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The Good Place: Pilot

“What the fork?”

Fans of Michael Schur’s heartfelt quirk, Kristen Bell’s deadpan glow, and Ted Danson’s comic sprezzatura will love this high-concept sitcom about a young woman who winds up in a heaven(ish) place despite being a terrible person.

NBC aired the first three episodes of The Good Place last week, and although this review is generally spoiler free, I will allude to some events in the second two episodes, since, despite the 30-minute format, The Good Place looks to be a complicated show that eschews the lather, rinse, repeat structure of the average sitcom.

It starts simply enough: Eleanor (Bell) is dead, and she has wound up in a lovely afterlife managed by Michael (Danson). It’s not Heaven, or any of the other happy-ending places you may have heard of, though: each major world religion only got the facts about “5% right.” But it is, undeniably, the good place. Not the bad one. Definitely not.

The pilot episode milks the setting and characters for all they’re worth: the good place is a small town with innumerable frozen yogurt shops, pleasant people (who all look to be about 30 years old), and beautiful weather. Nobody can swear. Everyone gets the house of their dreams, and everyone’s soul mate is waiting for them there.

But Eleanor doesn’t belong. She’s selfish. She’s petty. She, of course, wants to milk the scenario for all it’s worth, because that’s the sort of person she is: the sort who certainly doesn’t belong in a good place too exclusive for Florence Nightingale. Even her putative soul mate Chidi (the excellent William Jackson Harper), a professor of moral philosophy and ethics, doesn’t know what to do with her.

Showrunner Schur cut his teeth on The Office, and both of his previous shows—Parks and Rec and Brooklyn Nine-Nine—rely on the same formula of quirky people in a quotidian setting. In those shows, as here, his humor is just offbeat enough to make us feel cool for watching, but not so wacky that the show devolves into tedium and starts chasing its own tail (like, say, the fourth season of Arrested Development).

With The Good Place, though, Schur has kicked his worldbuilding up a notch to explore complicated people in a fluid setting. Eleanor’s dreams and emotions affect her environment. Her neighbors are allegedly the best of the best, but all seem horribly flawed. Even Ted Danson’s Michael appears to be out of his element: he admits in the second episode that this place (there are an infinite number) is the first one he’s been in charge of. In other words: stuff actually happens to a degree that most sitcoms reserve for later seasons, not their first week.

In an interview with the AV Club, Schur explained that he was inspired, in part, by Lost and discussed his premise with Damon Lindelof, who emphasized the importance of knowing not just the premise, but where the show can go: beginning, middle, and end. Although some people might think that’s a reason to skip The Good Place, I think it seems even more captivating. In just the first three episodes, we’ve seen change in the characters and instability in what we think we know.

Even if The Good Place doesn’t become the peppy cousin of Lost, though—even if there’s no time travel or smoke monster or Ben Linus (let there be Ben Linus!)—it still promises to be an excellent show with naturalistic characters and idiosyncratic humor. In a fall season filled with a stupid new MacGyver and the sugary mopefest This Is Us, that’s enough to warrant a heartfelt recommendation from me.

Three and a half out of four clowns.

Although this review was relatively spoiler free, the comments are free game! I'd love to hear your theories on where you think Eleanor is, and what the rules might be.

Update: We now have complete coverage of The Good Place! If you're watching the show for the first time, I recommend avoiding the comments below so that you don't get spoiled on later events.


Josie Kafka is a full-time cat servant and part-time rogue demon hunter. (What's a rogue demon?)

18 comments:

  1. I have to say that I'm completely confused about what's going on in this show. It seems pretty obvious that they're not in "heaven" heaven but that Michael is sincere about making one. It also seems unlikely that Eleanor is there by mistake. I was thinking that maybe she's there only so that Chidi, her professor of ethics soulmate, can enjoy the challenge of teaching her and saving her soul, even though he doesn't know it, but that's probably too simple a solution since there's something weird going on with the other 332 or whatever people in the "neighborhood."

    The show is certainly interesting and different, and I'm so happy to see Kristen Bell in something fun. I'm hoping for some fascinating substance down the line because it seems like there's a borderline chance it's not going to keep my interest, and I want it to keep my interest.

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  2. I've already dropped this show — couldn't make it through the third episode — but I have to say one thing.

