Some thoughts on the Good Place

[yvannairie]

Spoilers, obviously

So far, season 1 has been the best one. Then again, season 1 has the deck stacked in its favour -- it doesn't leave as many dangling threads as it goes, and wins largely thanks to the format enabling it to do so. That being said, season 2 has my favourite characterisation and humour overall, and while season 3 has my favourite episode in the whole show, it's still my least favourite and overall the weakest one, mostly because something weird happens to everyone who isn't Jason, Janet or Eleanor.

(Or maybe I'm just salty because I felt like season 2 left Michael's arc kind of incomplete when it was progressing so nicely. This is entirely possible -- he is my favourite character, and I always feel like my faves get done dirty.)

(Anyway.)

I think season 3 also suffers from Sudden Onset Romance that didn't quite click for me (I felt like Eleanor gets her feelings back but none of her hard-won character development when she gets her memories) but aside from that, I did really enjoy Eleanor's and Chidi's developing relationship because it integrates incredibly well to their character development. They are excellent foils for each other -- I mean, Chidi is a solid Romantic Lead put into the interesting narrative position of not being the protagonist, and Eleanor...

Fork, it feels good to have an anti-hero female lead. I'm sure a version of the Good Place exists where she's a villain love interest to Leading Man Chidi, and a version where she's a villain protagonist who's out to out-hustle everyone in the Bad Place. She is charming and brilliant and charismatic and also utterly loathsome for the majority of getting to know her, which is why her moments of pathos work so well.

And she even gets the anti-hero arc of Not Being Such A Self-Centered Dickbag! She even gets a sad backstory! I wish they'd walk the walk with her bisexuality, though, like... I enjoy it in the kind of "geez Eleanor you are the worst" kind of way but as her attraction to women is presented, it's a bit of a problem that it keeps cropping up in direct alignment to her more loathsome qualities, like her being bi is just another "bad" trait. It's a little... uncomfortable.

(And if I'm meant to understand it as... kind of an extension of her sexual forwardness, which is also kind of a "loose" and "loathsome" quality, that is just as uncomfortable and I hope that Season 4 maybe starts... like... addressing this.)

Jason's great, although he feels progressively more underutilised as the show goes on. I described him as being "condemned by is ignorance and redeemed by his innocence" back when I was watching season 1, and in that context both Tahani and Eleanor choosing to confide in him is... like, maybe that just feels significant to me, but his lack of pretention and judgement is not really tapped into, especially once the plot moves back to "the real world". I mean, he's such a good example of unintended positive consequences, it's a little sad that he's only ever mined for quick laughs.

I feel bad for not having anything but Distressed Queer Noises to offer about Tahani. Like, she's a joy to watch, but she's clearly not a character for me, the second least socially aware and connected person I know, so my enjoyment of her is kind of... technical and detached. She's hot, and I feel like her arc will give me a lot more once it's complete, but for now she's... why does it feel dismissive to say that she's "entertaining", and leave it at that? :(

I have way more to say about Michael than I feel comfortable getting into, here, and Janet has, in my opinion, the best performance in the entire show.

Am I looking forward to season 4? ... I mean, kinda? If only to see how they're gonna turn around the last third of season 3, which really kind of falls apart now when I think about it, but so far the series definitely peaked at the back half of season 2. It's really dense, and I'm looking forward to rewatching it with my mindset adjusted by the knowledge of what comes ahead (and the awareness of what the "best versions" of these characters are capable of being like) but right now it sits at a "yea it's alright" level of recommendation.