The Good Place review: Janets, accountants, and the point system

The Good Place returns with a Janet-filled episode. We meet the accounting department who tallies and monitors the point system. How can it be fixed?

Welcome back to The Good Place! Everything is great! We’ve had two solid weeks off, it’s nice to see our gang back together. Even if it’s not exactly… our four humans.

Let’s recap…

Michael and Janet made it to Janet’s void perfectly fine. The side effects for the humans are that they’ve lost their bodies and now they’re all Janets!

So we do get a lot of D’Arcy Carden acting against herself, as I hoped. D’Arcy Carden is a national treasure in this episode. She perfectly encapsulates all of our humans. You can tell which Janet is which — and not just because Jason is excited to have breasts. Also, man does she nail Manny Jacinto’s Jason voice.

Michael and Janet take off to the accountants’ area while the rest of the crew have to stay in Janet’s void and try to not explode her entire essence. So it’s a lot of Janets at once.

We even get Janet! Chidi giving a lecture about the memories of the Chidi from the other time. But Chidi is basically avoiding telling the truth. He does love Eleanor — and it comes out at the perfect moment because Eleanor is losing her sense of self and destroying Janet’s void.

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

In the accountant area, we meet a neutral Janet, who is the black sheep of the Janet bunch. And we meet Neil, the head accountant!

Neil is Stephen Merchant and he is absolutely perfect as the Accountant. If you’re a numbers nerd and really want a ton of information on the point system, this episode is for you. A destination theme wedding,  negative 3,400 points. Also Walt Disney has some freaky stuff in his file. That doesn’t bode well for Michael’s mission to find out if the Bad Place is messing with the system.

Doug Forcett will save us! Unfortunately, his 520,000 points at 68 years old is terrible. If Doug Forcett isn’t getting in, who is? Turns out, it’s been 521 years since someone went to the Good Place. Which… at least someone did?

Janet decides it: Michael’s the only one who can fix what’s wrong with the afterlife.

Our interdimensional fugitives pop out of Janet and Michael sends them through the tube to the Good Place to escape being arrested/tortured forever.

Eleanor can’t say any more swears. “Holy forking shirtballs — we’re in the Good Place!”

And they really are!

THE GOOD PLACE — “Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You By” Episode 309 — Pictured: (l-r) Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop, William Jackson Harper as Chidi — (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

Favorite Moments/Lines

White people things Janet! Jason says: “Billy Joel. I found it on Etsy! There was nowhere to park. Did you refill the Brita?!”

Tahani and Jason stumble upon a flatscreen of where Janet stores all her knowledge. They then stumble upon a slideshow of Jason pictures and wedding photos and find Janet’s crush on Jason. Oh snap!

Michael is really under the assumption that the Bad Place is pulling the strings with the point system. Which… I can believe to a point (pun intended) since Shawn so snarkily talked about Doug Forcett not getting in.

But maybe the whole system is corrupt. Or is that too much of a leap?

What happened 521 years ago in the world where the Bad Place could have tampered with their computers?

Unfortunately, The Good Place doesn’t return until 2019. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the actual Good Place.