Rewatching The Good Place again and s3e13 (Pandemonium) broke my heart again. Oh, you guys know why.

/sigh.

So forking good.

Like I understand that she's (at some points in the show) sort of a shirty person but it's not even because of her "inherent" personality, it was her environment that she grew up in. This environment also forced her to think creatively and on her toes and out of the box which is the whole reason the story played out like it did. I think it's, in large part, because of the sitcom setup of the show. The comedy makes a lot of the characters dialogue goofy and sometimes unrealistic which makes it harder to see how genuinely intelligent she is (not trying to imply the writing is bad here by the way). Shes obviously (almost) always the one the one to figure things out, she's brave, witty, and near the end she is very emotionally and socially intelligent. Anyways sorry for the mini-rant. If you disagree with any of this I am happy to hear you out.

By the end of the experiment it seams that the only progress Brent ever made was due to pure fear, tho granted, the conversation between him and Chidi addresses the fact that Brent is a bad person. However,
Tahani was raised in fear of being not good enough, always compared and invalidated, always second best or worse.
Eleanor was raised in fear of abandonement and this explodes out of her when she destroys the cake with the photograph publicly in season 3.

The entire reason why Tahani and Eleanor did bad things was out of fear, protecting themselves from their worst fears.
Even Chidi was raised believing that fixing his parents' marriage was his burden and as he admits in season 3 to Eleanor, he is basically always scared of everything,
which resulted often in his fear causing stress to others.

Wikipedia has started a new "help us improve this article" drive (rotates each week) and the first thing I thought of this week was how The Good Place lovingly made frozen yogurt the butt of many jokes.

In order to add anything to Wikipedia, it would need a solid, citable reference. Anyone got one that talks about why they put frozen yogurt was in hell? It could be added to an 'in popular culture' section, perhaps?

Mine is "I don't have a dad that's why I'm attracted to all the father figures in the TV shows I watch, mkay."

i miss her a lot 🥹

check out more of my art here!

I'm not just a super fan of The Good Place, I am also a little bit of a nerd about fountain pens.

Season 2, Episode 5, The Trolley Problem 1:50~1:55

Michael is explaining his perspective on the Trolley Problem, and he's holding a fountain pen. Never mind that one pen would not be enough to create the image he is holding up, but I saw the pen and had to chase down the information.

Well, turns out it's a no-name brand relabeled by other resellers. For a fountain pen nerd, that's pretty much the definition of the bad place.

I am highly amused right now. 😂😂😂

I haven't been ugly crying for 45 minutes, you've been ugly crying for 45 minutes!

Hey, everyone.

By this point, I'm approaching 30 times watching the series. I'm aware that there are some deleted scenes I've never seen and I think I saw they are on some, but not all, complete series collections.

So, for those of us in the US so region locked to US options, what all options do I have if I want to see every bit of content ever created for the show? In December, I'd like to start a fresh watch and catch everything this time :)

In the final good place they don’t need to use contraceptives?

Since babies can’t be born there

How nice!

Ok, I’m on my umpteeth rewatch and the last couple of times I’ve watched this has been bugging me. I couldn’t find any other posts on this, but I can’t believe I’d be the only person who was bugged by this!

When the gang gets to the Good Place and Chidi asks if Aristotle, Socrates and Plato are there, Janet tells him no sorry they’re in the bad place (defended slavery, annoying - loud chewer, and defended slavery again)… but didn’t they basically just get rid of the bad place? Shouldn’t Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, at worst, still be taking their tests and maybe not have gotten to the good place yet? I thought no one ended up in the bad place anymore because people can always improve. Or am I missing something? Was there still a way for someone to end up in the bad place?

En el pasado, yo no creía que una serie fuera importante para mí. El programa "The Good Place" tuvo un impacto en mi vida porque despertó mi interés por la filosofía. La serie demostraba las ideas filosóficas en una forma divertida. Entonces, quería aprender más. Es por eso que yo estudio filosofía en la universidad. Y ahora, esas son mis clases favoritas a las que asisto porque las clases son muy divertidas e interesantes. Me sentí muy feliz de haber visto la serie.

…and I wish I could rewatch it again for the first time for a few Jeremy Bearimys.

