Tetraneutron

You're right. They signed two year contracts during the sixth season, not the 7th. It would have ended for both at the end of this year. https://deadline.com/2019/02/mom-renewed-season-7-8-anna-faris-allison-janney-new-deals-cbs-1202549041/ I still wonder why Anna Faris jumped ship with just one year left. I suppose we'll never find out. I just checked wiki, and the ratings did drop this year. They were in the 6-7 millions last year, and the 4-5 million this year. Maybe since they'd have to renew Allison Janney again this year, and since Chuck Lorre gives CBS a new show every year anyway, and it's not like they'd get any more from syndication, they decided not to bother. It's too bad. I don't watch a ton of TV but it's cool that there's a show all about middle-aged women.

OK, what's going on internally with that show? Last year they renewed Faris and Janney for two more years, so they were clearly planning on going to at least nine seasons. Then Faris quits out of nowhere, but the ratings don't drop at all. Now they're ending it even though, minimum, there's a year left on Janney's contract? And if the actors are circulating a petition it's clear they want to keep it going. So what the hell is going on?

Although neither did Jason or Eleanor. All three of them spent their time selfishly on earth. Arguably Chidi too, in that he was too in his own head to actually constructively help anyone. (Same with John the gossip blogger and Eleanor's trashbag friends and probably Chidi's too, who had great jobs but didn't exactly spend their spare time running soup kitchens). I think it had to be Tahani because if you asked people "What's paradise like" a lot would say "Have a chance to learn everything in the world" and well, Jason's not that character. And we do see old people - Doug Forcett. Chidi even comments that he chose his young body. And the rapists and killers would make their amends in the test period. Also, it's a sitcom. Do you really want to see rapists and killers in a sitcom? The test is the middle place where you work everything out until you become perfect. The Good Place is the world's best party where you can do literally anything.

They addressed that in a pervious episode. Yes, everyone. The really evil people will spend far longer in the bad place than the good people. But they'll all learn eventually. She didn't mention her father because her mother was more of a character on the show. I don't think the door is really like suicide although I get the comparison. Once you've lived basically forever, experienced all, learned all, and there's nothing left, you're done. You either end it or become a bored mush-brain like Patty or there's something else. It's like finishing. Or like Michael. What was he supposed to do for eternity. (One assumes Tahani would eventually enter the door too). Of course people on Earth do need goals to feel useful so you figure there would be a lot of people trying to become architects. Every system in the world eventually has loopholes.

Sure she will. Bearimy time isn't linear.

That's what Michael said a few episodes ago. Everyone on earth gets tested and it takes as many tries as they need until they've learned enough to go to the Good Place, then once they're in the Good Place they do whatever they want until they're ready to go through the door. And since time is meaningless we all hang out with our loved ones once we get to the Good Place. That's why Tahani's sister, for example, got in before her parents. Her parents needed more work. We only saw a bit of the tests, with Brent not understanding why telling women to smile is gross. They were also doing the backlog of deaths in batches, apparently, with Roberto Clemente and Zora Neale Hurston and the other ones being mentioned in the meting we saw.

Also apparently now you can choose what age you’ll be in the afterlife? Only Doug Forcett took advantage of that though. I thought his jokes were the funniest and probably truest parts of the episode. If you spend your whole life desperately following the rules so you can have your reward, when you get to heaven you’ll want to party. I also feel like a lot of people would take the Tahani option. Eternal happiness WOULD get boring, but suicide is nihilism. Just get a nice middle class office job.

It reminded me of the ending of Parks and Recreation. The real conceptual ending was last week and this was kind of an extended Happily Ever After. Bring back all the recurring characters, and it's 90 minutes of warm fuzziness. It was sweet but I'm glad the show ended when it did. I'm not sure how I felt about Michael becoming human since, he didn't really? He still has all the memories and knowledge from his previous "life" so he's very different from every human on earth. He also starts "life" in his 60s or thereabouts. It's a cool idea though. Also did anyone else think of the afterlife being kind of like "San Junipero" in Black Mirror? Death is a big party and you can stay as long as you want, and when you're ready to leave you get to leave.

It makes more sense for him to be jacked like that than for Eleanor and Jason to have the bodies they do, looking like hot actors instead of trashbags who we've seen eat terribly. It's pretty easy to see Chidi come to the conclusion that maintaining his health is a moral necessity. We've seen how he obsesses over almond milk.

I wonder if /how they’ll cope with everyone they even knew being, technically, dead for centuries. Simone? Dead. Larry? Dead.

Yeah I meant Ted Danson. He's obviously still attractive and fit, but older than the rest of the cast. Now I feel really really mean for putting it like that. And his body's way better than mine. I hope the show, even though it's technically sci fi, sticks to being about philosophy and about the characters, and doesn't get sucked into the vortex where they have to have a whole system worked out that makes sense. It's morality and the afterlife. No one on earth has figured that out and trying to make sure the rules follow logic will just suck away energy from the show. It doesn't matter beyond what they need to drive the plot and make their point and I hope they don't get caught up in it. Eh, money isn't that interesting. They can easily handwave that by using Janet's accumulated knowledge to keep them winning lotteries or picking stocks. Getting bogged down in the details isn't fun unless it leads somewhere. Like in the first season, where once they revealed the twist, all the little details about the Good Place, like the frozen yogurt, made sense. And I think so far Eleanor's the only one who changed. Tahani didn't give away money out of an affirmative desire that it would make the world better, she just gave up. She's a lot like Chidi in that they need external validation. I hope the show goes somewhere with that.

