The Good Place

Synopsis

After she is struck and killed by a tractor-trailer carrying a billboard for erectile dysfunction products, a woman named Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) is welcomed into the afterlife by Michael (Ted Danson), the facilitator and architect of Eleanor's new neighborhood in a utopia called "The Good Place" (located in sector 12358w). When Michael tells Eleanor she made it into The Good Place for helping innocent clients get off death row, plus other international humanitarian work, she realizes she has been mistaken for someone else who she later finds out has the same name. Additionally, upon arrival, she learns that each person in the good place has a soulmate with whom she or he is matched and (accordingly) with whom she or he will live for eternity.

Hoping to stay in The Good Place, Eleanor must hide her morally imperfect behavioral past from everyone. However, she quickly confesses to her assigned soulmate, Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper), a university ethics professor in life who agrees to teach Eleanor to become a better person and avoid eternal torture in "The Bad Place." She also interacts with the people who were rightfully admitted into the Good Place, notably Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil), a wealthy philanthropist who dedicated her life to helping the poor and raised billions through charities, and her soulmate Jianyu Li (Manny Jacinto), a silent Buddhist monk from Taiwan. Michael and the habitants are assisted by Janet (D'Arcy Carden), an artificial woman in charge of helping and informing the habitants.

Each episode features flashbacks to one of the Good Place's residents and her or his perfect and/or imperfect life (done in a light dramatic fashion), and ends with a twist or cliffhanger that leads into the following episode.

Overview

As the series progresses, the characters and the relationships among them evolve; several twists also reveal more about them and the Good Place. The behavior and attitude of Eleanor also gradually change as a result of the teachings of Chidi and several events she encounters. Despite being initially only interested in her own survival, she starts to truly try to act good. Her relationship with Chidi deepens, leading to them developing a true friendship, and later a potential blooming romance.

In parallel, Eleanor discovers that Jianyu Li is in truth Jason Mendoza, yet another soul wrongfully sent to the Good Place, who was a small-time DJ and drug dealer during his life. She also befriends Tahani, and even confesses her real identity to her. Tahani eventually discovers Jason's true identity, and Jason subsequently falls in love with the artificial intelligence Janet; she shares his feelings, and the two have an unofficial marriage.

Eleanor soon realizes her behavior and actions can and do cause negative and sometimes disastrous events in her assigned neighborhood. Suspicions about the root cause of the chaos in The Good Place ultimately lead Eleanor to expose her secret, which results in a trial to determine her fate. Michael ultimately also discovers Jason's true identity, and because both Chidi and Tahani knew about their real identities, Chidi's and Tahani's legitimacy in the Good Place is also questioned. The "real" Eleanor Shellstrop, who happened to die at exactly the same time as the "fake" Eleanor and was sent to the Bad place instead of her, is also revealed. Eventually, the "fake" and "true" Eleanors, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason are forced to decide which two of them will go to the Bad Place, with the others allowed to stay in the Good Place.

The final episode of season one ends with a major twist, as Eleanor eventually realizes that, contrary to what they believed all this time, they are not in the Good Place, as ever since they arrived, she, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason spent most of their time driving each others crazy. Michael, who turns out to be an insensitive, sadistic being, admits that it is indeed a "Bad Place", and reveals that outside of the four of them, everyone, including the "real" Eleanor, whose name is Vicky, are working with him and only pretending to be humans; even Eleanor and Jason being sent by "mistake" to the so-called Good Place was a part of his plan, for he knew it would torture Chidi's morality to hide their secret.

Michael also explains that although they seemed to have lived perfect lives while alive on Earth, Tahani only ever helped others to show-off to her parents and overachieving sister, while Chidi's constant indecisiveness hurt everyone in his life, thus resulting in both ending in the Bad Place as well. Furthermore, they were brought together with Eleanor and Jason because Michael believed they were "perfectly suited" to torture each other. Eleanor argues that Michael's plan failed, as the four not only ended up bonding instead of fighting, but also became better people in the process. Realizing that it was indeed a mistake to bring them together, Michael decides to start over with everyone separated and their memories erased, but not before Eleanor can leave a note to Janet instructing her future self: "Eleanor - Find Chidi."

Cast and characters

Recurring

Episodes

According to series creator Schur, the episodes are referred to as "Chapters."

Production and development

NBC first announced the show on August 13, 2015, when they issued a press release detailing that they had issued the then untitled show a 13-episode order based purely on a pitch by Michael Schur. On January 12, 2016, it was announced that Kristen Bell and Ted Danson had been cast in the lead roles for the series. The first synopsis of the show was also released, stating that the show was set to revolve around Eleanor designing her own self-improvement course with Michael acting as her guide - although the afterlife element had always been a part of the series, as Kristen Bell has stated she was aware of the first-season finale twist when she signed onto the show.

William Jackson Harper was cast as Chris on February 11, 2016, though the character was later renamed to Chidi. Jameela Jamil was cast as Tessa on February 25, 2016, and was later renamed to Tahani. On March 14, 2016, D’Arcy Carden was cast in the final series regular role as Janet Della-Denunzio, a violin salesperson with a checkered past - though the character was completely reworked, she retained her original first name in the series.

The final premise for the show, including the afterlife element, was ultimately announced on May 15, 2016, when NBC announced its schedule for the 2016-17 TV season.

According to Schur, the premise and idea was to include religious elements into the series after doing research on various faiths and groups, but he decided to scrap the plans, instead going for a concept that included all faiths that was diverse and free of religious views. "I stopped doing research because I realized it’s about versions of ethical behavior, not religious salvation," he says. "The show isn’t taking a side, the people who are there are from every country and religion." Schur also points out that the setting (shot in San Marino, California's Huntington Gardens) already had the feeling of a pastiche of different cultures, stating that the neighborhoods will feature people who are part of nondenominational and interdenominational backgrounds that interact with each other regardless of religion.

The series' setting and premises, as well as the serialized cliffhangers were modeled on Lost, a favorite of Schur. One of the first people he called when he developed the series was “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof. "I took him to lunch and said, ‘We’re going to play a game [of] ‘Is this anything?'” He then added “I imagine this going in the ‘Lost’ way,” with cliffhangers and future storylines.

The first season's surprise twist, that the Good Place was the Bad Place, and Chidi, Eleanor, Jason and Tahani were the four souls chosen because they were best suited to torture each other indefinitely, is very similar in premise to philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's stage play No Exit, in which three strangers die, are escorted to a single room by a friendly bellhop where they are informed they must co-exist together, but ultimately determine they are entirely incompatible and thus come to the conclusion that "hell is other people."

The series also features similarities to Parks and Recreation as a series of clues suggested that it is set in the same universe as The Good Place.

The series debuted on Monday, September 19, 2016, but then moved to be aired on Thursday nights at 8:30 pm (EDT)..

Critical reception

The Good Place has received positive reviews from television critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the season has a rating of 90%, based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Kristen Bell and Ted Danson knock it out of the park with supremely entertaining, charming performances in this absurd, clever and whimsical portrayal of the afterlife." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The editors of TV Guide placed The Good Place second among the top ten picks for the most anticipated new shows of the 2016–17 season. In its review from writer Liam Matthews, "NBC's new comedy has an impressive pedigree" (referring to Mike Schur, and stars Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, the latter cited as "arguably the greatest sitcom actor of all time"). Matthews concludes that "The hope is that their combined star power can restore NBC's tarnished comedy brand to its former glory. It won't be the next Friends, but it's something even better: a network comedy that feels different than anything that's come before."