Why, where are characters unable to swear you may wonder? It’s the Good Place, of course!
The Good Place is an underrated brainchild from the man, the myth, the legend himself, Mike Schur (just think The Office, Parks and Recreation, Master of None, and Brooklyn 99).
The series follows Eleanor Shellstrop, self-proclaimed “Arizona trash bag,” after she dies and wakes up to to this unsuspecting message:
You know… despite the fact that she just died.
The series proposes that when you die, all of your actions are reduced to a series of positive and negative points. If your total point value is above an arbitrary threshold, you spend eternity in a form of “Heaven,” or “The Good Place.” If your points fall short, you’re automatically sent to be tortured in “The Bad Place.” Seems simple enough, right?
Wrong! As the show progresses, this elementary afterlife system for determining “goodness” and “badness” of humans, crumbles. Because simply put, the afterlife is complicated.
After waking up in “The Good Place,” Eleanor quickly realizes that she’s in the wrong version of the afterlife, but the head architect, Michael, doesn’t seem to notice. In order to blend in, Eleanor enlists Chidi Anagonye, another resident, professor of ethics, and her alleged soulmate, to help her keep up the ruse.
As one of the few posthumous TV comedy series, the writers of The Good Place reflect on the absurdity and common flaws of humanity with witty quips and insights.
The two characters primarily taking on this mankind-reflecting role are Janet (an all-knowing being that’s basically a physical version of Siri) and Michael. As non-humans themselves, both characters help to address some of humanity’s greatest faults with hilarious honesty.
For example, Michael makes an offhand remark when trying to draw a comparison: “It’s a rare occurrence, like a double rainbow. Or like someone on the internet saying, You know what? You’ve convinced me I was wrong.” While we know that people on the internet are bull-headed, hearing this witticism as a casual simile from an immortal being makes the remark totally forking hilarious.
As a physical version of Siri, Janet is programmed to express information in a strictly pleasant manner, regardless of the content. Which makes her delivery of not-so-good news… Well, you’ll just have to see for yourself.
In addition to the entertainment value of Michael and Janet, the four humans the series follows, Eleanor and Chidi, along with Tahani and Jason (two other residents of The Good Place) each add their own element of humor to the show. Eleanor’s unapologetic and at times, self-centered personality is the perfect foil for Chidi’s moral high ground, especially during their ethics lessons:
As an ex-DJ from Florida who loves Blake Bortles and Japapeño poppers, Jason Mendoza is a perfect mix of impulsive decisions and child-like innocence; Jason says exactly what everyone’s thinking, but is too scared (or doesn’t care enough) to ask:
Tahani Al Jamil, in contrast, is a refined woman who loves her wealth, gossip, name-dropping, and hates her sister. Tahani’s drawn-out personal references regarding different celebrities may not be true in real life, but they’re always highly amusing to consider.
With insightful reflections, witty quips about humanity, and a colorful variety of character personalities, The Good Place is one of Mike Schur’s best, and most daring projects. If after reading this post, you’re still not convinced, all I can say is you’re out of your forking mind!
This show seems a bit complicated. I do understand the fact that if you have enough points you will go to Heaven, but if you don’t, you will go to “Hell”. I might give it a try and see what the elementary afterlife is all about!
This show also sounds very interesting. I was surprised to hear that this show was made by the same person who created The Office, Parks and Recreation, and others. It seems like this show has a lot of unique potential; it has the potential to have unique plots and invoke issues of ethics and morality. I’m probably reading too much into this part of your blog, but the aspect about “goodness” and “badness” and its inherent subjectivity is very appealing to me. It seems like it could be a funny spin on the traditional conception of monothestic afterlife. Overall, this show seems great and I’ll have to add it to my list. By the way, you should stop reviewing such interesting shows because I’m going to have 10+ shows on my to-watch list by the end of the semester.
As soon as I read the title I thought of The Office and Parks and Recreation. Then, when you mentioned it to start you blog I felt like I already had a good sense of how the show would be. I really like how you evaluate the humor used in different series because I definitely watch shows to make me laugh.