The best joke in the episode- the cinnamon rolls made with pizza dough. A reference to Mario Batali’s “apology” for sexual harassment. Also for a show where 5 of the 6 actors have amazing bodies, it’s impressive they don’t have them in their underwear in every episode. I guess they’re saving that for later seasons when they run out of ideas. I’m wondering where they go now. It sounds like Groundhog Day the series. When it looks like you have eternal life you find meaning by helping others.

To me the problem wasn't that it took an hour (you exaggerate in sitcoms, and that's the whole point of his character) but we didn't see WHY he was indecisive. There was no context for it. In earlier episodes we saw why he'd take an hour tp choose a muffin and that was the point. His indecision comes from the fact that he's looking for certainty, to make the morally perfect decision, and he will never have a clear answer. No, but 15 years ago when Paris Hilton was everywhere I certainly would have recognized the name.

I thought Trevor was the best of the recurring characters so I'm glad he's back. The Tahani stuff was great. My favourite joke was "I was such a tomboy when I was younger!" I hate that starlets always say that in interviews. I suppose I just love all the little throwaway jokes about the specific ways people are awful. I know this is nitpicky, but does anyone think Chidi is being written more broadly than he used to be? The point about his indecisiveness was that he thought he had to follow a perfect moral code, like eating the right foods that don't exploit workers or harm the planet, of planning a perfectly unproblematic bachelor party. Now it's just that he has no filter, which was never the point. It's that he was too analytical. Jason is still the weakest part of the show. And everyone's talking about the accent thing but I'm glad the show addressed the inconsistency of Tahani being the sister of what supposed to be one of the most famous women on the planet, a celebrity-socialite in her own right, and no one ever knowing who she is.

Does anyone else feel like the Kitty stuff is taking place on a completely different show? Like it's a frothy romcomy type show about the inner workings of a women's magazine, while everything else is more about Jennifer and feminism and Plum's journey. Like Kitty should be played by Katherine Heigl or something. Also, I liked her in "The Good Wife" but I think maybe Juliana Margulies is miscast here? Like she's playing it campy when the rest of the show is satirical. I get what they're trying to do with Kitty, show different angles of feminism, but it doesn't work since that Miranda Priestly caricature is so cheesy and the show isn't making me believe it. And The show can't tell if they want Kitty to be a second waver who had to sacrifice everything or a soap opera villain. But she's the only one in the cast played by a name so she'll be prominent. The rest? I don't know how I feel about the show making it overt that Jennifer is a terrorist organization, and that's bad. Of course, Jennifer would be terrible in the real world, but this is TV. I remember when "Fight Club" came out (I'm an old) and no one acted like the movie was literally endorsing terrorism, like it was impossible to discuss the show without leading off that of course terrorism is wrong and what Fight Club was doing was bad and there's never a reason to blow up buildings. No, everyone got that it's a movie, that it's not meant to be taken literally, and discussed the actual message, about consumer culture and masculinity in the modern age (Also GOOD LORD is that movie dated now). Have we as a culture lost the ability to understand allegory? Commentary? That not everything is a police court transcript? Because that's really sad. Especially since the show specifically had Plum wear the Fight Club tshirt.

I don’t think it means she’s part of Jennifer. The point (and the show mentions this) is that Jennifer is a very common name. The vast majority (all?) of The Jennifers in the world have nothing to do with the terrorist group.

I'm pretty sure Juliana Margulies doesn't read an obscure TV message board. :) You know what's cool about this show? Plum's mother loves her and supports her. When have we EVER seen that on TV or books or movies? Usually the fat woman will have a thin mother who's horrible and abusive to her. Or else a fat mother who had terrible eating habits and some sort of mental illness. But usually the first one. I don'tthink I've ever seen the show where the fat woman who has a thin mother who believes her daughter is fine. (The mother is played bt Debra Monk, who played one of the ultimate "evil mothers who give their daughters eating disorders" on Center Stage).

Joy Nash is Plum's size (obviously) and she's been active for years in movements talking about how she gets mistreated as a fat person. So I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on this one. It's supposed to be an anti-depressant. Like Prozac or Zoloft, the kind where you just need the brand name. Marti Noxon said she saw it as a female version of Fight Club, an idea I find FASCINATING. The original Fight Club is kind of stupid, with well-off men having an identity crisis over the fact that marge corporations make them buy things and they have to work at a comfortable, easy job to make money. But the same concept against misogyny, against rapists? That sounds way more interesting. I'm curious to see how Jennifer ties in with Calliope house, because they seem completely different, a vigilante justice movement and a nice, body positivity therapist. Focusing on rapists vs fat shaming? I'm curious where that goes.

