The greatest moment of anguish, from any character in the history of cinematography, has to be "Jason figured it out?!"

Even when Eleanor laid it all out and told the guys her epiphany, I was still skeptical, only until Michael laughed. That really changed things.

I’ve always said one of the most impressive things about this show is its refusal to have a status quo

"They could have stretched this out and didn't" is a recurrent theme for the Good Place and something I truly appreciate about it. Season 2 is a big example of it, though I would argue the first big instance is when Eleanor reveals her identity in the mid-season finale of season 1. A different show would have made that the season finale. Mike Schur went "no, we all know it's inevitable she'll be found out, let's do it and move on". The show never lets itself stay in a known or predictable place for long.

This show could have easily had 7-8 seasons but it didn’t and that’s what makes it amazing. It never over stayed its welcome and I really appreciate that

Yeah, it's still crazy to me how this show starts radically changing its main premise every 4 to 6 episodes starting with season 2. If you want to describe the show to a new person you can only describe the premise of the first episode, you can't get into the ways the show evolves later.

My absolute favorite episode is the one where they go to the bad place proper for the first time and Tahani does an American accent the whole time it's so funny

For me the episode that changed everything was S1E7 when Eleanor admits being in the "Good Place" by mistake. A lesser show could have milked the idea of Eleanor hiding for couple of seasons easily, but here it happens halfway of the first! It turned a series I enjoyed good enough to a great one, one I could trust to not be afraid to make big swings.

Honestly, I didn't even expect that plot twist. I never knew a sitcom could do that 💀

A great observation. Also, S2 Ep1is probably the strongest episode in the whole show... and probably also one of the most expensive to have made, with all of the 5 second throw away moments.

I’ve always felt that one of the biggest moments in the show was at the end of ep 24 when they’re trying to escape through the portals to go see the judge and Michael is short one pin. When he decides to send Eleanor and says he figured out the trolley problem. I’ve always felt that moment was huge because we see Micheal truly start to become human as he sacrifices himself to save the others. Gets me every time.

I love this, Michael Shur showed that shooting an entire season only after you have wrote the next one allows to absolutely wild plot progressions without milking them for an entire season just to fill your paycheck while you try to figure out the rest of the shoe on the spot. It's revolutionary for the entire industry

Personally I wish more people talked about S1E10 - Janet and Jason get married, Eleanor and Tahani bond, but most importantly - it’s the first time Eleanor realizes she’s in love. She’s an adorable goofball in her confession and it never gets referenced again. Even in later seasons when Eleanore finds out they got together in past reboots, she never gets to see the first time it happened. We do. So pure ❤️

it's cool how many times the direction of the show changes, first its the s1 plot of eleanor trying to pretend that she belongs in the good place, then its what you described in this video of the gang getting rebooted a discovering over and over again that they're in the bad place, then it's about the gang trying to pretend they're being tortured to keep michael's job and keep them out of the normal bad place, then it's about michael and the gang's quest to make it to the actual good place, then about the gang living on earth again trying to be better people and gain enough points to make it to the good place, then it's them trying to reform the broken points system through an experiment by recreating the s1 bad place with new people, then it's about them creating a new afterlife system while finally living in the good place, then it ends with them fixing the good place by creating an end to it. it's like 8 shows all wrapped into one and you never could have guessed the direction it would take next

I never thought a sitcom could do such a mind-blowing twist in such a perfect way. This show is something else. ❤❤

yes this episode was when it really clicked for me, specifically Ted Danson was brilliant in this episode "Jason figured it out. Jason! oh yeah this is a new low"

This is a show that did exactly what it intended to, then ended when it was ready. A lot of shows could learn from that

Honestly, I didn’t want to watch the show bc from every trailer I saw, I was like “that sounds more like Hell than Heaven tbh”, and then I heard that that was in fact the twist, and I immediately loved that a show was willing to do that, so I sat down and watched it, and now I love the show so much

As tv addict for 45 years, I can honestly say the Good Place is one of the most well written, creative pieces of art I've ever seen on my tv screen. It deserves a spot with the all time great sitcoms and I hope it becomes a classic.

