I have to wonder how much of Mindy's selfishness is a result of her isolation in the medium place, like no question it's better than the bad place but it does seem like it's not the most conducive to mental health. I don't think her attitude now should necessarily be taken as evidence that her motives weren't pure when she made her plans on earth.

I think there's a real argument that this entire series is a metaphor for the justice system, specifically defending the idea of prison abolition.

Mindy's existence is such a fascinating choice, and it's interesting to introduce her in the same episode as the judge; both 'neutral' figures, but one is eternal and one is mortal. Whereas Eleanor, Jason, and Janet are characters whose engagement with morality is the byproduct of a cosmic mistake.

You asked about Michael not being in the Medium Place video instead of Beadie. Well, Michael said the neighbourhood is his first as an architect, so I think he wasn't one at the time they recorded the video for Mindy.

As one of the central tenets of the show is that, while the human soul is eternal, humans are capable of fundamental change even after death, I think it might be worth considering that Mindy wasn't quite like this when she died. Personal head canon, she's gotten worse being in the Medium Place because she's spent we don't know how much time isolation from other beings (isolation being a recognized form of torture). That said, it's still good analysis.

The desperate attempts to defend Eleanor's chart of misdeeds is so funny lmao

I think Mindy's coke-fuelled decision actually helped that she was intoxicated, as she clearly didn't do it with any ulterior motives, it was a purely good act that was enough to counteract her clearly, as you say, bad place vibes. Michael is always willing to listen to nuance because his job is literally to construct the perfect afterlife around his humans. Sean has no such restrictions, and whilst he seems harsh or unfair, he's made a decision and he knows what he's doing. It's good that you are trying to help rationalise Eleanor's mistakes, ultimately you have to ask how much details matter. Does the woman she cyberbullied feel any better that it might have been out of concern? Consequentialism is tricky!

Can't wait for the season finale! I really enjoy your commentary on shows. You always tend to get really deep into the morality and philosophy of things and it always gives me a new perspective to think on

We aren't hearing about a "Medium Place" because it's not the (Plural) Medium Place, it's (singular) Mindy's Medium Place (specifically). The watered-down version of her favorite things would be better or worse for anyone else who goes there. It's meant to be entirely for her. Mindy had the right idea that she planned herself, but someone else had to execute the plan because she died before she could. So, it's no surprise it took the good and bad places so long to reconcile those differences that were previously irreconcilable. It's interesting to see how Eleanor and Mindy relate to each other because they seem to have a lot in common based on what we see here.

Great commentary! I love how you were trying to justify all of Eleanor's "bad" behavior. I can't wait for the next episode!

i LOVE the absolute dedication to try to justify all of them 🤣🤣 Uh.. no.. no, he's not wrong about Florida. 😅 (j/k) 😣if Jason has the mentality of a 7-yr-old, then he's clinically cognitively disabled and being judged by laws that were never meant to apply to him and this is a commentary on how something like 26% of people in prison are in this same situation and now i'm once again depressed. Gosh, Tyler, i swear i definitely want to read your novellas and i WILL GET TO THEM BY GOSH i promise i'm going to remember this time.

I just want to bring up one more thing: Although, I do think the point system sucks as a way of judging people for eternity, one MAJOR point in its favor is that it is entirely based on a person's actions. I did a quick scan of Michael's explanation of the point system in the orientation video, Eleanor's misdeeds, and even in the test Michael gives Jason and Eleanor and "thought crime" does NOT seem to be a thing for this system, which is really nice. For example, they don't ask "Did you like the Bachelor?" It was "Did you ever appear on the Bachelor?" It wasn't "Were you emotionally invested in any of the relationships on the Bachelor?" It was "Did you post on any social media saying that you were invested in any of the relationships?" I think this is a really subtle, but important idea. Everyone has troublesome thoughts, but it's your actions and your motivations that count, even in this flawed system.

I was rolling on the floor laughing when you were looking at Eleanor's PowerPoint

Loved the loooong pause before trying to justify some of Eleanor's more outlandish 'bad' actions 😂But yes, nuance is everything when it comes to ethics, and that's really emphasised in this episode. As always, great analysis. Looking forward to your finale video!

One of the things I love about this series is that it is extremely nuanced. Eleanor is not a great person -- but she's also not the worst person, and as we've seen, with just a bit of help from someone who wants to help her understand how to be better, she can improve. So is she the worst of what she's done? Or is she the person she could have been if she'd had the right influences? And what is the proper way to adjudicate all that? And I'll second everyone in saying that I am absolutely psyched for your reaction to the next episode, which is where this series leveled up from a good, entertaining, and thought-provoking show to S-tier level, and then stayed there for the rest of its run. Finally: Kid Rock is an extremely conservative, scuzzy rocker. But while disgusting, I'm not sure a brief flirtation with him is actually bad.

Well, Michael 's first project was Eleanor's, Chidi's, Jason's etc. neighborhood. This Beady lady was probably an equal of his who was put in charge of developing the Medium Place project.

I CANNOT WAIT for you to watch the next episode

I’m so excited for you to do the next episode!! I enjoy your takes on this show

Eleanor's back story makes my heart hurt 😞 I'm so ready to see your take on the next episode, but I know you'll get to it when you're ready. I hope you and your family had a great holiday season, whatever you observe (and if you observe nothing, happy December!)

I was just thinking last night that I hope you upload the next episode soon and here it is!

Chidi and Tahani knowing of Eleanor and Jason's predicament is analogous to Roko's Basilisk: the mere knowledge is dangerous/damning. Had Chidi and Tahani never known, they'd never be in the Catch-22 of whether or not to help and therefore remain blissfully unaware/unendangered.

1:33 Yeah, there is no true 'Medium Place' for the masses - just a compromise for one person that was an exception to the norm. You either earn enough points to get to the Good Place or you go to the Bad Place. That is so flawed.

I'm really enjoying your style of reactions. I watch a lot of reactions to The Good Place because it's my favourite show, and you're one of the few reactors that actually talk about the actions of the characters and the meaning behind it. I can't wait to see your reaction to the next few episodes, the next three are some of my favourites.

FWIW, I saw The Shining when I was 8 year old, and I turned out fine ;-) But seriously, you're 100% correct that the whole system is lacking in nuance. And even the Medium Place isn't really _nuanced_. And I'm desperately trying to avoid spoilers, but I will say that you've set upon a core point of the show that won't be forgotten. LOVE these analyses!

i see the good place as an allegory for reform/restorative justice and you hit the nail on the head which so much of your commentary this ep!

So, starting with some meta commentary. I see a few comments criticizing your reaction style. Luckily they're rightfully getting no traction, but I'll just put it out there that you should never change and your reaction style is exactly why you're one of the best here and on Buffy! And then also I can't believe some missed that your Eleanor PowerPoint rebuttals were a joke to just point out lack of nuance. 😅 Anyway, back to the show! As you and Eleanor have identified over and over, the afterlife isn't fair. There isn't a point range that equals medium place. It was just a rule break because the system had no idea what to do, but needed to do something. The "eternals" didn't learn anything from it. The medium place is basically the output of an error. And who do you complain to when the neutral judge is someone like Shawn? Your hard cut to the fart not admissable to evidence was fantastic. Season finale next! See you then :)

hmmm I agree with you that Mindy's bad past was nowhere near equivalent to her good deed, so it kinda makes you wonder just where the bar of entry is for the good place. Go on.. smash out that final ep. you wont' regret it!

These reactions are super unique and super funny. Love the blunt takes while still enjoying the show. love it.

2:06 There’s probably more than one architect apiece for all the good and bad place neighborhoods. Trevor doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d be put in charge of torturing Hitler, for example.

Some of your questions will actually be addressed in season 4 in VERY cool ways. I love this show so much!

"Ride or die" isn't from the fast and the furious - its originally 1950s biker slang but became common in mainstream usage after several popular rap and hip-hop songs in the 90s used it. If the fast and the furious used it, they did so because it was a common phrase, the same way the good place does.

Very interested to see how you react to the finale.

Really enjoyed your thoughts and I'm eagerly awaiting your reaction to the finale!

I am so hype for next episode. Its gonna be a good one

Man, I'm just watching you ramble and get SO CLOSE to this that come up later...

i can not WAIT for your reaction to the season finale!

Bravo on the discussions.

I'm currently listening to the audiobook of The Good Place and Philosophy and ONCE YOU'VE FINISHED THE SERIES NO SPOILERS you should definitely check it out. I think it's definitely your speed.

I love your reaction and your comentary regarding Mindy is really on point. Season finale next time. Do you have any comments you want to share, regarding the direction you think we are going to go there?

Ha. Next reaction is going to be... interesting. 😁

I wonder if the debate had as much to do with whether all the good things that came of her foundation counted for her points. After all, she was already dead. But then again, she had withdrawn the money and was on her way. But then again...

I look forward to you experiencing what’s coming

I believe the nuances you have been saying are the black and white part, Eleanor’s actions are objectively bad, and when you look at real Eleanor, you see that. Take waiters screamed at, idc what situation it was, she could’ve been respectful. You said yourself that that is a must. As well, the medium place shouldn’t be a thing, so Mindy is nothing like an eternal, it would be like every person had their own individual medium place, not a normal place you go like the good/bad place, and I don’t think it matters Mindy’s motivation as long as it wasn’t out of self preservation, because she said herself, she carried on with it, and the action of just helping, is what got the points, not whether she was on cocaine or not

I would burn whole civilisations to have Sean’s ability to form a cocoon whenever people get too emotional around me! And, as a Floridian, I would expect nothing less than auto-Bad Place placement for my people.

