Eleanor looked stunning with that lizard on her head. Also, can we please have a whole episode dedicated to reboot 444? Michael sure got me curious about it.
Aftet that ending, the fun will definitely go up a notch by the next episode!
There was a time I didn't like bottle episodes and yet, I believe that it is in this type of setup that The Good Place plays at it's best. The first season kept debating and proving solid points and questions regarding philosophy, and so on, it was another strong aspect that made this show so unique in the first place.
Also, I enjoyed revisiting the neighborhood. Taking all the reboots into account, we would have endless seasons of footage to go over, consequently I hope we continue to dig into these "flashbacks" (or at least, whenever feels appropriate and relevant to prove a point).
Lastly, I don't even want to imagine what a tarantula squid looks like but I'm super glad I get to be ignorant on that matter.
Chidi's "Whyyyyy-?" as he fell into the lake got me laughing out loud. Fantastic.
Tahani's centaur has me fucking howling
This feels like it was the most basic/straightforward episode in the season so far. It wasn't bad. The flashbacks were neat, possibly just because of the cute animals and the centaur jokes. The plot with Eleanor covering up her vulnerability was obvious but relateable. The Eleanor/Chidi scenes were sweet. I didn't think this episode was as funny as the others.
duuude i was patiently waiting for the return of vicky!!!!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-11-09T05:18:24Z
[6.5/10] Eh, look, I’m up for a Determinism v. Free Will debate as much as the next guy (er...probably more), but this is another “write it all on the screen” episode. The Good Place doesn't delve especially deeply into what is admittedly a complicated area of philosophy, and its surface-level dive into the topic area felt wanting. There’s some solid bare bones ideas about the impact that forces beyond our control have on us versus genuinely unpredictable thing, and it’s mapped well enough onto the show’s supernatural setup, but it doesn't feel like the show gets at anything really meaningful with that “Intro to Philosophy”-level insight.
It also self-consciously spells out Eleanor’s emotional trajectory in the episode. Having Michael literally and almost winkingly announce her emotional defense mechanism is weak sauce. I also continue to not really buy Eleanor and Chidi. I like the idea that they do nice things for one another, grow for one another, and make sacrifices for one another to get to a place of romance, but I just don’t buy them getting together, and this episode pretty much hinges on it.
That said, I did enjoy getting to go back to the neighborhood. It wasn’t a laugh riot necessarily, but it was a welcome return getting to see the sign gags, bits like Tahani’s judgmental centaur doppleganger, and having the dramatic irony of knowing that Michael is only doing this to torture them. Plus, Eleanor’s interactions with her lizard were straight up adorable.
Look, it’s The Good Place, so none of this was straight up bad or anything, but this felt like an attempt to grasp at something more meaningful and unique -- a bottle episode, one-on-one setup -- and the results turned out underwhelming. Overall, this is one is mostly fine, but has some major weaknesses that make it a notch below.