ThoughtAFool

Tahani was kind of back-seated here. But I guess she got to shine a little more in the earth-bound episodes. Was that a dumbwaiter through which they entered the Good Place? Or just a cabinet? At first I thought it was the safe Jason had died in... And why was no one in the office to greet them? Of course, no one had arrived there in 500 years... But in a Jeremy Bearimy time-lineloop, does that mean anything? I can say that once again I really don't know what to expect from upcoming episodes of this show. What does a "good place" for people from the 1400's look like? (Are there food puns?) And what kind of interactions do the Soul Squadron have with people from the middle ages? I guess some of the action will be Michael interacting with After-life management types rather than Good Place denizens.

Random thoughts: My first thought at the ending was that the JaJa shippers would be mad. But at least the Janet Superfans among them would have enjoyed Jeannette. Next thought was: "This is Ted Danson's Emmy submission episode". He seemed to be having a blast playing both versions of Crisis Michael. Sign me up for the Puppy Pit. "Build a Real Bear" doesn't sound that appealing after hearing about the bear with two mouths. I guess in a putative Good Place, it couldn't really turn into The Revenant... Her pride in her self-image as the primo party planner is a useful target for Vicki's torture. But she did display her superior hospitality in putting her guests' enjoyment over her own ego by telling everyone to stay at Vicki's party. And she was rewarded by getting the affirmation/acknowledgment her parents always denied her from Jason, whose ineptitude at lying somehow serves to emphasize his sincere intent. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see the morning-after chaos, but since that was supposed to be based upon Eleanor's bad behavior at the party, and we did get to see much Eleanor bad behavior, I don't know what it would be. Or have we skipped the welcome party with morning-after chaos and Gunnar's b-day is a different party? (Darn, guess I'll have to re-watch for clarity...)

I'm still interested in attempt 108, what Michael was saying when interrupted by Eleanor's entrance: "Eleanor always seems to realize that they're in the Bad Place just at the moment that..."

Doug Forcett, is that you?

Expect the most painfully awkward team-building exercises ever!

I had thought they might keep with the "be careful what you wish for" soulmate torture they seemed to be setting up with Eleanor. Turns out the humans were better at torturing each other than the demons were at torturing them. The demon soulmate torturers had no subtlety, which led the humans to question the "good place" narrative too quickly. The way that led them to find each other seemed a little too fortuitous (other than Eleanor with her "find Chidi" instruction), though maybe the disillusionment was leading them to seek out some confidants/humanity.

Tahani in cargo pants! Diabolical!

I find myself thinking of the DC Beltway sniper, Lee Malvo

Even a failed suicide attempt might cause Pasha to be institutionalized in the US, backfiring and making it harder to lure his mother back to the USSR.

I'm looking at the "sons" plots as potentially squeezing Phillip and Elizabeth on their ideological motivations. Some of Tuan's more extreme comments about Pasha's family's ingratitude have drawn a bit of a side-eye even from the more ideological Elizabeth, and may have given her something to differentiate herself from. She sounded a little labored in having to remind herself about the "trying to starve millions of people" to convince herself not to like GorpGuy. The Misha plot-line risks bringing in a son who has more information about the shortfalls of the "Workers' Paradise" to the already ideologically wobbly Phillip (who is also hearing corroborating info from the defector...) just as he and Elizabeth are both dealing with hiding from Paige some of the more morally questionable things they're doing in service of the cause.

That was my thought, too. Any agency would look at "lonely divorced guy" Stan as a pretty obvious target for the honeytrap even if they don't know he's fallen for it already... And if P&E and the KGB can compromise her, they could then use threat of exposing her to get their share of her intel themselves. From the writers' standpoint, I imagine there are also possibilities for tension from suspicion of her even if it's unjustified, as well. Or drama on the Soviet end if there's an KGB (or communist satellite) operation that is unknowingly running up against P&E's turf. (With no window into the Soviet embassy right now, that's less appealing story-wise, though I suppose it could be a battle for Gabriel/Claudia).

Me too. I was surprised by the "Do Not Burn" on the bag, so I googled it and found that cremation is the CDC recommendation for bodies of Ebola victims. I know such things may not have been in place in 1984, but regardless, I would think that any facility doing biowarfare/biodefense research would have some plan in place for disposal of contaminated remains (I imagine more commonly research mice/rats/primates...) that is a little more secure than "bury them in a remote area where a team of people can work unobserved for hours to dig up the coffin".

This would fit in with seeing that there is such a thing as Mindy's Medium Place, (if that was real, rather than part of the mindfork). I'd have to go back and re-view but I don't think Michael and Shawn ever knew that the Janet, Jason, and Eleanor were at the Medium Place. So if Janet is trustworthy (see "unanswered questions" topic), that may have been real.

I thought the zigzag clothing was blue/yellow - University of Michigan colors (Eleanor's sleep shirt is University of Michigan Law School, presumably Good Eleanor's alma mater) I have a lot of the same questions about Janet's programming. Can we treat her information as 100% reliable? Maybe if she's really a Good Place Janet, we can. But... if Michael can tinker with her personality, can he make her give inaccurate information? In particular, I wonder about her professed inability to answer questions about the Bad Place except for playing the alleged live audio ("the bear has two mouths!") ETA: Another thing that hinges on Janet's reliability: if Janet's 100% reliable, Mindy's Medium Place might actually be real, rather than something staged by Michael and friends.

Didn't expect it a be a Bad Place, though we certainly had some "this can't be paradise" hints. And the idea that anybody who didn't do something spectacularly good like end slavery deserved to be in the bad place (which still stands) I guess is a hint that a merciful deity is NOT in charge... On a different note: today of all days, I think some of us might want our own cocoon to retreat into when certain events come up in conversation...