Much like the episode before it, “Jason Mendoza” wastes no time picking up where last week’s cliffhanger left off. Jianyu reveals himself not to be a monk who has taken a vow of silence, but rather Jason Mendoza, a drug dealing, EDM DJ from Florida. Jason also reveals that Eleanor drunkenly told him at the party in the first episode that she was there by mistake. He has now decided to stop living a lie and be open about being himself, regardless of the consequences, despite Eleanor begging him not to as it could expose both of them. This all comes to a head at the restaurant (called “The Good Plates”) opening that Michael asked Tahani to help him plan earlier in the episode. In order to stop Jason/Jianyu from revealing himself, Eleanor punches a hole in the glorious cake that was intended for dessert in an attempt to cause a distraction. Once she does this, however, a huge hole opens up in the middle of the restaurant. At the end of the episode, Jason decides to enroll in Chidi’s ethics class and Tahani discovers that the hole in the center of the floor is getting bigger.
Holy shirt. That was a great episode. I’ll start with my favorite part of the episode: JASON. FREAKIN’. MENDOZA. I think he is ridiculously funny and I also love the juxtaposition between silent Jianyu and filterless Jason. The other reason he really works as a character is that although he is dumb, he is also a genuine guy. Though one could look at him and write him off as a major jerk, his goals in the flashbacks as well as in The Good Place are to just be himself and go after his dreams. The writers very easily could’ve just gone with the gag that silent Jianyu is actually a drug dealer from Florida, but by making him genuine and multidimensional, they open up tons of story and character development opportunities in the future, which is hinted it at when he joins Chidi’s ethics class. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the series does with his character.
Next, let’s talk Eleanor. It was refreshing to not see her being the most ridiculous character in the episode. Usually her lack of morals leads to endless shenanigans, but she spent most of this episode trying to help Jason hide the fact that he is there by mistake. Though Eleanor’s motivations were partially selfish as she does not want to be discovered as well, I liked watching her look out for the oblivious Jason. She still is the foul mouthed, morally ambiguous resident we know and love, but this episode made her a bit more of a real, grounded person for me.
Other random things I loved: Chef Patricia. She was absolutely hilarious in the episode. I hope she pops up again in future episodes because her angry positivity bit had me laughing so hard. I also really enjoyed all of the scenes Michael and Tahani have together. Their perfectionism and over the top joy is the perfect blend of funny and unhinged. The only character who didn’t have a big presence in this episode was Chidi, but I anticipate he will get more screen time now that he has not one, but two, students.
My only complaint about this episode is the cliffhanger. One of the things that has been so refreshing about
The Good Place is that it is heavily serialized and has really compelling cliffhangers. Though I like that Jason is joining ethics class, having the hole in The Good Plates get bigger isn't particularly exciting. Though one could argue it is scary because all of The Good Place could be enveloped, after seeing flying dumpsters and giant giraffes, a hole that is getting a little bigger doesn’t scare me. I wish the entire restaurant had been swallowed (imagine Chef Patricia’s happy anger!) as that would add a sense of urgency to fixing the issue.
Overall Grade:
A-. My favorite episode of the series so far. Though “Flying” was also a solid A-, “Jason Mendoza” had some great development and also made me laugh out loud multiple times.
Favorite Quotes:
Jason: By the way, everyone here thinks I’m Taiwanese. I’m Filipino. That’s racist. Heaven is so racist.
Eleanor: So Tahani has no idea about me?
Jason: No. She thinks I’m a monk and you’re her best friend.
Eleanor: Great. I mean for us. That’s a huge bummer for her.
Jason: What’s up, homey?
Chidi: Eleanor, you broke Jianyu.
Jason: I am here to learn about ethnics.
Let me know in the comments how you feel about Jianyu/Jason's reveal!
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.
