BobH

On one of the podcasts episodes they mention a deleted scene of Eleanor showing him how to link paperclips, something that never occurred to him (like the snapping suspenders).

Chapter 7 - The Eternal Shriek Season 1, Episode 7 October 20, 2016 Janet's imitation of human crying is hilarious. So is the failsafe mechanism at the reset button, with her begging for her life. And the faceplant when she is shut down is great. Especially when they call back to it with the montage of resets in season 2. And the casual references to Janets updating with each reset, which becomes important later First Chidi flashback, with the story of the ugly boots, and how everyone hates moral philosophy professors. Chidi's flashbacks are a lot more understated than the rest of them, without the cartoon extravagance of Tahani's life, the insane version of Jacksonville in Jason's or Eleanor's basic rejection of common manners, but they were still enjoyable, and might end up being more important to the big picture than expected. "Can we somehow throw Tahani under the bus? That would be a classic two birds with one stone scenario. Plus, I'd get her house. Three birds". I love the delivery of "three birds". And Eleanor's confession at the end opens up a whole new act for the show, right in the middle of the season. Podcast for this chapter is Marc talking with D’Arcy Carden and writer Megan Amram. D'Arcy has one of the weirder casting stories, since the character was so nebulous in concept from the beginning.

I did that for most of the long gap between seasons. I think there was one solid month where the only TV I watched was episodes of this show.

Chapter 6 - What We Owe to Each Other Season 1, Episode 6 October 13, 2016 The "sexy mailman" became a surprisingly persistent running joke. Michael faking a breakdown is always funny. I like the bit where he talks about one of the rocks hiding something, mocking him, is really him talking about himself. And of course the Eleanor teaching Michael to relax and going to karaoke is classic. The whole subplot of Chidi trying to keep Tahani from finding out about Jason isn't my favourite, it's more of a placeholder until they get where they're going, but there are always some good gags. Jason thinking Tahani meant Frank Caliendo when talking about "impressionists" is just the right level of dumb. The Eleanor dog sitting flashbacks are pretty funny. The "Wow, I'm ready to be a mom" line takes on new meaning when we finally get to know Eleanor's mom. Podcast this time is Shawn (he's played by Marc) talking to writers Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan. Lots of general topics, including how hard Michael Schur and the other writers pushed to have Josh play Glenn.

Chapter 5 - Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis Season 1, Episode 5 October 6, 2016 First flashbacks to Tahani's life and how her sister Kamilah and their wanker parents shaped her. Those are always enjoyable, sort of like the exact opposite world to the Jason flashbacks. That's a lot of frozen yogurt flavours. First reference to Donkey Doug. Also first "Ya basic". The scenes with Bart and Nina are funnier when you've seen the later call-back on them from the demon perspective. Podcast for this chapter is Marc interviewing Kristen Bell and producter/director Morgan Sackett. We get the casting story from Kristen, talk about having to keep the secret for the first season and some early talk about David Niednagel's preview effects using his kids.

Chapter 4 - Jason Mendoza Season 1, Episode 4 September 29, 2016 Obviously Jason gets the focus this time, as well as the first Earth flashbacks from anyone but Eleanor. He's pretty epic in his stupidity. Sometimes in the future the writers get a little too extreme in how stupid they present him, so you wonder how he's able to function in society at all, but this time they strike a good balance. Plus, obviously, they place him in this cartoon version of Jacksonville where stupidity is a requirement. The "Bud-hole" line never fails to amuse the 8-year-old in me. The Tahani subplot, planning the party at Good Plates, was pretty fun, especially given how much the whole party planning thing became both a weakness and a strength for her in later seasons. Podcast episode for this chapter is Marc Evan Jackson interviewing Manny Jacinto and writer of the episode Joe Mande (also later playing Todd the lava monster). Lots of great stuff, including how Joe had to beg to include the "Bortles" line when Jason tossed the Molotov cocktail, which is funny given how iconic it's become, and since this was taped in 2018 by that point the two of them had already been to Jacksonville to see the Jaguars in the playoffs. Interesting to hear how much of Jason's character, like the dancing, came after they cast Manny.

