The Good Place (NBC) [**SPOILERS**]

Basq

Amazing to have

Adam Scott back as Trevor

...

Aisling(",)

I was a bit dissapointed that its on a weekly episode basis rather than a series dump but I love that a certain old face returned!

pixelburp

Really solid opening double-episode; and as has already been mentioned, any other show would have ploughed the same single concept into the ground, yet The Good Place keep reinventing itself - but always staying true to itself & core ideas.

I said it back in Season 2 but it bares repeating IMO: what I love most about this show is how innately optimistic and compassionate its outlook is. Sitcoms - particularly US ones - love packing its cast with obnoxious & immovably hateful people, with gags formed from cynicism and laughing at folks, yet The Good Place takes the approach of having admittedly flawed people trying to be better. It's a show about the genuine virtues of being a decent human being, while sneaking some pretty heavy moral philosophical concepts into the margins. It's a fantastically written show.

FreudianSlippers

Aisling(",) wrote: »

I was a bit dissapointed that its on a weekly episode basis rather than a series dump but I love that a certain old face returned!

It's a NBC show with Netflix for rest-of-world, so they are forced to do weekly. Just be glad it's next-day on Netflix and we aren't waiting weeks like on some other shows!

S.M.B.

Netflix really should use the terms Netflix Exclusive and Netflix Original to differentiate between the too. I usually know the difference but I am starting to lose track with the massive increase in releases over the past 12 months.

2smiggy

I hope Kristen Bell will have time to keep doing this show, as well as the new Veronica Mars !!

FreudianSlippers

2smiggy wrote: »

I hope Kristen Bell will have time to keep doing this show, as well as the new Veronica Mars !!

New Veronica Mars is limited series and is currently in production, so even if it was picked up further there'd be no conflict. If there was a conflict, in simple money terms, TGP would be prioritised over VM.

FunLover18

Just FYI the podcast is continuing through this season with a new episode released after each show episode.

S.M.B.

I didn't realise the podcast only started in June. I assumed weekly episodes were being released during last season.

Have to say, I am not sure if it's for me. I'm a big fan of pop culture podcasts but I've never been the biggest fan of official podcasts the rare time I've listened to them. It's great to have insight from those closest to the show but I find they can be a little too "backslappy" for my liking.

I'll give it a few chances before writing it off though.

Franz Von Peppercorn

pixelburp wrote: »

Really solid opening double-episode; and as has already been mentioned, any other show would have ploughed the same single concept into the ground, yet The Good Place keep reinventing itself - but always staying true to itself & core ideas.

I said it back in Season 2 but it bares repeating IMO: what I love most about this show is how innately optimistic and compassionate its outlook is. Sitcoms - particularly US ones - love packing its cast with obnoxious & immovably hateful people, with gags formed from cynicism and laughing at folks, yet The Good Place takes the approach of having admittedly flawed people trying to be better. It's a show about the genuine virtues of being a decent human being, while sneaking some pretty heavy moral philosophical concepts into the margins. It's a fantastically written show.

Its very clever and every season is different. Mike Schur does does do optimistic shows though. Even the American office with its roots in the more cynical British version became a story about fairly lovable if incomplete characters. Parks was even more optimistic.

The good place is cleverer than all of these though.

Agent Coulson

Thanks to this weeks episode now I need to see a new Spaceballs.

Birneybau

Wouldn't be far better if Chidi and Jason Mendoza died died

2smiggy

Birneybau wrote: »

Wouldn't be far better if Chidi and Jason Mendoza died died

while far from my favourite characters, i do think they bring a bit of balance to the show !

gmisk

Birneybau wrote: »

Wouldn't be far better if Chidi and Jason Mendoza died died

Ah I would miss them tbh.
The real stars for me are Tahani and Janet though.




Couple of my favs - I love her name dropping

---

We can do this, but we must remain emotionless. I'm talking Kristen Stewart on a red carpet level of emotionless here, alright?

---

Magazine Reporter: Who would you say is the most famous person in your phone?
Tahani: It's not about who you know. Enlightenment comes from within. The Dalai Lama texted me that.

---

Even more here
http://www.vulture.com/2018/10/the-good-place-tahani-every-celebrity-name-drop.html

pixelburp

Naw, I love them both: Jason's a bit one-note but a harmless, loveable goof; Chidi's great though, and feel for his near constant levels of anxiety.

iguana

I loved the Judge explaining all the real world bizareness as a result of Michael's meddling. I was in stitches at the bit about the Jacksonville Jaguars. I knew they'd have to find a way to work it in somehow but that was just brilliant.

(If you don't know, the Jacksonville Jaguars are Jason's favourite team and they were really bad and they and Jason's devotion to them were the butt of a lot of jokes in S1&2. But this year they inexplicably got really good.)

2smiggy

iguana wrote: »

I loved the Judge explaining all the real world bizareness as a result of Michael's meddling. I was in stitches at the bit about the Jacksonville Jaguars. I knew they'd have to find a way to work it in somehow but that was just brilliant.

