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S02.E09: Leap to Faith


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10 minutes ago, arc said:

^ that sounds right.

so why would Shawn show up now then?

maybe only because the bad place decided to roll this model out for other victims? 

I don't think the amount of time passing at this community has anything to do with external time.  I'd guess that the bad place exists in its own pocket of time and space and that each part of the bad place can exist within its own timeframe.  

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14 hours ago, possibilities said:

Shawn was worried that the "debacle" of the humans escaping would be discovered. It seemed like he's not the one in charge. So now I'm wondering who HE reports to.

A couple of people have already suggested that a committee would be the most appropriately hellish supervisor for the Bad Place, but that might actually be the answer. IIRC, when Shawn is delivering his news at the beginning of the episode, he says that he himself is going to be promoted to the "High Council" or something like that.

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And I wonder if Tahani ever lies when she says, “good friend of mine”? Or is she simply that much of a name-dropper?

Yeah - she really is awful in her own way. Makes you realize why she wound up in the bad place.

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of putting the handcuffs on Janet. Michael said it would inhibit her powers but she was still able to pop in and out and fetch Derek and bring him back with her, so what exactly were they preventing her from doing? If they were worried she'd summon the train and allow the humans to escape, why didn't they take any precautions like putting the humans in a cage or something? They were free to wander around at will and none of the demons were paying any attention to what they were doing.

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2 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Yeah - she really is awful in her own way. Makes you realize why she wound up in the bad place.

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of putting the handcuffs on Janet. Michael said it would inhibit her powers but she was still able to pop in and out and fetch Derek and bring him back with her, so what exactly were they preventing her from doing? If they were worried she'd summon the train and allow the humans to escape, why didn't they take any precautions like putting the humans in a cage or something? They were free to wander around at will and none of the demons were paying any attention to what they were doing.

Re Janet:  It seemed to me that the handcuffs didn't really diminish or inhibit her powers, but made them harder for her to access.  Drunk Janet was aptly named, I guess.  

As for the not caging the humans, it has been shown pretty consistently that the demons underestimate the humans pretty much all the time.

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A couple of the very best quotations from this episode, in addition to the brilliant "Something something Janet something something."

Shawn: "Some people called you names, like the Thomas Edison of incompetence, or...that dick." 

Jason: "I can't believe Michael betrayed us AGAIN. Why is it always the ones you most expect?" 

Michael (this is all in the delivery, plus the addition of Kristen Bell's absurdly beautiful beaming face): "You GUYS! I was so scared for you! You're my friends and I wanted to save you!"

Also, his little smirk when Eleanor agrees with Michael about Tahani's stuff in the roast being perfect.  Michael and Eleanor's friendship is my favorite; they're making each other better people/demons but still maintain a bit (sometimes more than a bit) of their original ash-holery. 

 

Also, the idea of expanding this neighborhood with Michael overseeing it is really fascinating. It would offer other people the opportunity for redemption if there is actually a way to get to the Good Place from the Bad Place...

Edited by Mockingbird
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1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

putting the handcuffs on Janet. Michael said it would inhibit her powers but she was still able to pop in and out and fetch Derek and bring him back with her, so what exactly were they preventing her from doing?

They weren't super-explicit about this, but I got the impression while watching that the cuffs prevented her from doing "her job" (providing information, etc., for others), but that Derek and her void were off the clock, so to speak -- her personal time. It made sense in my head anyway.

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5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Not that I didn't enjoy this episode, but it seemed very lucky/convenient that none of the humans were tortured, molested or harmed in any way during the melee that ensued after the roast. We had demon bats and all manner of debauchery surrounding them yet none of the demons were even looking at them. 

Shawn said that they were going to be taken to the real bad place to be examined so maybe they were deemed off limits for the party. Or torturing them would have been considered work and not play. 

