The Good Place

Well, Michael and Shawn are actually architects of The Bad Places, while Trevor and his group seem to be the people who run what gets made. So they're from an original spikes-and-fire The Bad Place.

@Raven Wilder- That's an interesting thought. I was thinking that in retrospect it explains why Trevor not only didn't seem as interested in reclaiming the supposedly "real Eleanor" as would be expected, but also seemed to mostly target "fake Eleanor". Like everything we see about Trevor would indicate that he'd especially like tormenting an innocent person and so the fact that he doesn't focus much on "real Eleanor" is probably a foreshadowing that she's actually a co-worker. Converselry, Trevor does seem to cause a lot of annoyance for Michael, but I'm not sure how much that is actually screwing with Michael or creating problems for Tahani.

One thing that made the reveal work make a lot of sense to me though is that Michael always seemed to be something of an ungrateful bastard toward the protagonists' friendship and attempts to help him and also didn't really appreciate their positive character development as much as would be expected. While it previously seemed like this was because of stringent heavenly standards, it makes a lot more sense that he wasn't grateful because those kind of things impeded him.

Yeah. I kind of wonder the extent to which he liked to screw with Michael because Trevor is a traditionalist and is unimpressed by Michael's idea, especially when he was required to salvage the masquerade. Or more simply a an employee screwing with a pointy-headed boss.

edited 21st Jan '17 12:47:25 PM by Hodor2

Alternatively, Trevor and his group minus Bad Janet are all actors too. Actually that wouldn't make sense given how he's in the introductory video in The Middle Place, so.

edited 21st Jan '17 12:49:11 PM by TruthHurts22

Will the show even be classified as a sitcom from here on? It seems like it has to be a comedic fantasy drama from this point.

It's some sort of "Truman Show" Plot now. Give or take a few variables.

Only if you take a very limited view of what a sitcom can be. Generally, a Sitcom simply means a television comedy that follows a single, scripted narrative, as opposed to standup comedy which doesn't use a narrative, sketch comedy which changes narrative multiple times an episode, and comedic reality shows which don't script their narrative.

Had a question/thought. So, I know that the four mains now have new (fake) soulmates- this time demons/actors, but they are still in the same "town", right? So like Eleanor can still bump into Chidi and the others at Good Place events?

Probably a stupid question because the show wouldn't work otherwise, but I halfway wondered if we would be following the characters next season (hopefully there will be one) with each being the only real person in a separate "town"- and then somehow having to crash realms to find each other (even though each realm would obviously still be part of the Bad Place).

Was also thinking that at some point the show probably needs to introduce an actual angel who learns of the protagonists' improvement and wants to help them.

edited 21st Jan '17 2:05:38 PM by Hodor2

I think they're all still in the same place. Remember, Michael is limited here. The whole point is to prove that he can trick four humans into torturing each other. If they have to put them in entirely separate neighborhoods, what's the point? Likewise, if he fails again, they're not going to let him just reset it a hundred more times. They'll just revert to their traditional fire and brimstone torture and move on. That's also why I think the angels are going to get involved at some point. I suppose the only other option would be to flee to the Medium Place and stay there this time, but who knows how safe that really is.

• Only if you take a very limited view of what a sitcom can be. Generally, a Sitcom simply means a television comedy that follows a single, scripted narrative, as opposed to standup comedy which doesn't use a narrative, sketch comedy which changes narrative multiple times an episode, and comedic reality shows which don't script their narrative.

A sitcom generally, especially on NBC, does not have Evil All Along twists, Twilight Zone twists and amnesia thriller/sci-fi plotlines, nor cosmic entities using the main cast as playthings.

Though that would've made for a fuckton cooler FRIENDS.

So I'm gonna be rewatching the series to see how things look after the events of the finale. Just watched the first episode again, and my thoughts were:

1. Before Michael tells everyone that this is the first neighborhood he's designed on his own, he says that he's not supposed to be telling them this. I think that might be a case of the mask slipping and Michael speaking with genuine pride.

2. Originally, the fact that Janet wasn't allowed to tell anyone what the Bad Place was like (aside from a brief audio clip) seemed like a weird rule, probably inserted by the writers because showing the Bad Place would be either too horrific or too expensive. Now it makes so much sense. Of course they can't allow Janet to tell anyone about the Bad Place, because then they'd know they were in the Bad Place!

3. When Elanor talks about how her parents were both pretty lousy people and how they're both probably in the Bad Place, she wonders, "Maybe they're being used to torture each other. It would work." That is some epic foreshadowing, and explains why Elanor's the one who figured the puzzle out!

4. Needless to say, anytime Michael smiles at the main characters is now incredibly creepy.

There's also a scene in the pilot where the four real people are introduced to each other by Michael as neighbours, and he tells them it fills him with happiness to know they'll be spending eternity together. So creepy and hilarious now.

edited 22nd Jan '17 3:07:32 PM by occono

Woot, woot, it's been renewed!

Series creator Michael Schur has just done a new interview where he discusses things like progress on Season 2, how the big twist was kept secret, and whether the Medium Place is "real":

http://uproxx.com/sepinwall/the-good-place-twist-explained-mike-schur/2/

Ooh, that's interesting. So Kristen Bell and Ted Danson knew the twist, but nobody else in the cast did. That's similar to how in Agents of SHIELD, they told Bill Paxton that he was secretly Hydra without telling anyone else in the cast.

First look at season 2[1]

God the clam chowder fountain. At least fro-yo is appealing as a poor man's ice cream.

What's the end-game here? A second chance at life? Free pass to the actual Good Place?

Honestly I'm hoping they can establish a Middle Place for everyone who isn't good enough for the Good Place.

Bump. Season 2 starts tomorrow with an hour long premiere, then resumes as normal on the 28th

This show is fantastic, can't wait for season 2.

Oh man, I am so excited for this next season to start.

A rare occurrence, like a double rainbow or someone on the internet saying "You know what? You've convinced me I was wrong."

Michael's pocket square and bowtie game is on point. It takes guts to wear a bow tie that big.

I wonder how expensive they are? My gut tells me "too much for me."

Oh, there was a video I saw earlier today of the four second mains getting the news about last season's big reveal that Kristen Bell filmed.

Ah here it is.

http://ew.com/tv/2017/09/20/the-good-place-bad-place-video-kristen-bell/

I've been wondering since the end of last season how the characters even stand a chance in this scenario. Now we can add Micheal to the "Oh he's so screwed" list. At least we know that this show won't be reduced to an eternity of Reset Button presses.

It's hilarious how fast the second variation fell apart. I do hope Vicky was assigned as one of their love interests in variant three as she clearly does have her own agenda in this.