The Good Place (Netflix)TV

[Famine]

Any TGP fans here?

For the uninitiated, "The Good Place" is the preferred choice for the afterlife (as opposed to "The Bad Place", which seems to be full of screaming and bears with two mouths). The show primarily follows four people who've ended up in The Good Place for a lifetime of exceptional deeds, following their untimely demises on Earth, and who are assigned to each other as soul-mates. However it becomes readily apparent to the four that the loquacious socialite Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil) is not a good match for Jianyu (Manny Jacinto), a monk who has taken a vow of silence, while the indecisive ethics professer Chidi Anagonye (William Harper) is unlikely to be the eternal soulmate of the disorganised and selfish Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell).

The four are residents of Neighborhood 12358W, a part of The Good Place designed by afterlife architect Michael (Ted Danson), and assisted by Janet (D'Arcy Carden), one of a member of a class of beings who knows all things, can create items at will, and appear when called or disappear to "her" (although Janets are technically genderless) void - an afterlife personal assistant to the residents of each neighbourhood.

Eleanor soon realises (despite her self-centeredness) that she doesn't belong in The Good Place at all, when it's explained she's there due to her numerous good deeds on Earth - she was mistaken for another, much more selfless Eleanor Shellstrop who died at the exact same time as her - but she tries to find a way to stay there, with the help of guidance in ethics from Chidi... but it also appears Chidi, Tahani, and Jianyu are not exactly the exceptional people - or indeed the people - that The Good Place seems to think they are...


It's a Schur/Goor creation - like Brooklyn Nine-Nine - and all four seasons are on Netflix. There'll be a special, 90-minute wrap-up show in January, so get binging.

And my first question is a rhetorical one. At least one GTPlanet member's username is a direct reference to the show, eh @JakeJortles?

 

[DesertPenguin]

Everyone keeps telling me about this show and you making a topic must be a sign. Okay, I'll bite.

 

[Famine]

 

[Daniel]

The final episode of the first season was forking brilliant.

 

[TexRex]

Incredible. And here I'd resigned myself to the belief that my obscure fetish would forever go unsatisfied.

 

[Famine]

forking

As it pertains to the show, I'm going to suspend the filter bypass rule in this thread, but only for this thread and only for phrases as used in the show. Any deviations and I'll still make y'all my benches, no bullshirt.

 

[Danoff]

It's a show about moral philosophy so, yea I'm all over it. Also Kristen Bell is like a superhero right now. Comeon! This show had the Trolley Problem in it! I was bummed to find out that they skipped showing an episode last week.

 

[Famine]

This show had the Trolley Problem in it!

Which Chidi enjoyed a lot less than he expected he would

 

[Danoff]

@Famine

So after reading your first post, am I to understand that there shall be no more good place until a final one in January? Because that's devastating if true.

 

[Famine]

@Famine

So after reading your first post, am I to understand that there shall be no more good place until a final one in January? Because that's devastating if true.

Yup

The final scene of Chapter 48 has seen a LOT of use as a meme in our house.

 

[Danoff]

Yup

The final scene of Chapter 48 has seen a LOT of use as a meme in our house.

I can see that now that you mention it. For me it was the final episode of the first season that became a meme. Specifically one spoiler phrase, which I'll put in spoiler tags.

Spoiler

When faced with something slightly annoying, but not exactly a big deal, one of my wife or myself will pretend to realize "oh this is the bad place". It has not gotten old yet. It's tough to avoid saying in the presence of people who may not have seen the show

 

[PocketZeven]

No offense intended, To be honest I did not peg @Famine and @Danoff as someone who would enjoy this show. The show is quite liberal and it explores the gray area in ethics and morality a lot. It litterally has the Trolly problem in one of the episodes.

 

[Danoff]

No offense intended, To be honest I did not peg @Famine and @Danoff as someone who would enjoy this show. The show is quite liberal and it explores the gray area in ethics and morality a lot. It litterally has the Trolly problem in one of the episodes.

I love the trolley problem. See?

Comeon! This show had the Trolley Problem in it!

It's like one of my favorite things. I chipped in on the kickstarter for the Trolley Problem game.

I think you'd be surprised with how compatible a lot of the moral issues that we discuss in the opinions forum are with this show. Normally by this point in a show I'd be upset by some moral teaching. You'd think that would be especially the case for a show that takes morality head on like this one.

 

[Skython]

No offense intended, To be honest I did not peg @Famine and @Danoff as someone who would enjoy this show. The show is quite liberal and it explores the gray area in ethics and morality a lot. It litterally has the Trolly problem in one of the episodes.

I find the liberal aspects of the show not to be obnoxious because they're not blatantly done for the sake of political pandering. And the philosophical aspects seem well researched, so it doesn't alienate people who actually know about the topic.