I remember being shocked at how they burned through potential plot that first ep of S2! Made me nervous. Loved his frustration when JASON guessed!

This show really does spend its whole run priming your for how fleeting the dynamics you take for granted are.

I had a blast watching this show, and then sobbed like a baby watching the final episode. My sudden emotional reaction to it came out of left field for me; I just realized while I was sitting there that it was over, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Please, PLEASE do more videos on *The Good Place!!!!* It was definitely one of the greatest shows of all time. Nothing wasted. Perfectly acted, written, and directed.

this show (and particularly michael) is so important to me. part of it is i think luck, mike schur's idea of what an actual good place would be matches up with mine pretty much exactly, so it really-really worked for me, and michael's story is so beautiful and perfect and i love him so much. it's especially interesting now that i'm rewatching parks & rec, because i truly think this is mike schur's leftmost show. not just because they say "everything goes to the bad place because of capitalism", but immoral beings cannot create an afterlife for humans, because they fundamentally don't understand humanity - this sounds like the 1% to me.

I loved that how Tahani changed from her single-focus-of-life (as in overshining Kamilah) she eventually was able to focus on literally everyone else - and that made her stay in afterlife rather than walking through that arch. its the best show out there and forever will be.

The most interesting question the show posed to me was about Michael (a demon) wanting to be a good human. It reminded me of Star Trek, where you have androids, aliens, and technology that don't exist to reframe these questions

Ted Danson had three great revel moments. The First season reveal. The gang under the train reveal and the one where he solves the trolly problem.

I know plenty of people who have a show that they can rewatch over and over. The Good Place is that show for me. I love finding new KZfaq first watch channels and seeing their reaction to the entire series - what they figure out when, who their favorite characters are, and general commentary as they move along through the show's many stages. Thanks for creating content on it. I love identifying new layers of this fantastic and delicious onion of a show.

Definitely. Season 1 was great. The refusal to play into everyone's expectations for season 2 was genius. I was hooked so hard and then the entire show kept changing until the most stunning beautiful cathartic finale. Incredible.

I agree 100%. I was also expecting that Season 2 was going to be a different version of Season 1. And then when it didn't, I was surprised. But then the episode 2 really made me blink, do a double take..."where the heck are they going with this??" I LOVE that! It is so rare that a show really surprises us like the Good Place did. And then they just kept doing it again and again... I never knew what was going to happen next... I loved that show.

What makes the Good Place so fantastic is that it embraces impermanence and endings in a popculture that has become obsessed with infinite shared universes. Star Wars, Star Trek or the various superhero universes aren't allowed to end, so they become these shapeless patternless patterns. Just noise where the sound have might, and might have once been, music. By embracing impermanence fearlessly by rushing through what lesser creators could have milked for years the Good Place became an antithesis to mainstream popculture. it's why it had to end the way it did, because anything else would have been hypocrisy. A stumble at the finish line.

The good place is one of the best shows ever made. And I don't know that we would still be talking about it if it went the route of "see how different it is this time, how will they figure it out?" Every episode or season. It keeps reinventing itself which is why it's so great (plus the awesome writing😂)

It’s fascinating how characters changed so much and yet kept some level of essence all throughout the show

1:50 Ok, before I go further in the video I’m gonna guess which episode you’re referring to. Season 3 Episode 10 “Janet(s)” where we learn that no one has gotten into the Good Place in 521 years. I’ve been watching KZfaq reactions to The Good Place recently, and every time one of them guesses someone recent who’s in the Good Place I just smirk like Season 1 finale MIchael and say, “Just you wait.” Like when I first started watching reactions I genuinely forgot how late in the series we find out that information because it’s one of the things about the show that just stuck with me. Particularly the scene from a later episode where the Judge learns how buying a tomato on Earth loses points. We learn that it actually was the almond milk all along!

