The Good Place Season 2

[Romulan_spy]

Are you sure? The title card said Chapter 26.

It is listed as episode 12 on Imdb, NBC and Hulu. However, NBC does refer to it as the season finale.

I did not realize going in that it was the season finale. It is interesting that they went with an Eleanor centric episode to close off the season. It did not really feel like a finale to me.

 

[tomalak301]

I think next week is the season finale. Last season was 13 episodes and this was episode 12 so there should be one more.

The first week was two episodes so last night was the season finale. The Olympics start next week .

 

[Snaploud]

I did not realize going in that it was the season finale. It is interesting that they went with an Eleanor centric episode to close off the season. It did not really feel like a finale to me.

Agreed. A more traditional season finale would have ended on the cliffhanger of each human being saved from death.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Wasn’t the season opener an hour? Maybe that counted as two episodes?
EDIT: ninja’d

 

[JD]

According to TV Guide this was the season finale.
I actually saw couple different sites have the characters returning to their lives on Earth as a theory for where the show will go, but I never actually thought it would happen.
Seeing Eleanor try to become a better person on Earth was a lot of fun. I forgot just how horrible her friends were.
Her growing aggravation as things still didn't work out for her was pretty good.
I wasn't sure if Micheal purposefully pointed her towards Chidi, or if it was purely fate or coincidence or whatever that she found his video on Youtube.
Loved seeing Micheal as the bartender, I'm assuming that had to be a Cheers reference.
I'm curious to see how Jason and Tahani are going to come back into the story. I'm assuming they'll all eventually end up back together.

It also makes me think that maybe the show was not really about the after life per se but more about characters having a near death experience and changing their life around. This episode definitely puts a different spin on the show's premise.

No, I'm pretty sure the characters did die, and everything really did happen. It was pretty clear from Micheal and The Judge that they were being brought back to life and that it was not something that usually is done.

 

[Romulan_spy]

No, I'm pretty sure the characters did die, and everything really did happen. It was pretty clear from Micheal and The Judge that they were being brought back to life and that it was not something that usually is done.

Yes, everything we saw in the after life really did happen, the first time. But we see someone (probably Michael) push Eleanor out of the way of the incoming carts. So Eleanor avoids death this time. So the judge is basically changing their past and creating an alternate timeline where the characters did not die this time. So it is not that the characters died and were brought back to life, but rather that this time, they never died in the first place. So this new Eleanor never experienced the after life that we saw in season 1-2. When the judge says that it is usually never done, she is talking about going back and changing someone's timeline.

 

[JD]

They erased their memories of it, but I'm pretty sure it all still happened. Micheal and Janet clearly still remember everything that happened. I don't think The Judge stopped them from dying, she just sent them back to the point where they died, and things were changed so that it didn't happen this time.

 

[Kelthaz]

I don't think they're actually on Earth. I think they're in a simulation like the one where Tahini met her parents.

 

[Snaploud]

I don't think they're actually on Earth. I think they're in a simulation like the one where Tahini met her parents.

I considered that possibility, but the Judge's reaction (to Michael's suggestion) makes me think they really are on Earth. Plus, the assumption seems to be that Eleanor is meeting up with the real Chidi, and I don't think the Judge would put them in the same simulation unless the plan was for them to interact with each other. Michael seemed to be breaking the rules by hinting at the Chidi lecture, so it doesn't appear that the judge planned for their meet-up. They might still be in a simulation, but I am guessing that they're really on Earth.

 

[SCE2Aux]

Other than the one episode they really did get tortured and roasted, this show is beaming with positivity. I'm really intrigued where this series will go in season 3. Also Ted Danson behind the Bar gave me so many nostalgic feels. Nice call back to Cheers.

The bar bit was definitely my favourite bit of this episode.
I had a feeling they were going to change up again for next season, but I'm glad they did it in a way I wasn't expecting. Michael's acknowledgement that the system is flawed led me to think there was going to be a revolution plotline in season 3, but that seems to be postponed to at least season 4.

 

[JD]

I don't think they're actually on Earth. I think they're in a simulation like the one where Tahini met her parents.

I could see that as a possibility, but I would definitely prefer it if they were really on Earth.

 

[Snaploud]

A Vox.com columnist did a twitter poll on whether the gang was sent to Earth or a simulation. Viewers are split on the subject:

https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/...season-2-finale-spoilers-somewhere-else-recap

 

[Jayson1]

I predict many fish out water moments with Janet on earth. Also I recall predicting they might return to earth as ghosts so I was sort of right. Also I wonder if the bar joke with Danson is more than just a joke. What if they all start hanging out in that bar and Micheal sort of plays the role of bartender. Also just a idea but what if fixing the afterlife isn't what the show is about but having these characters somehow make the living world a better place and that is how you create a "Good Place."

Jason

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I got the impression they weren't on 'real Earth'. If it were real Earth it would have all kinds of time travel implications that would also change the decisions of all kinds of other humans they interacted with after. Although I suppose we have no proof that time isn't compressed in the Bad Place, except that only a couple decades seemed to have passed for Mindy Sinclair who we know died in the 80s.