(If you don't know, the Jacksonville Jaguars are Jason's favourite team and they were really bad and they and Jason's devotion to them were the butt of a lot of jokes in S1&2. But this year they inexplicably got really good.)

Blake Bortles did not have a good evening yesterday :pac:

FunLover18

I feel bad for saying this but I'm definitely not enjoying this season as much as previous seasons. I'm enjoying it but I think going back to Earth was a bad idea, it just feels like a normal sitcom now except it's struggling to find reasons to keep the group together. In the afterlife the group had to come together and stay together, there was nowhere/no one to run to every episode was essentially a bottle episode whereas now there's no reason for it to be so self contained. Also weird that Simone wasn't isn't the latest episode, Chidi's been dating her for a year and she's been part of the study but she wasn't even mentioned. Even a line from someone saying something like "we probably shouldn't tell Simone" would have been nice.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

I loved the "Jeremy Beremie" bit

pixelburp

Poor Larry Hemsworth though!

I liked the Jeremy Bearimy gag too, though yeah, the episode otherwise wasn't great. Felt a bit flat, albeit with touches of hilarity so it wasn't a complete bust. A bit of wheel spinning just to get the group all properly back together.

Basq

Yeah, I don't really know where they're going with it this year..

Sabre0001

I enjoyed the last episode but it is a bit tricky to see what the ultimate goal is now / where they're going to go with it.

Being indecisive about what to eat is good for you apparently; Chidi is jacked!

S.M.B.

That episode was pretty dull. Maybe it was the fact they doubled down on the Jason humour which is probably my least favourite part of the show.

Would be a shame if Simone's time on the show has come to an end.

Stevecw

It's not really going anywhere this series so far. Pity cos 1st 2 were a great watch. I'll stick with it and hope it gets back to form soon.

FunLover18

It was Soo good to have the neighborhood back this week, even in flashback form. I think it's the absurdness you get with the afterlife, like Tahani's pet, you just can't do those jokes on Earth. It's like the show has been put on leash. Looking forward to to see what happens next week.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

FunLover18 wrote: »

It was Soo good to have the neighborhood back this week, even in flashback form. I think it's the absurdness you get with the afterlife, like Tahani's pet, you just can't do those jokes on Earth. It's like the show has been put on leash. Looking forward to to see what happens next week.

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel about it. This week's was the strongest of this season and they need to keep that momentum up for the second half of the season.

Agent Coulson

The second porno gag made me laugh after being set up with first mention.

pixelburp

Yeah the strongest episode and I get what people mean by the missing element of absurdity; though to be fair, this shows version of earth is pretty absurd in its own right (the porno gag was pretty brilliantly done, felt like the kinda setup-payoff gag from the heyday of The Simpsons), and they cram in a tonne of sight gags throughout.

They are definitely going to run out of narrative road eventually, and I hope there's a definite end to the story somewhere. Presumably the gang + Michael getting into the real Good Place, but there's only so much of that journey they can tell...

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Rumour has it that fan favourite

Li'l Sebastian

from Parks & Recreation might be making a crossover appearance this season...

FunLover18

pixelburp wrote: »

Yeah the strongest episode and I get what people mean by the missing element of absurdity; though to be fair, this shows version of earth is pretty absurd in its own right (the porno gag was pretty brilliantly done, felt like the kinda setup-payoff gag from the heyday of The Simpsons), and they cram in a tonne of sight gags throughout.

They are definitely going to run out of narrative road eventually, and I hope there's a definite end to the story somewhere. Presumably the gang + Michael getting into the real Good Place, but there's only so much of that journey they can tell...

I'm going to spoiler this but it's pure speculation and only what I would do, but I feel the ending will be something like

the doors of the real good place opening and our six characters walk through, cut to black, end credits

Occono

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Rumour has it that fan favourite

Li'l Sebastian

from Parks & Recreation might be making a crossover appearance this season...

That happened already, he was in the most recent episode.

Basq

Occono wrote: »

That happened already, he was in the most recent episode.

That couldn't be just it... that's a blink-and-miss-it cameo!

https://www.slashfilm.com/parks-and-recreation-lil-sebastian-cameo-on-the-good-place/

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Occono wrote: »

That happened already, he was in the most recent episode.

Basq wrote: »

That couldn't be just it... that's a blink-and-miss-it cameo!

https://www.slashfilm.com/parks-and-recreation-lil-sebastian-cameo-on-the-good-place/

I hope there's more to it than that - I didn't even spot him in that episode.

pixelburp

I dunno, I quite liked the Jean-Ralphio / Dennis Feinstein shoutouts:

https://twitter.com/ShinraAlpha/status/960881442871005184

Sabre0001

Really enjoyed the last couple of episodes. Plenty of heart, but some good jokes in there too. The "Good Place" certainly allows for more absurdity, but real life has plenty of its own too (the porn gags in particular, and the only sex ed book available being the bible)

Agent Coulson

Kickass Janet

Occono

They're going back to the Afterlife, but this wasn't a bad place to leave things on with Earth.

