S02.E13: Somewhere Else

[secnarf]

17 minutes ago, arc said:

Quibble: in s01e02, Tahani offhanded said her godmother was Diana, a princess of something.

Hey, if George and Charlotte can each have several godparents, why can't Tahani? ;)

[DrScottie]

2 minutes ago, secnarf said:

Hey, if George and Charlotte can each have several godparents, why can't Tahani? ;)

Queen Elizabeth II is probably one of Kamilah's. 

[MrWhyt]

While i'm so forking glad this show got picked up for another season i wouldn't be that upset if it had just ended right there.

[Loandbehold]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

I do wonder if Chidi not speaking French was a recon, or if they just want us to believe he was speaking English for that particular speech.  Also, he should totally change his last name to "Anna Kendrick."

From now on, he shall be known as Chidi Anna ... Kendrick. 

 

1 hour ago, BoogieBurns said:

Chidi hasn’t spoken French in any flashbacks. Even when he filibustered recess and dropped the ball as Best Man. 

He was speaking French. We just heard him in English because in "The Good Place" you hear everyone in your language. Early on Mr. Anna ... Kendrick told Eleanor that he was speaking French, but she heard him in English. 

I didn't expect the return to Earth and didn't consider that this was not really Earth but a simulation for their tests. 

Sam Malone tending bar at Sting's Desert Rosé fits. Thanks for that trip down memory lane, show. 

9 months? If anyone needs me, I'll be in Janet's void until the show returns.

[BoogieBurns]

12 minutes ago, Loandbehold said:

He was speaking French. We just heard him in English because in "The Good Place" you hear everyone in your language. Early on Mr. Anna ... Kendrick told Eleanor that he was speaking French, but she heard him in English. 

The flashbacks were on earth. We weren’t seeing his flashbacks in a “Good Place” filter. They were real events that happened, and they weren’t in French. I remember him saying he speaks French and it was being translated, but we have never seen him—alive or dead—speak French.

[Traveller519]

I can't decide if I would have rather checked in on everyone immediately following their respective "push" or get the "year of Eleanor" that we did get. 

Initially was pining for the others but I like that we got the whole range of Eleanor. The "one year Facebook reminder" was a nice touch too. Those things are evil, but sometimes in the best way possible. 

[whiporee]

2 hours ago, wingster55 said:

It's annoying that they essentially dropped the WOC from the s1 triangle and made it just the white woman's love story.

Tahani had feelings for Chidi for like five minutes in one episode in S1, and that only came because she as trying to find a justification why her version of the good place sucked. 

I think the argument for a WOC would be much more relevant from Real Eleanor, if she wasn't, you know, a demon. 

I thought it was great, but mostly I just smiled at how easily Ted Danson fit right back into that mode, with the towel flipped over his shoulder and wiping the glasses. The AV Club review called it the kind of thing you didn't now how much you missed, and that's the way it felt. 

Edited February 2, 2018 by whiporee

[Traveller519]

Two random things I loved:

While everyone else's tickers appeared to be humming along,  Jason's looked to have little to no activity on it. Maybe he's meditating after his push, but I really hope it just means he never does anything of consequence. Not good, not bad, just.... Jason. 

During one of her later "wake ups" Eleanor has a slice of pizza primed in a toaster within reach of her bed. I can't even be horrified, that's amazing! (props for bringing back Baby Plastic Surgery Nightmares magazine again too!) 

[GaT]

I'm starting to wonder where this show can go. Yes, we can do this "alive again" thing for all the characters, but where do they go from there? How long can they keep them in the medium place & keep the show interesting? Once they get to the Good Place, what will happen then? This is starting to seem like a show with a limited life.

[bros402]

1 hour ago, Traveller519 said:

Two random things I loved:

While everyone else's tickers appeared to be humming along,  Jason's looked to have little to no activity on it. Maybe he's meditating after his push, but I really hope it just means he never does anything of consequence. Not good, not bad, just.... Jason. 

During one of her later "wake ups" Eleanor has a slice of pizza primed in a toaster within reach of her bed. I can't even be horrified, that's amazing! (props for bringing back Baby Plastic Surgery Nightmares magazine again too!) 

He could also just be in the safe, unable to do much of anything

[Mockingbird]

2 hours ago, GaT said:

I'm starting to wonder where this show can go. Yes, we can do this "alive again" thing for all the characters, but where do they go from there? How long can they keep them in the medium place & keep the show interesting? Once they get to the Good Place, what will happen then? This is starting to seem like a show with a limited life.

