The Good Place on NBC

it was literally retreading old ground but new unseen corners of that ground, through a specific (and one of the show’s most well-written) character’s perspective. it kinda reconnected me to the show emotionally even though nothing really happened with the plot (which i no longer care about anyway). also as i’ve stated upthread i find eleanor/chidi boring but sometimes the writers convince me, this episode was one of those times

This is the first time I've found Chidi and Eleanor's relationship at all convincing, so for that alone I liked it.

it was literally retreading old ground but new unseen corners of that ground, through a specific (and one of the show’s most well-written) character’s perspective

I felt like the reason it was unseen was that they were rewriting the character in ways that didn't really match what we've seen before, that's exactly what gave me that floundering feeling -- that and "bad janets are good now."

they were rewriting the character in ways that didn't really match what we've seen before

did not feel this at all

This whole "there must be AN ANSWER if only I think hard enough!" thing was completely out of the blue and is foreign to the entire tradition of philosophy Chidi is supposed up till now to have devoted his life to.

ok i definitely get that but idk in the experience it felt true to his character regardless

i know it's antithetical but "there must be an answer if only i think hard enough" just seemed to be anxiety stretched out into a full sentence to me. i can still feel that way even if i'm familiar with the idea that the opposite is true (not that this is how the show necessarily depicted it lol)

I don't know, I think it makes sense as an origin story for all his dithering. I mean, yeah, he considers a lot of possible approaches to everything, but that's not the same as thinking there are multiple answers to everything. What's unhealthy about Chidi's approach to the world is that he feels compelled to make the right decision and can't bring himself to make any decision at all in case it's the wrong one, and that seems compatible with what we saw in this episode, I think.

i haven't caught up on this show in a long time so idk context but 'there must be an answer if only i think hard enough' sounds TOTALLY on-character for a philosopher in ANY context sooooo

loved this ep!

i think part of why this season fell flat was the dearth of Eleanor/Chidi interactions - not even romantically, but just the way they play off each other seemed to generate great moments, not just together but also with the group & splitting the two them off into separate plot roles felt like a bit of a missstep

but i didnt realize it until i saw this new ep

gah so this is on a break until January

Wish Netflix would show that somehow.

It's trolling me by saying 'NEW EPISODE' under it

A great big gap in the schedule will really help the already knackered pacing of this last series.

Mike Schur and the show's philosophy consultant, Pamela Hieronymi, are on the latest episode of the Ezra Klein Show podcast: https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2019/12/10/21002589/the-ezra-klein-show-mike-schur-the-good-place-moral-philosophy

(I haven't listened yet.)

great big gap in the schedule

It has done this every year, but this time there are going to be more episodes in the second calendar year than last season, so the pace should be improved if anything

I know it's done it each year, but this series has been unusually baggy, which having an extra episode is unlikely to improve. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of time and affection for this show which is better than almost every other comedy on TV, I'm just disappointed in it this year.

you have a right

Found it baggy and disappointing last year too

But it’s still fine

The common denominator in Schur shows seems to be that, the nicer a character gets, the less interesting s/he becomes

Andre Braugher seems to be the exception. Ted Danson’s still great in this, but he seemed to have more fun as the bad guy

So you all know this came back?

thing that irrationally annoyed me: Timothy Olyphant guesting as "Timothy Olyphant" even though he was clearly meant to be in character as Raylan Givens

Well tbf he was a Janet-created fantasy Olyphant

yeah but it was specifically listed as “Timothy Olyphant” not Timothy Olyphant, so the Judge’s made-up idea of what the guy she only knows from Justified is really like

seems like a distinction they could have milked for a proper joke tbh

anyway that's all from me, the joke police

i thought that joke was implied.

i imagine he was credited as "raylan" in the script before some nbc lawyers got worried about rights issues.

yeah almost certainly some fox/nbc ish and not something worth not suspending your disbelief over

Hm, so reincarnation and karma is the compromise solution?

haha I had that thought too

I was hoping it would embrace universalism - forgiveness solves lots of the problems.

Universal forgiveness goes against the grain of most, if not all, ethical philosophers, because it renders their tortured wrestling with the nuances pointless.

I thought last night's was fantastic and got me really excited about this season (for a week until the season finale). The change in setting seemed to open up something that had been missing for much of the season, tons of laugh out loud moments.

I haven't watched it yet but I don't know if it's a good or bad thing about this show that literally anything could be at the end of the balloon ride and I'd probably buy it.

i've been suspicious they had an eight episode final season and have had to pad the shit out of it.

aka The Americans s5

It has felt like some wheel spinning for some time, but last night's really reminded me of what I love best about the show.

The ending was the ending of A History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters.

Looks like a feature length/double episode finale next week (according to IMDB anyway).

And the episode title seems like a massive fucking spoiler so don't look it up.

Oh! I thought that was the last episode...

Ha, the ending could certainly have scanned as a series finale, but more to come.

Schur on the Olyphant cameo: all this thread's questions answered

https://tv.avclub.com/mike-schur-on-making-the-judge-s-dreams-come-true-with-1840910984

ohhh that wasn't the finale

It's tonight, right?

90-min finale, yup

fuck

Well that was sweet.

i havente even finished watching & it has already destroyed ms

V good

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2019 season is nominated in the 2019 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2019 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends January 31

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (4 minimum, 25 maximum, organized by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail by end of day today. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

it didn't really work for me overall and I'm not quite sure why

That's kind of my overall statement about the last couple seasons really