THE GOOD PLACE: Book of Dougs {Roundtable}

This week on The Good Place, Michael appeals to the Good Place Committee to figure out what is wrong with the points system while the rest of the team deals with the realization that they are “four Oreos” from the Good Place, but stuck in the post office and unable to enter.

Stupid:

Roz: The Good Place committee that can take 400 years to fix the problem of no one being admitted there. Bureaucracy is slow, but not that slow.

Cara: I thought Janet’s attempts at being neutral were a little much. I get that it was a way to show her developing emotions and “humanity”, but it just felt silly and overdone to me.

Leah: I really love Janet, but I have to agree with Cara, it was too much. I almost cried typing that as I love the character so much I hate to say anything “stupid” about her.

Cay: Yeah, Janet was awkward but not in the funny way we’ve seen in the past, such as when she has pretended to be evil Janet.

THE GOOD PLACE — “The Book of Dougs” Episode 311 — Pictured: (l-r) D?Arcy Carden as Janet, Ted Danson as Michael, William Jackson Harper as Chidi, Kristin Bell as Eleanor — (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

Awesome:

Roz: Really impressed that Michael figured out that the whole premise of doing good work has decreased in goodness because of our modern issues that weren’t a thing 500 years ago. Giving flowers should be nice, but now we have to worry about all these things (where the roses were grown, who picked the roses, etc) that had no way of being complicated in ye olden times.

Cay: I thought it was pretty funny that everyone we met in the actual Good Place was annoying and rather inept. It was a nice take on the “holier than though” stereotype. I feel like Doug Forseth would fit really well in with these annoying do-gooders. Maybe we don’t want to go to the Good Place – the Medium place might be okay and less annoying, right? That said, I like the conclusion that Michael came to – that things have gotten complicated and it’s harder to be good.

Cara: I really liked Eleanor and Chidi’s impromptu date. I didn’t like it in itself, but I loved the way Chidi can relate to Eleanor, and I even enjoyed him being the one to suggest that they sneak off to shag in the good place because I think it shows Chidi’s growth as a human. I know it sounds silly, but him being able to do something so impulsive and make such a decisive suggestion shows real change on his part. It’s easy to see how the others have benefited from their experiences in the bad place and on earth, but Chidi’s development was less obvious at times. He was so often just the one facilitating the other’s education, so it’s great to see that he’s moving past his own failings as well.

Leah: I’ll take a little from Cara and Roz on this one….Oh Chidi! Your ability to do anything without a decade of decision making back and forth is so welcome. I just love him and Eleanor and their stumblings along together. Also exactly what Roz said about modern issues complicating such simple gestures that in the past would have been considered nice without any further thought.

THE GOOD PLACE — “The Book of Dougs” Episode 311 — Pictured: (l-r) William Jackson Harper as Chidi, Kristen Bell as Eleanor — (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/NBC)

So-So:

Roz: Chidi and Eleanor finally having sex. I could have gone without it as a point while they were in The Good Place Postal Service.

Cara: The goodness and naivety of the woman in the good place got a little old to me. It felt to much like equating goodness with foolishness. It was entertaining, but not amazing.

Cay: Chidi’s character just seemed a bit off here to me. He actually did something so spontaneous as sleeping with Eleanor in a relatively public place? Maybe a bit more growth prior would have set it all up better. And Cara, I’m with you on the foolishness vs niceness.

Your Thoughts/Favorite Quote:

Roz: Jason’s line about refugees being welcome in The Good Place. I love the writers for that jab at all our current events.

Cara: Yep, “Who wouldn’t welcome refugees?” did it for me too.

Cay: Jason’s first line cracked me up: “I don’t see go carts, much less go carts being driven by monkeys wearing Hawaiian shirts!” The refugees comment was spot-on and all that much better coming from Jason.

Leah: We can all just agree with Roz on this one. She actually text me that as her favorite line while watching. I got online a few moments later and watched just for that line alone. I was not disappointed!

The Good Place airs Thursday 9:30/8:30c on NBC.

What did we think of other episodes? Check those out here.