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I have to rewatch but I think the cuffs prevented Janet from doing anything physically other than going in and out of her void and the drunk aspect prevented her from providing reliable information.  When the train left, the demons thought that Vicki had freed her from the cuffs to conduct it.  The plan worked because the demons don't know about Derek.

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32 minutes ago, rab01 said:

I have to rewatch but I think the cuffs prevented Janet from doing anything physically other than going in and out of her void and the drunk aspect prevented her from providing reliable information.  When the train left, the demons thought that Vicki had freed her from the cuffs to conduct it.  The plan worked because the demons don't know about Derek.

Maximum Derek! 

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3 hours ago, OtterMommy said:

Re Janet:  It seemed to me that the handcuffs didn't really diminish or inhibit her powers, but made them harder for her to access.  Drunk Janet was aptly named, I guess.  

As for the not caging the humans, it has been shown pretty consistently that the demons underestimate the humans pretty much all the time.

Exactly - it makes sense that they would choose to 'target' Janet rather than the humans. Also, if the humans were in a cage and Janet was at full power, she could still probably find a way to get the humans out.

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Does a #MindyFinallyGetsHerCocaineDance!

Thanks, Show. I was starting to feel resentful for our 1980s-era neon powersuited ally. She asked for so little, but received even less for so long. The fact that she requested a dangerous illegal substance meant very little since poor Mindy is already dead. Let the woman party!

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23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of putting the handcuffs on Janet. Michael said it would inhibit her powers but she was still able to pop in and out and fetch Derek and bring him back with her, so what exactly were they preventing her from doing? If they were worried she'd summon the train and allow the humans to escape, why didn't they take any precautions like putting the humans in a cage or something? They were free to wander around at will and none of the demons were paying any attention to what they were doing.

I saw it as preventing her from using her powers to get or make anything for the humans like Tahani's diamond or Eleanor's unending shrimp dispenser so that they could not ask her for anything that would help them escape. She also could not give them any information because she was drunk on magnets.  It did not stop her from popping in and out of her void.  She was able to get Derek because he was already in the void and she just had to bring him out.

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It is either that he knows he can't go with them, or he knows they can't go, that he lied about getting them into the good place and now they are going to find out about it. But then this show always zigs when I think it's going to zag so who knows. I just know that I am happy to be along for the ride and whether Michael is on their side or not, I actually have faith (something I do NOT have for pretty much every other showrunner ever) that it will be brilliantly written.

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I just learned in this episode that Jason's favorite team plays football. I thought he'd been talking about basketball all this time. Is ignorance of professional sports plus or minus points regarding my afterlife prospects?

 

I'm glad Derek served his purpose, but it's fine with me if he stays with Mindy and never reappears. I find his schtick tedious rather than funny.

Magnet Janet was a hoot. A little disappointed Trevor didn't drop by for the party, but it was still a lot of fun.

 

A way to include references to ongoing Earth events in the show, such as the Jaguars, would be if at every reset the time in their realm actually went back to the time at which they arrived there, so it isn't advancing past Earth time. If it didn't restart, wouldn't Shaun think it odd that these people who had supposedly been there for the equivalent of hundreds of years were still acting like newbies?

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On 1/5/2018 at 9:36 AM, SopranoKris said:

When Team Cockroach talked about finally getting to the Good Place, Michael's face did not look particularly happy. 

And he was silent  as well.  Methinks Michael knows that getting into the Good Place isn't going to be particularly easy.

ETA - Chidi's slightly worried expression indicates that he might be worried about getting in as well.  But then again Chidi always looks slightly worried.

Edited by Winston Wolfe
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41 minutes ago, Enginerd said:

Is ignorance of professional sports plus or minus points regarding my afterlife prospects?

Neutral, I think.  However, being in a fantasy football league is definitely negative.  Bragging about it on social media is 100x.

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On 1/5/2018 at 6:29 AM, chaifan said:

Speaking of forking...  I was a bit surprised that once Michael and Shawn did the big reveal and roast that Eleanor still couldn't swear.