 

[SlipZtrEm]

Easily some of the best TV out there, in a decade full of great TV. It's incredible that a 22-minute comedy show can wrestle with such big concepts in a way that not only is respectful of the subject matter, but with an agility that continues to impress. There's been countless times where I've wondered how it would get itself out of a corner, and every time, the show does it in a supremely satisfying way.

Barring some Dexter-level ending, I fully expect the finale to break me. I love these characters, but I appreciate that the showrunners have put a hard limit on the concept instead of running it into the ground.

No offense intended, To be honest I did not peg @Famine and @Danoff as someone who would enjoy this show. The show is quite liberal and it explores the gray area in ethics and morality a lot. It litterally has the Trolly problem in one of the episodes.

I'm not seeing the connection here: the show is very much about the gray area in a variety of aspects of life, about seeing things from multiple angles. IMO it has little to do with the political spectrum, and more to do with how there's no one-size-fits-all approach to life.

 

[Famine]

No offense intended, To be honest I did not peg @Famine and @Danoff as someone who would enjoy this show. The show is quite liberal and it explores the gray area in ethics and morality a lot. It litterally has the Trolly problem in one of the episodes.

I'm an atheist watching a comedy show about the afterlife, with actual demons, and you think I might have an issue with it because it explores ethics?

(and the first five letters of "liberal" and "libertarian" are not the same by accident)


This thread is about this show not the personal qualities of the people discussing it.

 

[Danoff]

So does anyone have any theories on what the final episode meant?

Spoiler

Such as Elanor being copied an infinite number of times to help people find morality in the afterlife and work with them until they are ready for the good place?

 

[Skython]

So does anyone have any theories on what the final episode meant?

Spoiler

Such as Elanor being copied an infinite number of times to help people find morality in the afterlife and work with them until they are ready for the good place?

That wasn't the final episode?

Spoiler

I don't think Eleanor is the answer was meant literally.

 

[Famine]

That wasn't the final episode?

No, there'll be a special in January - although it's part-finale, part-event; there'll be cast and crew interviews as a feature as part of the 90-minute special.

However, I do think the note was literal...

Spoiler

Eleanor's behaviour as an adult was a result of her foundations as a child (Chapters 18 and 33), and free from that influence in The 'Good' Place, and with Chidi's help, she developed her conscience - initially as part of the torture, then as part of her selfish desire to remain in The Good Place, and then simply because. She was a bad person, then she became a good one.

She'll be the answer because bad people aren't born but made, and can be made good people. Even Brent. Chidi's solution will be a system that doesn't judge people simply by their actions (and the unintended consequences of those actions), but by what made them choose those actions - and whether they can choose good (or bad; some chose good actions for bad reasons) actions when removed from that environment (after-life development, like @Danoff suggests). Eleanor was a bad person who chose bad actions for selfish reasons and acting like she didn't care - while knowing they were bad, and actually still caring (see Chapter 18 and her breakdown at a family toothbrush holder) - because that was how she was taught to live from a young age, and how she had to develop to survive her environment. Without that need she became a more moral person, and that's what Chidi's system will judge people on.

That or Chidi will become The Inquisitor.

 

[Danoff]

The show is over

Spoiler

Suicide is necessarily the choice of the individual, homicide shouldn't be grouped with it. In a perfect, optimal, world the only death would be suicide. Everyone would personally decide when, if, and how to check out.

Who called it? Well not me actually. But the show did borrow my personal moral philosophy here. Given that I wrote that back in Oct of 2019 my guess is that the show had it on paper before I did... but seriously....

The final episode lacked some punch for me. I thought it was more emotional the first time Eleanor said good-bye to Chidi. Also, I cannot possibly imagine how one member of a couple could be ready to end it all (and be at peace) before the other one. That should be part of your being at peace. They had to go through that door together. But I think that the show was going for something a little more literal here with the phases of life, and so since in reality we all die alone, they made it so in the show as well.

I don't think any of us got the rehab answer to the bad place quite right. But all of us had an inkling about how Eleanor was the answer.

I like that the good place had its problem too - that eventually you would get tired of infinity. I'm not entirely sure that's the case, but it's an interesting philosophical question to ponder anyway.

Good show, very solid. The final episode didn't hit me just exactly right, but it was good. Shawn was starting to steal the show there at the end.

 

[Danoff]

Apparently TGP has a youtube channel where they have some exclusive content, so there's a tiny bit more good place out there.

 

[Famine]

Apparently TGP has a youtube channel where they have some exclusive content, so there's a tiny bit more good place out there.

With Michael Realman?

 

[Danoff]

With Michael Realman?

I did not realize he had a last name. That's great. I was thinking of this one: