S01.E05: Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Eleanor's eagerness to learn ethics from Chidi becomes the full-time job he never wanted. Meanwhile, Michael and Janet focus their attention on a neighborhood emergency.

[scarynikki12]

Man, Tahani's parents were assholes. 

[Empress1]

The look Chidi gave Eleanor when she suggested the other couple wanted to swing had me ROLLING. I was unfamiliar with this actor before but he's a great find.

[sjohnson]

Sorry, I'm dense, but I couldn't tell if Eleanor was being stupid when she said she was right about the couple? Chidi seemed to be surprised that she was? 

I'm pretty sure that it's only Eleanor who matters to the fabric of the universe. 

[CleoCaesar]

I find this show completely charming and funny. I like that side characters are being fleshed out.

[blugirlami21]

I absolutely love this show. It's so funny. Chidi and Eleanor have great chemistry. I just about died during their argument when Eleanor called Chidi basic lol. I like that they are becoming friends. I wouldn't be mad if the show decided to pair them up for real.

Eleanor was definitely right about that couple being interested in swinging with them. Poor Chidi was shocked.

Poor Tahani. No wonder she's so eager to please with a family like that. I do find it interesting that she's so low in the rankings. I'm guessing it's because everything she does is not really for others people's benefit.

I'm really loving Ted Danson on this show. He's just so ridiculous and funny with his quirks and weird mannerisms.

[Kromm]

What is so genius about it is that they already hinted in the 3rd and 4th episodes that the annoying egotistical Tahani was still deserving of sympathy, but they didn't leave that hanging and went full bore here. It's again playing to the idea that everybody who wound up in this place is broken.  Tahani actually comes out more sympathetic of course, but at the same time it highlights even more that the "reason" she was sent to The Good Place is total bullshit, because her motivations for doing good were not even just empty obligation as we'd previously thought (which would be bad enough) but a pattern of behavior drilled into her based on jealousy fostered by those evil parents. 

The A-plot with Eleanor and Chidi was also so well done.

Is it significant that Michael's first (and last, after the sinkhole is fixed) instincts about the Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis was to lie to the Neighborhood folks about it, or do we just take that as typical comic confusion/panic?

"Squabble squabble!"

31 minutes ago, blugirlami21 said:

Poor Tahani. No wonder she's so eager to please with a family like that. I do find it interesting that she's so low in the rankings. I'm guessing it's because everything she does is not really for others people's benefit.

Actually, didn't Michael explain that was just their relative point rankings when they died?  So there'd be no changing them. And remember that the point rankings are bullshit (and at least two people, if not many more) aren't who they're supposed to be.

[vibeology]

1 hour ago, nosleepforme said:

I wonder what led to the sinkhole fixing itself? Liked the weird side effects that Tahani showed when she was close to it.

The sinkhole fixed itself at the same time that Eleanor organized her surprise for Chidi. Her thoughtfulness fixed it. Or at least that's what the show suggested. 

[FurryFury]

I didn't like the episode at all. I liked the previous ones well enough, but I never laughed and honestly checked out during some scenes.

[tominboston]

Way back after episode 1, I was wondering where this show was going but figured I'd give it a chance. I'm glad I did because it's now on my weekly must-see list.

So we got to see some of Tahani's backstory... wow, what awful parents, and now it's clear why she feels the need to be perfect and please everybody. I guess it explains the mansion too, that it's the sort of house she grew up in.

Aww, Eleanor did something really nice for Chidi.

15 hours ago, sjohnson said:

I'm pretty sure that it's only Eleanor who matters to the fabric of the universe. 

The writers do seem to be developing that idea, but why should she be so important? If everybody in the Good Place has some issue to resolve, what makes hers more significant than everyone else's? I guess we'll find out at some point.

Also, maybe I'm seeing an inside joke where there wasn't one, but I noticed that the first name on the rankings list was David Arias. That is the birth name of Red Sox slugger and Boston sports hero David Ortiz, whose retirement ceremony occurred last week. I suspect there's a Sox fan among the writers.

Edited October 7, 2016 by tominboston
edited for typos

[EdnasEdibles]

I think the show wants you to think that Eleanor is the only one who matters but I think as the show goes on, we will learn that everyone is very similar to Eleanor and the world depends on them too.  We are meant to think that Eleanor's nice deed fixed the sinkhole but just think - at that moment as well, Tahani was having a moment of self-discovery too. And Michael was comforting her - and not thinking about himself and his job as a neighborhood developer for a few moments. So I could see that as the show goes on, we might see that these things mend because everyone in the Heavenhood is growing and learning more. Not just Eleanor.

For some reason I laughed the most when Tahani made a donut hole/sinkhole joke and Janet said "Too soon. By about nine days." - I love Janet. 

[azathoth]

I loved that Jason came up with an accurate, if really messed up, example of utilitarianism. I wonder if that will come back up, since it mirrors the selection process for getting into the Good Place.

[Kip Hackman]

2 hours ago, tominboston said:

Also, maybe I'm seeing an inside joke where there wasn't one, but I noticed that the first name on the rankings list was David Arias. That is the birth name of Red Sox sslugger and Boston sports hero David Ortiz, whose retirement ceremony occurred last week. I suspect there's a Sox fan among the writers.

That would be Mike Schur.

[tennisgurl]

I really love this show. All its characters are already being expanded, and its just so charming and quirky. Its really like nothing else on TV, and I adore it for that.

I continue to speculate that the Good Place is some kind of hell or purgatory of some kind, where people are either punished for pretending to be better than they are, or its a purgatory where no one really thinks they belong in such an awesome place, and they end up becoming massively insecure. No matter what, I think there is more to this cosmology than what we`ve been told. 

Poor Tahani. No wonder she is so neurotic and obsessed with people liking her. I am really loving the fact that they have already expanded her character so much, when she just seemed like a typical Mean Girl in the first episode. 

[cpcathy]

Man, I was hoping the Eleanor-Chidi argument would end in "Are you as turned on as I am?" "MORE!"

[possibilities]

I thought also that maybe Chidi being honest about his feelings and acting sincerely instead of out of obligation to "the rules" might have helped heal things.

It's possible that the show is not as deep as some of us want it to be, and it really is all about Eleanor, but I think they're showing more than just Eleanor improving.

[iMonrey]

Quote

The sinkhole fixed itself at the same time that Eleanor organized her surprise for Chidi. Her thoughtfulness fixed it. Or at least that's what the show suggested. 

That was my takeaway as well, since it opened when she destroyed the cake as a diversion. But I still haven't figured out whether to take things at face value on this show, or whether there is more to it than meets the eye. Is it possible all of them aren't really meant to be there? We're learning about their backstories very slowly - maybe the reason Eleanor is near the top of the list is because it starts out with the worst and ends with the best, which is why Tahani is at the bottom.

Did the list show where Chidi was? Do we know how he died? Did they ever show how Tahani died? There might be something telling in either of those stories. 

[secnarf]

I thought the timing matched Tahani's epiphany more than Eleanor planning the surprise for Chidi. I don't think it's quite as simplistic as everything depending on Eleanor alone. I think they all have an impact.

[EdnasEdibles]

6 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

That was my takeaway as well, since it opened when she destroyed the cake as a diversion. But I still haven't figured out whether to take things at face value on this show, or whether there is more to it than meets the eye. Is it possible all of them aren't really meant to be there? We're learning about their backstories very slowly - maybe the reason Eleanor is near the top of the list is because it starts out with the worst and ends with the best, which is why Tahani is at the bottom.

Did the list show where Chidi was? Do we know how he died? Did they ever show how Tahani died? There might be something telling in either of those stories. 

I think as it goes on we will figure out that none of them are supposed to be in the "good place" - Chidi has studied goodness but from what we've heard about his life - it's been mainly theoretical goodness. It's like writing a manual on how to put together a chair when you've never actually had to put together a chair. Sure the steps might be there, but you learn so much more in the doing than the thinking. He's been sheltered to the point that he hasn't been able to really put this into practice very much. Thinking good thoughts but not really acting on them in a society of other people isn't really goodness.

Tahani did a number of good things but for selfish reasons. It does't negate the good that she did but she's lacking in a bit of self-awareness and puts too much stock in others opinions of her. 

And that makes sense - there's no such thing as perfect. Perfect people don't exist. You simply can't be 100% good. It's like that episode of Friends where someone (Phoebe? Joey?) kept trying to find a completely selfless act. It's impossible. 

[ZoqFotPik]

6 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Did the list show where Chidi was?

He is number 15. You can see is name has Tahani starts scrolling after she sees Eleanor is number 6. He has 1,948,XX8 points. I can't make out the hundreds and tens numbers.

9 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Is it possible all of them aren't really meant to be there?

That's my take on it. At first I thought one of each pair belonged and the point was for that person to guide the other, but now believe that each has issues that can be fixed by learning from the other. Eleanor lacks ethics but is really assertive and Chidi is a very ethical person but kind of a pushover. Tahani tries to help other people to make herself feel better and Jason/Jianyu is what you see is what you get.

[sjohnson]

The thing about Tahani's supposed lack of goodness is that her intentions weren't purely disinterested. At best, it seems to me like a variation on the old saying (Lincoln?), that all of the people can be disinterested some of the time, and some of them can be disinterested most of the time, but none of them can be disinterested all of the time. Tahani could have gotten attention other ways than doing good deeds. If we're going to score intentions, we need to give points for doing the right thing despite mixed motives, not take away points for having them. I'm not sure that's what the show thinks, though. 

The thing about Chidi's supposed lack of goodness is that it seems to be what he didn't do. The problem there is how can people know the consequences of their inactions. It's hard enough to know what will really happen in the end from what we actually do. There are an infinite number of things we aren't doing. We didn't picket the governor of Michigan to take the lead out of the Flint water supply. We're bad people!

[possibilities]

It might not be punishment, though. Someone like Chidi needs to become able to act in the real world, and not be living all in theory. It's for his own happiness. If he's paired with someone who is all about her own happiness and acts without regard for consequences, the two of them are mirror images and each can help the other.

This implies that if they are dead, their souls continue to grow, and are not frozen at the point of death. That's kind of an interesting position-- that "The Good Place" is a continuation, not a static endpoint.

Even Michael doesn't seem to get it. But he could also still be developing.

[Traveller519]

Mike Schur continues to shorten his time to success with his shows. I can't think of a comedy in recent memory that has been so dialed in to what it wants to be from the start. Hopefully the high concept doesn't strangle the writers. We're burning through plot at a pretty alarming rate so far.

[snarktini]

4 hours ago, EdnasEdibles said:

Chidi has studied goodness but from what we've heard about his life - it's been mainly theoretical goodness.

Considering how hard it's supposed to be to get into the Good Place, it seems unlikely Chidi racked up enough points to get in based on theoretical goodness. He said he only did one thing in his life -- write an unreadable tome -- so even if he avoided ever doing anything wrong that's not enough.

I'm charmed by the show so I really don't mind the handwaving. They're writing this angle particularly inconsistently -- we initially heard about epic humanitarians, but we've also seen those who did good but were not extraordinary, like being an identity theft investigator or an ethics professor. For me this feeds the theory that the place and the rules are not what we've been told.

[Terrafamilia]

Well, some of the examples given in Michael's introductory video were pretty random and the points or demerits associated with them came off as rather arbitrary, however scientific Michael said the process was. So, by whatever standard was used, Chidi did well. He may have done a lot things that by our standards weren't that impressive but the Good Place's PTB considered to be worthy of loads of points. Maybe it was one of those "for want of a nail" situations where he did something small that subsequently snowballed into a whole lot of good stuff and he accrued a boatload of points like someone at the apex of a mlm/pyramid scheme.

[thuganomics85]

Tahani's parents were awful!  I so hope they got sent to the Bad Place, assuming it actually exists.  I enjoyed her backstory, even if it has been done before.  But looking at the past episodes, I can see that a lot of Tahani's behavior does come off like someone who has had to always live in her sister's shadow, and never got the love and support that the latter did.  And it also brings questions about The Good Place again, because on one hand, she really did help a lot of people during her life, but it was at least partially for selfish reasons.  I still don't think that makes all her charity any less admirable, but since The Good Place is suppose to be the best of the best, I wonder if that was taken into account.  Either way, I enjoyed it.  Jameela Jamil is becoming a pleasant surprise on this show (and extremely gorgeous.)

