The Good Place recap before Season 4
Carolina
Argentinian Carolina has an extensive movie background in the cinematic universe. She is our resident TV analyst and a seasoned expert in global streaming platforms. She showcases her comprehensive knowledge through her love for Netflix 'Originals', Frozen, The Good Place, and The Dragon Prince.
On September 26th, the fourth and final season of The Good Place will begin airing on the NBC in the US. The next day it will be available on Netflix in its weekly format everywhere.
If you still haven’t watched it, and you don’t know what this is about, keep reading this article where I’ll help you catch up.
I’ll let you know which sections have spoilers so you can skip them.
And in the case you’re anxiously expecting for the upcoming fourth season, let’s make a recap together, and learn some facts you probably don’t know!
The Origin
Even though it’s presented as a Netflix Original Series for the international marketplace, The Good Place is produced by NBC in the United States.
Back in 2016, NBC gave the green light to a pitch by Michael Schur, and thanks to his creative experience, they commissioned a 13-episode season without the need of trying a pilot episode first.
Mike Schur is the creator of other successful comedies. He took his first steps writing episodes for Saturday Night Live, then, he wrote, produced, and starred in the US version of The Office.
Before creating The Good Place, he also created Parks and Recreations and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
He has a landmark on his comedies that sets him apart from other showrunners. The character development, the way the story is organized by arcs, and the witty humour are part of his style.
When it comes to The Good Place, Schur acknowledges the idea came to him after his habit of assigning points to people who annoyed him.
Also, the structure of the series, with arcs, cliffhangers, and plot twists is something he got inspiration from Lost.
Premise
The Good Place is a fantasy comedy, two genres that are not easy to mix up successfully, but in this case, they work wonderfully together.
When Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) wakes up in the afterlife, she finds herself in the ‘good place’. A type of utopic paradise meant for people who had led a righteous life according to the points they got.
Michael (Ted Danson) is in charge of this place, the architect who designed this heavenly neighbourhood.
Eleanor knows she must be there by mistake because her behaviour on earth has been far from being righteous. So, her struggle to hide her true nature begins.
She meets Chidi (William Jackson Harper), a philosophy professor and Eleanor’s soulmate in the afterlife, who wants to help her become a better person teaching her ethics and morals.
Under the package of a supposed sitcom, The Good Place deals with important and substantial topics regarding philosophy, religion, faith, ethics, and the humankind existence. All presented in a big combo of quality writing, acting, and setting.
The Good recap
Attention: Spoilers ahead! If you still haven’t watched this series, skip the next three sections.
Season 1
Eleanor Shellstrop awakes in the afterlife and she’s welcomed by Michael, the architect who is in charge of this neighbourhood for righteous people.
He introduced her to Janet, an artificial intelligence who serves as a guide, and to Chidi, a university ethics professor, who is her soulmate in the afterlife.
Eleanor confessed to Chidi she must be there by mistake because she isn’t a good person, so, he offers to teach her ethics to help her be a better person.
Eleanor has a neighbour: Tahani Al-Jamil, a wealthy socialite whose soulmate is a silent Buddhist monk named Jianyu Li. The monk is actually Jason Mendoza, a DJ and delinquent from Florida who also was sent to The Good Place by mistake.
Jameela Jamil plays Tahani Al-Jamil.
At the end of the season, Eleanor realizes that the four of them are actually in ‘The Bad Place’, and they have been tricked all the time.
Michael reveals himself as a demon who had planned to have the four of them torturing each other emotionally and psychologically for the whole of eternity. He also announces his plan to wipe out their memories and start the experiment all over again.
Season 2
Michael attempts to repeat the experiment hundreds of time with no success because every time the group figures out the truth.
The other demons start to threaten Michael because of his failure. He decides to team up with the four humans, promising them to take them to the real ‘Good Place’.
The group manages to escape from The Bad Place and tries to get to The Good Place appealing to the judge, an entity named Gen.
After some tests, Gen agrees to send the four humans back to earth with no recollections of their experience in the afterlife and with Michael interfering to prevent their deaths.
Season 3
After the group keeps falling back into their old habits, Michael interferes with Janet so they can meet in Sydney under a program created by Chidi to explore near-death experiences and ethical decisions.
Gen, the judge, finds out how Michael and Janet have been interfering and guiding the group.
The four humans become incapable of earning admission to The Good Place, so Eleanor convinces them to spend the rest of the time they have on earth helping other people to reach it.
Kristen Bell who plays Eleanor.
They discover that The Good Place is like a scam because people haven’t been able to enter there in more than 500 years.
A new neighbourhood is built and four new subjects are selected to keep the experiment going. Michael has a nervous breakdown and asks Eleanor to act as the new architect and runner of the place.
End of the spoilers, now you can resume reading.
Who is who
The series has a short but solid cast of characters played by great actors.
Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased selfish woman who worked in sales in Phoenix, Arizona.
William Jackson Harper as Chidi Anagonye, a deceased professor of ethics and moral philosophy from Senegal. He suffers from anxiety, and he’s assigned as Eleanor’s soul mate.
Ted Danson plays Michael.
Jameela Jamil as Tahani Al-Jamil, a deceased wealthy English philanthropist, who tries to hide her low self-esteem with a condescending attitude.
D’Arcy Carden as Janet, an artificial intelligence, who is an information bank and guide to The Good Place.
Manny Jacinto as Jason Mendoza, a deceased amateur DJ and drug dealer from Jacksonville, Florida. He and Eleanor end up in The Good Place by mistake. In the beginning, he’s introduced as Jianyu Li, a Taiwanese monk with a vow of silence.
Ted Danson as Michael, a supernatural being, who is the architect in charge of designing and running The Good Place.
What to expect in Season 4
The season will pick up right after the ending of season 3. We can expect more plot twists, probably an unexpected ending, and a total closure to the story and characters.
Mike Schur announced on the official twitter account that it was his creative decision to end the show in the fourth season. Considering that more than 50 episodes were more than enough to tell the story.
They say all good things must come to an end. See you dinguses on Sept 26th for the last hurrah! #TheGoodPlace pic.twitter.com/ejIE2cZRSI
— Ted Danson (@TedDanson) September 6, 2019
Where to watch The Good Place?
Season four will premiere on the NBC on Thursday, 26th September 2019 in the US. The rest of the world will have to wait one day for the premiere on Netflix on Friday 27th September.
It airs weekly both on the NBC and Netflix.
The Good Place is one of the few ones that Netflix has agreed to stream weekly and a day after an episode is originally released on TV.
Summary
The Good Place is coming to an end on the fourth season starting on September 26th on NBC and September 27th on Netflix.
If you still haven’t watched it, this is an excellent moment to binge the previous three seasons available on Netflix. You won’t regret it!
And if you have already watched everything till now, this is the perfect moment to binge it again and refresh details and situations to be ready for the upcoming season!
