The Good Place
By Ava Fineza
The Good Place is up there with some of my favorite shows. It’s a comedy, but the show is also packed with heartfelt moments, tons of character development(T.T), and more philosophy knowledge than I ever thought I needed to know. The Good Place gives you a cast of characters, led by one Eleanor Shellstrop, that you aren’t supposed to like - Eleanor herself acknowledges this within the first few episodes, but the writers did such a good job at fleshing out the characters and showing their layers that you can’t help but love all of them. Of course, all of this touchy-feely stuff never takes away from the humor of the show, and The Good Place still stays light-hearted and hilarious. It’s filled with series-long jokes and gags that will make you actually laugh and not just nose-exhale(you know what I’m talking about), and as always Michael Schur hits the mark with the smart humor and irony. The Good Place is a hilarious and touching show, one that proves it’s possible for inherently “bad” people to change. It’s a show that gives hope to people that one day they might find someone who makes them the best them they can be. After all, pobody’s nerfect.
logline: Immediately after making it to the paradisiacal Good Place, Eleanor Shellstrop knows she doesn’t belong. Desperate to fit in, Eleanor enlists the help of ethics professor Chidi Anagonye and learns what it means to be a “good person,” all the while struggling to show the neighborhood she already is one.
Fun Fact: This isn’t really a fun fact, sorry. The Good Place neighborhood has many stores, but their names are the best part. Some of my favorites include Ziti of Stars, Biscotti Pippen, From Schmear to Eternity, Chicken Soup for the Mouth, and my personal favorite, You do the Hokey Gnocchi and you get yourself some food.
My Favorite Characters:
Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop - Eleanor is the best Arizona dirtbag out there. She’s very relatable and seems to voice all of the random thoughts we have but are too afraid to share. As Eleanor says multiple times, she’s not a great person, but she wasn’t the worst, and I think her middle-ground stance on ethics and morality speaks out to us the most out of all the characters. Of course we all want to be good, but sometimes it’s so much easier to be shirty.
D’arcy Carden as Janet - Janet is one of the funniest characters on the show. You can always expect the best one-liners coming from her in that perfect polite voice that seems insincere - don’t worry, that’s just her. She has a surprising amount of personality for a “not-a-robot,” and her friendship with Michael is the sweetest thing ever.
Jameela Jamil as Tahani Al-Jamil - Jameela’s first acting role, and you can see she truly is Tahani. The best mix of self-absorbed and extreme FOMO, Tahani can be tough not to slap sometimes, but you’ll see she’s a person just like us(woah really?) and has her own flaws and insecurities. Or maybe you’ll just stick around to see what celebrity’s name she’ll drop next, who knows?
Where to Watch: Netflix, Hulu, NBC App, YouTube TV, Sling TV, fuboTV
Rating: TV-PG for sexual references and mild language
Number of Seasons: 4