I like the way that Michael's way of interfering without interfering was to drop a hint that would cause her to discover Chidi. I wonder if a similar thing will happen between Tahani and Jason, that Michael will judge them together.

Anyone else think it would be hilarious to do a My Name Is Earl crossover? The shows have a similar comic tone and Earl was very much about 'moral dessert'. What if Earl actually died right before buying that lottery ticket, and the show was him being given the same test?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Further evidence that Good Place is in fact a prequel to My Name Is Earl.

Eleanor is an anagram for ‘Earl One’!

 

[shivkala]

Other than the one episode they really did get tortured and roasted, this show is beaming with positivity. I'm really intrigued where this series will go in season 3. Also Ted Danson behind the Bar gave me so many nostalgic feels. Nice call back to Cheers.

I did not even catch that, which is either due to the fact that I'm fighting a cold or that this show engrosses me so much, it's hard to remember these actors outside of their The Good Place roles.

A Vox.com columnist did a twitter poll on whether the gang was sent to Earth or a simulation. Viewers are split on the subject:

https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/...season-2-finale-spoilers-somewhere-else-recap

Count me in for the "They're on Earth group."

I got the impression they weren't on 'real Earth'. If it were real Earth it would have all kinds of time travel implications that would also change the decisions of all kinds of other humans they interacted with after. Although I suppose we have no proof that time isn't compressed in the Bad Place, except that only a couple decades seemed to have passed for Mindy Sinclair who we know died in the 80s.

I tend to think of the afterlife as a "Nexus" deal, where it exists all at the same time, so to speak. I figure it's entirely possible to spend billions of years in a "Place" (Good, Medium, or Bad) and return to "your" timeline. It's really not outside the realm of possibility of the show. So, yeah, I vote for "Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey" over a simulation.

I didn't spot it, but someone online did: Janet, predictably, is pouring over Jason's results, as Michael focuses on Eleanor. Poor Tahani (who I thought might have been in the car Eleanor hit) and Chidi Ad-a-Anna-Kendrick.

 

[Kronos]

I don't think they're actually on Earth. I think they're in a simulation like the one where Tahini met her parents.

I sure hope so, it's weird, I don't think I would be that into this show if it's 4 people on earth trying to do better.

I like them dead

 

[JD]

I predict many fish out water moments with Janet on earth. Also I recall predicting they might return to earth as ghosts so I was sort of right. Also I wonder if the bar joke with Danson is more than just a joke. What if they all start hanging out in that bar and Micheal sort of plays the role of bartender. Also just a idea but what if fixing the afterlife isn't what the show is about but having these characters somehow make the living world a better place and that is how you create a "Good Place."

Jason

I was thinking it would be fun if he and Janet popped up on Earth as different people in each episode and gave the characters advice, or helped them out, .

I got the impression they weren't on 'real Earth'. If it were real Earth it would have all kinds of time travel implications that would also change the decisions of all kinds of other humans they interacted with after. Although I suppose we have no proof that time isn't compressed in the Bad Place, except that only a couple decades seemed to have passed for Mindy Sinclair who we know died in the 80s.

I don't think there's any time travel involved, since The Good/Bad/Judge's place are outside of reality, time probably doesn't really work the same way there.

I like the way that Michael's way of interfering without interfering was to drop a hint that would cause her to discover Chidi. I wonder if a similar thing will happen between Tahani and Jason, that Michael will judge them together.

I'm thinking they're all probably going to end up together within the next couple episodes.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I tend to think of the afterlife as a "Nexus" deal, where it exists all at the same time, so to speak. I figure it's entirely possible to spend billions of years in a "Place" (Good, Medium, or Bad) and return to "your" timeline. It's really not outside the realm of possibility of the show. So, yeah, I vote for "Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey" over a simulation.

That doesn't quite track, though. If you can meet somebody from a previous time as you, and then they go back to their own lives as if they hadn't died, it would change the context of the later person's life.

The only way to make it track is to give the supernatural people Prophet-level timeline handwaving like they did with the poet. Like, it'd have to be possible for the later person's memories not to be affected whatsoever, then they suddenly look at the history books and they've changed. Which is possible, I just think it's stupid. Plus it doesn't scale, if they gave every single person this test, then we'd have an Earth where no bad person would ever die.

 

[Snaploud]

That doesn't quite track, though. If you can meet somebody from a previous time as you, and then they go back to their own lives as if they hadn't died, it would change the context of the later person's life.

The only way to make it track is to give the supernatural people Prophet-level timeline handwaving like they did with the poet. Like, it'd have to be possible for the later person's memories not to be affected whatsoever, then they suddenly look at the history books and they've changed. Which is possible, I just think it's stupid. Plus it doesn't scale, if they gave every single person this test, then we'd have an Earth where no bad person would ever die.

I don't think they would give everybody this test (at least, not in a manner that would affect life on Earth). The idea is to prove conclusively that the system is sending people to "The Bad Place" who have the potential to be truly good. Assuming Eleanor and the others pass: Michael and the judge can then focus on figuring out ways to rehabilitate such people in the afterlife.