The Good Place review: How to be good in a cruel world

How will Michael spin the truth to his human friends on The Good Place? Well, let’s just say it doesn’t go very well, and that’s only the start.

Welcome back to week five of The Good Place!  This week doesn’t end with a cliffhanger, but we pick up exactly where last week left off with our human friends seeing the door to the Judge’s chambers.

And it’s probably not going to go so well.

Let’s recap…

“My name is special agent Rick Justice,” Michael begins, rather than explaining the truth. He’s with the FBI, they’re in grave danger, and of course this won’t backfire in the worst way ever.

Because it gets better. He thinks about killing them all and grabbing them before they get to the Bad Place. The last-second measures Michael tries to take, the desperation in everything he tries to do just leads to the truth. Because in the end, even though they don’t know it, they’re his friends. And he can’t hurt them.

THE GOOD PLACE — “Jeremy Bearimy” Episode 305 — Pictured: (l-r) Ted Danson as Michael, D?Arcy Carden as Janet — (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

“Well this sucks,” Eleanor deadpans at the end of it. Also, fun note, they were in the Bad Place for almost 300 years.

Jeremy Bearimy. The name of the episode. It’s how time flows in the afterlife. Because of course it is?

Eleanor ends up in the Drinking Nemo, saying it’s her birthday to get her a free margarita. Tahani and Jason go about donating a lot of money anonymously. And Chidi is very broken and scares off a drug dealer by being too weird. It’s a very Chidi thing to do.

The problem is… Eleanor is still a good person. She finds a wallet in the bar, goes to return it, finds the person moved to a place right next door to the bar she stopped at, and does end up finding him. He proves that she’s a good person.

Oh… and Chidi has gone completely off the deep end and is adding Peeps and M&Ms in his chili. But he does pull it together for a good lecture for his students since exams are next week.

He explains three different “branches” of ethics, one that personifies each of his study group cohorts. “The true meaning of life — the actual, ethical system that you should all follow — is nihilism,” he continues, thanks to Michael. Do whatever! And now he’s going to eat his marshmallow chili in silence. Because whatever! And yes, it will be on the test. But everyone fails or gets A’s.

Of course, Eleanor shows up at the end of it all. She has a plan. “We can try to do good,” Eleanor explains to her five compatriots. Because there are people in this world who still need it.

They’re now the Soul Squad!

THE GOOD PLACE — “Jeremy Bearimy” Episode 305 — Pictured: William Jackson Harper as Chidi — (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

Best Lines

“You just take the juice out and then they’re dead!” Michael explains on how to kill the humans.

“This is Tuesdays. And also July,” Michael says.
“And sometimes it’s never,” Janet chimes in about the I in Jeremy Bearimy.

“Now you can buy a bigger chin guitar!”

“We’re technically supposed to shut down the bank if anyone from Florida even walks in.”

Final Thoughts

Michael and Janet put together a manifesto of their entire study. It’s multiple reams of paper and who knows if the Judge will even read it! Oh and Jason and Tahani got married — only so Tahani can give Jason all of her money. It’s completely platonic, but I feel like it’s going to backfire for Janet.

And can I just quickly thank the writers for giving us a shirtless William Jackson Harper for multiple scenes? It was very nice.

This very much feels like The Good Place is back in its fun groove of kicking off all expectations.