Thursday, February 6, 2020

What I’m Watching: The Good Place (Series Finale)

The Good Place: Season 4, Episode 13 “Whenever You’re Ready”

I’m a full week late on watching this show, partially because I’m still catching up after my time spent watching up to five movies a day at the Sundance Film Festival. Ironically, on the day this finale actually aired, I saw a very compelling dramatic film called “Nine Days” that looks at beginning and departing life in a similar way, though I wouldn’t have known that until now. For a show that was always laced with comedy, this extended ender was quite serious and thought-provoking. Starting with Jason as the one who wanted to walk through the door was a surprise, and I love that he ended up not going through, waiting around for many bearimys in monk-like fashion for Janet to return, and then immediately jumped through thinking that he was following Chidi. Tahani deciding to become an architect is a great idea, since it’s true that some people wouldn’t necessarily get bored of life and instead would want to find a new purpose. Eleanor tried hard to keep Chidi around but he knew that he needed to go, and she could only leave once she had helped both Mindy and Michael to fulfill desires they didn’t even realize that they had. The cameos by Nick Offerman and Mary Steenburgen were brief and perfect, not taking away from an episode that also saw short final moments with Shawn, Vicky, Simone, Derek, and the judge, whose comments and fashion statements on the television she loves are always hilarious. Michael getting the chance to live life as a human was a very sweet way to end this show, one which certainly could have gone on for much longer but wrapped up in a wonderful way right here. I’d love to rewatch it some day, but for now, I’m perfectly pleased with what we got.

Series finale: A-
Series grade: A-
Season MVP: Ted Danson as Michael
Season grade: A-
Series MVP: Ted Danson
Best Season: Seasons 1 and 2
Best Episode: “Everything is Bonzer!

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