Chapter 3 - Tahani Al-Jamil Season 1, Episode 3 September 22, 2016 We start to get to know the rest of the cast a little more now, with Eleanor going off to try to prove Tahani isn't as perfect as she appears, while Michael tortures Chidi by getting him to explore other options to his endless dissertation in the afterlife, while Janet tries on a few alternate personalities. I really liked this one. It was great to see Eleanor and Tahani play off one another, with Eleanor being exactly the two-faced and duplicitous phony that she accuses Tahani of being. I especially liked how she drops the act and can't help but show her real attitude every time Tahani turns away. And Kristen Bell doing the exaggerated British accent is hilarious. The prop of the plant that Tahani gives Eleanor reflecting their relationship is pretty funny, especially when it bursts into flames ("Huh. What do you think that means?"). Even funnier when you watch it knowing it's part of Michael's torture matrix. Tahani's name dropping continues with her time as Baz Luhrmann muse and her diary with an introduction by Malala Yousafzai and Kylie Minogue. That's quite a combination. I love the running joke about Chidi's dissertation that start here. The whole b-plot is pretty funny, with Janet trying on various personalities, giving D'Arcy Carden a lot more to do than she had in the first two episodes. And of course at the end we have the revelation of Jason. Unfortunately as I watched this out of order the first time I already knew it was coming, but it must be quite a surprise to those who come in unspoiled. I'm still not sure I buy Jason being able to pull off the silent monk act for as long as he did, with what we see of his impulse control and intelligence later on. Podcast for this chapter is MEJ interviewing Jameela Jamil and set designer Camille Bratkowski. Jameela is always delightful on these, especially in the ways she deviates wildly from Tahani, and the look behind the scenes of TV production we get from the production people is fascinating, especially as Marc seems genuinely curious about it all.

They could always bring back Miley Cyrus‘ ex-husband’s brother’s brother, what’s his name, for Tahani.

Chapter 2 - Flying Season 1, Episode 2 September 19, 2016 It occurs to me re-watching this now that it may have been a mistake for them to air the first two episodes as a one-hour block. I think they work much better if you have some time to sit with the first episode in your head for at least a day, maybe ideally a week, before getting some more. Of course, now that it's going to live forever mostly on either on-demand streaming or physical media, instead of scheduled broadcasting, most people will probably watch the first few episodes without even so much as a commercial break between them. So I didn't like this quite as much as the premiere, but still enjoyed it. It's mostly elaborating and expanding on the premise, and then moving it quickly forward with the cliffhanger of the mysterious note. After hearing later podcast episodes, I do have a greater appreciation for some of the visual touches, like the yellow and blue outfits all being specially tailored to match the styles of the normal clothing of the characters, just made of the custom fabric they had made. We see the beginnings of Tahani's name dropping in this episode, with her godmother Diana. Doesn't really matter what she's the princess of, not really important. Still can't believe they had Ted Danson kick a dog into the sun... It's always kind of weird on re-watch to see the other Good Place residents and their cartoon cheeriness now knowing that they were demons putting on an act. Podcast episode for this chapter is Marc (he plays Shawn) speaking with casting directors Allison Jones & Ben Harris and writer Alan Yang. Some good stuff about how the actors were chosen that would get elaborated on in later episodes, and about how Michael Schur explains the concept of the show to people. Also the first hints that Schur could start a cult if he was of a mind to, given how the loyalty and admiration he inspires in his people.

Chapter 1 - Everything Is Fine Season 1, Episode 1 September 19, 2016 I have to admit, I watched this the week it came out and wasn't sold on the show. I liked a lot in it, but I don't think I saw how the concept could sustain a series. So initially I didn't continue past the second episode (broadcast the same night as this). But it stayed in my head, and a few weeks later, as every other new series of the season failed to impress me even more (such high hopes for Son of Zorn...) I went back to it (fortunately I kept it on my DVR schedule), liked the later episodes a lot and went back to catch up and wondered why I wasn't all-in from the start. It's pretty impressive, in retrospect, how much is in the first 23 minutes. We get a lot of Eleanor, of course, and that makes sense since we now know that she is the answer. All the selfishness and arrogance and ability to cover it up with endless charm, scheming and quick thinking. I love some of the facial expressions Bell pulls off. For Michael, it's impossible not to see it now with the knowledge that he's putting on an act, and how it informs the choices that Danson makes in subtle ways. We get enough of Chidi, with the stomachaches and everything, though it would take a few episodes to flesh him out. The rest do enough to be interesting, although they'd have to wait for their focus episodes to really come together. Some other things. Once you find out (from the podcast) that Ted Danson pronounces it "Eleaner", but didn't know he did, it's hard to un-hear it. It's very obvious in these early episodes. Eleanor on her parents: "Maybe they're being used to torture each other. It would work." Wow, talk about telegraphing the ending... The ridiculous lack of stairs to Eleanor's bedroom, her craving for shrimp, the clown paintings. All stuff that would really pay-off down the line. The jokes that need freeze-frame start early, with Michael's film about the points system. Which we now know he was just making up. I'm sure in the real system using "Facebook" as a verb costs way more than -5.55 points. And the substitute swear words are there from the start. And the audaciousness of the absolutely insane chaos sequence at the end is a good declaration that this isn't a normal network show. It's hard for me to believe that I didn't love it from the start. Podcast episode for this chapter was Marc Evan Jackson (he plays Shawn) interviewing creator Michael Schur for almost an hour, released June 1, 2018, so from the perspective of having finished filming most or all of season 3. Lots of fascinating stuff on the genesis of the series and evolution of the characters.

