Welcome to the first review of The Good Place! I’ve been ridiculously excited for this show since Kristen Bell joined the cast back in January and am even more excited to be reviewing it with you all every week. Today, we are looking at the two part premiere: “Pilot” and “Flying.”
As a quick recap:
The Good Place begins with recently deceased Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), moments after she wakes up in heaven, aka “The Good Place.” She meets the leader of The Good Place, Michael (Ted Danson), as well as her predestined soulmate, Chidi (William Jackson Harper). After being shown around her new neighborhood and hearing about her life on earth, Eleanor quickly realizes that she was mistakenly given entrance into heaven. In an unpredictable curveball at the end of the episode, absolute chaos strikes The Good Place and Eleanor realizes that her immoral and negative energy is acting as the catalyst for the ensuing destruction. Eleanor then begs Chidi to teach her how to be a good person so that she can avoid being sent to The Bad Place.
Overall, I thought this was a really strong pilot. One of the best parts of the episode is definitely Kristen Bell’s portrayal of Eleanor. As I mentioned in my preview of the episode, Kristen Bell has the very unique quality of making terrible characters likable and entertaining. Here, she is surrounded by characters who are so saintly and perfect that they are actually a little annoying and self righteous, so she ends up serving as the hilarious voice of the “normal” person. Her sass towards Tahani, an especially boastful resident of The Good Place, is a particular highlight as she drunkenly mocks Tahani’s self important toast at a party in Tahani’s mansion. That’s not to say the supporting characters are low points. On the contrary, they are really funny parodies of egotistical and pompous people.
Speaking of the supporting characters, Ted Danson and William Jackson Harper are hilarious as Michael and Chidi. Ted Danson’s Michael spends much of the episode forcing a smile and positive attitude to the point where I am just waiting for him have a ridiculous meltdown. On the other end of the spectrum, Chidi is such a normal, nice, and genuine person that he serves as the perfect opposing force to Kristen Bell’s quirky, morally flawed Eleanor. My other favorite part of the pilot’s introduction of Chidi is that the writers do not make it obvious whether or not we are supposed to be rooting for a romantic relationship to develop between Eleanor and him. So often in TV the audience is told exactly which couples they should be rooting for, so I love how the writers are not prioritizing that and rather are letting their relationship just develop organically. In terms of other supporting characters, Tahani, Janet, and Jianyu are pretty underdeveloped. That is understandable considering the writers only had 22 minutes to set up a pretty intricate premise as well as a lead character, but I am hoping that they are given some development quickly. Right now, they are funny caricatures but that can’t sustain an entire series.
Whereas the pilot is mostly set up, the second episode, “Flying,” dives a little deeper into the moral compass of Eleanor. The first lesson Chidi tries to teach her is the importance of not being a selfish person. This lesson is put to the test when Michael gives the residents of The Good Place the opportunity to learn to fly, but some volunteer to clean up the mess that was left after the chaos from the end of the pilot instead. Chidi volunteers Eleanor to clean up but instead, she cuts a bunch of corners so that she can take part in the last flying lesson. Once she does this, however, another storm hits The Good Place, which Eleanor once again realizes is tied to her behavior. Feeling guilty, Eleanor decides to clean up the town on her own, showing a little bit of moral development. The B-story running throughout “Flying” involves Tahani and Jianyu’s attempts to cheer up Michael, who is beginning to crack in wake of the chaotic storm that hit the perfectly engineered neighborhood he created.
Interestingly, one of my favorite parts of the pilot was how hilariously terrible of a person Eleanor is. In the second episode, however, I found myself getting frustrated with how blatantly selfish she was behaving, especially considering the mess in the town was her fault. I was glad to see the little bit of redeeming character development at the end, however. These moments will become more and more important as the series’ progresses as I think Eleanor will start to become unlikeable if she continues to do crappy things but doesn’t learn from any of her mistakes. It would be one thing if she was just a bad person in a world full of good people, but now that her actions negatively impact others, it will be difficult to justify her not making a genuine effort while also remaining likable.
One storytelling tactic the writers utilize that I love is the use of flashbacks showing Eleanor being terrible on earth. It really reminded me of one of my favorite comedies:
Samantha Who, which is also about a character (played by Christina Applegate) trying to be a better person while showing flashbacks to times she was hilariously awful. This storytelling technique is both funny and highlights the growth made by the lead characters each episode. It also reminded me of how similar I think Kristen Bell and Christina Applegate are. When I watch Kristen Bell here, I get serious Samantha Newley/Rachel’s sister on
Friends vibes.
Another part that I really love about this episode are the special effects. In the first episode, we see flying shrimp and giant giraffes. Here, we see humans learning to fly as well as dumpsters falling from the sky. Effects like this are rarely used in 22 minute comedies and really help add to the fun and fantastical vibe of The Good Place. The sets and costumes are also really ridiculous and vibrant. These elements help create a world that I find really easy to immerse myself in.
Similarly to the first episode, my only gripe with this episode is that the supporting characters aren’t given much development. Though Michael, Tahani, and Jianyu are given their own mini storyline, there isn’t much depth. It is more just funny moments of Tahani trying too hard and Michael beginning to crack. Luckily, the next episode looks like it focuses on Eleanor and Tahani’s relationship so that should provide both good comedy and strong character moments.
Much like the end of the pilot, this episode ends with a fun twist: someone slides a note under Eleanor’s door saying they know she doesn’t belong in The Good Place. Serialized comedies are pretty rare, so to have each episode end with a mysterious storyline development adds immensely to the excitement. We’re only two episodes in and I’m already wondering who knows she shouldn’t be there, why terror is raining down on The Good Place, how Eleanor ended up there in the first place, and a whole host of other questions, all while consistently laughing at the strong writing and acting. Not bad for just two episodes. Not bad at all.
Overall Grades:
Pilot: B. Though definitely a strong pilot, the episode was more focused on set up then laughs.
Flying: A-. Found a nice balance between funny lines, character development, and intriguing story progression.
Favorite Quotes:
Michael: The Good Place, sponsored by two otters holding hands while they sleep.
Eleanor: I was a medium person! I should get to spend eternity in a medium place! Like Cincinnati.
Eleanor: There was a guy who lived in Avondale, Arizona around 2002. His name was Kevin Paltonic. Is he gay?
Janet: No.
Eleanor: Really? Huh. I guess he just didn’t want to have sex with me.
Janet: That’s correct.
Eleanor: Quick question. Can anyone access our search history or is this an incognito browsing situation, like when you’re stalking a hot mail man from your work computer?
Janet: It is 100% confidential. No one can access what you ask me, including Michael. Now what kind of pornography would you like to see?
Chidi: What country am I from?
Eleanor: Is it racist if I say Africa?
Chidi: Yes, and Africa is not a country.
The next episode of
The Good Place airs tonight, September 22, in it's normal 8:30pm PT time slot. Let me know in the comments what you thought of the two part premiere!
About the Author - Doug Greer
Doug Greer is a TV obsessed Leo from the Bay Area. His TV origin story begins in 7th grade, when his friend lent him her Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs and 144 episodes (and 9 days) later, he was hooked for life. All time favorites include (but most certaintly not limited to) everything Joss Whedon, Charmed, The 100, Nikita, Battlestar, and anything with a laugh track. More recently, Doug produced and help write a webseries for The CW called CW FanTalk and also produced webseries for actors such as AnnaLynne McCord and John Lehr. For the 2016-2017 season, Doug will be reviewing 2 Broke Girls, Mom, and The Good Place.
