong, but he is a sweet soul who has developed a capacity to love others and to be loved which he did not seem to have while alive. While alive if he realized something was wrong he probably still would have done it. Now if he realizes something is wrong it bothers him.
The stakes of what they do in this pocket universe are high. It is not just their eternal fates. If they succeed Michael’s thesis is supported and many many souls in the Bad Place may have their judgements revisited.
I’m really not a fan of the memory wiping; it’s really frustrating to see character development go out the window. I hope at some point they get all their memories back. On the plus Gen neatly summed up the underlying principle of how the whole system operates; people are expected to be good for the sake of being good without expecting any kind of reward during or after life (& presumably without fearing any kind of punishment for being bad either). Ironically this would seem to mean atheists have a better change of getting into the Good Place than religious believers. 
Agreed. The last episode very heavily implied Eleanor actually passed her test and was only being sent to The Bad Place because the other 3 failed & they had a pact. She even cut Gen off so they wouldn’t spend eternity knowing she’s there because of them. Yet she either that wasn’t the case at all & she really failed or Gen’s putting her threw this because…? :dubious:
Yep, but are Eleanor & Chidi (& Jason & Tahani) in the same big simulation or is each in their own? Was it really Chidi Eleanor met up with, or another simulacrum like last week. At what point is the pass/fail decision made? Are we going 50-60 years of their fake lives?
Jason is really making we wonder what happens to the mentally disabled or people who die in childhood in the show’s system.
I don’t think Eleanor was sent back for Eleanor. She was sent back to save them all. I don’t think she was sent back to earth or life or whatever either. I think it’s a sim like the rest of their experiences have been.
According to the demons, only a tiny percentage of people make it to the good place, the vast majority of humans end up being tortured in the bad place. So even though Jason might not have the capacity to be actively bad, he isn’t smart enough to be great either.
This show really is the Lost of comedies. That sounds like an insult but I really do mean it in the best possible way. I’ve never seen a show so effortlessly reinvent itself, keep everyone guessing but not feel like the creators are just jerking around.
I agree having them all lose their memories was frustrating but that is part of the fun.
I also immediately said, “Wait! He speaks French!” For a show so carefully plotted I have to think this isn’t a mistake.
How is it possible the actor who plays Chidi can look and sound so much like Rog from What’s Happening? It has freaked me out since the first episode. It’s a thirty year difference. Was the original actor a Phoenix or something?
Immortal actors aside, bring on Season 3. It has been renewed right?
Fork yes!
I think this is likely. After all, Eleanor has already met even the Judge’s high standards. She doesn’t have anything left to prove.
Agree with the idea of the pocket universe, but who are the other beings populating it? It’s not a cast of demons. Are they illusions pulled out of her memories?
Michael’s intervention, and sweet Cheers reference, has moved him from acting like a demon to acting like a guardian angel.
I will be annoyed if it turns out that Earth and daily life are The Good Place if one is a good person. I mean, that would be true according to a variety of religious/spiritual teachings, but I don’t want realism in a tv show, I want a really fun as well as good and intelligent fantasy.
Now we know why 90% of TV shows are crap, The Good Place has hired all the Good writers!
I think Jason has usually been willing to do things for people he considered friends, as long as it seemed fun. Now, playing to beat the Jags shows that he is willing to abandon long-held, core beliefs to help his friends - that is undoubtedly growth.
Jason has become is someone that Janet, or that which was Janet but is now something else that she doesn’t know what, is in love with. A pretty strong endorsement that!
I don’t care whether this is real Earth or sim Earth. I hate Earth. Every single wonderful thing about the show came about when it wasn’t set on Earth. This episode was awful in many ways, but mainly because nothing witty happened on Earth. Even the silly scenes of Michael and Janet sitting at old fashioned stock tickers were wittier than any moment on Earth.
However, the recording cut off the last few seconds after Eleanor introduced herself to Chidi. What were the final lines? Do they save the situation?
Michael says something like, “okay, here we go.”
Considering how the ended Season 1, this was bound to be not as good. Still, I’d be interesting in how it all plays out.
Re Chidi French vs. English. It was probably a lapse, but the explanation is that in the Good Place he returned to the language he grew up with.
I can see how they get Tahani back – they have to raise money for some charitable cause, and ask her help. Jason, though, is more difficult.
I think the idea is that the point system is so accurate almost every soul is automatically assigned to the either the Good Place or the Bad Place upon death without they’re being any objection by either side. So Gen really hasn’t had to judge a case since Mindy St. Clair.
Speaking of Gen and her interest in humans; she’s basically as old as the universe so we’re just something she just saw on Buzzfeed to her. What was she doing before the first bacterium on Earth evolved? Does she have a boss or colleagues? If so what do they do; oversee other species’ afterlives?
Good point. Though if she fails in the Earth simulation test does that negate passing Gen’s first test? I mean Eleanor has twice volunteered to spend eternity in the Bad Place for the sake of others (granted the 1st time she was already in the Bad Place, but she didn’t know that at the time).
I don’t being “great” really matters; just being a good person for goodness sakes. The only famous person we know is in the Good Place is Abraham Lincoln; presumably most people who make it there aren’t there because they did anything great. Lincoln just happened to do something really great, had the right motives, and died before did anything to negate it.
She failed. (Because the passing score, by her insistence, was a group score not an individual effort.)
But this test is not just judging them; it is testing the premise of the system.
If the system actually is as we have been told it is, it is grossly unfair and inaccurate. But do we know that this is actually the way things are?
I originally had the same thought - that the point system was just something the demons/Michael made up to mess with our heroes. However, assuming the judge isn’t a demon (which seems safe, but who know?), then I think she has confirmed that the point system is as laid out in earlier episodes. Certainly Tahani seems like she would have actually had a decent score (based on externals, not internals, obviously) - she and Chidi both felt that their inclusion in the original Good Place was reasonable.