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

The Good Place: Season 4, Episode 1 “A Girl from Arizona” (B+)

It’s wonderful as always to have this show back, with the sad knowledge that it’s the final season made halfway decent by the fact that it’s lasted this long and it will have the opportunity to go out with a full sense of ending its story in the right way. It’s fun to see Eleanor taking charge, concocting the best way to achieve her noblest aims, and this is excellent evidence that, despite how good Ted Danson is, he really shouldn’t be the only actor nominated for an Emmy from this cast. Tahani didn’t have much of a role, but I like that Jason is actively competing with Derek for Janet’s affection, a distraction that’s threatening to derail all of their progress because Derek is indeed quite the formidable foe prepared for his own rebooting. The challenges they’re facing are steep, and while it was good that the judge intervened to discipline Sean for sending a demon in disguise by making Chidi one of the saveable people, the others don’t seem to be close at all. Brent is pretty terrible, and not even in an innocent, dumb Jason way, and Simone presents a completely different obstacle since she’s convinced that everything around her is a projection of her unconscious mind. It’s interesting seeing Kirby Howell-Baptiste in this role now after watching her with an American accent on “Why Women Kill,” and I hope that Chidi is able to win her over enough with upsetting Eleanor. I’m very much on board for this final season and eagerly look forward to experiencing every minute of it.