Not being able to swear was part of the torture for the humans, so it makes sense to me it wouldn't be turned off.

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4 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Neutral, I think.  However, being in a fantasy football league is definitely negative.  Bragging about it on social media is 100x.

What about bragging about your favorite team's victories in phrasing that implies you yourself were out there on the field running and throwing and catching, when in fact you were on your sofa stuffing junk food into your face and yelling a lot?

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5 hours ago, Enginerd said:

What about bragging about your favorite team's victories in phrasing that implies you yourself were out there on the field running and throwing and catching, when in fact you were on your sofa stuffing junk food into your face and yelling a lot?

Ha, one of my friends worked for a college football team and even he never referred to the team as "we" unless he meant it literally.

Acceptable: We had to fly in a week before the bowl game.
Unacceptable: We won the bowl game.

As much as he felt he was a part of the organization, he felt that the actual players and coaches were the only ones allowed to use "we" to refer to the team. I'd love to see how many Good Place negative points are given for fans referring to the team as "we" or "us" - is that better or worse than failing to disclose camel illness when selling a camel or using Facebook as a verb?

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I love that Janet's version of drunken revelry involves wanting to braid everyone's hair.  "This is the best summer ever, you guys!"

On 1/5/2018 at 11:29 AM, sacrebleu said:

I'm totally using "and I can hear every sound in the universe" next time I'm hungover-- so thanks, Janet, just for being you!

While I'll be adopting Chidi's line: "That was a bad idea!  That was so scary so many different times; I hated that!"

On 1/5/2018 at 8:36 AM, SopranoKris said:

One thing I keep coming back to is how many times the phrase "it's everything I ever wanted" was said during the episode. I have a feeling this is going to tie in to future scenarios. When Team Cockroach talked about finally getting to the Good Place, Michael's face did not look particularly happy. 

This caught my ear too.  I should've known from my experiences with this show that nothing about it would matter in this episode, but I also wondered if it would mean something later.  Since everything Michael ever wanted has changed drastically, I think the same will happen for the rest of Team Cockroach.  The Good Place won't be so Good, or won't be worth what it takes to get there, or won't be any Good without Michael.

On 1/5/2018 at 1:50 PM, MrWhyt said:

Marc Evan Jackson is so perfect.

His face when he said, "I'm basically squealing like a birthday girl."  I want to frame it.  I can't wait to meet the rest of the High Council.

"You died alone because you couldn't commit to anyone who?"

"Jason Mendoza, everybody!"

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10 hours ago, Enginerd said:

What about bragging about your favorite team's victories in phrasing that implies you yourself were out there on the field running and throwing and catching, when in fact you were on your sofa stuffing junk food into your face and yelling a lot?

As a fan, I've suffered through many, many, many losing seasons of my teams. So, when they finally win one, you bet I'm taking some of the credit. I'll take the point deduction. Hell, I'd sell my points for more championships. Blake Bortles rules!!!*

 

* Not a Jaguars fan.

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5 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I'd love to see how many Good Place negative points are given for fans referring to the team as "we" or "us" - is that better or worse than failing to disclose camel illness when selling a camel or using Facebook as a verb?

I believe it is more negative points than failing to disclose camel illness when selling a camel but still not as bad as using Facebook as a verb. So using "we" for sports teams is worthy of a trip to the twisting department but not worthy of butthole spiders. That is reserved for people who Facebook.

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I love, love, love this show.  And Jason. And Janet. Even Bad Janet. And Michael. And Tahani. And Eleanor. And even Chidi, even though he can be sooooo boring. I even love Shawn and Derek and Vicki and Mindy. 

PS - please bring back Adam Scott as Trevor. His other show is awful. 

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5 hours ago, Lois Sandborne said:

This caught my ear too.  I should've known from my experiences with this show that nothing about it would matter in this episode, but I also wondered if it would mean something later.  Since everything Michael ever wanted has changed drastically, I think the same will happen for the rest of Team Cockroach.  The Good Place won't be so Good, or won't be worth what it takes to get there, or won't be any Good without Michael.