I’m so glad a friend of mine convinced me to finish season 1 before season 2 started, and that I somehow managed to avoid having the season 1 finale spoiled! They asked if I watched the show and I told them I’d seen like half of the first season. All they said was that I needed to finish the season and that I wouldn’t be disappointed, and they were right!

I've always been almost hesitant to even call this show a SitCom, because I always thought that they were supposed to return to some kind of status quo. With pretty much all sitcoms I've ever watched, most people can usually jump into some season 3 episode and get the gist in a few minutes, while with this show you'd be absolutely lost. Season one is a bit like this, like you said. It's almost like they made a sitcom for one season and after that decided to create a whole different kind of show with only some remains of the genre in it. It's fuckin awesome

A lot of people I know thought it was too rushed but I thought it was paced beautifully and never overstayed. A very fun watch in my opinion would love to see the longer video on it.

S1 finale was such a huge reveal and probably the most enjoyable plot twist out of any show at the time I had been watching but I was kind of wary when they reset the memory because I wasn't sure how they were supposed to follow the twist, especially since the characters were wiped clean. It was so important for s2 e1 to acknowledge and then totally toss out the "and then we inch along" plot like you mentioned other sitcoms do, or it would've been so stale. the good place was so unexpectedly creative and emotional for what could've been such a basic sitcom and I love it so much

i cant believe the entire show wasnt planned from the start, it felt so perfect

The start of Season 2 is my absolute favourite part of the show, and I'm so glad to see this brilliance being recognised. I'd have loved to watch every one of the reboots but Eleanor saying "hang on/wait a minute/ you know what/holy smokes - this is the bad place" is legit the best part of the show for me. While season 1 was fun, season 2 takes us on a much more exciting ride, getting deeper and closer to the philosophy of the show

7:33 I don't even need to hear the dialogue to have the tears start coming.

TGP was such an amazing show. Thanks for this essay.

This reminds me of your recent ananlysis of community- shows which commit to jumping the shark and reinventing thenselves will not only avoid becoing stale, but will avoid alienating their viewers, and ultimately end up with something more rewarding. Thanks for the essay!

I rewatch The Good Place from start to finish every now and then. Jeremy Bearimy, baby.

Agree completely. Looooved The Good Place. That every season was different from the season before, yet still felt true to it's creative core was one of the things that made so wonderful & unique. And yes the 2 episodes you highlighted, the finale of season 1 and it's reveal (that was such an OMG! moment, glad you put the spoiler at the beginning because anyone who's going to watch this show needs to experience that reveal completely fresh), and the first episode of season2 where we revisit the subsequent attempts to reset & each time the same thing happens, brilliant concept. Thanks for reminding me how much I loved this show & everyone in it.

Thanks for the video! I remember being absolutely floored at the beginning of season 2 when the show didn't just cycle a different story with the same outcome for the entire duration of the season. It hadn't occurred to me that there was any other route this story could take.

The good place isn't just a series, it's art.

And HUNDREDS of years take place in one or two episodes. I do wish they slowed down a little during either the reincarnation arc or after Chidi gets back because it feels so fast and then we are at the end

The episode that changed everything was S1E7, where Eleanor admits that she shouldn't be in the Good Place. You talk about what the show was at the start, and the entire show could have been just Eleanor trying to evade Michael. This episode is the one that broke the mold, that announced that this show was going to be different. I remember being astonished at what Eleanor did.

We need more good place videos, someone as versed in writing as you can definitely explain a lot more of what we understood from just watching the show

Your points about what makes S2E1 so great, so groundbreaking, are also what makes it SO HARD for me to unconditionally recommend this show to everyone. I try to let people know that season one is essentially prologue, that it doesn’t hit its stride until season two. People are used to hearing, “Give it three or four episodes before making up your mind or quitting”… not “Commit to a whole season before making up your mind.”

