Tahani did find a reason not to be Michael’s assistant.
Or the show will actually turn out to be about Ted Danson actually being in the Bad Place and the stories are really about all the bad things happening to him and his plans.
I think it’s telling that Chidi hasn’t questioned where “Saint Eleanor” is now. You’d think he’d be utterly horrified if she’s in The Bad Place by mistake, but it doesn’t even seem to have occurred to him. On the other hand if this is all some kind of purgatory or test for Eleanor it would make sense that she needs to come up that realization on her own.
That’s racist dude!
He’s actually a Filipino from Jacksonville, FL.
Well Janet did causally offer to show Eleanor whatever kind of pornography she wanted.
It did occur to him, was discussed when she was first selling him on helping her and Eleanor answered that she is pretty sure that there is no other Eleanor just a mistake on the memories because other things, like where she died, were right. Why that piss poor of a story was sufficient explanation for him? Show needs him to help her.
Well, this is his first time building a city. Maybe they didn’t want to give him real Good Place candidates to work with until he’s had a bit more experience and ironed out the bugs?
Oh, it’s here, good. Saw all three episodes so far but didn’t really care enough about it to start the thread myself.
I generally don’t care about afterlife fiction, especially on television, because its seems that the only stories anyone seems to want to make are 1. Someone gets sent to the wrong afterlife (usually due to a “clerical error” :rolleyes: ), and it’s impossible (or takes an enormous effort) to fix*, 2. Almost nobody gets into The Good Place, while the overwhelming majority of humanity gets into The Bad Place, 3. our hero gets to The Good Place, and it’s as good as advertise, but for some reason he just can’t stay, and 4. The Good Place is this incredibly bland, monotonous, boring wasteland, so awful that after a few days you’ll be begging to be sent to The Bad Place, which may or may not be any better. Oh, and there are always only two possible outcomes, and the criteria for where you go always at best makes no goddam sense whatsoever and at worse is based on ancient petty sanctimonious horseplop. So if I’m going to watch a show based on the afterlife, I have pretty much only one criterion: Different! Surreal, evocative, thought-provoking, disturbing, shocking, epic, philosophical, screwball, I don’t care, just something I haven’t seen dozens and dozens of times before!
Based on that, this one…definitely got off on the wrong foot, but at least planted the seeds for potential goodness. If nothing else, it’s definitely visually impressive. And the fact that this is, y’know, Heaven means that I don’t have to worry about anything horrifying or incredibly disgusting showing up (even that “garbage rain” was pretty benign). So I’ll give it a shot and hope that the early intriguing plotlines plan out. Right now it looks like it could go either way.
- As someone who’s worked in data entry, recordkeeping, and accounting for most of my adult life, I’d like to remind everyone that not only can clerical errors and the consequences of them be fixed, this happens constantly, mainly because THIS IS THE EASIEST FREAKING TYPE OF MISTAKE TO FIX. I had one temp job where, for at least the last four months, that was the only thing I did. Hell, one time the unemployment office got my Social Security number wrong, and they never even fixed it at all, and I still got my benefits.
Everybody can’t be in the wrong place. Chidi is who he appears to be and the chef served him his grandmother’s fish dish which was really his favorite meal. The guy whose chicken soup wound up saving 10,000 lives must be real, too. And so’s the chef, because the chicken soup she made was really good. Tahani’s decorations were as perfect as everything else she’s done, so she has to have some amazing set of skills.
Not that logic is a strong point. Couldn’t each of them be served their favorite food every day by whoever makes the meals? They can’t be cooking for themselves. Who cleans up the place afterward, BTW, and why didn’t the cleaners get the garbage rain taken care of?
I know it’s a sitcom and nothing has to make sense. But the mystery they set up requires some sense to be made.
But that’s why I quit Lost.
Loved this latest episode.
Poor Tahani! If it makes you feel any better, I liked your birdie with a hat better than your sister’s sculpture.