To be fair, that’s probably a very similar thought that people had after everyone was rebooted in last season’s finale. And then the show got even better and more interesting. I feel like the writers have shown they know exactly where they’re going and what they’re doing. And, sadly for the fans, they probably do have a specific number of seasons in mind. 

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, arc said:

Quibble: in s01e02, Tahani offhanded said her godmother was Diana, a princess of something.

I know several people with multiple godparents.

Even as a child watching Sam Malone I wondered why Sam would througn the dirty bar towel over his shoulder at least in this scenario he is a demon.

Based on friends who have worked fresh out of college doing canvassing for "good causes" it's the same shitty work environment or other causes as Eleanor's call center job and you get bonuses for pressuring people to sign up for more than they want.

Edited February 2, 2018 by biakbiak

[arc]

Over the course of the series, how many characters have gotten the extreme close-up on eyes opening shot? It's been almost entirely Eleanor, plus one time on Janet in her origin episode, right? None of the others?

Also, Michael was grossed out about mashing food holes together just a few episodes ago!

Edited February 2, 2018 by arc

[Ailianna]

7 hours ago, DrScottie said:

I felt a little sorry for Tahani. She didn't have someone who loved her there. Eleanor is attracted to her, but she definitely loves Chidi. 

But maybe that's good for her.  She has always struggled to be adored--maybe she needs to learn to love herself, cliche as that is.  

7 hours ago, Arynm said:

I agree. Was it really Earth or was it an approximation of earth? Sort of a test to see what they really are made of. I liked that Michael and Janet were watching two of that tapes more than the others, I wonder who the other was, other than Eleanor. Maybe Janet was watching Jason?

It looked like they were watching everyone, but Michael was really focused on Eleanor (as he so often is), and Janet was more looking at the others.  But predictably, Chidi's tape wasn't moving much.  Tahani looked like hers had a lot of activity, and Jason's only a little.  As much as I could tell.

I love this show so much!!  While I'm going to miss it desperately, I agree that it wouldn't be the show I love if it were stretched out too far.

[Affogato]

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

You know, when this season started, I thought they were doing a take off of No Exit, with the Hell is Other People punishment that Michael cooked up. Then I thought that they had just used that as a start of the season, and were giving it up and moving on. But now, I think they might still be doing No Exit...its just that its the other side of the coin. People can torture and bring out the worst in each other, BUT people can also help and bring out the best in each other. So while Hell is other people, maybe Heaven is too? 

Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need of hell. 

[Panopticon]

6 hours ago, BoogieBurns said:

The flashbacks were on earth. We weren’t seeing his flashbacks in a “Good Place” filter. They were real events that happened, and they weren’t in French. I remember him saying he speaks French and it was being translated, but we have never seen him—alive or dead—speak French.

The schoolyard flashback took place in Senegal. Even though viewers heard it in English (because half-hour American comedy with magical elements) English just isn’t the primary language of enough of that population  to fill that sort of school. They would have been speaking French (or Wolof or whatever) but it didn’t matter that the scene was shown in another language because all of the involved characters would have been speaking the same thing.

The Eleanor/Chidi connnection this time was different because we were told early on that they weren’t speaking the same language to each other. Though it does make sense again if this is a simulation, not Real Earth. 

[loki567]

Couldn't help but be a little disappointed by this. This episode felt so much like the premiere of a new season. A lot of the season's momentum was halted because of it. I felt like it was "when are we going to the fireworks factory?" situation as I kept waiting for the story to turn and the rest of the cast to show up when shit! those are the credits! And we have to wait nine months for the next episode, no! I wish they had changed up the pacing of the past couple episodes and ended the season with Eleanor just avoided the shopping carts. Would have been a better cliffhanger.

Considering they sped through hundreds of years in an episode, difficult to imagine the new status quo holds for that long. 

I'm still sticking with my theory that sooner or later, the gang's going to be put in character of their own Good Place where they'll have to try to reform bad people. 

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, nosleepforme said:

I was not particularly excited that they were sent back to Earth to improve there without the knowledge of a potential "moral dessert" [...]

Moral desert. One s, as in deserve.

[BooBear]

1 hour ago, loki567 said:

Couldn't help but be a little disappointed by this. This episode felt so much like the premiere of a new season.