    So, the majority of this "community" are good people. Selfless. Devoting each moment of their lives to helping others.

    Now, they are being told that they are in a good place, that hundred times more people are in a bad place where they are constantly tortured for all eternity. And, apparently, it's OK.

    Double-you-tee-aich?

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  3. migmit, I didn't like the idea of so large a percentage of people in the "bad place," either, and you'd think that most of them would be upset about it. But I don't think they're being told the truth about their situation, anyway.

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  4. Migmit, for what it's worth, I don't think the people in the "good place" are really that good, for exactly the reason you've mentioned. Tahani, in particular, is too condescending!

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  5. you should rewatch this again. It's brilliant and funny.

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  6. Damn that ending, makes You want to watch it again from the beginning. Now the Lost inspiration is more clear apart from the eye opening scenes. The best planned season of a Tv show next to Westworld season 1 definately.

    migmit: You should watch it, the ending will adress all Your concenrns from a couple of posts above.

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  7. Agreed, Patryk.

    Depending on when this show comes back and how many episodes are in each season, maybe I should do episode reviews.

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  8. Sorry, Patryk, but comparison to Westworld makes me MORE cautious. Westworld was, to put it mildly, crap. IMNSHO.

    Lost doesn't help either, I watched it's second episode on fast-forward and even than couldn't continue.

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  9. If you don't enjoy the tone and style of humor in the show, then it might not be worth giving it another shot, since that remains the same. But there's a lot of thought put into the universe.

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  10. No, humor is OK. But characters and plot aren't.

    Yes, I remember, there is a big plot twist coming that would make everything OK. But the thing is, the plot twist NEVER makes it OK. It does not magically cancels the plot as it was so far; it makes a SECOND one. Even assuming the second plot is good, the first, bad plot doesn't go away. And the second plot is usually not much better than the first one, which makes it even worse.

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  11. To each his own I suppose but I'm sure I would read Josie's reviews if they happen any time in the future. Is there any news on the future of the show or will have to wait for the upfronts in may?

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  12. Loved this show, and the review. I hope there's more to come.

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  13. Migmit - For this show, I found the plot twists (including the big one) enhanced and clarified the previous plot rather than magically cancelling it like a bad plot twist would. I will have to see what the showrunners do with next year to decide if I like the twist or not (is it renewed yet?). So far, I can tell a lot of thought and planning went into the universe before they started, which is great for continuity and twists like that. Also, I like that they are (so far) not afraid to a)have their characters be unique and not stereotypical sitcom characters and b)progress the plot and make big revelations in the first episodes.

    I have seen the show favorably compared to Lost, which bothers me since while I did watch Lost off and on about 3 seasons I really have few memories of parts that I enjoyed... I kept watching because I was interested in why things were happening that way, but gave up when nothing was resolved ever.

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  14. We're getting a second season of The Good Place, and like the first, it'll be 13 episodes:

    http://tvline.com/2017/01/30/the-good-place-renewed-season-2-kristen-bell-nbc/

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  15. So happy we are getting a second season. This is great news.

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  16. I started watching this show on Netflix a couple of weeks ago and I'm sooo in love with it. I love Tahani so much. Eleanor's character development is pretty good and it's nice to see a show focus on ethics in such an organic way. Chidi is amazing. The only character that annoys me is Jianyu, he is way too dumb.

    I keep thinking that they are in some kind of purgatory, not in heaven. But taking from everyone's comments, I'm assuming it will be a bigger twist.

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  17. Gloriously funny - and the cast is absolutely EXCELLENT! What chemistry!

    And Ted Danson. Reee-speck! I mean, I like him ages ago in Cheers but here I've gained even bigger admiration.

    For those out there still hesitant about watching this, please stop being heistant and just watch it.

    This is a real find! Tbh I pretty much guessed immediately what the "plot twist" would be but it didn't take ANYTHING away from it.
    Plus, having wathced the second episode of season 2 I'm utterly curious about where this show will go.

    I have a theory though - so for those of you not caught up to season two, episode two, STOP READING NOW! SPOILER ALERT!!!





    Could it be that this is actually Michaels Bad place?
    That HIS punishment is to eternally try and craft a good place for people who will always fork it up for him?

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  18. I of course meant to say that Michaels bad place is to "craft a bad place that looks like a good place for people who will always fork it up for him"

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