Hope starting this is okay. With the hiatus leading up to the final four episodes being almost exactly the number of days as the existing episodes (depending on how you count the double episodes), I was thinking of trying a more-or-less daily rewatch (holidays can always wreak havoc on schedules, so I'm sure there'll be skip days and catch-up days), timed to end just before the series returns on January 9th. Obviously there's the potential for spoilers up to the latest episode. So, assuming it's okay and anyone else is interested, tomorrow we start with:

Wow. That was something. All the acting awards to WJH next year or no justice. I know this is an extreme proposition, but if we can get the NFL to declare bankruptcy in the next six days, can we get the next episode next week instead of waiting until January?

The revelation about Jason's mother kind of makes me wonder about the previous time he mentioned her, where he told a story about him and his mother robbing the pet store where she was the manager together. "Long story short, it was all a dream". So he has dreams about committing felonies with his dead mother?

Michael : She makes Neutral Janet look like Disco Janet. Disco Janet was around for a while years ago. She was great. I mean, she was a lot, but she was fun.

Michael : But don't forget, there's a lot of evidence that Eleanor, Jason and Tahani got better in the original experiment, so that's six people. That's the number of friends in "Friends." Are you going to sit there and say that every single Friend belongs in hell? I mean, maybe Ross and Rachel. And Monica and Joey. And definitely Chandler... but Phoebe?

I'm looking forward to freeze framing and zooming in on Simone's conspiracy board. I figured we were looking at a "This is the Bad Place" moment somewhere down the line, but it was still really satisfying to have Michael and Eleanor do the reaction mirroring Michael's original reaction.

The visit to the accountants office established that the point system was established with the first act of human altruism (Og giving his rock to Grog) back in 201,993 B.C.E.

Bad Janet : Trust me, I've spent a lot more time with people than you have. And I know literally everything that every one of them has ever done. Do you know what's happening right now on Earth? Wars. Murders. Women in $400 yoga pants are refusing to vaccinate their children. Vindictive nerds at Apple are changing the charging cable shape again. Where does this hope come from, man? This insane hope that people are worth the trouble. To quote a terrible song by a terrible musician that people love so much they constantly put it in terrible movie trailers: humans are b-b-b-b-bad to the bone. Michael : Well, I think that they're g-g-g-good sometimes. And you should give them the b-b-b-benefit of the d-d-d-doubt.

Not sure if this needs a spoiler tag, but just to be safe

I have to admit, I was expecting Brent or one of the other humans to have a “Holy mother forking shirtballs. This is the Bad Place” moment. I still think that might be where we’re headed for the third act twist of season. not sure how I feel about this one. I think it’ll depend on whether freeing Bad Janet has some payoff later in the series.

If you listen to the podcast a common refrain from the writers and directors is that they always write way more than can fit in the 22 minutes they have (or even the one or two minute longer extended cuts that show up on-line). It does result in some very packed episodes (I kept thinking the rescue of Janet would take several episodes, then I watch it and wonder why I thought that, given how much occurs in every episode), but I agree that sometimes a key bit gets left out that might have been fun to see.

I assume the reboot plungers follow Janets around somehow. Derek's was originally on the beach next to Good Janet's in the fake a Good Place, and then Mindy found it behind the house in the Medium Place shortly after he arrived. Hm, does that mean there's a field of 300+ plungers out there for all the new Janet-babies? Or are they fundamentally different from Derek? They don't seem to have as much independent drive.

Tahani : Of course. Though, I'd never serve finger sandwiches at a lake house. I mean, what am I, Welsh? Eleanor : Are you? I don't know. No, right? [I have an odd affection for that "what am I, [blank]?" joke construction, I use it all the time, in the most inappropriate circumstances, and Tahani delivered it perfectly]

Ted Danson playing Michael playing Tiya Sircar playing Ted Danson playing Vicky playing Michael. Is this what it's like to be in Inception?