The Good Place completely bypassed me when it first aired, and I'm not entirely sure why—a high-concept show with great writing, interesting characters and a deep focus on philosophical issues sounds as if it was tailor-made for me. I saw it first mentioned in various 'best of' lists at the end of the year, and my hopes were high for it when I finally sat down to watch it. Happily, I wasn't disappointed.
There is an awful lot of information to get across to the viewer in a relatively short amount of time, so The Good Place essentially places us in the shoes of Eleanor, who has recently died, and introduces us to the rules of the show concurrently. When people die, they are judged according to a great tally of their actions during their lives; the best people end up in The Good Place, destined to live in perfect neighbourhoods and eat frozen yoghurt for eternity. Everyone else ends up in The Bad Place, which we're treated to a live audio clip of, all horrific wailing and gnashing of teeth. Eleanor, as a human-rights lawyer, has managed to make it to The Good Place. Except she hasn't, not really—she's there by mistake, a pleasing twist that sets up the show's main drive going forward. Eleanor is, as far as we can tell, an anomaly that hasn't been detected and she enlists the help of Chidi, her new soulmate, to help her 'become good' and earn her place in The Good Place legitimately. It helps that Chidi was a professor of moral philosophy before he died, and off we go.
Any high-concept show like this will live or die by its writing and characters. Not only are the various characters interesting, the performances are superb. Kristin Bell plays against type as Eleanor, who should be a thoroughly dislikable character but somehow manages to pull off a sort-of relatable charm that's helped in no small part by excellent comic timing. Chidi, played by William Jackson Harper, is the perfect foil for Eleanor—an upright, moral character whose exasperation and ethical quandary leads to no small amount of exasperated stomach aches. Tahani (Jameela Jamil) next door is exactly the type of vacuous philanthropist who's immensely irritating and she's paired with Jianyu, a Buddhist monk who's taken a vow of silence and is played with studied put-on intensity by Manny Jacinto. They all do an excellent job of setting up their characters, and seeing these four bounce off one another is an interesting prospect; none of them have much, if anything, in common. The other significant characters are Janet, a sort of voice-assistant-made-not-quite-flesh and played with sunny bluntness by D'Arcy Carden, and the high-point of the episode: Ted Dansen's Michael, the administrator of this neighbourhood of The Good Place. He's played with gleeful aplomb, a Willy Wonka-type figure who's both avuncular and self-doubting.
The pieces all fall into place with intelligence and wit, and the stage is set going forward. I'm a little concerned as to whether the show will be able to maintain its quality and not fizzle out as the concept has nowhere to go, but with this strong start and the way it's being praised, I'm confident.
Review by DeletedBlockedParent2018-10-26T09:22:20Z
The Good Place completely bypassed me when it first aired, and I'm not entirely sure why—a high-concept show with great writing, interesting characters and a deep focus on philosophical issues sounds as if it was tailor-made for me. I saw it first mentioned in various 'best of' lists at the end of the year, and my hopes were high for it when I finally sat down to watch it. Happily, I wasn't disappointed.
There is an awful lot of information to get across to the viewer in a relatively short amount of time, so The Good Place essentially places us in the shoes of Eleanor, who has recently died, and introduces us to the rules of the show concurrently. When people die, they are judged according to a great tally of their actions during their lives; the best people end up in The Good Place, destined to live in perfect neighbourhoods and eat frozen yoghurt for eternity. Everyone else ends up in The Bad Place, which we're treated to a live audio clip of, all horrific wailing and gnashing of teeth. Eleanor, as a human-rights lawyer, has managed to make it to The Good Place. Except she hasn't, not really—she's there by mistake, a pleasing twist that sets up the show's main drive going forward. Eleanor is, as far as we can tell, an anomaly that hasn't been detected and she enlists the help of Chidi, her new soulmate, to help her 'become good' and earn her place in The Good Place legitimately. It helps that Chidi was a professor of moral philosophy before he died, and off we go.
Any high-concept show like this will live or die by its writing and characters. Not only are the various characters interesting, the performances are superb. Kristin Bell plays against type as Eleanor, who should be a thoroughly dislikable character but somehow manages to pull off a sort-of relatable charm that's helped in no small part by excellent comic timing. Chidi, played by William Jackson Harper, is the perfect foil for Eleanor—an upright, moral character whose exasperation and ethical quandary leads to no small amount of exasperated stomach aches. Tahani (Jameela Jamil) next door is exactly the type of vacuous philanthropist who's immensely irritating and she's paired with Jianyu, a Buddhist monk who's taken a vow of silence and is played with studied put-on intensity by Manny Jacinto. They all do an excellent job of setting up their characters, and seeing these four bounce off one another is an interesting prospect; none of them have much, if anything, in common. The other significant characters are Janet, a sort of voice-assistant-made-not-quite-flesh and played with sunny bluntness by D'Arcy Carden, and the high-point of the episode: Ted Dansen's Michael, the administrator of this neighbourhood of The Good Place. He's played with gleeful aplomb, a Willy Wonka-type figure who's both avuncular and self-doubting.
The pieces all fall into place with intelligence and wit, and the stage is set going forward. I'm a little concerned as to whether the show will be able to maintain its quality and not fizzle out as the concept has nowhere to go, but with this strong start and the way it's being praised, I'm confident.