Tag: Ted Danson

The sinkhole from last week’s episode is getting bigger and this causes a “Code 55 Doomsday Crisis.” The Good Place becomes too dangerous to walk about in so everyone is housebound.  Chidi continues to teach Eleanor and Jianyu about ethics and it appears that Tahani has some baggage from when she was alive.

While it seems that Jianyu, aka Jason Mendoza, is getting the hang of ethics pretty quickly, Eleanor is moving a bit slowly.  Although she does allow someone else to go ahead of her at the frozen yoghurt line.

Once it dawns on her what she has done, Eleanor rushes home to tell Chidi. However, something is not quite right with the former ethics professor.

Michael is at Tahani’s eternal house party when Janet arrives with horrible news. The sinkhole is getting bigger rather than fixing itself.  He and Janet go to inspect the problem and leave their holographic computer console at Tahani’s house.

Tahani browses through the thing and learns that her “ranking” in The Good Place is second from last. This brings memories of her childhood and the constant competition between Tahani and her sister.

Chidi and Eleanor get into a long running argument about her taking up all of his time. Michael brings a couple who live near the expanding sinkhole to stay with them until the problem can be fixed.

The new couple attempt to help Eleanor and Chidi to get past their apparent issues.

Tahani’s flashbacks show that her childhood and later life were less than ideal.  Her “good works” were not so much a selfless dedication to doing good but an attempt to better her sister and impress her parents.

To be fair, Tahani’s mother and father doted on her sister so much that in their will they spelt her name wrong. Tahani declares that sis can have it all and dedicates her life to outdoing her parent’s favorite child.

Here then is just the hint of a crack in the Tahani exemplary life. Yet another denizen of The Good Place who may not really belong there after all. Even Chidi, when questioned by the house guests, has a secret.

After a long questioning session, he says that he never had girlfriend when he was alive and that getting used to having a soulmate is difficult. The confession, which is partly to keep the new soulmates from guessing that Eleanor does not belong in The Good Place, sounds dodgy.

Tahani comes out to bring Michael and Janet some donut holes. “Get it,” she asks. She hopes to be instrumental in closing up the sinkhole. Instead the sinkhole affects her and Michael must knock her out.

Later the gaping hole in the village mysteriously fixes itself and Michael is confused and frightened. He asks his new assistant Eleanor to help him figure out what is wrong. Michael has no  idea why the sinkhole suddenly repaired itself.

Chidi and Eleanor make up. She gives him a “Fork off Eleanor’ sign and vows to give him some space.

It is apparent that it is not just Eleanor’s presence in The Good Place that is causing all the problems.  Jianyu does not belong either and it is looking like even Tahani may be there under false pretenses.

The system for selecting the new occupants of the village looks to be broken.  Perhaps there are a number of residents who do belong but the newer occupants may be the problem.

There may be many who have “life” baggage that affects their “calm” in this vision  of heaven.

Kristen Bell is a delight as Eleanor and Ted Danson is sheer perfection as the “newbie” Michael.  Kudos to both a Jamil and Jackson Harper as Tahani and Chidi.  Garden and Jacinto also impress in their roles as Janet and Jianyu.

The Good Place airs Thursdays on NBC. Tune in and see if Michael figures out that his new assistant my be part of the problem.

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

Rather interestingly, NBC have shuffled The Good Place from Mondays to Thursdays.  This could be because Timeless is starting on 3 October and the the network wants to give the new drama some breathing space.

Overall The Good Place is performing well with an average of over 6 million viewers per show. (Although moving the show to Thursday cut their viewing figures almost in-half.)

Slipping into episode four, which takes up right after Jianyu confesses he does slipped the note under Eleanor’s door, we learn that the Taiwanese monk is really a Filipino wannabe DF from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  He too is a very square peg in a round hole.

He wants help from Shellstrop who is panicking at the idea of being caught and chucked out of the forking place.  Eleanor is stunned that Jianyu knows she does not belong.

He reveals that she drunkenly told him the night of the welcoming party. “I kind of vaguely remember that,” she admits.  Eleanor realizes that if she wants to stay in the Good Place, she needs to form an alliance with Jason.

While those two head off to his “bud-hole” Tahani is recruited by Michael to host the new restaurant opening. The “Good Plate” will be the event of the neighborhood and Al-Jamil is up for the challenge. The two engage in excited small talk and Michael reveals he is thinking of wearing suspenders.

(Sidenote to the writers here:  Tahani never flinches when Michael uses the term suspenders. In England the items used to hold up one’s trousers  are called “braces.” Suspenders have to do with garter-belts and hose.  So come along chaps, if writing for an English bird with a cut-glass accent, do your homework.)

Later, Tahani comes home to swap her gloves and Jianyu speaks. Tahani decides that Chidi and Eleanor are helping her soulmate to talk.  (Another odd “English” phrase is used here, “Whisper in your snicker box .” A phrase never once heard over a 32 year period in that country. There are plenty of real quirky, to American ears anyway, British sayings that would have sufficed.)

