Coming back after the mid-season break, The Good Place “Chidi’s Choice – Extended Cut” may just be the funniest episode of the series yet. It certainly has enough business going on between the characters. A lot is revealed about the “perfect” people who belong in The Good Place, and in this episode they are not quite a “good” as initially implied.
We find out that Chidi is the world’s worst “choice maker” he is so bad at choosing things that he even inadvertently caused his own death. As Chidi’s best mate Uzo proves that he would be unable to be Uzo’s Best Man at his wedding, Chidi hits the air conditioner in the window very hard, the two friends then decide to go out for a beer.
It takes Chidi an hour to decide where to go for said beer and as he stands vacillating the air conditioner falls from the flat and hits Chidi in the head killing him.
Michael and Chidi have teamed up to help keep “Fake” Eleanor in The Good Place, while the real Eleanor and Bambadjan quiz the fake Eleanor to work out a defense. As the three people talk, with fake Eleanor being quite rude to Bambadjan, she realizes that she loves Chidi.
The meeting stops, but only after Bambadjan give Eleanor a hug, and she goes to confess her feelings to Chidi. Meanwhile, Tahani is furious with Jason/Jianyu for lying to her and he reveals that Chidi has been helping him to make Tahani happy.
Tahani then realizes that she must be in love with Chidi. She comes to this conclusion after deciding that he must be her real soul-mate. Fake Eleanor tells Chidi how she feels and as she goes to leave, Tahani barges in and reveals her true feelings for Chidi.
Jason decides that he and Janet are in love and they get married. Michael is getting frustrated with Chidi’s inability to make up his mind on anything and fake Eleanor and Tahani spend some time bonding since Eleanor refuses to fight over Chidi.
Tahani makes Eleanor watch “Deirdre and Margaret” an “English” series about an ignorant lower-class woman who is friends with an upper-class one. The implication is that Eleanor is the lower class friend.
Chidi has memories that go back to grade school where he cannot make a choice on which kids to have on his soccer (football) team. He wastes an entire recess discussing all his options. His friend Uzo, the chap who is with him later when he dies, is as frustrated as Michael.
Eleanor, the fake one, actually decides that her soulmate is really Jason/Jianyu. They are, she says, both there by mistake, both were horrible people when they were alive and he is a “bad boy.” Just as she decides this, Jason marries Janet in a small ceremony witnessed by Tahani and Eleanor.
The Good Place returned from its mid-season break with a top-notch example of what makes it so funny. The addition of Tiya Sircar as the real Eleanor has been perfect. She exudes the “goodness” that should have included her amongst the good people effortlessly and manages to make her appearances funny as well.
Jameel a Jamil is still spot on as the overbearing Tahani. Manny Jacinto and D’Arcy Carden, as Jason and Janet, are brilliantly funny together. Danson, Bell, and Harper are all maintaining the status quo comedy wise and show creator Michael Schur looks to be setting things up for a hilarious season finale.
The Good Place airs Thursdays on NBC.
CAST:
- Kristen Bell – Eleanor Shellstrop
- Ted Danson – Michael
- William Jackson Harper – Chidi Anagonye
- Jameel a Jamil – Tahani Al-Jamil
- D’Arcy Carden – Janet
- Manny Jacinto – Jianyu/Jason Mendoza
- Adam Scott – Trevor
- Tiya Sircar – The Real Eleanor
Guest starring Bambadjan Bamba as Bambadjan, Keston John as Uzo, Dallas Young as young Uzo, Jayne Entwistle as Deirdre, Abigail Marlowe as Margaret and A.J. Hudson as young Chidi.
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