I would say that line was probably for our ears, because I don't think it strictly is "everything they ever wanted". Maybe for Chidi who studied morality he was always focused on The Good Place (by whatever name). But on Earth the other 3 certainly wanted lots of other stuff. And during most of the time in the afterlife they thought they were there and wouldn't have "always wanted" it either. (Even if they don't remember that time.) The more accurate statement would be "this is exactly what we wanted these past few months". But that wouldn't match Michael in the beginning.

My guess was that they would be faced with a situation where they can get in but Michael can't, so the humans have to choose between "everything they ever wanted" and a new path just like Michael did. But I like your idea that The Good Place has fine print and doesn't live up to expectations. (Which might turn out to be the same thing.)

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21 minutes ago, Enginerd said:

I really hope the afterlife doesn't entail getting everything I've EVER wanted. I've wanted lots of things in the past that I certainly don't want now!

I sure hope Heaven isn't finally getting the Cabbage Patch kid I wanted when I was little. Those suckers are butt ugly! I clearly had no taste as a child. 

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I'm just so happy for Jason tonight!  I'm not a huge sports fan (or any size sports fan), but I've been secretly* rooting for the Jaguars since I found out they were A--a real team, and B--in the playoffs.

*It has to be a secret because I live in upstate NY, and to not be a Bills fan around here is a killing offense, I'm pretty sure.

Edited by Ailianna
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Ironically enough, Michael may have shown more growth than any of the humans, with the possible exception of Eleanor.  The fact that Ellie sent Mindy two satchel bags of coke plus Derek (and a "thank you" note) shows a thoughtfulness that she apparently never demonstrated on Earth. 

Question to the Forum - do you guys think anyone other than Eleanor and Michael have grown enough to get into the Good Place?

Edited by Winston Wolfe
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4 minutes ago, Winston Wolfe said:

Question to the Forum - do you guys think anyone other than Eleanor and Michael have grown enough to get into the Good Place?

hmm, that's actually an interesting question. I hadn't really thought about it. Michael and Eleanor have grown considerably, though arguably they had the farthest to go. I don't really see that Jason has changed/grown at all. He's just now around people who don't get him into as much trouble. Tahani has at least acknowledged what got her to the bad place, and her willingness to let people know she's dating Jason shows some growth, but the idea that she thinks he is beneath her and is with him in spite of that kind of shows no growth. Chidi is...well, Chidi. lol I mean, his worst fault is that he can't make decisions, which, of all of them, I think he has the least growth to do. I think he is loosening up a little but I really don't think he necessarily should have been sent to the bad place to begin with. 

I just rewatched Season 2 and I still love it. But yeah, other than Eleanor and Michael, they are kind of all seem pretty much the same as when they got there. Tahani is still name dropping like crazy, and had an emotional breakdown because a demon party was better than hers. Jason is still a moron though he doesn't do things that get him in trouble anymore because of who he hangs out with now, and Chidi is still in constant conflict over ethics, though he does seem maybe a little more decisive. 

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15 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Chidi is...well, Chidi. lol I mean, his worst fault is that he can't make decisions, which, of all of them, I think he has the least growth to do. I think he is loosening up a little but I really don't think he necessarily should have been sent to the bad place to begin with. 

The man spent his life writing a book on ethics where Michael said: 

"You see, Chidi, I can read the entirety of the world's literature in about an hour. This took me two weeks to get through. I mean, it's so convoluted, I just kept reading the same paragraph over and over again, trying to figure out what the heck you were saying. I mean, on page 1,000, you start section two with the sentence, "Of course, the exact opposite might be true."

If that doesn't deserve a spot in the Bad Place, I don't know what does.

