THE GOOD PLACE: The Brainy Bunch

Trevor’s evil plan to break up Team Cockroach was in full gear this week, leaving Michael and Janet scrambling for a plan. Let’s see what the Nice Girls thought was stupid, awesome, and so-so.

Stupid:

Roz: All of Trevor’s plans to ruin Team Cockroach. While I adore Adam Scott, Trevor was next level creepy and it’s funny, but not good. The Marshmallow in me is also imagining that Trevor was Mr. Rooks and then it was worse. I couldn’t even summon the energy for a Party Down AU.

Karen: I don’t know, I can’t work up enough dumb vibes to put anything firmly in this category. I’m still on a TGP high from the show being back and it’s pretty much happitimez for me right now.

Cara: For me it was the justification for Chidi’s indecision. I mean, it’s perfectly ok for him to oversee a research study that is formed around his own experiences and desire to understand his brain, yet somehow he can’t also be friendly with the test subjects? It didn’t add up for me. But, overall I’m with Karen and just happy to have the show back.

Awesome:

Roz: Eleanor’s refusal to let Trevor get the best of her at the bar because he’s just a tool. Well, the restaurant is equally awesome for the stupid things they do. (Giving Chidi a gun was inspired in an awkward way.)

Cay: Some of the restaurant gags cracked me up, particularly the “Manifest Destiny” treatment. But, I would expect no less from writers that have been writing excellent food puns for 2 full seasons already. Also, Janet on Earth with no powers. ’nuff said.

Karen: I agree 100% about Janet’s dialogue. HILARIOUS! And print queue? C’mon! So good.

Cara: The restaurant was pretty great. It’s what the show does best, reframe ordinary life in a way that shows how odd it really is. My awesome moment was Jason taking the spider into the MRI, and Eleanor’s instant recognition of what he was doing. The chemistry between those two isn’t always front and center, but it’s such a great pairing of dirtbags, one with brains and the other with heart. It also warmed my heart to see that Jason was still such a sweetheart to Tahani.

So-So:

Roz: Michael’s bad Dick Tracy jokes with Trevor. I’m all for them being antagonistic, but it’s bad in execution.

Cay: Yeah, Michael is so awkward on Earth that it’s painful more than funny sometimes. Although it did kind of remind me of that classic Seinfeld where George can’t come up with a good comeback until after he gets home, so he travels back to give a really lame comeback – “the jerk store called and they’ve run out of you” or something.

Karen: I usually LOVE Trevor, so I can only level him down to so-so when he’s not great. Whenever Adam Scott shows up on The Good Place, I get a little excited. I wish we could’ve gotten more “quality time” instead of the irritating buzziness though.

Cara: I’m with Karen. I know Trevor’s entire purpose was to be annoying, but he was just so big brother, snarky cool when we saw him before. I also think Janet isn’t translating well on earth either. I’m a Janet super fan (aren’t we all?), but I wasn’t super excited about how she was written this week. Maybe it’s just because I have such high expectations though.

Favorite Quotes:

Roz: “Do you think taking a spider into an MRI machine will give you superpowers?” Eleanor to Jason

Cay: I can’t remember the exact line, but the gist was that Brexit, The Greatest Showman’s success, and the Jacksonville Jaguars actually being good are all because Michael meddled on Earth.

Karen: Here ya go Cay!

“Do you know how much weird stuff has happened because of your little experiment? England left Europe. That Hugh Jackman musical about P.T. Barnum? It made, like, $400 million. Also, the Jacksonville Jaguars are good now.” -The Judge

Here’s mine: “The instant before we left, a man in Caracas, Venezuela, named Raul Benitez was eating a ham sandwich.
Did he finish it? I don’t know, and it’s making me crazy.” -Janet

Cara: “Dah! Poop hands!” -Trevor. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good poo joke.

The Good Place airs Thursday 8/7c on NBC

Next week:

The Snowplow