Liked seeing Chidi getting really, legit frustrated with having to be Eleanor's teacher all the time, and the reveal that a lot of his anger is knowing he might not have the perfect afterlife or even find his real soulmate, as long as he continues to help.  But Eleanor's gift for him was nice, so hopefully he won't have to always be helping her for the rest of his afterlife.  I do like the budding friendship between the two.

Jason only had one real scene, but I loved his little story on how he set-up a woman to get arrested, in order to save "60% of the best dance crew."  Classic Jason!

Ted Danson was having a ball at playing Michael's obvious freak-outs, while trying to act like everything is totally fine!

[ZoqFotPik]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

And it also brings questions about The Good Place again, because on one hand, she really did help a lot of people during her life, but it was at least partially for selfish reasons.  I still don't think that makes all her charity any less admirable, but since The Good Place is suppose to be the best of the best, I wonder if that was taken into account.

Isn't that the point? That 'The Good Place' might not be what they say it is.

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

Jason only had one real scene, but I loved his little story on how he set-up a woman to get arrested, in order to save "60% of the best dance crew."

60 person dance crew. Which makes the whole thing even more ridiculous. 

[Dowel Jones]

"The Good Place" might be on shaky foundations if there are at least 55 categories of emergencies.

[ae2]

For what it's worth, when we were shown the evaluation system for good and bad, intentions never came into factor. Only the actions.

[possibilities]

Not even the actions-- it was only based on the effects of the actions. It was actually a very utilitarian kind of system.

[ae2]

Right! Which I think fits perfectly with what Chidi was teaching this episode.

(Then again, everything I know about Ethics I learned from Chidi.)

Lots of speculation about what is really going on in the Good Place - I would be surprised if it doesn't actually follows some different ethical system and their utilitarian approach is just a cover. 

[theatremouse]

On 10/7/2016 at 1:44 AM, nosleepforme said:

I wonder what led to the sinkhole fixing itself? Liked the weird side effects that Tahani showed when she was close to it.

My thinking is that the fixing was likely linked to Eleanor, but I don't think that necessarily implies only Eleanor is capable of/is causing the problems. My take is currently: Eleanor definitely caused the sinkhole when she punched the hole down the center of the cake. The events mirrored each other. So in that sense, if they did intend to imply Eleanor's behaviour also fixed it, it makes sense because she also caused that particular crisis. It's still ambiguous if anyone else's "bad" behaviour is wreaking other havoc in the Good Place. It's strongly implied if they are, what she's caused was the worst/most publicly visible (shrimp, sinkhole). But I still think it's possible other people may be causing other issues with the universe and we just haven't seen it yet. (something more along the scale of the flamey plant, and therefore easy for no one else to know about, and us not to see, yet).

[kaygeeret]

I love all the comments....

Bottom line?

I just seriously LOVE this show.......I hope to god that is not the voice of doom since a number of show I have LOVED have died......

Talk the show up to all and sundry...

[Kromm]

2 hours ago, kaygeeret said:

I love all the comments....

Bottom line?

I just seriously LOVE this show.......I hope to god that is not the voice of doom since a number of show I have LOVED have died......

Talk the show up to all and sundry...

It's dicey. The ratings are no worse than it's lead-in show, Superstore's ratings (which is good), but the whole hour block is 3rd place in it's timeslot every time besides it's premiere week.  That ancient creaker Grey's Anatomy is slaughtering it. 

Let's put it this way. The nightmarishly bad "Kevin Can Wait", up against it one week (September 29) on CBS, got better ratings on a REPEAT than The Good Place did that same week with an original episode.

[bros402]

Anyone else think that the episodes being called chapters mean they are part of Chidi's new book?

[secnarf]

13 hours ago, bros402 said:

Anyone else think that the episodes being called chapters mean they are part of Chidi's new book?

Where do you see "chapter" in any of the titles?

[Terrafamilia]

4 hours ago, secnarf said:

Where do you see "chapter" in any of the titles?

After the introductory scene, each episode has a screen that says Chapter 1, Chapter 2 , or whichever it is.

