The Good Place season 2 sneak peek doubles down on shocking season 1 reveal
The Good Place, which will return for its second season on Sept. 20, released a teaser clip on Wednesday which suggests things are going to be very, very bad for our friends in The Good…er, The Bad Place.
Whether you are still reeling from the shocking season 1 finale of breakout NBC comedy The Good Place or need a quick refresher, here’s what happened when we left our friends Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), Janet (D’Arcy Carden), Jianyu/Jason (Manny Jacinto), and Michael (Ted Danson).
As it turned out, Michael, who throughout season 1 was alleged to be the benevolent architect of The Good Place, had actually just created a more sophisticated Bad Place.
The utopia/dystopia appeared pleasant on the surface but, in reality, was meant to make Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jianyu, recently deceased and living out their afterlives, drive each other to despair.
After Eleanor discovers Michael’s sinister plot, he decides to reset their memories and tweak some of the elements of the environment to try it again. Right before he does so, Eleanor writes a note to herself reading “Eleanor—Find Chidi” and stuffs it in omnipresent and benevolent robot Janet’s mouth.
Via Entertainment Weekly, the season 2 sneak peak opens with Eleanor having just discovered the note, though, of course, she doesn’t know what a Chidi is. And she can’t even summon Janet, because she doesn’t remember her name.
“Joey?” She ventures. “Jeannine? Ja…Ja?”
As Eleanor struggles to put the pieces together, we get a glimpse of Michael videoconferencing with his boss and going over the new design elements of The Good Place 2.0.
Michael is focused on adding even more elements they’ll hate. “For example, all the coffee is from those little pods,” he says. “Diabolical!”
However, Michael’s boss isn’t feeling convinced, and is instead determined that Michael’s impending failure will drive him to a forced retirement.
Will Michael’s experiment work the second time around? Will Eleanor remember Janet’s name? And, most importantly, will The Good Place be able to retain the off-color, refreshing tone it established so well in season 1?
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The Good Place will return to NBC on Wednesday, Sept. 20, with a special one-hour premiere at 9 p.m. before it resumes its regular spot on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m.