The Good Place – TV Review

The Good Place
Starring: Kristen Bell, Ted Danson
Airs on: Season 1 on Netflix; season 2 currently airing on NBC

Summary

When Eleanor Shellstrop finds herself in the afterlife, she’s both relieved and surprised that she’s made it into the Good Place. But it doesn’t take long for Eleanor to realize she’s there by mistake. She hides in plain sight from the Good Place’s architect Michael and his all-knowing assistant Janet. Her seemingly perfect neighbors Tahani and Jianyu and open-hearted soul mate Chidi help her realize that it’s never too late. With the help of her new friends — and a few enemies — Eleanor becomes determined to shed her old way of life in hopes of discovering a new one in the afterlife.

Review

My friend kept nagging me to watch this snow, and yesterday, during the great Chicago blizzard of 2018, I watched the entire first season, which is 13 episodes long.

Eleanor passes away and ends up in the Good Place – one of two places in the after life. The architect of the neighborhood, Michael (played by Ted Danson) gives her information and takes her to her tiny house, which is decorated with clowns (which she loves) and her style. The only problem – Eleanor made it to the Good Place by mistake.

While on Earth, Eleanor was a pretty horrible person. She was incredibly selfish and self-obsessed. She never took the feelings of others into consideration. She left her friends dog alone with a 20-pound bag of food to go to a Rhianna concert. She’s a terrible friend, and people who are good make her insecure.

Each person in the Good Place is matched with a “soulmate”. Eleanor’s soulmate is Chidi, a professor of Ethics who can’t make decisions to save his life. Eleanor quickly confides in Chidi that she doesn’t belong in the Good Place, and vows to become a better person, with Chidi’s help.

Eleanor’s next door neighbor, Tahani, is a beautiful, seemingly put together British woman, whose soulmate is a Taiwanese monk who has taken an oath of silence.

This show is adorable. I have really enjoyed Kristen Bell for a while now, but she’s great on this show. The characters are quirky and fun and there is a lot of frozen yogurt in the Good Place.

Things aren’t always what they seem though, in the Good Place, and this show is definitely not predictable.  I would recommend it highly.