I never thought I'd be saying this about a TV show, but it kinda bummed me that they were able to swear for real, now.
That version of Hell had all sorts of hilarious references, it was definitely well written. I'm particularly fond of The Transformers' perfume. So spot-on!
Who would have guessed that Jason's molotov cocktail bonkers idea would actually work? That seriously made me chuckle.
Bad Good Janet was like a cute kitten getting all frisky and showing its tiny claws. Adorable!
I'm just disappointed that we probably won't get to see more of Hell, as I was expecting the rest of the season to be spent there. Still, the little we got of it was soooo good!
Ethics and morality have been strong with this show ever since its beginning (sometimes - dare I say it - even surpassing that of Star Trek), but this episode took that one step further: Michael solving the trolley problem = ;')
Despite all the great character development, strong humour, the use of Kristin Bell's real life husband and the emotional bonds that I'm forming with all of these characters... the moment of this episode that made me love it the most was the fact that the film on endless repeat in hell is Pirates of the Caribbean 6: The Haunted Crow's Nest or Something, Who Gives a Crap
The running joke about Jason's love of Blake Bortles is absolutely delightful and makes me laugh every time.
Only in this show that you would cry over a demon doing a really nice thing.
Chidi, please, just shut up.
That's my main feeling lately with this 2nd season - and there are not enough plot twists to make me forget that. So writers, please make him grow as a character and be less annoying.
“Molotov cocktails work! Anytime I had a problem, and I threw a Molotov cocktail... BOOM, right away, I had a different problem.”
jason, this is hell. of course theres a gift shop.
Even demons can change. Great episode.
The american sjw version of hell museum was completely uneccessary, but other than that a nice episode.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2018-01-20T02:57:58Z
[8.6/10] I’ve probably heard/talked/thought about the Trolley Problem a hundred times. It’s one of those bits that just comes up again and again and again if you have even the slightest interest in philosophy as a thumbnail sketch of the ethical problems that’s supposed to confront. And one of the great things about The Good Place is the way it takes those classic philosophical ideas and puts them into practice in loony, out there ways.
But I’ve never seen it actually mean so much. I don’t think of The Good Place as a particularly sentimental show. It has its sweet moments in plenty of places, and I should know better than for a Michael Schur-run show not to tug at your heartstrings now and then. But man, I was not prepared for Michael’s sacrifice play as his solution to the Trolley Problem. It’s a beautiful confluence of plot, character development, and sentiment. It gets Eleanor to the Judge; it helps truly prove Michael’s growth as a person, and it both makes you happy and sad to see the risk that he puts himself through for another soul.
That doesn’t detract from how hilarious this episode is though. So many great bits. Tahani’s American imitation and ability to roleplay a hotdog-based torture demon is a kick. Jason’s idiocy is at peak hilariousness here (like his confusing about apples versus origins and whether you eat their “clothes”). Good Janet trying to hard to be Bad Janet is a comic treat. The bits we here about Mindy St. Clair and Derek getting it on via windchimes are the weird sort of funny. And all the example of low-grade crappy tortures and behaviors are mostly easy gags, but each amusing.
The bigger storylines are strong too. Chidi being unwilling to lie because he’s a Kantian, and then being talked into moral particularism is another good bit of character growth (in the form of a free-reading Eleanor) that moves the plot by having Chidi do his best to fit in with the bro demons (including a delightfully douchey Dax Shepard) to maintain their cover. Michael trying to preserve the same ruse leads to some great tension. And hell, even Jason’s seemingly throwaway molotov cocktail bit actually comes in handy (with a hilarious "JORTLES!" capper).
Overall, it’s one of the most elegant episode of The Good Place so far, where comedy followed character, character followed plot, and plot followed sentiment, all in one beautiful bit of television parsimony.