3x10 The Book of Dougs

[8.6/10] I think this one is my favorite episode of the season so far. We’re back to afterlife-hopping misadventures packed together with silly comedy and genuine emotion, and it’s the right mix for this show. I liked each of the three stories in this one.

As an Eleanor/Chidi skeptic, I’m as shocked as you are, but I really enjoyed the two of them together in this one. After an underwhelming build to their union, I like the idea of turning over a B-plot in an episode to pair just being together and caring for one another like a regular couple. They were genuinely cute and sweet together, and it’s the most I’ve ever been on board with them. Little bits like Chidi liking Eleanor despite her pitsweats, or Eleanor being so happy at seeing Chidi in his mailman uniform that she cries because of the mixed emotions of letting herself feel like that are all great. The whole premise of the two of them finding paradise in one another when they’re “four oreos” from Heaven is cheesy on its face, and yet it works from the rapport the show builds around the two of them.

I also enjoyed the story about Tahani trying to fix the Janet-Jason romantic situation and being frustrated when everything goes to pot. Our Janet having to pose as a neutral Janet while dealing with embarrassing and sad news about Jason “reading her diary” and knowing about her feelings is a great conceit. And the balance between Tahani’s comical efforts to make it all better, and her much more human efforts to confide in Michael about feeling like everything she does makes it worse is great.

But I like the A-story, featuring Michael trying to convince the braintrust at the Good Place that something’s wrong with the accounting system as much as anything. On the comedy side, I love the details of the Good Place itself, like the air smelling like whatever makes you happy (with each human’s scents being funnier than the last), or the fact tears taste like nacho cheese. I love the denizens of the Good Place being a whole host of impossibly chipper, impossibly trusting Ned Flanders clones. Gwendolyn’s blithe happiness, and the committee’s milquetoast supportiveness was definitely worth a laugh.

But I also really like the implicit commentary that the Good Place committee is completely ineffectual because they are so rulebound. There’s a lot of subtle, and not so subtle, political commentary baked into this one (see also: Jason’s “what kind of paradise wouldn’t let in refugees?” comment), but that’s perhaps the most potent, suggesting that the people on the side of nice and considerate are too bound up in doing things the right way to actually bring about the right thing.

And I love Michael’s final take on moral philosophy and ethical challenges in the modern world. The idea that as the world has gotten more complicated, unintended consequences have become wider and more inescapable, thus making it harder and harder to be a good person, is a really intriguing one. Right now, it’s more of a brief notion than a firm moral conclusion, but it’s one of those moments in the show where everything sort of snaps into place about the conscience and perspective of the series. Very interested to see how the series explores that idea and where they go from here.

Overall, a definite highlight of this season that gives a nice down to earth Eleanor/Chidi escapade, a solid dose of the Janet/Jason/Tahani triumvirate for good laughs and character, and possibly the culmination of the show’s take on morality and what feels like it could be at or near the show’s halfway mark.