The Good Place review

The Good Place is this strange little show that I stumbled into with no expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The humor is fresh and witty, the show isn’t afraid to make fun of itself and the world it focuses on, and the characters are fun and flawed and easy to root for.

The show opens with Eleanor waking up in an office, which she learns is the entrance to the afterlife. Michael, a businessman with a delicate constitution, informs her that she has died and gone to the good place.

She rolls with it and goes to explore her new home. She quickly discovers that the person they believe her to be is not who she is and that there was some kind of mix up, because she clearly does not belong in the good place.

So Eleanor trusts her new soulmate Chidi with her new truth bomb and enlists his help in teaching her how to be a good person who deserves to live amongst humanitarians, environmental lawyers, and professors who dedicated their lives to serving others.

Eleanor is a snappy loner who has always preferred to fly solo. Her mantra is I don’t owe you anything, you don’t owe me anything. She’s entertainingly judgmental and selfish, reasoning away her flaws with skewed logic that gives Chidi stomachaches.

For all her mishaps, she develops friendships with Chidi, a nerdy and anxious ethics professor who actually responds pretty well to her bossiness, and Tahani the supermodel socialite who never wears anything out of season or does anything less than perfect.

Initially, Eleanor teases Chidi and despises Tahani’s perfectness; but as she studies with Chidi, she learns to respect him and want to make him proud. As she overcomes her jealousy of Tahani, she manages to look past her flawless exterior and dig deeper, developing a lovely friendship.

It’s just a lighthearted goofy show that’s truly unique in it’s premise. There have been other “death defying logic” scenarios, such as Drop Dead Diva and various shows involving guardian angels and devil on the shoulder types. But The Good Place definitely has it’s own kind of vibe.

Eleanor’s uninhibited sass, Chidi’s quirks, and Tahanhi’s classy manners (along with Jason’s rare moments of wisdom between seriously dumb comments) create the kind of setting where anything can happen.

Flying shrimp? Check. Raining trash? Why not. Seriously. Anything can happen in this place.

Janet is probably my favorite character. She’s constantly popping up, spouting off fun facts with chipper enthusiasm whether it is a positive topic or explaining gruesome details of torture. Her obsession with cacti and repetitive reminders to Jason that she is not a girl made me laugh.

The last episode is my favorite, even more so than the first episode. It’s an unexpected twist, yet makes so much sense. I loved it. It was a beautiful moment. Eleanor is so smart and she doesn’t take crap from anyone, even if they force her to clean up her language. I’m catching up on the second season and enjoying the antics of Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, Jason, and Janet, and how they go head to head with Michael, who starts to realize that he may have underestimated humans.