The Good Place (Kristen Bell/Ted Danson/Michael Schur)

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > The Good Place (Kristen Bell/Ted Danson/Michael Schur)

DarklyDreaming: Apr 4, 2009; Fun scary

SlipkPIe posted:

That was my first thought too, but it doesn't fully fit after the last couple episodes. My guess would be more that there isn't really a "Good Place" and "Bad Place" but rather a series of similar neighborhoods, and whoever is in charge above Danson is trying to sell the idea that this is the only good afterlife

At this point my next crazy theory (I had one earlier but I take it back now) is that this is the "Good Place" for self-absorbed assholes. Sure most of them did a lot of good in the world but they may have done it just for the adulation/the promise of heaven. So most of them get constant affirmation that they are the best people who ever lived of all time and everyone else sucks. Meanwhile Elanor and Jason get to be the people who conned the angels into giving them free booze and nice houses :smug:

# ? Sep 30, 2016 20:42

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 25, 2024 08:28

Oasx: Oct 11, 2006; Freshly Squeezed

Falun Bong Refugee posted:

Where the gently caress did Elinor get that leather jacket? There must be some deleted scene there because it comes out of nowhere.

From what i understand Janet can pretty much get them everything they want, for example those yellow and black clothes everybody was wearing when the first problems started.

# ? Sep 30, 2016 20:55

seaborgium: Aug 1, 2002; "Nothing a shitload of bleach won't fix"

Oasx posted:

From what i understand Janet can pretty much get them everything they want, for example those yellow and black clothes everybody was wearing when the first problems started.

The fake monk flat out said that, Janet got him an XBOX and all the other stuff for his budhole he just had to ask her for it.

Also, budhole was an amazing joke.

# ? Sep 30, 2016 21:52

FoxTerrier: Feb 15, 2012; Perfectly logical poster who uses the tools available to him to come to solid conclusions

muscles like this? posted:

Michael mentioned in a previous episode that before the current neighborhood started he didn't have a body.

Doesn't necessarily mean he's an alien tho. You don't have to dig deep into Judo-Christian and/or related literature to find non-humanoid representations of angels or angelic figures. Take for example the Ophanim, aka angels in the shape of rimmed wheels with many eyes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophanim

Honestly I think he's just a bumbling, middle-management angel/celestial like he appears to be. But I do agree something weird is afoot, which is a lot of fun

# ? Oct 1, 2016 00:07

Falun Bong Refugee: Dec 14, 2015; by FactsAreUseless

Oasx posted:

From what i understand Janet can pretty much get them everything they want, for example those yellow and black clothes everybody was wearing when the first problems started.

I meant more as in where in the story did she get that jacket. One minute she's wearing a dress and the next scene she has a leather jacket on for no reason. There was a scene there that was cut obviously.

# ? Oct 1, 2016 01:09

Victorkm: Nov 25, 2001

FoxTerrier posted:

From the 'Anticipated Needs' store?

She could have just asked Janet for it.

# ? Oct 1, 2016 14:23

Escobarbarian: Jun 18, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Falun Bong Refugee posted:

I meant more as in where in the story did she get that jacket. One minute she's wearing a dress and the next scene she has a leather jacket on for no reason. There was a scene there that was cut obviously.

I think it's probably a minor continuity error if anything and absolutely meaningless.

# ? Oct 1, 2016 14:55

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

If the last line of this show's last episode isn't "Welcome to... the Better Place" I'll be surprised.

# ? Oct 2, 2016 02:43

nooneofconsequence: Oct 30, 2012; she had tiny Italian boobs.
Well that's my story.

I've had hundreds of good ideas, and only one of them got me killed!

cant cook creole bream posted:

The chef actually seems like a good person.
"The more the merrier."

She looked to be suppressing real anger and control issues in order to show she belongs there.

# ? Oct 2, 2016 04:12

Escobarbarian: Jun 18, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Honestly I'm even starting to wonder about Tahani. She seems to be trying ultra hard, as if playing a role or trying to prove she really is that person. Not that I'd mind if I was wrong and that was just her actual character because she's hilarious

# ? Oct 2, 2016 07:49

VodeAndreas: Apr 30, 2009

I can't tell if I really like this show or if it's just my unending crush on Kristen Bell, I'll keep watching either way.