Way to demolish MY expectations with a legit banger of a video today of all days

to be honest, the scenes that stuck with me the most where eleanor's "i wanted that mom" speech and chidi's "waves return to the ocean" speech. neither where big reveals, neither where big moments. but holy s$!t, they stuck with me. both sound like they where written by someone throwing down all of the trauma, their feelings, their entire soul. and it hits so hard.

This show felt like a thought experiment put to television and that is what made me fall in love with it. The conclusion of the thought experiment was so human as well. We all feel like this life wont be enough for us but in truth i feel like in the end we all decide it was. A true masterpiece of a show in my opinion.

Watch the followup video here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fLSTlqt7ncuuo40.html And if you're enjoying these types of videos, please consider supporting me on Patreon! www.patreon.com/pillarofgarbage

I would love to see more videos about this show, I just finished rewatching it for the fourth time

What a good video. I remember when I watched the second season, wondering what they were going to do. And the revelation and then list of resets really blew my mind. Where the Good Place goes is kind up surprising if you only know the first season, but it's also has such a clear path!!!

Micheal´s casting choice is truly a stroke of genius

This is one of the best TV shows ever made. The writing is genius throughout and the comedy style is right up my alley, while many more dramatic scenes made me cry.

I’ve seen all seasons of the show four times. Every year or two I end up binging it again. It’s like a course on practical moral philosophy yet somehow made it fascinating. No other show like it.

YES. Season 2 was when I really fell in love with this show. Spot on video.

Michael's s1 Finale laugh is music to my ears

I appreciated that they did this so much. I was excited for season 2 when I thought I knew where it was going. Then it got 10x better.

The Good Place deserves as much in-depth analysis as you are capable of. It's one of the best shows ever!

Still one of the best twists I’ve ever seen in a show

Please bless me with the big chonker video. Btw your previous video got me to rewatch the show and I’m already on season 3😅

Love this - captures exactly what made this show special. And yes, please do the in-depth video, can’t wait to see that

The episode that changes everything is S2 E2, when the alliance is formed. Also, it has the best joke of the whole series. "Even Jason figure it out".

ill watch any good place video essay honestly

Dance Dance Resolution is definitely the episode I've watched the most, dozens of times, and it is so defining of The Good Place and just a unique and super fun episode in all of TV show history!

I started the good place right when the first season released, and it took me some years to finally finish. Watching Ted Danson laugh evilly still gets me every time. I love the whole show though! I was ugly crying all through the final episode.

Had the same feeling with the first season of Homeland. The cat and mouse game of Brody and Carrie after she learns the truth could have been an entire series. Instead they throw all of it in the trash, and turn the show into The Fugitive. So unexpected and refreshing.

It was this moment that I saw on twitter and it got me to watch the show - which I’m so grateful for. I wish I went into it without knowing this happened, but I’m still happy I watched it regardless.

I remember having the same thought while watching the start of season 2. The show just kept rebooting itself so fast! I couldn't believe how often they decided to jump ahead. It really kept me engaged and so excited to see what they would do next. LOVE this show.

The best part about this reveal is that, right up until just before this scene was filmed, only Ted Danson and Kristin Bell knew this. The other 4 actors had no idea.

Great video! I've seen so many of your earlier vids that I am pleasantly surprised to see that Patreon list is so much longer now. I'm unfortunately not in the position to contribute there, so I'm dropping this comment for the algorithm. Definitely looking forward to more Good Place videos!

Fantastic analysis, POG. As a massive Good Place fan, a lot of what you're saying makes complete sense. Also, the part where Jason figures it out is legit hilarious!

It's my contention that The Good Place is the perfect show. Four seasons, tight, no extraneous fluff, no bad shows and it arrives where it wants to and ends on the right note. I've binge watched the entire series at least 3 times since the first new episode airings were watched.

To me the most powerful, most enlightening twist was finding out that no one has been admitted to the good place in a long time because there's no ethical consumption under capitalism.