Well, my suspicions of Tahani have proven to be misguided. She is the “real Tahani”, and her account of her life on Earth was basically accurate. Her tendency to brag about her accomplishments isn’t because they weren’t real, but because she’s insecure and worried about not being good enough. “The Good Place” probably isn’t much more comfortable for her than it is for Eleanor – after spending her whole life in the shadow of her amazing sister, Tahani’s now in a community where everyone (in theory at least) was one of the best people ever.
I thought it was interesting that this episode explicitly discussed utilitarianism and its weaknesses as a philosophy. The point system used to determine who gets into “The Good Place” and who is sent to “The Bad Place” sure seems to be based on rewarding acts that maximize utility. So I’m thinking this episode may have been laying the groundwork for the characters to begin questioning that system.
He sounded like EVERYBODY around here, yo. Cut me some slack; I had like 3 lines to go on. :smack:
The bit with Tahani introducing her sister at the auction was hilarious.
I think my favorite part of the show is seeing the “behind the scenes” stuff like the technical manual.
Does the little intro tune remind anybody else of The Sims?
Four episodes in, and I gotta say that this is…highly promising. I was very worried at the beginning that this would head into one of many extremely bad places, but it seems to be on the right track. Develop the characters, throw in an occasional guest star to keep things interesting, show real emotions, address the obvious questions (like, say, does it get frustrating having your entire life revolve around someone else?), and, most importantly, try to have some damn FUN out there.
The thing that’s impressed me so far is the handling of Eleanor, mainly because she’s the star of the show and a real jerk. The key for this character is to throw in enough remorse, second thoughts, and wisdom so she doesn’t get absolutely unbearable, but not so much that it comes across as heavy-handed and makes viewers ask why you made her a jerk in the first place. This is an extremely tricky balance to pull off, but somehow Eleanor seems like the real deal. She’s looks like she’s fighting hard to change her ways and not always succeeding, and that helps a lot in making her both believable and relatable. (And trust me, “relatable” was a word I never thought I’d associate with her!)
And yeah, what was the deal with the sinkhole? Again, visually impressive set pieces are what’s going to make this stand out, and if you can throw in a few mysteries as well, so much the better. As long as this plays out slowly and organically, I’m all for it.
Solid characters, competent writing, an intriguing premise, and never unwatchable. Works for me.
This is my favorite show of the new TV season. I’ve liked Kristen Bell ever since Veronica Mars, and she just gets better (and cuter) as time goes by. Placing the show right after Superstore was a good idea, since I suspect that these shows have many viewers in common. It is heartening that smart, funny shows with good ensemble casts can still find an audience these days.
Is anybody else a little disappointed that we haven’t had any wacky side effects of Eleanor (or anyone else)'s behavior like did in the pilot? The sinkhole was kind of underwhelming in comparison.
Am I wrong, or does The Good Place seem kind of not-so-good? In this episode, Michael said that he was planning on living in the neighborhood for the first thousand years or so before leaving them to themselves, like with all the other neighborhoods. Even with your soulmate, wouldn’t that become a “hell is other people” scenario fairly quickly? Eternity with a couple hundred people in a a gilded cage?
I’m trying to figure out if this is a situation where they’re going to play out these kinds of answers slowly over time, or if I need to stop overthinking it because it’s a comedy.
So are Tahani and Michael supposed to be soulmates?
Anyway, it will be well short of a thousand years before this place turns into Westworld. That’s always been the philosophical problem I’ve had with the eternal afterlife concept - it would be boring, and if it’s not boring, that could only be because my mind has been altered to such a degree that it no longer resembles the current “me” much at all.
My mistake: I meant Tahani and Chidi.
No, because I understand that shows have to work within their budgets. Series premiers usually get a significantly bigger budget to work with, but the season has to parcel out SFX. Especially comedies, which usually do not have much to work with after actors and writers salaries.
I thought the suggestion that Tahani and Chidi might be soulmates – or at least a better match for each other than their designated soulmates – was an interesting twist. I’m not particularly interested in a romance between the two, but I am interested in what this might mean for the whole soulmate system.
Well that system is obviously predicated on the other person actually being the saintly soul they were on earth. It may not be the soulmate system that’s broken in this case.