In preparation for tonight’s brand-new episode of The Good Place, we are taking a look back at some of the best stuff from last week, in which friendships were tested, Janet played a waitress, and the Doorman saved the day.
“These four humans are all I care about in the universe.”
There will come a day when we can write about The Good Place without getting emotional about Michael, but today is not that day. Honestly, the noise we made when Michael said this line is probably akin to the ones people make while being tortured in the Bad Place. Michael is extremely selfless; we’ve seen him on multiple occasions put himself in harm’s way if it meant helping our core four. We’re starting to wonder if Michael truly is a demon. He’s challenging universal constants, throwing wrenches in the order of things, and taking it upon himself to challenge the whole structure of judgment, reality, and the afterlife, all for the sake of his friends. Last season, we saw Michael tell the Judge, “If I’m right, the system by which we judge humans, the very method we use to deem them good or bad, is so fundamentally flawed and unreasonable that hundreds of millions of people have been wrongly condemned to an eternity of torture.” We’re pretty sure Michael is right, and we’re happy to watch his crusade play out.
The Doorman (NBC)
Doorman to the Rescue
We told you guys that the Doorman would have a pivotal moment that would make us cheer! The timing and pacing on this, the lead up with his and Michael’s budding friendship was perfectly timed and executed. Little gestures of kindness can make a huge impact, and it’s clear that something as simple as Michael remembering that the Doorman liked frogs helped forge a connection between them. Now our duo is (we presume) stuck on Earth. But do they have the only key to Earth? Does that mean no one else can go down to Earth now? Michael and Janet may just have declared war on the Judge. They’re on the run for now, but we can’t imagine the Judge will let their rebellion go unpunished.
Oh, so This Is the Bad Place…
Well, it seems like we finally have an explanation as to why everything is so bonkers in our own lives (thanks, Michael). We were waiting for the Judge to find out what Michael’s been up to, but we weren’t expecting her to blame the Jacksonville Jaguars’ success on him like she did. (Sorry, Blake Bortles, maybe experts will confirm you’re really good after a few more trips.)
Janet as a waitress (NBC)
Janet Does Earth
Waitress Janet was kind of amazing. We loved her outfit, her hair, and her attempts to slyly threaten Trevor while staying in character. Seeing Janet be powerless was also an interesting development for her, though her “humans only live 80 years, and they spend so much of it just waiting for things to be over” was maybe a little too real for us. We love that The Good Place writers keep finding new ways to push her character. It was really funny how she kept trying and failing to figure out how this human thing worked, though her reaction to seeing Jason and Tahani cuddling at the table was pretty darn human.
Forging Connections
This season has been really pushing the boundaries with our “ships” and keeping us on our toes. There were a few really sweet moments with Tahani and Jason where you could see them genuinely connecting, and Jason’s kind nature is beginning to shine through. The best thing about Jason’s character development so far this season is that it isn’t drastic, nor does it feel like the writers changed him, but rather, it feels like we are seeing more layers of his personality now that we are seeing him in a more relaxed and less outlandish element.
The Chileanor dynamic this episode was also really neat as we saw how they inherently GET each other even after only having known each other for a short time. Seeing them challenge each other, argue, and reconvene as friends just helped reaffirm their roles as eternal soul mates. We also loved Simone even more when she helped push these two back together.
Can Anyone Hook Us up with a Brainy Bunch Sweatshirt?
Does anyone else (not so secretly) want a Brainy Bunch sweatshirt? Trevor may be “a diabolical, sadistic agent of evil” (Michael’s words, not ours), but he sure can make some punny swag. We’re not sure if we’ve seen the last of him, but we wonder what our core four will think if Trevor doesn’t show up for the study in the morning? We have a feeling Trevor will ooze his way back to Earth somehow. In the meantime, we definitely want that sweatshirt.
The Good Place airs Thursdays 8/7c on NBC.
