If you missed out on season 1 of “The Good Place”, it’s a very unique and exceedingly smart comedy that revolves around the question of what actually makes up the proverbial “good person”. It stars Kristen Bell as an everyday woman named Eleanor Shellstrop who passes on and goes to the afterlife but ends up, you guessed it, in the good place rather than the bad place because of an error of some sort. And, she’s definitely somebody who really belongs in the bad place. The Good Place is being run by its architect, Michael, who is a very wise fellow played by Ted Danson. You probably remember him from “Cheers” and “CSI”, and her from “House of Lies” and “Veronica Mars”.
The Executive Producer and one of the writers of “The Good Place”, Michael Schur, is best known for “Parks and Recreation”, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and “Master of None”. His exec producing partners include David Miner who was also involved in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, as well as “30 Rock”, Drew Goddard who was nominated for an Oscar for writing “The Martian”, and Morgan Sackett who is well-known for “Parks and Recreation” and “Veep”. The show is produced by 3 Arts Entertainment, Universal Television, and Fremulon.
OK, so getting back to the story, Michael has absolutely no idea that he’s made a major mistake allowing Eleanor into The Good Place, so basically she does everything she can to change her ways and find the good person deep down inside of her. This leads to a wealth of sharp jokes, as well as premium performances from Bell, Danson, and William Jackson Harper playing Eleanor’s stressed-out soul mate named Chidi. The first season of the show delighted viewers and, by the time it came to a close, they could hardly wait for season 2 while also wondering where it could possibly go from there.
So, let’s fast forward to the back-to-back first two episodes of the second season on September 20th. Michael resets the memories of the residents of The Good Place as he is using them as test subjects in an experiment. He is actually torturing them with his nefarious plans, although they aren’t even aware of it. The only problem with his plan, besides the fact that it’s despicable, is that Eleanor figured it out in season 1, although she’s forgotten it now thanks to Michael. She hid a clue for just such an occasion, however, that helps her remember and get together with her friends to try to foil Michael’s plans.
We finally we get the opportunity to view Michael as what he really is. He’s a guy who’s suffering from frustration and humiliation because of his failure. He ends up begging his horrible boss, played by Marc Evan Jackson, to allow him the opportunity to keep innovating additional psychological tortures for his subjects. It’s quite an interesting journey as we get acquainted with his minions, who keep trying to act saintly while in The Good Place but are becoming increasingly bored and restless without their fire and brimstone.
In the end, it all falls apart for Michal, and Eleanor finally realizes that they’re not in The Good Place but the other place. But, of course, Michael just snaps his fingers and she forgets it again and it will all start over again on the next episode.
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