In all my years watching sitcoms, this is the one that actually got me. this reveal was so insane. 10/10

Great video thanks! I felt like the "no one gets in anymore" was also an amazing twist.

Still my favorite line is "Jason figured it out?" And Michael just gets so dejected it's fantastic.

Its interesting how much you bring up Schur here as o always felt that the whole fake good place was a bit of meta commentary on tv writing itself with Micheal as the showrinner (and late Eleanor I guess)

Mine’s when Chidi said “it’s Anagonyen time” and and Anagonye’d all over the room and then shawn said “hehoo peanut”

More Good Place content is always beloved!

I honestly never considered this perspective before, that it was possible that they would just go slow with reboot 2 (or 3 for that matter). I did watch the beginning of season 2 minutes after finishing season 1 on netflix, so I don't know that I had time to consider that possibility. But it feels so natural that everything just begins going off the rails in the beginning of season 2, it works so well. Please start working on that big chonker, I love Good Place content. One of my top 3 shows of all time, and #1 comedy.

Yes yes yes yes. Love this pair of episodes and couldn't agree more.

I'm loving the Good Place content!

Yes, this is why I love the Good Place and think it's the best sitcom (if it qualifies as one, some contest this). It's genuinely groundbreaking and I hope more shows dare to do the same!!

One thing that changes everything for the characters we already know, in a way that lot of people seem not to address when they discuss it, is the reveal that literally no one has gotten to the good place to since about 1492 AD. A lot of fans learn that but maintain the idea that the original four still deserved to go to the Bad Place. But everything we know about the moral system is based on what Michael told them in the first couple of seasons, but we've learned that Michael didn't actually know any of this and he was either making it up as torture or was mistaken, as he didn't know there were issues with the points system. For all we know, correctly calculated, Chidi and Tahani deserved to go to the Good Place for their theoretical and practical contributions to society. The idea that Chidi made people so miserable he went to the Bad Place, or the idea that Tahani was so selfishly motivated that she went to the Bad Place, has no basis after that reveal.

Time to rewatch this show again :)

God, The good place is a show i really cant recommend enough. Its so beautiful, the writing is magnificent, the characters are acted out so well, I had low hopes at first and god did it impress me. The ending makes me cry everytime. I love this show so god damn much

i love knowing that the writers had no idea what to do for season 2 because that was my favourite season

Great video!

Inn my opinion, the biggest turning point was partway through season 3 when they discover that nobody goes to Heaven. it calls into question whether the man characters deserved to be in the bad place at all given everybody goes to the bad place even ones who had the best intentions and did the best they could. Then the main characters stopped selfishly trying to find their own way to Heaven and started one a more selfless mission to get everyone else there. They even offered themselves up for eternal torture at one point to try and save the rest of humanity.

i love the first line of the description! excellent choice

I agree with this 100%. I loved the first season, and started season two with the expectation that they would likely milk the "reset" for another whole season, as that's what I felt most other shows would do in similar circumstances. The Good Place is not most other shows and continued to astound me with it's swift yet smooth pacing, and willingness to seemingly write itself into corners, while having every outcome and continuation feel like a natural and earned progression.

I respect nothing more than a show that gets in, does an excellent job, and gets out.

You know, the season 2 premiere is like the antithesis to this infamous arc in a popular anime. If you know the show named The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, there were a series of episodes known as the Endless Eight. These episodes were about how the main cast’s summer vacation has been looping for almost millennia. While the idea of it is interesting, the problem was that there was little variation in those 8 episodes that some people would just opt to just watch only the first and the last loop. Some scenes were even the same word for word, with the only difference being the camera angles and what the characters were wearing. In turn, it caused some of show’s good reputation to be lost from the audience. The Good Place shows that same fatigue of the main characters looping their experiences, but at the same time NOT inconveniencing the viewer from enjoying the story

I must've watched this show three times. Endlessly rewatchable