Welcome back to The Good Place everyone! Two months was way too long of a break so let’s not waste any more time and jump into the review! “Chidi’s Choice” picks up right where the fall finale left off: Tahani is in the budhole and demands answers from Jason/Jianyu, who provides her with some (including his love for Ariana Grande). Meanwhile, Oleanor and Bambadjan are helping Eleanor with her case and conclude that Eleanor has feelings for Chidi. Eleanor realizes they are right and goes to confess her love to him. At the same time, however, Tahani realizes that she and Chidi are perfect for each other and she also expresses her feelings to him, leaving Chidi with a difficult choice. After some bickering, Tahani suggests that maybe Jason/Jianyu is Eleanor’s soulmate, which Eleanor realizes may have some validity. It doesn’t matter in the end, however, because Jason/Jianyu and Janet have already announced their wedding and subsequently get married. Finally, after going back and forth about all of his options (Eleanor, Tahani, and Oleanor), Chidi goes to confront all three women.
Wow, who knew that the first episode back from a long hiatus would be the one where everyone confesses their love for each other! I love what
The Good Place did here because when I think of sitcoms that have episodes where a character confesses their love for another, it usually is the main focus and climaxes at the end of an episode, like Ross and Rachel or Ted and Robin. I love how
The Good Place did the exact opposite and had basically every character confess their undying love for every other character. It was funny and turned a major sitcom trope on its head. Even more than that, it totally made sense! All of the confessions of love had been built up all season because there are so many different pairings on the show that have been teased and would make total sense, whether it’s Eleanor and Chidi, who have gotten to know each other so closely over the first season, Oleanor and Chidi, who were designed to be soulmates, or Tahani and Chidi, who both were given the “wrong” soulmate and actually have tons in common. Each pairing makes sense and I think it’s genius how
The Good Place decided to have all of the love confessing happen in one episode in a super funny and ridiculous way.
Now that I’ve gushed about how
The Good Place handled all of these potential pairings, I’ll talk about something a little more complicated: who should end up together. To start, Jason/Jianyu and Janet absolutely belong together and I could not be happier with their wedding. I’m hoping that because they’re married, that will be the loophole that keeps Jason/Jianyu in The Good Place. Okay, now the more complicated question that the episode spent the whole episode trying to answer: who should Chidi choose? For the longest time, I didn’t want Eleanor and Chidi together because it felt so obvious and stereotypical to have these opposite characters find love against all odds and then the Chidi/Tahani episode happened and I found myself loving that pairing. Recently, however, the characters have been trying to make a case as to why Eleanor should stay in The Good Place and, even though Eleanor has worked really hard, Chidi is a huge reason why she has a case at all. He’s patient with her, balances out some of her ridiculousness, and ultimately makes her a better version of herself. On the other end, I think Eleanor helps Chidi calm down a little bit and see the fun in (after)life. Chidi and Tahani also could totally be a viable couple with how much they have in common and how well they get along.
And then there’s Oleanor and Chidi. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about The Good Place, it’s that error can happen and it’s not a perfect system. Just because they’re kind of the same person and the system paired them, that doesn’t mean they’re soulmates. To me it just means they’d be a 100% match on OkCupid, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for each other. There is also a potential 4th option among all of this: Chidi ends up choosing no one or someone random we haven’t met yet. I’m not saying this is the right or wrong option because I do think that this show isn’t just about romance and relationships, but hey,
The Good Place is really good at taking our expectations and flipping them upside down, so at this point, anything could happen and I absolutely trust the writers to do what’s best for the show. If I were to choose now though, I’d say I was rooting for a Chidi and Eleanor relationship.
Wow, sorry for the rambling review, guys.
The Good Place has just done such an amazing job at making me invested in each character and shocking me to the point where I need to ramble all my thoughts into a review to try and make sense of it all. I don’t know about all of you, but I am beyond impressed with how smart, weird, and hilarious
The Good Place has been. Can’t wait for the final 3 episodes of the season!
Overall Grade:
A.
The Good Place took all of the potential pairings that have been teased all season and made a ridiculous, fun, confusing mess of them all! And on top of that – the episode was funny!
Favorite Quotes:
Oleanor: Obviously I’m not thrilled about you having feelings for my soulmate.
Eleanor: Yeah, I keep accidentally stealing your stuff.
Tahani: Right now I’m just a girl, towering over a boy, asking him to admit he loves me.
Jason/Jianyu: Janet, I just realized something. I love you.
Janet: Okay!
Janet: Does anyone here object to this marriage?
Eleanor: Of course we do, how could we not object?!
Tahani: Terrible idea.
Janet: Overruled.
That’s all from me! Did you love this episode as much as Jason/Jianyu loves Janet… or Eleanor loves Chidi…. or Oleanor loves Chidi… or Tahani loves Chidi? Let me know in the comments!
