What I’m Watching: The Good Place (Season Premiere)

The Good Place: Season 3, Episodes 1 and 2 “Everything Is Bonzer! Parts 1 and 2” (A-)

I love this show, and I’m so happy it’s back. It’s managed something that I can’t say about a lot of other shows, which is rebooting itself multiple times and managing to be just as funny and creatively engaging each time. After Michael kept snapping his fingers at the start of season two to restart his experiment after revealing himself to be a villain – a huge twist that played out in a great way – we now get to see what life would have been like if Eleanor, Chidi, Tahini, and Jason had been saved by Michael and given a new chance to become good on their own. I like the casting of Mike O’Malley from “Glee” as the Doorman, who likes decaf antimatter and frogs, and it was fun to hear Michael’s stories of the things that he loved doing as a human. While he is an immortal being and should have a decent amount of knowledge about things, it was especially impressive how he approached each of the four in exactly the right way to convince them to end up in Australia to participate in Chidi’s experiment. Jason telling Michael the story of how he got there and not realizing that he was still talking to Michael was my favorite part, and he continues to be a superb character whose lack of intelligence and odd commitment to dance somehow work. I’m a big fan of Chidi’s new love interest, Simone, played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste from “Killing Eve” and “Barry,” and I look forward to seeing how she impacts the research and their fates. I’m a bit more excited, though, that Adam Scott is back as Trevor, who was pretending to be the Michael of the Bad Place but has actually now been sent by a suspicious cocooning-happy Shawn to mess with Michael. I can’t wait to see where it goes next.