Ride or Die. 😂 😂

omg finally

Mindy is kinda what Eleanor could have been, but Eleanor changed

I feel like a lot of the qualms you bring up about how the judgement system works are only from OUR very limited perspective as human beings. Like when you're talking about the list of bad things Eleanor did, it seems like the main problem you raise is that we don't know all the specifics, and so we can't really judge. And that's completely true and valid for US, but it's not true for the immortal beings according to what we've been told. Janets know everything about every nanosecond that passes on Earth. Michael and Shawn don't have the same knowledge as Janet does, but through her, they have access to all that data, i.e. the files and the presentations that Janet can produce on people. Now, I agree with your conclusions about the point system being unfair, about the method of judging being too harsh, and even that there are important factors that don't seem to be part of whatever eternal mathematics are happening here, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree when it comes to our lack of knowledge about possible mitigating circumstances. WE are just shown brief descriptions, but the afterlife beings have WAY more information at their disposal than we do. But even if we grant that they have complete knowledge of humans' lives, that still raises the question: why did the mistakes happen? And why is Shawn coming to the wrong conclusion about Eleanor? I think you're definitely on to something when you were juxtaposing Mindy and Jason. Does Jason's naivety have any effect on how his actions were judged? Is it possible that a person's intelligence might automatically taint all their actions by making them more "calculated" than pure? You bring up some really interesting points in this section of the video. I think it comes down to EXACTLY what information the afterlife people have. They definitely know every action people do. Can they read thoughts, though? Obviously, they CANNOT read humans' thoughts once they've died, or else the entire premise of the show would fall apart, BUT I'm pretty sure they do have SOME kind of access to people's thoughts on Earth. I'm not positive if that's ever explicitly confirmed or denied... but at the very least, it's heavily implied that people's INNER lives are also available for examination. For example, in episode one, Eleanor's first question to Janet is about if a certain guy she knew was gay. When Janet answers that he wasn't, Eleanor tries to protect her bruised ego by lying (mostly to herself, likely) that she was not "that into him." To which Janet replies: "Yes, you were." How could Janet be so sure of Eleanor's emotions here? She either has some knowledge of Eleanor's inner life, OR maybe knowing every action may give Janet a way to somehow PROVE Eleanor's thoughts? Regardless of whether "thoughts" can be read, we do have strong evidence that motivations definitely can be read somehow. Eleanor does tons of nice things for lots of people, but the system doesn't award her any points until after she decides to head for the Bad Place, EXCEPT for the one time she does something nice for Chidi. I think this shows that the system must necessarily have knowledge of Eleanor's true motivations in these moments. What I think that says about Mindy is that she must have really been motivated to put her plan in action for legitimately good reasons. It sounds to me like it didn't even occur to her to not do it. Like, she was unequivocally a selfish person, but even the most selfish person wouldn't have much to calculate if they truly believed they had plan that could help EVERYONE. A person would need to actively want to cause harm to have a plan they really thought could benefit everyone in the world and then not implement it, right? I think it also hints that when she says that her plan would have improved "every nation and every society in every possible way" she might not be exagerating. If she was JUST coked up and the plan wouldn't actually have been that amazing, that would mean that ONLY her intention to do that was important. If that were true, all you would really have to do to be in the Good Place would be to INTEND to make the world better, and I don't think that's what the show is driving at. Yikes. This is way too long. Sorry! I hope this is at least an interesting for SOMEONE!

You playing devil's advocate for her bad things, and the subsequent video evidence, will probably be the highlight of season one. You need to dress up for the finale or something to really outdo yourself. Mindy is super interesting too, since I guess intent alone is enough for points. So I wonder if intent, plus lack of follow through, is neutral, or a net negative, or maybe even still positive.

Mindy is smart and was coke up, she could've made plans to build herself a law firm empire, or a wacky mansion, or millions of other things BUT she got excited fantasizing about creating a plan to make a happy world with no hunger or homelessness. And you ask BUT WHY? And you question the pureness of her heart... WHY would she plan to spend her money on saving the world? Because she has a pure heart, so pure no amount of coke and self hatred prevented her (through her sister) from helping a lot of people.

You're trying very hard to defend Eleanor's poor life choices, but the point is that she was selfish and made poor decisions when she was alive. Yet she's shown an ability to change, because we shouldn't be defined by the things we did when we were in an unstable environment feeling unloved and alone. The introduction of Chidi, someone who supports her and believes in her, has completely changed Eleanor's attitude towards herself and other people.

I absolutely LOVED seeing you embrace the ridiculous nature of this show, and the absurd contradictions found in Western Philosophy, with your deconstruction of Eleanor's bad actions. Get ready for the next curve-ball (although there's really no way to do that). As fast as the show has moved, up until now, the ideas and concepts will do nothing but accelerate after the next episode.

Are you a lawyer or a politician? What with all that trying to spin Eleanor's bad deeds. 😅

I don't really understand how can you make so many excuses for Eleanor's behaviour. The majority of her past actions were awful. You defend her a lot and she is one of my favourite characters but honestly she did some really awful things in the past

Dude this is still a comedy, just enjoy sometimes

You're the kind of person to look at Jeffrey Dahmer and say, "look, guys, we don't know why he was eating people. Context" like what are you even talking about

Your commentary is insightful, but - I wish you didn't pause every fifteen to thirty seconds to talk for five minutes. I think you'd get more out of the show if you let it play without interruption, then do commentary after. (I'm sure you've gotten this note before from other people.)

Loved you going through Eleanor's life and trying to give nuance to everything