[secnarf]

26 minutes ago, Terrafamilia said:

After the introductory scene, each episode has a screen that says Chapter 1, Chapter 2 , or whichever it is.

Thanks! I never noticed that.

[Kel Varnsen]

On ‎2016‎-‎10‎-‎08 at 2:08 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Jason only had one real scene, but I loved his little story on how he set-up a woman to get arrested, in order to save "60% of the best dance crew."  Classic Jason!

He also mentioned in the classroom scene how awesome the waffles that Tahani makes were going to be. Then in the background of the party scene you see him grabbing more waffles. I always love little touches like that.

[kaygeeret]

OMG, Kromm, seriously, the horrific and (I could only stand it for 10minutes), 'Kevin Can Wait' won on a repeat!

I remain destroyed by my disconnect with other humans who watch television.

We can all like different things, but really, I can't digest this

My life in a nutshell I guess.

We will all soldier on and hope for the best.

[Kromm]

21 hours ago, nosleepforme said:

The ratings are good by NBC's standards, especially considering that pretty much all of their comedies bombed in recent years. Chicago Med und The Blacklist don't do much better after it either (at least in overnight ratings). Grey's Anatomy, while being in its 13th season, is one of only a few shows to get ratings like that and Kevin Can't Wait airs after The Big Bang Theory right now as far as I know, so it's a comparison between oranges and apples.

If the ratings stay where they are, we'll get a second season, I think. It just the question of when it will be back and whether a long hiatus won't hurt the show's ratings. However, I'd say The Good Place would have been a great show for Netflix.

A second airing of a Kevin Can Wait episode was placed up against The Good Place on September 29, and outrated it (as an episode which had already aired) so it was a pretty direct comparison. 

And the ratings of TGP are still skewed by extra high numbers for the post-Voice airing of the first two episodes. Sure NBC or the Producers could use that to game things to make it seem like the show is doing better than it is, but the point is if you take the average without that Ep1-2 block, then TGP falls from doing "good" by NBC standards to only being "about on par with any other comedy/sitcom NBC airs" (since it's getting about the same numbers each week as Superstore, but is likely far more expensive due to the salaries of it's two leads). 

If it stays RIGHT where it is in terms of weekly ratings (especially the demographic) then it stands a chance. If it falls more? It probably won't. 

[topanga]

On 10/7/2016 at 2:52 AM, blugirlami21 said:

I absolutely love this show. It's so funny. Chidi and Eleanor have great chemistry. I just about died during their argument when Eleanor called Chidi basic lol. I like that they are becoming friends. I wouldn't be mad if the show decided to pair them up for real.

Eleanor was definitely right about that couple being interested in swinging with them. Poor Chidi was shocked.

Poor Tahani. No wonder she's so eager to please with a family like that. I do find it interesting that she's so low in the rankings. I'm guessing it's because everything she does is not really for others people's benefit.

I re-watched this episode just to hear Kristen Bell say, "Guess what, Chidi? Ya basic!"  Followed by her suggestion that all of their arguing could lead to a hot make-out session. Which she was down for. And when the man from the other couple started talking about erotic massages, I love the look that Chidi gave Eleanor: it was some combination of "You were right" and "Help me!"

Yeah, it makes sense that Tahani would care about her low ranking in the neighborhood even though she outranked literally billions of people to make it to The Good Place. Her parents made sure she never felt good enough when she was alive.

[Three]

I'm afraid to speak of my affection for this show, because I seem to have the kiss of death. The fact that it is just competing with repeats of Kevin Can Wait is pretty depressing. 

I think it's got better every week. I'm loving the unpeeling of the characters. Plenty more flaws to discover. I like the ideas getting thrown around. We may all come out of it better people. Overall, it's fun and the cast are fun.  When it started, I couldn't see where Schur could go with the premise, it seemed limited, but he's been building on it every week.  We're in. 

[Bookish Jen]

4 minutes ago, Three said:

I'm afraid to speak of my affection for this show, because I seem to have the kiss of death. The fact that it is just competing with repeats of Kevin Can Wait is pretty depressing. 