Why would they stay in Canada? They’d be on the run for the rest of their lives and with the US and probably the Soviets trying to chase them down. Again, the show doesn’t support that Paige is dumb. She escaped and made it back to DC. And as for the argument that she wasted her parents’ time arguing about Henry when the feds were closing in? So did Elizabeth! In the scene just before that one! The same arguments. If Paige is dumb for doing than then so is Elizabeth.

It was just Philip though. I don't think Elizabeth ever saw it, and Gabriel said that (as far as he knew) there was nothing there. It just seemed pointless. I like the ambiguous ending with that, but they should have done more with Renee then, given the audience something, anything, about her. Especially with the time jump. It put so many characters into suspended animation.

I think the show is clear the FBI can't connect Paige to anything (DNA or not, which, not) because Paige didn't actually DO anything. Her "spying" consisted of waiting in a car and talking to a naval officer, now dead. She saw the dead body of a man she genuinely believes shot himself. She knows that Claudia and Gabriel exist, but other than that was completely in the dark about everything. Unlike with the other junior spies (Hans, Marilyn etc) Claudia and Paige deliberately kept her away from everything. That was probably going to change now that Elizabeth told her to apply for the state department internship, but she hadn't at that point. She knew her parents were spies and didn't turn them in (as a minor) which is the only thing she could be prosecuted for. What do people think any CSI magic-science will discover about Paige that would tell anyone at the FBI anything useful? That P and E had a daughter? What? I think the CSI effect is real. The belief that law enforcement is finding DNA or carpet fibres or something and this solves everything.

The one thing I never understood was why Philip was so intent on believing Renee was a spy. His only "evidence" was that she was perfectly his type. When they first brought up that plot point I thought it was to show how the spy life was destroying Phil, making him paranoid and ruining his life. But then we NEVER see evidence she's a spy, unless you count that one scene where she encourages him to stay at the FBI. It was another cheat of the time jump, I think. Nothing happens with her in 3 years? If she's a spy she's a pretty bad one as nothing she does affects Stan or the Jenningses in any way. It's a plausible piece of tension in the beginning when we're waiting for the bomb to go off but then it doesn't after 3 years? What's that for? If she's spying it isn't changing anything.

Ever crossed the border? The person just glances at your passport, glances at you, and lets you go. It would have been ridiculously unbelievable that a small-town sherrif would have recognized anyone from a pencil sketch. It was too late to defect at that point. There was no giving in for leniency, if they let Stan arrest them they'd spend the rest of their lives in jail and so would Paige, probably, and Henry would be marked forever as the son of Soviets. They made it pretty clear that Aderholt doesn't think less of him for not catching P and E or for not realizing his neighbours and best friends were deep cover spies. No one but him knows what happens in the garage. Plus if he's taking care of Henry there obviously aren't big career repercussions for him. He goes back to his non-spy work at the FBI, and watches as his marriage slowly falls apart from mistrust. Lives a sad life after a destroyed marriage, keeps on spying and becomes like Elizabeth was, lives a normal life and knows nothing, goes back to Georgia, safe but emotionally wrecked. The only ending I think was TOO loose was Paige's. What happens to her? Could be ANYTHING. She gets arrested for treason? She turns herself in, feeding Stan everything she knows (which really isn't much)? Stan lets her go out of loyalty and she plays dumb for the rest of her life? Go deep under cover but as a normie? Drink hereslf to death? These are all plausible. I don't see how she can have a meaningful relationship with Henry or Stan, and she has no friends so she's 100% alone. The only thing the show made clear about her was she decides she isn't loyal to Russia but then WHAT ON EARTH WAS SHE DOING IN CLAUDIA'S APARTMENT? "Clark" didn't kill Amador. Clark was a later disguise created for the sole purpose of seducing Martha. I've said many times that the show's habit of murdering wealthy, well-connected people should bite them in the ass. Because the FBI might not examine Gregory Thomas's death too closely, but FBI agents and the relatives of powerful people? They'd have been ON that.

That's always been the tension in the show. Paige and Henry are the most American Americans ever. Even after the time jump, Paige was completely in the dark about all the spy work (which she knew, look at all the times she asked her mother questions and her mother straight up lied) and her cultural knowledge was food and movies. No, I think she show was clear P and E never leave Russia. They never see their kids again. Yes, the Soviet Union collapses but these are spies. I don't think Stan knows he isn't a very good agent. He DID (eventually) figure it out. And Aderholt didn't hold it against him. I do think it slowly destroys his marriage though. Paige is the big question mark. I don't think she goes deep under cover and changes her identity. I think the implication was she pretends she didn't know about her parents, Stan plays dumb so she stays out of jail, and her life is ruined because her relationship with Henry is nothing, she has no family and no friends (she said that to her mother) so what does she have but drinking alone. I didn't get what Paige's plan was. Why Claudia's apartment? She's not doing it for ideology, Claudia has no use for her and no incentive or desire to protect her .Her only move is to play dumb and hope Stan keeps his mouth shut out of loyalty to Henry or Philip.