It's a new year and I'm tinkering around with the format of my blogs to increase output (maybe) and hopefully quality. So I'm going to be using my I Got Thoughts point-form style of recap as the standard going forward for my episodic recaps. So if this review looks different from past ones, that's why.
-After going into the break (At the beginning of November! Thanks NBC.) with a ton of story momentum, The Good Place kicks off the first of the last 4 episodes of the season with a breather of a set-up episode. It's not filler by any means. We get some valuable insight into Chidi that should pay off at some point, clarify the dynamic between various characters in the wake of recent events and there's even a wedding, but it feels a bit minor compared to the past few episodes. That's totally fine though. Set-up episodes are necessary for shows like this and even if it wasn't the most exciting episode, it was certainly a funny one.
-With Real Eleanor back, Fake Eleanor (Our Eleanor) starting to realize in recent weeks how much her friendship with Chidi means to her, Michael deciding to help Our Eleanor, Tahani still being upset at Our Eleanor, Jason's growing bond with Janet and Tahani's discovery of Jason's true identity, all the relationships on The Good Place are in flux. It's kind of a mess and it gets complicated more tonight when Real Eleanor convinces Our Eleanor that she's in love with Chidi as Tahani comes to that same revelation but Chidi's Choice wades into that mess admirably and manages to sort everything out somewhat by the end.
-As the title suggests, we spend a lot of time with Chidi who has a choice to make. Well a bunch of them actually. It turns out Chidi is terrible at making decisions under any kind of pressure to the point where he literally died because he couldn't make a decision in time to step out of the path of a falling air conditioner. Chidi being indecisive is something that I'm not sure entirely vibes with his actions the past nine episodes (Though the show does kind of point it out) but it fits in perfectly with what's been established about his character. Of course the Chidi who always tries to do the right thing, can't tell a simple lie without being wracked with guilt for years, and made his life's work an impenetrable mess due to his constant revising is bad at making decisions. It just makes sense.
-William Jackson-Harper has been the stealth MVP of The Good Place since episode one and he gets a well-earned spotlight tonight with plenty of opportunity to showcase Chidi's two best comedic modes: crippling nervousness and stunned bewilderment. His series of confused "What?"'s that close out the episode are a comedic masterstroke.
-Ted Danson gets a lighter workload this week but he plays Michael's growing frustration with Chidi's indecisiveness perfectly. Michael and Chidi is probably my favourite pairing on the show. They have a really odd dynamic that I just can't get enough of. The scene where Michael gets drawn into Chidi's overthinking when he begins considering the idea that the soulmate system might have been totally thrown off while Chidi just melts down is a highlight.
-Tiya Sircar continues to make complete and utter perfection both compelling and kind of funny and Real Eleanor continues to be a beam of pure goodness. When she realizes that Our Eleanor cares for Chidi, she acknowledges that it's an awkward situation and you can tell she feels weird about it, but she also encourages Eleanor to go talk to Chidi and get it all sorted out rather than be jealous or catty. It's nice.
-Also nice? Eleanor and Tahani genuinely bonding and being friends even when they realize they both think they love Chidi. The Good Place could've used the reveal of Jason's deception to further the wedge between the two but while Tahani is justifiably angry, Eleanor is able to win her over. It's an excellent example of how far Eleanor has come. Her willingly trying to make amends with Tahani and salvage their friendship would have been unthinkable at the beginning of the series but it seems perfectly in character now.
-So Chidi and Tahani bonding a few episodes back did come up again. I was starting to think the show was just going to forget about that. Of course now it seems like that story existed so they could throw Tahani into the love triangle with Chidi and the Eleanor's for an episode and have it make sense but that's fine. It doesn't weaken the previous story, though Tahani suddenly deciding she doesn't love Chidi weakens this one. Why even have her in the mix? Oh well.
-Eleanor suddenly deciding that maybe her soulmate is actually Jason came a little too out of left field for me to work but it does make an odd amount of sense. We still don't know how Jason got into The Good Place. Maybe he was supposed to be Eleanor's soulmate. But Eleanor has grown a lot since the start of the show and Jason has not. There's no way Eleanor would seriously consider Jason as her soulmate now. It seems like a contrivance designed to make the end where she tells Chidi she doesn't love him in a romantic way seem more feasible (Also come on. She totally loves him in a romantic way). Yeah it doesn't take long for Eleanor to realize she doesn't love Jason but it's just weird.
-Jason and Janet getting married also comes out of left field but unlike Eleanor deciding that she loves Jason it makes perfect sense. Jason has been attracted to Janet from the start and him being kind to her during her rebooting phase is justification enough to have a fully restored Janet decide to marry him.
-The wedding sequence at the end with Jason's sleeveless tux, Eleanor and Tahani both objecting before deciding to just roll with it, and Jason's attempt to feed Janet cake was definitely the funniest part of the episode. I wonder if Jason's new marital status is going to play into how he winds up staying in the good place when he's inevitably discovered (I'll be shocked if Michael still doesn't know by the end of next episode).
-Poor Chidi. Even when he's finally ready to make a decision, he doesn't get to make a decision.
-So again, this wasn't the best episode of Good Place but it was still a quite good one. I'm very glad the show is back in my life for a couple more weeks.
-Seriously though. Chidi's closing "What?" to the sight of newlyweds Jason and Janet dancing? Incredible.
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