I think it's got better every week. I'm loving the unpeeling of the characters. Plenty more flaws to discover. I like the ideas getting thrown around. We may all come out of it better people. Overall, it's fun and the cast are fun.  When it started, I couldn't see where Schur could go with the premise, it seemed limited, but he's been building on it every week.  We're in. 

I really like this show, but the fact it's competing with Kevin Can Wait doesn't bode well. Ugh. Kevin Can Wait sounds and looks like total dreck, and The Good Place is refreshingly original and I really like the stories and cast. Slowly, but surely, we are getting their back stories, which lead us into knowing why they are in The Good Place.

And poor Tahini. She really is her family's punching bag. 

[Crs97]

We didn't love the pilot and second episode.  They were just fine, not great.  I don't know why I tried again the next week - certainly didn't plan to.  I had to talk hubby into trying the third episode and now we are all in.  I hope some others give it a second glance.  KB has really stepped her game up, and Chidi is a revelation.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 10/7/2016 at 9:46 AM, tominboston said:

Also, maybe I'm seeing an inside joke where there wasn't one, but I noticed that the first name on the rankings list was David Arias. That is the birth name of Red Sox slugger and Boston sports hero David Ortiz, whose retirement ceremony occurred last week. I suspect there's a Sox fan among the writers.

Mike Schur the creator

[Kromm]

On 10/11/2016 at 10:35 AM, Bookish Jen said:

I really like this show, but the fact it's competing with Kevin Can Wait doesn't bode well. Ugh. Kevin Can Wait sounds and looks like total dreck, and The Good Place is refreshingly original and I really like the stories and cast.

It's not normally up against Kevin Can Wait. It was that week, where the Kevin Can Wait repeat beat it, because it was an attempt that week by CBS to boost the viewership of that show by airing it twice.  Football, and eventually another show coming in a few weeks called "The Great Indoors" is the normal timeslot competition from CBS.

Ironically it seems Thursday night football airings are jumping from CBS to NBC, although there will be a gap of a few weeks it seems where neither shows it (it ends on 10/27 on CBS and starts on 11/17 on NBC). So The Good Place will stop having to contend with football, only to be REPLACED by Football, basically. 

Of course ABC is the main place beating the pants out of TGP, but so far everyone but Fox and CW has been. But that could change when CW starts airing new episodes of Legends of Tomorrow...er... tomorrow night. 

Disgustingly (although I admit a bit off topic), Kevin Can Wait, in it's normal Monday slot, is getting sickeningly good ratings. It's enough to make you despair about TV audiences and their taste in general. The ratings are second only to The Big Bang Theory, for all of CBS.

By the way, The Big Bang Theory is definitely going to help make things even worse for The Good Place very soon. It's being planted in the 8PM EST CBS slot as soon as football goes off of CBS on 10/27, so it will create a huge lead in for this new Great Indoors show at 8:30 EST. Enough people still watch in that mode of watching live and simply leaving their favorite channel on after a show like Big Bang, that TGP's ratings will definitely feel it during it's home stretch of episodes, on 10/27, 11/3, and 11/10).

Edited October 12, 2016 by Kromm

[cpcathy]

If I were NBC, I'd channel the spirit of the late, great Brandon Tartikoff .

[Whimsy]

On 10/12/2016 at 2:32 PM, Kromm said:

Enough people still watch in that mode of watching live and simply leaving their favorite channel on after a show like Big Bang, that TGP's ratings will definitely feel it during it's home stretch of episodes

Honestly, this is so weird to me. I haven't watched live TV in like 10 years. Half the time I don't even know what day any shows I like are on. It's like Christmas morning to me every day when I turn my TiVo on and see what is waiting for me. The only shows I really know are those I mod that need instantaneous eyeballs on it after the show airs. So, this saddens me that there are still so many people who don't turn the channel and let dreck go on and on and on out of laziness. I love this show. I initially only tuned in for KB, but I am loving the entire cast and the storylines.  I fear this will be a repeat of my beloved Pushing Daisies- a brilliant show that is really well thought out and executed that the general public doesn't "get" and therefore gets cancelled too soon. 

[possibilities]

According to this

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/renewcancel/cancel-bear-vs-nbc-week-3-has-blindspot-found-its-floor/

The Good Place is currently the highest rated comedy on NBC.