Why the Fork Must it End?
The Good Place is set to begin airing its fourth and final season this Thursday. The hit NBC series, created by Michael Schur and starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, tells the story of four individuals who wake up in heaven after their lives on Earth were cut short.
The show joins a growing selection of modern “dramedies” — such as Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, FX’s Atlanta, and HBO’s Barry — that blur the lines between comedic sketch and tear-jerking theater. In spite of its heavy competition, The Good Place has taken the world of primetime television by storm thanks to its dynamic cast, clever jokes, and ambitious plot twists.
It has been a wild ride for the past three years, but the rollercoaster begins its final descent later this week. In preparation for the beginning of the end, I have gathered my thoughts on The Good Place’s captivating run thus far, along with some hopes and predictions for season four.
(Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead! If you haven’t seen the first three seasons of The Good Place — well, now would be a good time. You can binge all of it on Netflix.)
Getting into The Good Place
I got into The Good Place — the show, not the actual place — thanks to word of mouth from a few friends (many of whom have written for this site). Despite the series premiering on NBC in September 2016 and coming to Netflix the following year, I only started watching it this summer.
I had tried getting into it earlier this year, but the saccharine veneer initially turned me off. (That, and my desire never to jump on a show’s bandwagon prematurely.) Thankfully, I picked it back up on a whim one afternoon, and was pleasantly surprised by the show’s endearing characters and ever-impending sense of doom. Clearly, Eleanor was going to be outed as not belonging in the Good Place, and the show would be forced to take a drastic turn, no?
Well, I was correct in theory, but the reality was so much more interesting. The season-ending “mind fork,” for lack of a less-crass term, was nothing less than genius on the part of Schur’s writing team.
Throughout its first season, The Good Place had been foreshadowing the fact that Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason were secretly trapped in the Bad Place. A detailed rewatching of the season’s events gleans certain details: Eleanor joking about her parents “torturing” each other in the afterlife, Michael intentionally leaving behind Tahani’s abysmal neighborhood ranking for her to find, flashbacks of Chidi’s perpetual indecision, the lack of an actual ice cream place…
These details should have all been tip-offs for The Good Place’s big reveal. And yet, the show planted these seeds without ever showing its careful sleight of hand. It goes to show how clever the The Good Place’s writing truly is, from larger plot devices right down to the small idiosyncrasies of each character.
The Good Place provided plenty of laughs throughout its premier season, but it was this colossal twist that sucked me into the series for good. What’s more, the various trials and tribulations it sets into motion are what would ultimately keep me hooked for two additional seasons.
A Journey of Self-Betterment
A large part of The Good Place’s success can be attributed to Schur’s willingness to reinvent the show, time and time again. If season one was the story of Eleanor and her friends coming to grips with the reality of their situation, then seasons two and three would be the journey to rectify their execrable fate.
There would still be plenty of twists, turns, and subverted expectations (the good kind) along the way, mind you. Season two initially pitted Eleanor against Michael, but ended not only with the demon turning over a new leaf, but pleading with the governing Judge Gen to let the humans demonstrate their newfound selflessness in an attempt to get into the “real” Good Place.
Janet saw radical development, too, growing from her comically awkward beginnings into an emotional character with real wants and needs. The season also had what I consider to be one of the most powerful moments of the show to date, with Michael refusing to “marbalize” Janet due to the importance of their friendship.
Season three, meanwhile, delved into the increasingly difficult nature of judging one’s character. It explored how, in an age where politics divide us, the ethics of what we eat are questioned, and the planet is warming at an alarming rate, being a good person is more complicated than ever. Though arguably less important than the prior two seasons — there’s no grand reveal like in the first, nor is there massive character development like in the second — season three of The Good Place excels in its own right, showcasing some of the show’s funniest moments to date.
Case in point? Michael and Janet’s hilarious meet up with Doug Forcett (played by Better Call Saul’s Michael McKean) in “Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By.” Forcett’s borderline batshit crazy behavior — which was foreshadowed all the way back in S1E1 — only serves to underscore the absurdity of the afterlife’s points system and justify Eleanor and company’s crusade.
Other standout S3 moments include Chidi simulating breakup scenarios with his colleague slash love-interest, Simone; Trevor acting beyond cringy in an attempt to disband the self-coined “Brainy Bunch”; and Janet whooping demon butt in an oddly cathartic mid-season fight scene. Also, just the entirety of the episode “Janets(s).” (Seriously, D’Arcy Carden deserved an Emmy for that performance. That she was snubbed out of an award altogether is downright criminal.)
Season three of The Good Place may be the funniest the show has ever been. Though if you ask me, there’s no reason to think the show is slowing down anytime soon as it heads into its fourth and final season.
What Lies in Store For Season Four
There’s really no telling what’s in store when it comes to The Good Place’s final season. Well, actually, sure there is: After years of teasing the actual Good Place — including a tantalizing glimpse from within its mailroom — it stands to reason than Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason will finally see what’s beyond those pearly gates. I also have a hard time imagining a scenario in which Eleanor and Chidi do not end up together in the end.
Aside from those expected beats, though, anything is up for grabs. Will the Good Place be everything that our characters had hoped? Will Janet and Jason be able to live happily ever after? Will Tahani find love of her own? What’ll happen to Michael, given all the misfortune he’s brought upon humans in the past?
Some of these questions are easier to tackle than others. I imagine that, as has become commonplace with this series, the apparent “light” at the end of the tunnel isn’t what it truly seems. The Good Place has never been about easy answers. If anything, it has challenged its viewers by asking difficult questions: The lifelong philosophical question of what happens when we die. The ethical dilemma behind the trolley problem, and the conflicting ideas of utilitarianism and deontology. The underlying thought process behind what makes a person “good,” and whether or not it’s even realistic to apply that label in the first place. I could go on.
At the same time, The Good Place is, at its core, a story of love and self-betterment. It is about how people bring out the best in each other, despite all the external forces that continue to make life harsh and oftentimes difficult. To that, I cannot imagine anything from season four but the reinforcement of those important bonds, as well as the celebration of the strides these six characters have made in pursuit of happiness.
Whether there is a tangible reward in store for those who have bettered themselves… Honestly, I haven’t a clue. But if there’s anything The Good Place has taught us up until now, it’s that, often, the journey itself is worth something in its own forkin’ right.
The Good Place’s fourth and final season premieres Thursday, September 26 at 9:00 pm ET on NBC.