It was a little disappointing in that it wasn't funny.  That being said, I am sure they had to write it like it could be a finale. I am of the mind that this is a simulation. Can Michael just go to earth willy nilly? Can Michael interfere on earth willy nilly? If that was the case wouldn't they demons do that all the time to get more recruits for the bad place?   I do feel like the French thing was a BIG thing to forget.  I can't say how it will turn out but I would guess that at least one of them fails and they refuse to go to the good place without all of them, leading to various tries on "earth"

I liked that Eleanor fell right back into her ways when surrounded by her horrible roommates and the horror of daily life.  From where I am sitting that looks like the true "bad place".  The actual bad place was much better than that and it had frozen yogurt.   But I feel like she failed because the test imho was to be good without other people helping her... and I feel like Chidi is a cheat.  Though she gets points for realizing she had to surround herself with better people. 

[Notwisconsin]

7 minutes ago, BooBear said:

It was a little disappointing in that it wasn't funny.  That being said, I am sure they had to write it like it could be a finale. I am of the mind that this is a simulation. Can Michael just go to earth willy nilly? Can Michael interfere on earth willy nilly?

Michael is working for the judge now as a "guardian angel" instead of an architect. Yeah, the jokes were lamer, but there was less room for slapstick like there was during the first season and three quarters. The first season was straight-out sitcom fantasy. A well thought-out whole. Then came the great twist. The second season was in thirds and became less and less funny on the one had and more and more original on the other.

Yeah, the first third in season two was hilarious in parts, they had to burn off the premise from the great twist at the end of the last season, and the "let's have fun with philosophy" premise was really good, especially the "Trolley Problem" thing which was straight out of Loony Tunes, at a few points, though, there were as many winces as laughs.

AS to why Jason, Tahani and Chidi weren't there for most (and for two of them ALL) of the "back to earth" sequence, is that Elanor and Michael are the main characters, and the other three are just "sidekicks." The focus was always on Elanor, we were following her story, so we continue to follow it. After all, Bell and Danson are the only ones on the posters.

As to what happens in season three, whether or not Elanor figures out what's happening again and how they get the gang back together, I'm not sure. But it would be interesting to watch.

[Amarsir]

Of course they're not on Earth. They're in Australia.

Although timelines are clearly flexible on this show, I think this path solidifies them a little in relation to each other. We never really knew if the 4 humans had died around the same time. Or even if they were the age we see when they died, as opposed to just looking that way in the afterlife. But if they are able to meet up then things are pretty much as they appear. And presumably Chidi was saved from death offscreen, but we don't know yet if he received any pre-Eleanor nudges toward good behavior.

If the plan is to have them all meet up, I'd say the easy one is already done. Tahani might cross paths with them randomly as she does a lot of traveling. But Jason is pretty much in his own universe - in more ways than one.

[Dots And Stripes]

8 hours ago, BoogieBurns said:

The flashbacks were on earth. We weren’t seeing his flashbacks in a “Good Place” filter. They were real events that happened, and they weren’t in French. I remember him saying he speaks French and it was being translated, but we have never seen him—alive or dead—speak French.

I can’t remember if all flashbacks were shown my Michael or if some were memories. I could buy that the Good Place filter still applied in flashbacks, especially the ones Michael showed them.

[Chaos Theory]

Sometimes shows mention things in pilots that they drop later.  I think of it less as retconning and more of unwritting things that don’t work in practice.  The idea of everyone understanding each other in “The Good Place” was an easy answer but having Chidi speak French and Eleanor not be able to understand him does nothing for the actual plot of the story.  All it would do is frustrate them both enough to invalidate the experiment.   

[cardigirl]

2 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Moral desert. One s, as in deserve.

I thought they were talking about dessert, as in a reward for good behavior.  And the point was, you have to want to be good for no other reason than to be good.  The promise of a prize nullifies being good. Thanks for clarifying!

This episode kind of felt like a series finale, rather than a season finale.  Have they been renewed for a 3rd season?

Edited February 2, 2018 by cardigirl

[steff13]

When Ted Danson turned around behind the bar and flung the towel over his shoulder like Sam Malone, I was elated.  Now I really want to watch Cheers.

This was another great episode.  Three in a row that have brought tears to my eyes. 

[jmonique]

I prefer Jason and Tahani vs. Jason and Janet (too similar).