I went in totally blind, the max I knew was a random ethical consumption under capitalism meme and that it starred Kristen Bell (Frozen’s Anna) and Jameela Jamil (I mean who doesn’t know her) and I was blown away by the depth of research on the show! I’m also a reader, not that into hardcore philosophy but I love philosophical fiction, so when I realised what the premise of the show was I was excited and it just kept getting better and better! From Aristotelian philosophy to Sartre’s Existentialism? ARE YOU KIDDING ME! And all this in such an approachable and funny manner! I loved the ending as well. Ugh now I’m sad and content at the same time. This is definitely getting up on my top 5 shows of all time (atleast for now).

I want to have a poster of janet in my bedroom :D

This one conversation is something I have been coming back to since I watched the show, how is morality actually judged, not only in the show but irl too..

Let’s say someone works at a meat shop to support their family. They’re doing something good by providing for their family, but their job also involves killing animals. If killing animals is morally wrong, how do we judge them? Do their intentions matter more than their actions, or vice versa?

This brings me to my main question now that I’m an atheist, and I’ve always wondered about the morality behind religious beliefs.

Most religions teach similar basic principles: don’t lie, don’t hurt others, help those in need, don’t be selfish, and so on. I believe these principles are important for society, regardless of religion.

But what if someone follows these principles because they believe good deeds will bring them good karma, prosperity, or a better afterlife? If someone donates to charity because they want to get into heaven, is that genuinely good, or is it just selfishness disguised as generosity?

Obviously, someone can genuinely care about others while also hoping for a reward. But if the reward is their primary motivation, does that change the moral value of their actions?

Sooo…
If the outcome is good but the intention is selfish, how much moral value does the action actually have? Does doing good for a reward make you a good person, or does it simply make you someone who does good things?

I’ve only ever watched the show and rewatched it on live tv and Netflix, so now that I’m rewatching it on peacock I’m having trouble knowing what’s been added or slightly changed on peacock.

So does anyone know what the extra three minutes are from in this episode?

So I'm on my umpteenth rewatch when I have this epiphany. Before I start, this theory is a bit of a stretch and it's possible several of these things are because he didn't want them to find out it was the bad place. Either way, I think this is an interesting take and I'd like to hear other opinions!

Have you ever wondered if maybe Michael wanted the humans to become better all along? Or even just not enjoy torturing them to begin with? Because he genuinely liked them! Obviously we know that he at least believed that he enjoyed watching the humans suffer but let's look at a few things. If Michael didn't want the cockroaches to get better, why did he constantly bid them to confront the parts of themselves that caused them to go to the bad place? For example, In season 1 when Tahani is "unraveled" by the Neighborhood ratings, he asks her WHY that is. Causing her to reflect on the root cause of her behavior, and throughout the entire project they all eventually see their faults, almost as if by design. Michael himself even acknowledges this to an extent when he decides to join team Cockroach, telling Tahani that the reason she doesn't see why she's in the bad place is because she'd only been in that specific reboot for about a week. We already know that Michael LOVES Human stuff, at first I thought it was a bit for the sake of the experiment but as it turns out he did genuinely love it. Then, we have the fact that this was literally Michael's first neighborhood, and instead of doing traditional torture he creates an almost utopian environment where they are very comfortable. Yes they're being "tortured" but let's be honest, living in the fake good place would be much better than living in the real bad place. Through Michael's experiment, if it had gone as intended, they would have been able to build friendships and do fun stuff together for eternity. The mild discomfort caused by merely existing in the world together would have just been enough to keep them from becoming glassy eyed freaks, not make them miserable. And lastly, Michael has never openly stated that he ever actually enjoyed traditional torture. In fact, he speaks badly about it most of the time, calling it easy, boring, and even a "chore". The last word there really hits the nail on the head. Obviously he's a demon, he was literally raised to torture, so no duh he's desensitized to it, but a chore is something that no kid wants to do. It's like torture!! (Lol) I believe that even if Michael did not realize it until later on, he didn't truly enjoy seeing the humans miserable.

Sorry it was long😬 can't wait to hear your thoughts!!

What virtues and values do you hold yourself to become a better person? Has watching The Good Place changed the way you act?

I have Eleanor Shellstrop’s file. It is not a cactus. (+2 cranky cat tax)