Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for NBC’s show, ‘The Good Place.’
After a mid-season hiatus, The Good Place is back and this time they are actually in the Good Place! Or, sort of the Good Place. It’s more like the post-office-path that leads to the main entrance of the Good Place (which is trillions of miles away).
It was ironic to see how the Gang manipulated their way into staying in the Good Place during the episode. They start out by lying to the Postwoman (a lovely lady by the name Gwendolyn) to avert any suspicion. After meeting the Postwoman, they ask her to give them a tour of the office. She shows them a door which leads to the Good Place but isn’t the actual entrance (which is, as I said, trillions of miles away). Then, Michael cajoles Gwendolyn into telling him how to contact the higher-ups of the Good Place. She explicitly tells him not to call them, but Michael does anyways.
I was honestly relieved by this episode. Since the entire purpose of the show was for the humans to get to the Good Place, I was worried about what would happen after the reached the Good Place. Would the plot lose momentum? Would the show end after this season? The fact that the gang is still lying and conniving to get their way, even in the Good Place, means that they still have a long way to go before achieving their goal.
You’ve got mail and relationship drama! (Image credit to NBC/Universal).
As Michael goes off to convince the Good Place committee that the Bad Place is tampering with the point system, the Gang hangs around the Postal Service. Eleanor tries to open the door to the Good Place (with no success) and Chidi convinces her to go on a date with him. This was probably the cutest part of the episode. They both have opposite personalities but they try their best to make the other happy (#relationshipgoals).
On the other hand, Tahani encourages Jason to confront Janet about her feelings for him. However, this plan goes awry and makes the situation worse. Janet doesn’t want to talk about her feelings. Tahani tries to remedy this by telling Janet that she’s not married to Jason anymore, but Janet doesn’t respond. Every nice thing Tahani does for Jason and Janet keeps making the situation worse.
Michael talks to the Good Place committee about his plan. However, the answer they give him is a little, well, problematic. They agree to look into the Bad Place’s influence on the point system, but, it’ll take them a couple thousand years to do it. This annoys Michael, who wants to take action immediately. As he’s brooding, Tahani finds him and complains about how every nice thing she does always backfires, which gives Michael an idea. He strikes up another deal with Judge Gen (from earlier this season) and whisks the gang away to IHOP (interdimensional house of pancakes)(a very dangerous place), which is when the episode ends.
“I like what you’re saying, but, I’m going to need 81,899,327,429,834 years to think about it,” (Image credit to NBC/Universal).
I honestly thought this episode was a transitional episode which was gearing up for the final plot arc. Although we don’t find out about Michael’s plan by the end of the episode, I suspect it’s something big– though, what can be wilder than resetting the humans’ lives (as per the beginning of this season)? Again, I’m glad the gang didn’t end up entering the Good Place; this gives each character so much room to grow and gives the show so many more paths to follow.
I’m excited to see what the next episode holds, given that it’s one of the final episodes of the season. What does IHOP look like? What’s Michael’s grand plan?
Find out on the next episode, Chidi Sees the Time-Knife, on Jan. 17 at 9:30/8:30c on NBC.