I also think this episode displayed how far this show has come, from being a vehicle for Kristen and Ted to being a solid ensemble. While it was interesting to watch Eleanor try to transcend her underlying nature, I was missing Jason, Tahani and Chidi.

[strippedhalo]

24 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

I thought they were talking about dessert, as in a reward for good behavior.  And the point was, you have to want to be good for no other reason than to be good.  The promise of a prize nullifies being good.

Me, too, and it made sense! (The real way makes sense, too, I guess. But it's not as much fun.)

[whiporee]

26 minutes ago, cardigirl said:

 

2 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Moral desert. One s, as in deserve.

I thought they were talking about dessert, as in a reward for good behavior.  And the point was, you have to want to be good for no other reason than to be good.  The promise of a prize nullifies being good. Thanks for clarifying!

 

I'm pretty sure your interpretation is right. Moral dessert, as in reward for eating all their veggies. That was the entire point of Gen's criticism, and it was a good one. Can they be good without knowing there's a reward for behaving good. 

There's something else going on here, but I don't know what it is. I think there's a decent chance that in the end this will all be about Michael, but I don't have a working theory yet. 

[steff13]

Just now, strippedhalo said:

Me, too, and it made sense! (The real way makes sense, too, I guess. But it's not as much fun.)

Agreed.  Dessert is what you get after you eat all your vegetables.  Or in this case, what you get for being a good person.  I like the idea of the afterlife being dessert.  :)

[RainbowBrite]

This was the first episode of The Good Place that I didn't love. I thought the idea of sending them back to their lives would be intriguing but I spent the whole second half wondering if/when we would get to see Tahani, Jason and Chidi. I also found Eleanor's immediate personality change after her near death experience to be a little heavy-handed. I also don't buy drunk Eleanor remembering the exact phrase some random bartender (to her, at least) said to her, and then it meaning enouhg to her that she Googled it. THEN she flew across the world to meet Chidi, a man she should have no real connection to? Are we supposed to think that, even though they reset her life, she is maintaining some of the character development she experienced while in the "Good Place"? Do humans improve with each reset, like Janets do?

[J-Man]

16 minutes ago, whiporee said:

I'm pretty sure your interpretation is right. Moral dessert, as in reward for eating all their veggies. That was the entire point of Gen's criticism, and it was a good one. Can they be good without knowing there's a reward for behaving good. 

The closed captioning clearly said DESERT. And that's also how it's used in the expression "just deserts," although many people make the mistake of using "desserts" in that situation as well.

[Helena Dax]

I must say that the part where Eleanor went back to Earth -if it's actually the Earth- was predictable, in the sense that of course we knew she was going to try and of course we knew that she was going to fail. But everything got better the moment Michael went to help her. I used to be a bit in love with Sam Malone when I was a kid and it was like seeing again an old love you're still fond of. And then she found Chidi's video and she watched it and she went to look for him and now I'm totally excited about next season. 

Also, Chidi kissing Eleanor was all kinds of awesome. I ship them hard, especially because it isn't about how hot they find each other. Although I also love her relationship with Michael.

Edited February 2, 2018 by Helena Dax

[whiporee]

17 minutes ago, J-Man said:

The closed captioning clearly said DESERT. And that's also how it's used in the expression "just deserts," although many people make the mistake of using "desserts" in that situation as well.

i didn't watch with CC, but I know it's sometimes wrong. And DESERT does not fit into the context of the conversation -- Gen was talking about them being good with the expectation of a reward, and therefore everything that happened once they knew about the Good Place/Bad Place was skewed (it actually was a very good point, but it also sort of explains much of the appeal of religion). Plus, while CC may have clearly said DESERT, to my ears both characters that used it said DESSERT. But if you have a context where moral DESERT makes as much sense, it would be cool to hear. 

[cardigirl]

13 minutes ago, whiporee said:

i didn't watch with CC, but I know it's sometimes wrong. And DESERT does not fit into the context of the conversation -- Gen was talking about them being good with the expectation of a reward, and therefore everything that happened once they knew about the Good Place/Bad Place was skewed (it actually was a very good point, but it also sort of explains much of the appeal of religion). Plus, while CC may have clearly said DESERT, to my ears both characters that used it said DESSERT. But if you have a context where moral DESERT makes as much sense, it would be cool to hear. 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/desert  scroll down, and you'll see it means deserving of something.