At this point I'd guess that half of each soul mate pair is a fraud and it's some scheme to reform them or something, but can't really back up something like that unless we get properly introduced to more characters beyond the current core.

# ? Oct 2, 2016 08:06

Slamhound: Mar 27, 2010

Tiggum posted:

My guess is that each pair of supposed soul mates is actually one "good person" who earned a lot of points in life but is still terrible in less quantifiable ways and one "bad person" who thinks they got sent there by mistake and the idea is that they'll somehow reform each other.

Yeah, I like this theory. More specifically, I think the "good persons" are good in intent but lacking in actual experience. Chidi is a lives-in-his-head academic and Tahani is a jet-setting fund-raiser. They're both insecure about their legitimacy because they never really interacted with the world.

The "bad persons" aren't evil, they're just kind of lazy assholes whose selfish decisions were never questioned by the world.

The Good Place is a Purgartory that will fix them both.

# ? Oct 2, 2016 09:36

Open Source Idiom: Jan 4, 2013

I hope that there's not some sort of special reveal about what's actually going on, and Michael just bjorked up.

Alternately, the reason that there are two misplaced attendees among the rest of The Good Place residents is because Tahani is so extra loving good, that the sorting algorithms overcompensated in order to adjust to her magnificent, radiant, blistering morality. And also because that's funny.

# ? Oct 2, 2016 15:43

Snak: Oct 10, 2005; I myself will carry you to the Gates of Valhalla...
You will ride eternal,
shiny and chrome.; Grimey Drawer

I'm still really hoping for the addition of a character, maybe in the next season, who is involved in the scoring process and screwed a bunch of things up.

# ? Oct 2, 2016 16:02

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

I guess it depends what kind of show this wants to be but I'd be completely down for meeting more behind the scenes people and learning that the entire afterlife is run by middle managers who have no real clue what they're doing at all.

# ? Oct 2, 2016 16:26

Clamknuckle: Sep 7, 2006; Groovy

Maybe it's a secret angel training course.

# ? Oct 2, 2016 19:43

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

MrBuddyLee posted:

I didn't like this episode as much for some reason. I think part of the problem is that Ted Danson's character and Tahani are both annoying as hell and were alone in a scene together. Never do that again.

I thought their interactions were pretty good.

Test Pattern posted:

I'm loath to buy into the aliens/future cyrotechs theories, but drat were Michael and Janet acting particularly like aliens that episode (or to be more accurate, an alien and his AI that does all the actual work).

Well, that's essentially what they are even if they are supernatural. :shrug:

Escobarbarian posted:

Honestly I'm even starting to wonder about Tahani. She seems to be trying ultra hard, as if playing a role or trying to prove she really is that person.

I think she's trying really hard to be cheerful, optimistic and positive, but she can't help noticing that something is wrong, even though she really doesn't want to. That comes through when she's talking to Michael, because she alternates between basically pleading with him to reassure her and then switching to reassuring him. She wants to believe that everything is fine and she wants everyone else to believe it as well because maybe if everyone believes it then it will actually be true.

# ? Oct 4, 2016 16:19

Ernie.: Aug 31, 2012

An ethics professor who has to solve the ultimate ethics question while finishing his thesis...
A bad person who has to atone and become good...
A prolific party planner who has to plan parties constantly while fighting with the fact that those closest to her are not in fact anywhere near being close enough...
An aspiring DJ who never hoped to be anything different while everyone around him kept telling him to...

Like to me it at least comes off as a pretty strong indication that all of these people carried forward their problems to this place, and are on a journey to improving. Ergo, they're in purgatory.

# ? Oct 5, 2016 04:26

tarlibone: Aug 1, 2014; Am I a... bad person?
AM I??; Fun Shoe

Ernie. posted:

An ethics professor who has to solve the ultimate ethics question while finishing his thesis...
A bad person who has to atone and become good...
A prolific party planner who has to plan parties constantly while fighting with the fact that those closest to her are not in fact anywhere near being close enough...
An aspiring DJ who never hoped to be anything different while everyone around him kept telling him to...

Like to me it at least comes off as a pretty strong indication that all of these people carried forward their problems to this place, and are on a journey to improving. Ergo, they're in purgatory.