It took me a second to get the moment where Janet tells them they'll die and they panic for a second before disappearing. It's not like she murdered them, but seeing as they disappeared from the Earth they're effectively dead so can never come back again. Given that they've only learned this stuff again recently they will probably be a little upset. Bit sad given that now their friends and family won't know what actually happened to them when they disappeared one day.

RayCun

Great episode, I'm glad they are confronting the basic premise of the good place, which is that 99.99% of people end up being tortured by demons for eternity.

And loved Jason's instant Molotov

JP Liz V1

It starts on Thursday, 13th December 2018 at 9pm on E4

pixelburp

Definitely coming over to the "hmmm, it's a bit aimless" side of things. The banter between the main cast, their charisma and inherent likeability is often enough to make an episode enjoyable regardless, but the plot is just without direction at this stage.

FunLover18

That last episode was the weakest so far for me, I didn't enjoy the fight at all. Hopefully now they're dead again we can get back to how things were.

Franz Von Peppercorn

pixelburp wrote: »

Definitely coming over to the "hmmm, it's a bit aimless" side of things. The banter between the main cast, their charisma and inherent likeability is often enough to make an episode enjoyable regardless, but the plot is just without direction at this stage.

Not at all. The over arching plot is to over turn the idea of the bad place. Of hell in general in fact. That’s what this season is leading to (although any rebellion will be next season).

I personally feel the good place doesn’t exist. Or is empty.

It’s a fairly clever show. On episode this season was two people discussing free will and determinism.

S.M.B.

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

Not at all. The over arching plot is to over turn the idea of the bad place. Of hell in general in fact. That’s what this season is leading to (although any rebellion will be next season).

I personally feel the good place doesn’t exist. Or is empty.

It’s a fairly clever show. On episode this season was two people discussing free will and determinism.

I really liked this episode, not because it brought us back to the good place, more because at it's core it's just two people discussing free will/determinism while also acknowledging that two people discussing free will/determinism is kind of annoying.

Franz Von Peppercorn

S.M.B. wrote: »

I really liked this episode, not because it brought us back to the good place, more because at it's core it's just two people discussing free will/determinism while also acknowledging that two people discussing free will/determinism is kind of annoying.

It’s pretty hard to make that funny but they did

I agree there’s more room for visual and other jokes in the afterlife though, which they did have in that episode.

But they are back there now (and for the first time by what they remember).

FunLover18

It would be great if they all got their memories back and they can return to the chemistry of the previous seasons.

Occono

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

It starts on Thursday, 13th December 2018 at 9pm on E4

Huh, so it is. Just as repeats it seems, it's still shown first on Irish Netflix.

Greyjoy

pixelburp wrote: »

Definitely coming over to the "hmmm, it's a bit aimless" side of things. The banter between the main cast, their charisma and inherent likeability is often enough to make an episode enjoyable regardless, but the plot is just without direction at this stage.

Yeah as good as each individual episode has been this overall season has felt very scattershot - they're in Australia! Chidi's got a girlfriend! They break up! Trevor's back! but then he's gone! they're in jacksonville! Now they're off to Alberta Canada! It felt like random ideas that different writers pitched to Mike Schur instead of being part of an overall arc.

pixelburp

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

Not at all. The over arching plot is to over turn the idea of the bad place. Of hell in general in fact. That’s what this season is leading to (although any rebellion will be next season).

I personally feel the good place doesn’t exist. Or is empty.

It’s a fairly clever show. On episode this season was two people discussing free will and determinism.

Well I'm fairly sure the Good Place exists, given that's where Michael got 'our' Janet from, nicking one from storage to better pass his neighbourhood off as genuine.

While I wasn't a fan of the most recent episode, it did seem to be planting a seed in an idea that the points system is perhaps not as fair as initially devised. As you say, maybe the Good Place is empty, or as good as, with the main cast fronting an effort to get a fairer system put in place.

Franz Von Peppercorn

pixelburp wrote: »

Well I'm fairly sure the Good Place exists, given that's where Michael got 'our' Janet from, nicking one from storage to better pass his neighbourhood off as genuine.

While I wasn't a fan of the most recent episode, it did seem to be planting a seed in an idea that the points system is perhaps not as fair as initially devised. As you say, maybe the Good Place is empty, or as good as, with the main cast fronting an effort to get a fairer system put in place.

There’s a good hint it’s empty since Doug can’t even get in.

Edit:

Yes it probably exists alright but there were a lot of good Janets in storage if I recall.

RayCun

What makes you say Doug can't get in?
Michael and Janet seem to be pretty sure he will.

Assume Michael is telling the truth in episode 1 - only the top 0.01% of people get into the Good Place. Everyone else (except Mindy) spends eternity being tortured. It makes Doug's behaviour perfectly rational. Yes, he eats **** for 60 years. But the alternative is actual torture by demons, and lasts forever.

Isn't that completely ****ed up? Isn't it ****ed up that that is what should be happening to Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason, who might not have been great people but surely didn't deserve that?