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Yeah, that is a good question - I think they each will have different paths to becoming better enough to make it into the Good Place.  From Jason's flashbacks, he was sweet and oblivious to whether or not what he did was helpful or harmful on Earth and he still is now.  So, his growth will probably require choosing goals (for himself and others) and working towards it. (Something more specific and active than agreeing with everyone else that he doesn't want to get sent to the Bad Place.)  I think we're starting to see Tahani's slow growth towards realizing that her old goals were meaningless (like in the aftermath of the demon party and allowing herself to enjoy horsing around with Jason).  Chidi on the other hand is actually moving backwards.  He was more decisive before his fatal flaw was brought out into the open. Now he's second guessing himself even more.

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On 1/4/2018 at 11:11 PM, tennisgurl said:

Michael really was on their side, which I was pretty sure about, and his clues were pretty well done. Now the gang (including that demon with a heart of gold Michael) is heading to places unknown. And the original "good place" was destroyed, Sean is none the wiser, and Vicki has been cocooned. I give this show tons of credit for being so willing to totally change their plot and try something different.  

Do we know for sure that Michael really is "good" now? 

I think there's a good chance he's still on Team Cockroach, but I'm not at all convinced he was being selfless in turning down this amazing promotion that's everything he ever wanted. He was being promoted, sure, in order to oversee a greatly expanded version of the fake Good Place neighborhood

Since  Michael hasn't been able to actually make that work in 803 tries, trying to get an expanded version right on the first (or at worst second) try when it's much higher profile and has the attention of this "High Council" would be next to impossible for him. When he fails to make it work, it may not even matter whether they realize he lied about all the reboots or not; he'll probably be in for "retirement" either way. 

Even if he didn't care about the humans at all and is only looking out for himself, trying to find a way out of there is still his smartest move. If having the humans and Janet could help him do that, then so is saving them. (It would probably buy him more time, since examining their brains like Shawn said would probably reveal that their minds had been wiped a whole lot more than once.)

I think Michael probably is basically "good" now, especially after the Janet & Michael episode... but just putting it out there that if they go with a Michael's-loyalty-twist, it wouldn't need to contradict this episode.

 

On 1/5/2018 at 4:33 PM, Mockingbird said:

Also, the idea of expanding this neighborhood with Michael overseeing it is really fascinating. It would offer other people the opportunity for redemption if there is actually a way to get to the Good Place from the Bad Place...

 It is, and if Michael had managed to make this neighborhood work, then that would be a possibility... but he couldn't. 

Ooh, but wouldn't that just be an amazing way to redeem himself and eventually earn his way to the real Good Place-- creating and running a Bad Place neighborhood that secretly redeems humans and makes them eligible for the Good Place? If ever there were a way for a demon to earn his way into the Good Place, doing that-- all the while risking getting caught by the Bad Place authorities-- would be it! 

If Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason haven't improved as people enough to get into the Good Place yet, maybe they could be "in on it" in the opposite way from the demons in the neighborhood-- pretending to just be other Good Place neighbors, but secretly guiding the new humans towards redemption. Wouldn't that be an interesting way to spend a season? Wait, what am I saying, this is The Good Place. Wouldn't that be an interesting way to spend a few episodes?

 

On 1/6/2018 at 5:32 PM, Helena Dax said:

Yeah, I think Michael isn't sure he can go to the Good Place and that's why the long face. But tbh, this show has surprised me so many times... Who knows?

Yeah, Michael's expression at the end of this episode kind of torpedoed my theory that the Good Place would gladly take anyone to save them from torture. (Though I guess he could be sad if he thinks the humans will be let in but he won't.)

Either way, since there's at least one more season, we know they haven't actually won and won't actually go to the Good Place right away. The humans (well, Tahani and Chidi) were just being way over-optimistic. Since Michael even said that getting to the Good Place would be difficult and take a long time to arrange, he could even just be sad that they're so excited when he knows (and so should they based on the info he gave them) they have a long way to go yet.

But of course, it's The Good Place, so I expect his expression actually heralds some kind of twist, and not just emotion based on what we already know.

