What I’m Watching: The Good Place

The Good Place: Season 3, Episode 11 “The Book of Dougs” (B+)

Every time this show returns, it’s bittersweet since it means it’s closer to going off the air, with its season finale slated to air before the end of January. A fourth season renewal means that we’ll have more of this show to enjoy in the future, but I wish that this show didn’t feel so sparse as compared with so many other series. More than anything else I’m watching at the moment, this show is guided by its plot developments, turning into something completely different each episode. I couldn’t figure out where I knew the extremely friendly and trusting mailroom employee Gwendolyn from, and it all clicks now that I see that it was Nicole Byer, who hosts the Netflix baking show “Nailed It,” which I recently watched for the first time and enjoyed (though I have no plans to review it). As usual, Michael was smooth and creative under pressure, and after he found out that it would literally take millennia for the committee to even start investigating what he had found, now he’s headed straight to the judge with his findings, which is very exciting. Tahani meddling to help Jason and Janet was sweet, even if none of them were really on the same page. Chidi trying to cheer Eleanor up by putting on a mailman’s uniform was really great, and their budding relationship is one of the most heartwarming elements of this show at the moment. I love how the real good place is defined by the smell of what makes people happiest, which meant very different things for our four protagonists. Absolute moral truth/warm pretzels and the divider between first class and coach were my favorite choices.