[Chaos Theory]

I think people are confusing ‘desert’ and ‘dessert’ when in this particular definition it means the same thing.  Everyone is explaining the concept same way getting the spelling wrong.  In essence the concept asks the question if you knew for certain there was nothin after this would you still be good?  If there was no reward/repercussion for giving that $100 back and you could use it yourself would you hand it to the guy who lost it?  

[Dagny]

13 hours ago, mammaM said:

And Chidi's three hour talk

Even better was that there were four parts to this talk (it was queued up in YouTube on the side :) )

[CofCinci]

Eleanor and Chidi keep getting split apart as they finally kiss - but it doesn’t feel as tedious and frustrating as other TV couples.  Perhaps because it’s clear that they’ll end up together in the series finale. 

[Milburn Stone]

34 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

I think people are confusing ‘desert’ and ‘dessert’ when in this particular definition it means the same thing.  Everyone is explaining the concept same way getting the spelling wrong.  In essence the concept asks the question if you knew for certain there was nothin after this would you still be good?  If there was no reward/repercussion for giving that $100 back and you could use it yourself would you hand it to the guy who lost it?  

We don't have the script, but we did hear the word being pronounced consistently, and that consistent pronunciation put the emphasis on the second syllable, hence "dessert." 

In other news, I didn't realize until reading this thread that what I was watching was the final episode until next season. Talk about your desert. Shirt.

[wilnil]

40 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

We don't have the script, but we did hear the word being pronounced consistently, and that consistent pronunciation put the emphasis on the second syllable, hence "dessert." 

"Desert," in the old sense of "thing you deserve," is pronounced like "dessert." (Sort of like how, if you use "minute" to mean "60 seconds" it's pronounced MINN-ut, but to mean "tiny" it's my-NOOT.)

[Mabinogia]

The English language is so forking confusing. lol So desert can mean a barren wasteland, leaving someone or something, or getting a reward? WTFork?!??!! I'm a native English speaker and I think that's some forked up shirt. haha

[ItCouldBeWorse]

14 hours ago, BBG said:

I don't think they're back on Earth, but on 'Earth', essentially a neighbourhood that's basically the world at the time they died.  This could be the reason that Chidi speaks unaccented English.  

Okay, so it's a reach.

Not a reach at all.  I don't think the entire Earth got reset- it's a very convincing simulation.

14 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

I'm not 100% sure of my memory, but it didn't seem like the ticker tape was running for everyone.  Michael was reading one and Janet was reading another, I think.  That makes me wonder if there are going to be resets.  Like everyone will get a version where they are pushed and once the become a good person without the promise of a reward and find the others it resets until everyone passes the test.

[Amarsir]

2 hours ago, J-Man said:

The closed captioning clearly said DESERT. And that's also how it's used in the expression "just deserts," although many people make the mistake of using "desserts" in that situation as well.

 

25 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

The English language is so forking confusing. lol So desert can mean a barren wasteland, leaving someone or something, or getting a reward? WTFork?!??!! I'm a native English speaker and I think that's some forked up shirt. haha

English doesn't just borrow from other languages. It drags them into a back alley and steals their internal organs.

In this case, both words come from Latin through French via the word "deservir". As Latin was much more broad and context-driven, the word was about having finished service and having served well. Via French the parts of speech became more specific and the use more symbolic. You don't need to be in service to "deserve" something. And that which you deserve would be your "desert". *

Meanwhile, if you've finished a meal then that service is done and you are ready for your "dessert". Same root origin but split via France and their love of table service. (A lot of our meal words and customs specifically are taken from French. For example, blame them for us using "entrée" not to refer to the first part of the meal but the main course which would arrive via a grand entrance.) 

The confusion is therefore perfectly reasonable, as both are talking about the same thing with a fair bit of metaphor. Of course the word "desert" itself is archaic and odd. But then so are moral philosophers. :)

 

* P.S. Making it even more complicated would be those who left without having earned their reward. They would be "deserters", and would be forsaken by society much like a barren "desert" would be forsaken by nature.

Edited February 2, 2018 by Amarsir

[ItCouldBeWorse]

14 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

I'm not 100% sure of my memory, but it didn't seem like the ticker tape was running for everyone.  Michael was reading one and Janet was reading another, I think.

 

14 hours ago, Arynm said:

I liked that Michael and Janet were watching two of that tapes more than the others, I wonder who the other was, other than Eleanor. Maybe Janet was watching Jason?

Janet was reading Jason's and frowning.