Ergo, they are in purgatory, vis-�-vis their former sins and shortcomings. Concordantly, an building up of their souls is what they must strive for, even if their self-improvement is handled surreptitiously in a place that is only ostensibly "the Good Place."

This is my impression, too, because I'm sorry, but that party planner chick with the mansion? That's just not very heaveny, you know?

# ? Oct 5, 2016 05:28

Oasx: Oct 11, 2006; Freshly Squeezed

They aren't in heaven so there is no reason it should be heavenly. The point of the good place isn't to relax and not have any worries, it is to do exactly the thing you enjoy even if that thing seems stressful and annoying to others.

Also both Tahani and Chidi are being disrupted by having to deal with people who don't belong in the good place, so they aren't good examples of how things are supposed to be.

# ? Oct 5, 2016 05:38

Falun Bong Refugee: Dec 14, 2015; by FactsAreUseless

I like this show because it keeps poo poo just vague enough for us to have something to talk about for an entire week. It's like Lost but actually well written.

# ? Oct 5, 2016 05:42

muscles like this!: Jan 17, 2005

Ted Danson is so good on this.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 01:39

muscles like this!: Jan 17, 2005

Tahani's giant house certainly makes more sense knowing that she has a massive inferiority complex.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 01:48

CAPTAIN CAPSLOCK: Sep 11, 2001

Plus I think they may have actually just come here to y'know swing. I say we just do it.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 02:21

Selachian: Oct 9, 2012

Oasx posted:

Also both Tahani and Chidi are being disrupted by having to deal with people who don't belong in the good place, so they aren't good examples of how things are supposed to be.

After this episode, I'm starting to suspect that Tahani would be stressed and unhappy even if she didn't have to deal with Jianyu. Girl has baggage.

"I'm not going to have sex with someone just to get them to stop talking to me."
"Really? You and I are very different."

# ? Oct 7, 2016 03:19

Falun Bong Refugee: Dec 14, 2015; by FactsAreUseless

This show has a really strong premise. They can go anywhere with it and make it funny. I'll be honest, I thought that was gonna be it's biggest fault but I was wrong.

# ? Oct 7, 2016 23:41

Toplowtech: Aug 31, 2004

Falun Bong Refugee posted:

This show has a really strong premise. They can go anywhere with it and make it funny. I'll be honest, I thought that was gonna be it's biggest fault but I was wrong.

Yes there are so many ways they could have misused their whole show afterlife concept and ruined their own show and they clearly aren't doing that and it's pretty pretty good i am surprised.

# ? Oct 8, 2016 07:17

stone cold: Feb 15, 2014

The ''no cursing" bit bugs me a little, but I really enjoyed the fork off card.

# ? Oct 8, 2016 08:03

Escobarbarian: Jun 18, 2004; Grimey Drawer

I kind of agree. I don't find any of those jokes funny, and wish they had just not put anything like that in at all and the characters never even attempted to curse. I would say that's my only real issue with the humour, though.

# ? Oct 8, 2016 08:24

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

Eh, it's cute.

"Voted most likely to be Banksy" was an amazing joke.

# ? Oct 8, 2016 12:29

FoxTerrier: Feb 15, 2012; Perfectly logical poster who uses the tools available to him to come to solid conclusions

Escobarbarian posted:

I kind of agree. I don't find any of those jokes funny, and wish they had just not put anything like that in at all and the characters never even attempted to curse. I would say that's my only real issue with the humour, though.

In fairness, she wouldn't be Eleanor if she didn't at least try to cuss. And it wouldn't be NBC if they let her.

It's a decent compromise, even if I can see the gag wearing thin pretty quick.

# ? Oct 8, 2016 15:58

Snak: Oct 10, 2005; I myself will carry you to the Gates of Valhalla...
You will ride eternal,
shiny and chrome.; Grimey Drawer

You have to do dishes in heaven? gently caress that poo poo.

# ? Oct 8, 2016 16:54

Falun Bong Refugee: Dec 14, 2015; by FactsAreUseless

Escobarbarian posted:

I kind of agree. I don't find any of those jokes funny, and wish they had just not put anything like that in at all and the characters never even attempted to curse. I would say that's my only real issue with the humour, though.

I actually think it was a genius decision. You have to establish Elinor as a complete dick, but you can't curse on network television. It's the perfect work around and "shirt for brains" still made me laugh.

# ? Oct 8, 2016 18:21