1x13 Michael's Gambit

[8.5/10] I’m assuredly overrating this one because of the reveal, but to put it in Shyamalan terms, what a twist!

What’s great about the fact that our heroes are, and have been, in The Bad Place this whole time is that it recontextualizes everything we’ve seen in a reasonably believable way. Sitcoms are founded on conflict, and we, the audience at home, had every reason to believe the glitches in the system were just part and parcel of the usual sitcom necessity of having some conflict to motivate the action.

But “Michael’s Gambit” turns metatext into text, revealing that the character conflicts and frustrations that the main characters have been through is not merely an incidental result of some unexpected error, but rather a deliberate attempt from the architects (in some ways, a stand-in for the show’s writers) to make the characters torture one another.

It adds a creative spin on everything we’ve seen so far. (Though I do wonder if, on rewatch, everything holds up to scrutiny.) I particularly love the conclusion that despite the consequentialist good she did, Tahani’s efforts weren’t enough to get her into the real Good Place because her motives were corrupt, and that Chidi’s obsessive morality and indecision led to him hurting everyone close to him. That helps us to see these seemingly enlightened characters in a different light, which is what good writing does.

Some of the initial business where the gang is debating who should take the two slots to The Bad Place is a bit tedious, both because the logic used is pretty weak and it retreads some of the feeble love triangle stuff from before, but where it leads is outstanding.

I particularly love the idea that the Bad Place architects, and Michael in particular, are going out on a limb with this. The notion of finding new and creative ways to torture people, and trying to come up with a perfect vicious cycle with these four people completely redoes the show’s premise and gives it tons of interesting new places to go.

In addition, it provides a promising reset for Season 2. Eleanor’s own gambit is a clever one, and I’m excited to see how it all shakes out.

Overall, the laughs weren’t as strong as I might have liked, but this is a brilliant twist that I absolutely did not see coming, so the show gets points for a genuine surprise that makes me see the prior twelve episodes differently.

(And hey, let’s throw out some additional wild speculation while we’re at it. Maybe in this afterlife, people don’t get sent to hell to be punished necessarily, but to be given the chance to improve and earn themselves a place in Heaven. Each time, our heroes get the chance to be a little better and get a little closer to eternal reward. Granted, I totally whiffed on the twist here, so take my predictions with a grain of salt, but still, throwing it out there anyway!)