THE GOOD PLACE Roundtable: A Fractured Inheritance

This week on The Good Place, Michael takes Eleanor to confront her not-so-dead mother while Tahani, Jason, Janet, and Chidi go see Tahani’s sister.

Stupid:

Roz: Eleanor’s reaction to her mother’s stash of money; I get that Eleanor doesn’t trust her mom, but that moment was gloating gone too far.

Cay: Pretty much the whole gallery scene with Tahani’s sister. I’ll admit that I don’t exactly appreciate modern art and this was meant to be a bit of a satire, but it was just dumb.

Cara: I wasn’t a fan of Kamilah taking Chidi’s fears. I get that she’s supposed to be amazing at everything but it was just silly to me.

Leah: I’m not loving Kamilah. I know she is the bane of Tahani’s existence and apparently it was their parents that made her that way but she is over the top and it was too much for me.

Awesome:

Roz: Leslie Grossman is a delight as Eleanor’s mom. I watched and screamed “MARY CHERRY!”

Cay:  Janet was my favorite part of this episode. I love how she doesn’t have powers per se, but she still has all the knowledge and apparently perfect driving skills.

Cara: My favorite moment was Eleanor’s heaping cheese plate. The small but great details are what makes me love this show.

Leah: I’m with Cara – the prop/set department deserves all of the awards for their attention to detail.

So-So:

Roz: I wish Tahani’s story had been better. It was okay, but she has such a deep set of issues with her sister that I don’t think half an episode can help solve it. Kamilah is a great foil, but she still seems one-dimensional.

Cay: The story with Eleanor’s mom was okay, didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. But I’m curious to see if it will make any difference when it comes to Eleanor’s cynicism.

Cara: I’m glad Tahani’s relationship with her sister has a chance of resolving, but I agree with Roz that a lot of that story was just ok, and Kamilah has always been such a shallow character. Both Eleanor and Tahani made progress resolving some of their big issues this week, and even if it wasn’t amazing, I think it could lead to progress for both.

Leah: For as crazy as Eleanor was as an Arizona Trash Bag I was a little let down by her Mom. Sure it was good for her to get resolution or something but….it wasn’t a strong story for me.

Your Thoughts/Favorite Quote:

Roz: The one from Tahani about Ben Affleck needing an intervention and if not him, then Matt Damon needing an intervention from Ben Affleck.

Cay:  I laughed when Chidi admitted that all he could see in the one painting was boobs after hearing Jason make that comment. Overall, this season has been pretty uneven so far – I liked season 2 a lot better.

Cara: The moment when Eleanor pulls out a huge knife to disembowel stuffed animals right in front of a child was pretty good, and I enjoyed Janet’s acknowledgement that her driving is perfect at the end.

The Good Place airs Thursday 8/7c on NBC. What did we think of other episodes? Check those out here.