Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

The Good Place: You've Changed, Man

“I’m not sure I’m ready for that to end.”
“I know, buddy. It’s hard when things end. But, one way or the other, this is over. The only question is, what’s next?”

What a clever little episode.

The title “You’ve Changed, Man,” as said by Jason, refers to Shawn, the big bad for most of the series. Jason says it confusedly, Shawn’s always been evil. But our perception of him changes in this episode. It turns out Shawn’s just as much of a softie as anyone else. Well, sort of? In his big confrontation with Michael, I couldn’t help but see him as an audience cypher, wishing things could go on just as they were and lamenting that everything had to stop. Like Shawn, I wish The Good Place could go on for a few more seasons. I’m going to go full nerd on you guys now and reference you to a monologue from Angel. Points if you remember the context.

“It just don’t work, Gene-y. It’s like a song. Now, I can hold a note for a long time. Actually, I can hold a note forever. But eventually, that’s just noise. It’s the change we’re listening for. The note coming after and the one after that. That’s what makes it music.”

There have been multiple points in this show’s run where I felt, yeah, we could squeeze a season out of this. For example, when Team Cockroach was on Earth, saving souls. But Mike Schur didn’t linger. It’s odd, to be honest. When a sitcom has a good thing going, you tend to want to keep it going. Other Mike Schur shows haven’t shown the same willingness to move on from a winning concept, although I would argue his shows tend to develop their characters more gradually and more permanently than other sitcoms where characters, if they do evolve, tend to revert to their old selves for the sake of the premise.

For whatever reason, Mike Schur chose a show that could have easily stretched a decade (given steady ratings) and smushed it into four seasons. It’s almost like Schur was more interested in making a good show than making money. How strange.

Gosh, there was just so much to love about this episode. Chidi and Eleanor were magical together. Four seasons of The Good Place has transformed them from conspirators to self-determined soulmates. The chemistry between them sparkles now. It didn’t used to, I swear. This may be the first show to get me to switch from shipping a f/f ship to a m/f ship. Also the man rocks a mean roller skate spin. Thanks Disco Janet!

Ethical Bits and Pieces

Cute details: each Janet turns into a different colored marble. My favorite is Disco Janet, who, of course, turns into a tiny disco ball.

It was also fun to see the different Janet’s voids. Bad Janet had the terrifying horse monster Chidi drew running around in the background.

The Good Quotes

The quotes section was really hard; I could have transcribed the whole script.

Judge Gen: “Last time I checked, I didn’t have a dad. That’s why I’m attracted to all the dads on the TV shows I watch.”

Michael: “Get her to see the light.”
Janet: “I already showed her the light. She wasn’t impressed. To be fair, she was there when it was invented.”

Chidi: “If we going out, I’m going out with a belly full of warm pretzels.”

Four out of four Timothy Olyphants

This is my last TGP review so I’m going to continue to go full nerd and reference you to Doctor Who.

“Everything ends, and it’s always sad, but everything begins again, too. And that’s always happy. Be happy.”

The meaning of this quote as applied here, of course, is that I’m going to rewatch TGP ad infinitum on Netflix. Please, NBC, don’t move the entire thing to Peacock. I’M NOT PAYING FOR ANOTHER STREAMING SERVICE I’M JUST NOT DOING IT.

sunbunny

3 comments:

  1. I really loved the Timothy Olyphant thing. It just kept making me laugh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was funny but it didn't really click for me never having seen him in anything (please don't hate me). But I love that Judge Gen is so obsessed with bingewatching. It's hilarious.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sunbunny, Justified is much, much better than any description of the show could indicate. I strongly recommend it.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.