The Good Place review: Michael keeps running interference

The Good Place adds in some healthy time jumps for our four humans to see how the study’s going. So how many times will Michael interfere to help them?

Welcome to our third week of The Good Place! I love that it’s back on our screens. This week’s episode is nothing short of ridiculous, per normal.

Let’s recap…

“I have never been this angry in my life, WHICH IS THE AGE OF THE UNIVERSE!” Judge Gen exclaims to start the episode. Unfortunately, Eleanor is not helping her case to make it into the Good Place by blaming her farts on her chair.

This episode doesn’t take any time to slow down (not that any episodes do). We jump three months into the future, when Eleanor runs into a problem of having no money.

And that’s when Michael and Janet become a snowplow for the group. This stint has them dropping a winning lottery ticket outside of Eleanor’s apartment, falling into $18,000.

Three months after that, to save Tahani and Jason from hooking up, they get one of Tahani’s ex-boyfriends to show up at the bar she’s at. It’s a surprise appearance from Larry Hemsworth — what a throwback!

Six months after that, we’ve come a full year and Larry Hemsworth proposed to Tahani. And it’s time for the study to end, at least for a year.

THE GOOD PLACE — “The Snowplow” Episode 304 — Pictured: (l-r) Manny Jacinto as Jason Mendoza, William Jackson Harper as Chidi — (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

Eleanor makes a big speech at Tahani’s party and tries to get them all to stay and continue the study. When they all kind of patronize her and tell her it can’t really work like that, she lashes out and makes a scene.

It is very reminiscent of the party Tahani throws in season 1 where Michael needs her to make a scene so they can create the problems for the next day. It does show how much the study has helped her become a better person — she goes in and apologizes to everyone — but there’s something so striking about this similarity. It has to mean something. Keep it in mind for later.

The Good Place really causes you to overanalyze everything, huh?

THE GOOD PLACE — “The Snowplow” Episode 304 — Pictured: D’Arcy Carden as Janet — (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

The episode ends with Michael trying to find a way to reset the timeline on Earth. That involves opening up the door to the neutral zone and sneaking into the Judge’s chambers.

Too bad the Brainy Bunch shows up just in time to ask what the heck the door is.

Michael and Janet do a fair amount of interfering this episode, and they do a fair amount of bonding, too. Plus we get to see Janet showing that she’s still the smartest person in the universe. By being super creepy with her stats. It is nice to see that she still retains all of her knowledge and can freak people out.

Favorite Line This Week

”Better luck next time,” Tahani tells Eleanor after she wins $18000 from a lottery ticket. Also Heir BNB is pretty good, too.

We’ll just have to watch next week and find out just how Michael spins this. And if this is how he keeps the group from splintering apart. Poor Larry Hemsworth…