It was
with some surprise that I realized I’ve never actually talked about The Good Place on the blog, and I’m not
sure how that happened. It’s a terrific comedy, endlessly smart and
delightfully absurd, and one of the best new network shows I’ve seen in years.
In many ways, it feels like a spiritual successor to Pushing Daisies – in other words, I’m all about this show. This coming season will be its last, but 1) it
feels like a show that knows what it’s doing/how it’s ending, so I’m okay with
that, and 2) even if I’m late to be talking about it, that’s why the phrase
“better late than never” exists (premise spoilers.)
Eleanor
Shellstrop wakes with a hazy memory and finds herself greeted by Michael, who
tells her she died and made it to “The Good Place” (as opposed to The Bad
Place, natch.) Eleanor is one of the select few virtuous enough to come out
ahead in the universe’s complicated point system of judging souls, and Michael,
as a higher being, is there to help her and others like her get acclimated to
their eternal reward. The only problem? The good deeds Eleanor is being
rewarded for were done by a different Eleanor Shellstrop: she’s in the wrong
place.
That’s
really all I can say about the specifics of the plot. This is a twist-turny
show that constantly surprises, whether it’s with dropping a big twist or
simply defying expectations of how much time it’s going to spend following a
particular plot thread. It’s a dynamic animal with a mind of its own – Compare
any random episode from season 1 with any random episode from season 3, and it
somehow feels like two completely different shows while at the same being
remaining utterly cohesive.
The show
comes from the mind of Michael Schur (The
Office (U.S.), Parks and Rec,) and it’s a doozy. In addition to the
astoundingly-intricate plot for a sitcom, it also comes armed with a repertoire
of comic gags ranging from stellar sight gags to amazing food puns to comic
riffs on moral philosophy. There’s so much fun to be mined from every scene,
and the series trusts the audience to keep up with all the goodness it packs
into its episodes.
The
character work is also fabulous, both in terms of the writing and the acting.
Kristen Bell’s Eleanor and Ted Dansen’s Michael are the heaviest hitters, but
the whole ensemble is equal parts hilarious and affecting. I was going to say
“special shoutout to…”, then realized I couldn’t single out any part of the
main cast without naming them all, so that’s what I need to do. Joining Bell
and Dansen are William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto, and D’Arcy
Carden, and they’re all wonderful. (I will,
though, give a special shoutout for diversity: the show’s diverse cast is the
reason I decided to check it out in the first place, and I’m so glad I did.) I
love watching the characters grow and learn, seeing their relationships change,
and finding out how they deal with the continuing curve balls the universe
throws at them.
Warnings
Thematic
elements, sexual references, drinking, some violence, and implied language (no
swearing in The Good Place, so characters are forced to say things like “son of
a bench.”)
No comments:
Post a Comment