I started watching The Good Place late last year and it quickly became one of my favorite shows ever. Everything about it, from the sense of humor to the character development to how they explored some heavy concepts, was a home run as far as I’m concerned. The show ended perfectly instead of being dragged out long after it had overstayed its welcome (as so many shows often are). This post is not intended to be a detailed review of the show as such a venture is beyond what I have the time and energy to do. Rather, it is a space for me to share some of my thoughts on the show’s concepts and overall message that I love so much. Spoilers abound so if you are interested in watching the show, skip over this post until after you’ve finished it.
My favorite shows tend to have a good amount of heart, humor, and intelligence and The Good Place balanced those qualities better than most shows I’ve seen. I can’t think of many shows that can quickly jump from something serious and heartfelt to something lighthearted and funny without ruining the moment. Also, the fact that philosopher Todd May worked on the show is a great example of how committed everyone was to creating intelligent content.
None of the main characters perfectly match my personality or interests but I definitely saw some major aspects of myself in several characters. I resonate with Michael’s desire to make things turn out right, Chidi’s indecisiveness and love of philosophy, Janet’s increased emotional intelligence after each reboot, Eleanor’s struggles with self-improvement, Tahani’s pursuit of new skills, and Jason’s love of a good time. Everyone seems like an actual person rather than a fictional character; I feel like I became friends with them over the course of the show, celebrating each success and mourning every failure. That is quite the accomplishment for the writers and actors to have pulled off.
I love when Michael told the judge that anyone can grow, change, and improve when given enough love and support. That fits in nicely with the idea of having as many reboots, do overs, and chances to get it right as you need to progress through the afterlife. You do your best each time and get better as you go, just like playing a video game level repeatedly until you’re skilled enough to move onto the next level. This is best seen through Chidi’s development over the course of the series. After Michael restored all of Chidi’s memories, he became much more calm and confident than he had been for most of the show. This shows the power of being at peace with all versions of yourself and being whole. He had nearly a thousand versions of himself and all the experiences of each version from which to draw forth wisdom, knowledge, and solutions. His approach to philosophy ultimately ended up becoming more about taking appropriate action rather than endlessly thinking and worrying, which is similar to my own philosophical journey. Janet is another excellent example of personal growth as she became more powerful and more capable of feeling emotions each time she was rebooted. I loved seeing both of their journeys since Janet is my favorite character and Chidi is one of my favorite characters.
The final episodes of the show depict what I think is the ideal afterlife. Rather than going straight to eternal reward or eternal punishment, you learn lessons while you’re on Earth and then spend as much time as it takes to apply those lessons in order to progress through the afterlife. Once you get the hang of it, you can then enjoy visiting with your loved ones in the Good Place for as long as you like. When you’re ready to go, you walk through the Last Door and, as Chidi described so well, return to the universe just as a wave returns to the ocean. I can’t think of an afterlife I like more than that. Additionally, I loved how the show described the Good Place as enjoying time with your loved ones. I learned that for myself over a year ago when I realized that I have much more fun going somewhere with close friends than I do going to the same place by myself. The people I’m with are far more important than where we are and what we’re doing.
Redesigning the afterlife was a nice warning against becoming overly dependent on a certain way of doing things, especially when those things involve judging or controlling other people. Shaking things up and rethinking things is important at times; doing something just because “that’s the way it’s always been done” causes far more problems than it solves. Of course, the big redesign only happened because the main characters went on a number of wild adventures throughout both Earth and the afterlife. If not for that, the afterlife may have remained as it was for much longer or perhaps even forever. Countless people would have been eternally tortured with no hope of ever getting to the Good Place, including the main characters. Sometimes crazy turns of events put you right where you were meant to be so you can carry out your life purpose and make things better for everyone.
Those were the things that stuck out to me the most about The Good Place. I’ll probably watch it again when I’m in the mood for a really nice show. Since I had no idea what was going to happen the first time I watched it, it’ll be interesting to see what I get out of it upon my next viewing since I now know how everything turns out. If you’ve seen The Good Place, what were some of your favorite moments, themes, and characters? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this wonderful show.