The Good Place - ...Someone Like Me as a Member - Review: "Get the Fork Out of My Neighborhood!"

The midseason finale begins with everyone finding out that both Eleanors died in the same traffic accident at the exact same time. After putting a pin in the negotiations, both Eleanors go out to dinner with Trevor and Chidi, the latter of whom has a lot of chemistry with the Other Eleanor, making our Eleanor jealous. Although Trevor attempts to tear her down, our Eleanor declares at the end of the episode that although she doesn’t belong in The Good Place, she wants to be a better person. Meanwhile, Michael and Tahani invite Trevor’s minions over to Tahani’s house and Jason/Jianyu forms a bond with New Janet. In the end, Michael decides he won’t give Eleanor to Trevor without a fight, leading Trevor to take their feud to their higher court: Sean. Additionally, Tahani finds Jason/Jianyu’s bud-hole.

Boy did I feel bad for Eleanor this week. She’s been working so hard to become a better person and earn her spot in The Good Place and then the Other Eleanor (who I will now refer to as Oleanor to keep this review confusion-free) shows up and is basically the second coming of Mother Teresa. It was certainly difficult to see Eleanor’s self esteem crumble in the shadow of Oleanor, but it was important for her to be at this pseudo rock bottom because that made her declaration at the end of the episode all the more powerful. Speaking of Oleanor, I was definitely a fan of the natural connection she had with Chidi. Though that’s to be expected as they are soulmates, I still really liked watching the two of them together. I could see the writers going the Oleanor-Chidi-Tahani love triangle route, which I would definitely enjoy watching.

Michael and Tahani started with a weird storyline this week that actually turned into a positive for me. At first I thought it was super random and out of place, but then I realized that much like Eleanor, Michael needed to hit a rock bottom so that the stand he takes against Trevor was more momentous. I was yelling emotional “hell yeahs!” at my TV when Michael did this, which is a testament to the wonderful and believable relationships that The Good Place has created. I will also say that the combination of Michael, Tahani, and The Bad Place minions was the funniest part of the episode for me. Between the evil speeches karaoke and Bad Janet, I was almost in tears because of how hard I was laughing.

Jason/Jianyu’s weird story development unfortunately did not turn into a positive for me. I will say I did like the connection between him and New Janet. It was a random little scene, but it was definitely cute and made me want to see them share more screen time. My main issue came in the form of the last cliffhanger. I really think they are rushing this storyline. I would’ve much rather seen an entire episode dedicated to Tahani slowly discovering the bud-hole, rather than there being quick flashback montage of how she found it. The Good Place is moving so quickly in terms of the Eleanor storyline, so I kind of wish they wouldn’t also burn through the Jason/Jianyu side of things as well. I have an open mind but am also nervous about them running out of story ideas sooner rather than later.

Last, but not least, we have Sean. I don’t know anything about him/her, all I know is I am so excited! With the introduction of Sean, I’m hopeful we will learn so much more about one of the most interesting mysteries of the series: how does the after life even work? This is absolutely what I am most looking forward to when the show returns in January. AH, that seems so far away!

Overall Grade:
A-. Although the Jason/Jianyu stuff didn’t land for me, the rest of the episode was a funny, character development filled 22 minutes and a great prelude to… SEAN *dun dun dun*

Favorite Quotes:
Minion: This sucks! How do you guys eat without listening to hardcore porn?

Michael: Bad Janet, where’s the nearest cafe?
Bad Janet: Oh, that’s a good question. It’s up your moms butt, you fat dink.

Let me know your thoughts on the midseason finale in the comments. On a personal note, I’ve loved reviewing the first 9 episode of The Good Place with you all! I hope you keep reading into 2017 :).