14 hours ago, wingster55 said:

It's annoying that they essentially dropped the WOC from the s1 triangle and made it just the white woman's love story. I'm actually quite angry about this. 

She's not a woman (not trying to undercut your comment, but I couldn't resist.)

[iMonrey]

Is there some significance to the bar being named Sting's Dessert Rose Bar?

I would have liked this episode more if it was the season 3 premier rather than the season 2 finale. As a finale, it felt a bit unsatisfying, especially if it got cancelled (which, fortunately, it did not). I'm not happy where we left off here and I really wanted to know what was going on with Tahani, Jason and Chidi. There were some good moments, yeah, but I don't think it served well as a finale.

[meep.meep]

Enough with the French and desert vs dessert!

Who deflected the forking shopping carts?

[BoogieBurns]

8 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I would have liked this episode more if it was the season 3 premier rather than the season 2 finale. As a finale, it felt a bit unsatisfying, especially if it got cancelled (which, fortunately, it did not)

They got a third season pick up months ago. They wrote it open ended knowing they had another season. I have a strong feeling that Mike Schur and NBC will work together to end this story on the right terms. There has to be something in his development deal that got this show directly picked up as a series before the pilot was filmed. In my biased opinion, NBC needs Mike Schur more than he needs them right now. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

I'm with SomeTameGazelle. J-Man, wilnil, and Amarsir (although closed captions don't prove much):

http://grammarist.com/usage/desert-vs-dessert/

Desert may be pronounced two ways, when the first syllable is stressed, as in DEsert, it is a noun or adjective meaning a dry, desolate area, especially one covered in sand, waterless and usually hot during the day and chilly at night. Related words are desertic and desertification. Desert comes from the Late Latin desertum meaning thing abandoned. When pronounced as deSERT, the word means 1.) to abandon, to leave someone, to abandon a military post without permission, to leave a place so as it appears empty, related words are deserts, deserted, deserting, deserter, desertion(This meaning comes from the Latin deserere meaning to abandon, to leave, forsake, give up, leave in the lurch.) 2.) the fact of deserving reward or punishment, a person’s worthiness for reward or punishment, usually in the form of just deserts. This form of desert comes from the Old French deserte meaning be worthy to have.

Dessert is the sweet course of a meal, usually eaten at the end of the meal. Dessert comes from the Middle French word dessert, meaning last course, removal of what has been served, evolving from desservir meaning to clear the table, remove.

Many, if not most English speakers think the phrase is "just desserts" (sic) instead of the correct "just deserts,"  so I don't expect that a none-native speaker would use the phrase correctly unless they had specifically learned it.

Edited February 4, 2018 by ItCouldBeWorse

[DrSpaceman73]

I think one direction the show could go, assuming they do get into The Good place, and without prolonging it too long, is Chidi/Eleanor become a sort of mentor for other lost souls in the afterlife, those who want a chance to earn some sort of redemption like they are trying to achieve. 

[DrScottie]

10 hours ago, arc said:

Over the course of the series, how many characters have gotten the extreme close-up on eyes opening shot? It's been almost entirely Eleanor, plus one time on Janet in her origin episode, right? None of the others?

In the first episode of Season 2, all four humans got one as the reboot was told from each of their perspectives. 

2 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Not a reach at all.  I don't think the entire Earth got reset- it's a very convincing simulation.

I think that's right. Eleanor's demise didn't have a truck in the background with a billboard for "Kamilah: Perfect" with 5 stars and a review quote underneath it in the original one from the Mindy St. Claire episode. Chidi's English is another clue too. 

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

Is there some significance to the bar being named Sting's Dessert Rose Bar?

It was Sting's Desert Rosé. A play on moral desert, the song Desert Rose by Sting, Rosé wine, and probably the deserts all around Arizona. It also had 2005 on it, but I don't know the greater significance to that. 

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

I think one direction the show could go, assuming they do get into The Good place, and without prolonging it too long, is Chidi/Eleanor become a sort of mentor for other lost souls in the afterlife, those who want a chance to earn some sort of redemption like they are trying to achieve. 

That was my thought too and it makes a lot of sense. They are arguing that the system should be changed and if they are successful (they will be as this is still a comedy), they are a great choice for helping to implement this new model for the afterlife for those who just needed a push in the right direction. 

Edited February 2, 2018 by DrScottie

[Affogato]

6 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Moral desert. One s, as in deserve.

Still whipped cream, though, surely?