With the sinkhole now much bigger than we last saw it in “Jason Mendoza”, Michael puts the entire town on lockdown. This comes at an especially bad time for Chidi, who is pretty exhausted by Eleanor’s recent passion for ethics and morals. After an impromptu therapy session led by the couple staying with Eleanor and Chidi (their home is right next to the sinkhole), Chidi reveals to Eleanor that although he loves teaching, he is disappointed that he doesn’t get to enjoy heaven and that he will never actually get to be with his soulmate as long as Eleanor is in The Good Place. Meanwhile, after snooping and finding out that she has the second lowest “Good” score of everyone in The Good Place, Tahani sets out to move up in the rankings. Tahani is also given the flashback treatment this episode as the audience learns that while on earth, she had parents who clearly liked her overachieving sister more than they liked Tahani.
The highlight of this episode for me was absolutely the development of Eleanor and Chidi’s relationship. Chidi has not been a huge focus for the past few episodes, mostly appearing as Eleanor’s teacher. I love how the writers took that and answered a totally valid and important question: How does Chidi feel about all of this? The past four episodes, I’ve been rooting for Eleanor to become a better person but have given no thought to Chidi’s feelings about spending his time teaching her. By showing us Chidi’s feelings about their arrangement, the writers gave him some much needed depth and dimension. Additionally, by opening Eleanor’s eyes to how selfish she has been with Chidi’s time, she was able to have a little personal development too. Two birds. One stone. I look forward to watching this show week after week not because I think I’m going to laugh so hard I cry (although sometimes I do…), but rather because
The Good Place is able to take ridiculous characters and develop them in a way that is both believable and makes me care about them.
Speaking of character development, Tahani’s storyline in this episode was also a strong point. When she was introduced, she definitely seemed as though she was the most fake of all the series regulars, so it’s great to see the writers continue to make her less of a parody of a real person. Seeing the flashbacks of her parents ignoring her accomplishments made me understand why she makes herself the center of attention and over compensates in every area of her life: she’s insecure. When watching the pilot, I was pretty annoyed with Tahani, but after getting to know her and her insecurities, she has quickly become my favorite character. To be fair, because these characters are so well written, I find myself saying a different character is my favorite each week. Also is any one else hoping to see Tahani’s parents or sister show up in The Good Place? I just about died of laughter when her parents misspelled her name in the will and I would love to see some more of their dysfunctional, competitive family.
The only thing that fell flat for me in terms of story was the sinkhole. It just never felt as though it was a threat to the town so I didn’t like how much attention it was getting. The part I found most interesting about it was how it affects humans, but that was brushed aside pretty quickly. I’m hoping that comes back because I loved seeing Tahani’s face get Picasso-ed. It is intriguing that the sinkhole fixed itself, however. Additionally, now that Eleanor is directly helping Michael, there should be some pretty hilarious situations she finds herself in as she tries to hide her secret,. I'm curious to know how you all feel about the sinkhole storyline though, so definitely let me know in the comments!
Overall Grade:
B+. Eleanor and Chidi has some awesome character development and I loved Tahani and her flashbacks, but I did not spend too much of this episode laughing out loud.
Favorite Quotes:
Eleanor: When I told a boyfriend something was “no big deal”, it meant anything from “I just bought weed from your nephew” to “I secretly befriended your ex-girlfriend last year, things got out of hand, and now I’m her bridesmaid.”
Michael: They need a place to stay. I was wondering maybe as my assistant you could put them up for a while?
Eleanor: Oh… of course. Don’t think twice.
Michael: Shouldn’t take long. Between an hour and 11 months… Somewhere in there.
Chidi: I am not going to have sex with someone to get them to stop talking to me!
Eleanor: Really? You and I are
very different.
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 and The Good Place.
