3x08 Don't Let The Good Life Pass You By

[6.8/10] Count me as a big Michael McKean fan. I’d already admired him from his turns in various Christopher Guest films, his voiceover work, and tons of other small but great appearances, but that admiration kicked up a notch with his incredible performance on Better Call Saul. So The Good Place, which opens up with a very Better Call Saul-esque montage, casting McKean as Doug Forcett, the man who, while high on mushrooms, managed to figure out the afterlife’s point system, is a home run in my book.

And the parts of the episode that feature Michael and Janet interacting with Forcett are superb. The idea of Forcett as a “happiness pump,” someone so devoted to increasing the amount of good in the world that he sacrifices every ounce of his own happiness to the needs of others is a strong representation of the philosophical concept. The show does a great job of balancing the comedy and the meaning here. It’s funny seeing McKean struggle to avoid/rescue snails, to see Michael discretely spit out the water he realizes is filtered urine, and to see the little snail funeral.

But it also works as a powerful critique of the system of morality the Good Place is built on, if the person who lives according to the rules for a welcoming afterlife seems to have a life hardly worth living. That point is driven home a little cartoonishly, and there’s lots of nuance in whether knowing the point system exists is part of the problem. But it connects with the continuity of the series in a noteworthy way while picking at the series’ premise.

The problem is the other half of the episode. The comedy game is on point, with Chidi and Jason being very amusing while playing “Jacksonville-style” billiards, and Jason reverting to his usual “Jortles!” and molotov cocktail solution to problems. But the meat of it centers on romantic feelings between Eleanor and Chidi that I just don’t really buy. It feels like the show wants to make them its OTP, and I’m yet to be convinced that even the best versions of these two very different people are compatible. I like the idea that there’s a synergy despite their differences, and that they push one another in good directions, but the show hasn’t shown me that this is Leslie/Ben chemistry rather than Leslie/Ron chemistry.

The fight scene was also pretty corny. I have to admit, I’ve lost some interest in the meta-narrative of our heroes versus the demon brigade. It’s substandard comic book stuff, and the show hasn’t been especially good about that this season. The fight scene itself is a little too good to play as comedy but not quite good enough to play as legitimate fight choreography, which just leaves it in an awkward middle ground where it’s neither fish nor fowl.

Overall, one half of this episode is enjoyable and fun, and the other half is a little tedious and misaimed. Hope things look better in Janet’s void!