At the gala event Jianyu just starts speaking when Eleanor destroys the chef’s three tier cake.  At the exact same time a giant sinkhole appears in the restaurant. People panic and flee the venue.

Tahani believes this to be her fault but Michael talks her into re-hosting the re-opening.  Meanwhile Chidi is invited into Jason’s bud-hole and he joins Eleanor in trying to talk the imposter into taking ethics training.

Back at the Good Plates eatery, the sinkhole (that Michael said would repair itself in a matter of days, is getting bigger.  Eleanor is overjoyed when Jianyu joins the class and she discovers she is the smartest student in the class.

Apart from the English gaffes, there were two outstandingly funny gags in the show. Eleanor’s obsession with “knowing yourself” meaning masturbation and Chidi’s exasperated reaction to it. And the “bud-hole” gag.

As the show continues a couple of  things become clear. Michael is a novice in every sense of the word and there must be more “mistakes” in The Good Place.

It would not be surprising to learn that all the occupants are “boo-boos”  After all, would these extreme examples of “good-two-shoes” be so quick to blow their own horns? So far the only person in the place who seems genuine is Chidi.

Kudos to Jameel a Jamil for channeling her inner Penelope Keith. (Keith played upper class neighbor Margo in the 1970s sitcom The Good Life) Although Tahani is a tad more bubbly than Margot…

The Good Place is great fun and hearing  Eleanor call someone a “shirt head” or say “fork” never ceases to amuse.

The series now airs Thursdays on NBC.  Tune in and see if Jianyu learns “ethnics” or not.

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

The Good Place veers away from any catastrophic events this week.  Although there is a really funny “burning bush” gag part way through. In episode two, Eleanor zeroes in on Tahani Al-Jamil as the obvious suspect for slipping that note under her door.

Chidi is doing his level best to get his soulmate as deserving as the rest of the denizens of this manufactured nirvana. Sadly Eleanor clearly does not belong here, as the note said, and she knows it.

Shellstrop may indeed realize that she is one bad apple in this barrel, but this does not stop her arguing ethics with Chidi and bad talking Tahini.  She is convinced that the tall and beautiful girl with the cut-glass accent is hiding something.

As her soulmate comes close to giving up, Michael makes a move to divert the former ethics professor with a worthwhile hobby. Nothing Michael suggests seems to fit and both men are disappointed.

Chidi is crushed to learn that  Michael hated the book he was writing when he died.  While the “head” of The Good Place attempts to find something for Chidi to do Janet goes through a number of changes in personality.

Eleanor gets a flowery bush from Tahani as a housewarming gift.  She immediately begins attacking her neighbor verbally and the plant starts to die.

Later, she goes to Tahani’s house with her own gift; a basket of pears. Al-Jamil explains that pears are bad luck to her soulmate; Jianyu,  and throws them in the bin.  Jianyu meditates as the two women talk.

After Tahani leaves the room, Eleanor steals her diary hoping to find that her neighbor is not so perfect after all. When she returns home the small bush catches fire. Chidi is horrified.

(The bush reacts to Eleanor’s anger and distrust of Tahini. It is a sort of Al-Jamil barometer, or mood-bush.)

As the show progresses, Michael gives up on Chidi and Eleanor talks  her soulmate into continuing his book. Michael agrees with his decision to keep writing but insists that Chidi throw his first effort away.

Eleanor goes to see Tahani and finds her crying. It seems that Jianyu will not talk to her at all. This continued vow of silence is driving her to distraction and Eleanor comforts her.

After this the two women bond and Eleanor improves herself by showing not just compassion but recognizing someone else’s pain.  Returning home, the burned bush has been rejuvenated. It is now a leafy, tall plant with lots of flowers.

Chidi congratulates Eleanor on her progress. Earlier he also convinced his soulmate that her guilt manifested the note slipped under her door.

The next day Tahani suggests to Michael that he take Eleanor on as an assistant. She agrees to help him figure out why all these strange things are happening in the village.

Later at home another note is slipped under her door. This asks for a meeting at the town square. She turns up and finds Jianyu. He wrote the first note because  he knows Eleanor does not belong in The Good Place.

Neither does he.

Jianyu tells Eleanor that he is freaking out “Homie” and that he needs her help. It looks like The Good Place may be “good” but it is far from “perfect” as two people are there who do not belong.

Thus far the show is funny. Bell does a great job vacillating between “wannabe” good and bad. Danson is spot on as the bumbling newbie who designed the place as is Carden as his temporary assistant.

Jameel a Jamil is delightful and Manny  Jacinto just killed it in this episode.  Harper is sheer perfection as the somewhat reluctant ethics coach for Bell’s character.

(On a sidenote: Congratulations of the property department for coming up with a scone that looked very close to the real thing and not some strange American triangular bit of pastry. Well done.)

The Good Place is excellent fun and it will be interesting to see how long it will take for more “mistakes” to turn up.

The series airs Mondays 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