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On 1/5/2018 at 4:10 AM, Amarsir said:

It's that she didn't look down. Bad Janet did a 360 to scan the whole neighborhood, but would miss anything directly below (or I guess above) her.

It's pretty clearly shown that she did not do a 360 scan, and in any case, not seeing about five feet down - where we _know_ this neighborhood has (at last) two story buildings (such as Tahani's own mansion) and even a temporary (fake) sinkhole - seems... less plausible than my theory.

Bad Janet starts her scan with her back to the train, a scan that starts about parallel to the train. The shot then sweeps to an overhead shot for about the next 180 degrees and then cuts back to Bad Janet finishing up, having scanned about 180 degrees and ending again parallel to the train but facing the other direction.

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49 minutes ago, arc said:

Bad Janet starts her scan with her back to the train, a scan that starts about parallel to the train. The shot then sweeps to an overhead shot for about the next 180 degrees and then cuts back to Bad Janet finishing up, having scanned about 180 degrees and ending again parallel to the train but facing the other direction.

Michael probably counted on Bad Janet half-assing the job when he asked her to do the scan. 

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10 hours ago, Anisky said:

But of course, it's The Good Place, so I expect his expression actually heralds some kind of twist, and not just emotion based on what we already know.

Maybe Michael has his own agenda for getting into the Good Place undercover, with the intent of creating as much mayhem as he possibly can.

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I am crazy over this show but this episode was thte most difficult to understand, and it depended way too much on coincidence and happenstance. The four humans couldve burst out the truth at any moment - the fact taht all four of them kept quiet the whole time was incredible. Eleanor figuring out the elaborate clues in his roast was just absolutely miraculous. It couldve just as well not happened and they wouldve gone to the bad place and that wouldve been the end of it. Vicky may have not tried to take off the handcuffs. Janet may have been unable to summon Derek. Shawn giving up looking for the four humans and taking all the demons along with him on the train makes the least sense to me. where tdid they go? Whydid he leave Michael there all by himself - wasnt he getting promoted? Won't Shawn return next week and see he was duped? I'm all kind s of confused.

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I don't think they (or Michael) for that matter even really need to try to get into the real Good Place. I thought the plan during this episode was mostly to get the demons out on the train, assuming this neighborhood was being disassembled behind them, and the four and Michael could basically hide out there. Technically, sure it's the Bad Place still, but they wouldn't be actively tortured, no spiders or twisting or hellfire, not kicked into the sun. It could sort of actually turn into their own Medium Place, with no one knowing they were even hiding out there, hopefully.

Except if they did try to settle for that, watch, it'd turn out Michael's theory would actually work. They might start reallllllllllly irritating each other. They might just torture themselves for eternity after all. The problem with Michael's Gambit was it was deemed failure if they figured out where they were. And the four so far at the moment are getting along mostly. But he might be right. They might actually be well suited to torture each other. It might just take them longer to get to that point.

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On 1/8/2018 at 0:59 PM, Loandbehold said:

The man spent his life writing a book on ethics where Michael said: 

"You see, Chidi, I can read the entirety of the world's literature in about an hour. This took me two weeks to get through. I mean, it's so convoluted, I just kept reading the same paragraph over and over again, trying to figure out what the heck you were saying. I mean, on page 1,000, you start section two with the sentence, "Of course, the exact opposite might be true."

If that doesn't deserve a spot in the Bad Place, I don't know what does.

That could have been Michael just being hurtful on purpose without being a 100% honest assessment of Chidi's magnum opus.

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On 1/6/2018 at 7:28 PM, Winston Wolfe said:

Chidi's slightly worried expression indicates that he might be worried about getting in as well.  But then again Chidi always looks slightly worried.

He probably just had a stomachache :)

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Don't think I've seen it mentioned yet, but my favorite subtle joke was Ted Danson telling us that the comedy roast was a demonic invention. It's not surprising he feels that way...

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