"'The Good Place Season 4 - "It's okay to be sad"

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > TV IV > "'The Good Place Season 4 - "It's okay to be sad"

mortal: Oct 12, 2012

LORD OF BOOTY posted:

The thing is, I'm not just throwing it out as a crazy theory.

Look at (and more importantly, listen to) him in that scene where he's talking to Jason. He doesn't sound right for Michael's usual interactions with Jason; usually, he either softballs any criticism directed Jason's way or speaks frankly but under the assumption Jason won't understand him. In that scene, he's just being hammer-blunt about how badly Jason's been loving up with Janet, in a way that really reminds me more of how Shawn's dialogue is written.

My suspicion is that Shawn's been continuing to put his finger on the scale by donning the Michael suit and going out into the neighborhood to gently caress with our protagonists whenever they're not with Real Michael, and that this'll be caught when Jason brings up that conversation to Real Michael and Real Michael goes "wait what."

Doesn't Michael give Jason actual good advice during that scene? What would Shawn's motivation be for giving Jason good advice? Shawn is cartoonishly evil. That's his whole character. Have we ever seen him do anything (after the reveal at the end of Season 1) without explicit knowledge of his intentions? The demon-in-a-suit trick might have been the longest his actions were disguised from the audience, and that lasted one episode.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2019 19:42

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# ¿ Mar 23, 2025 22:37

mortal: Oct 12, 2012

SardonicTyrant posted:

Michael specifically mentions in the first episode that points are calculated based on how much good or bad you add to the universe. The problem is the world gets increasingly complicated so it's impossible for a person to truly know how much good or bad an action is.

Is this when he's still lying to everyone?

It's gotten more fleshed out than that. We know Tahani did a lot of good, but because she did it for the wrong reasons, it didn't help her.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2019 23:49

mortal: Oct 12, 2012

sure okay posted:

Why do people need to be judged at all? Why do there need to be rules, and a ruling body? Why do we have more power alive than we ever will dead, especially while the afterlife seems to have way fewer resource limitations? These demons, judges, etc. can give anything at the snap of a finger, and yet the new solution being spitballed is one of endless tests and iteration - not freedom.

What, exactly, is wrong with giving everyone everything they've ever wanted (even the totally bad guys) if doing so doesn't harm anyone else? What if I want to become an even worse person in my own little microverse? Who am I hurting?

What if the thing someone wants does hurt someone? What if they want TO hurt someone? Do you create Janet babies to be hurt, so they can have what they want?

I do think the show has been intentionally vague about why the good and bad are being separated, but if you assume every sentient being can live for eternity after death, what would you do with them? Destroying them seems wrong, so you could let them run free. But, wait, some of them are causing more pain and strife than others, so maybe you separate them out....

I'm not sure how you get from there to penis flatteners and butthole spiders, but it's a start.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2020 20:12

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