S03.E01: Everything Is Bonzer! (1) / S03.E02: Everything Is Bonzer! (2)

[cpcathy]

I thought for sure she was supposed to be Australian. 

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Smacky55 said:

I still don’t know what it means ?

 

I just read an article on BuzzFeed about the bad Australian accents on the show, with a lot of people commenting on Simone’s accent. I didn’t for one minute even think she was supposed to be Australian. Her accent sounds like a regular old Briitish accent to me. I just assumed she is a Brit in Australia. Any thoughts on this? Did I miss something? 

Bonzers is Australian slang for great. 

 

I didn't notice anything off with the accents but I am on facebook group and the Aussies on there were really bothered by Simone's accent. I also saw a comment that most of the accents were closer to New Zealand than Australian. 

[bros402]

4 hours ago, Smacky55 said:

I still don’t know what it means ?

 

I just read an article on BuzzFeed about the bad Australian accents on the show, with a lot of people commenting on Simone’s accent. I didn’t for one minute even think she was supposed to be Australian. Her accent sounds like a regular old Briitish accent to me. I just assumed she is a Brit in Australia. Any thoughts on this? Did I miss something? 

https://tv.avclub.com/the-good-place-annotated-everything-is-bonzer-1829368497 AV Club is going to be having articles every week annotating the episodes

[arc]

Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Simone) is British in real life and I'm pretty sure that was her real accent, so I never thought Simone was Australian. 

[SailorGirl]

22 hours ago, angora said:

With the other three, Michael nudges them into the right direction 

One of the most subtle, and funniest moments of the episode -- Michael, as he pushes his hands toward each other: "Nudge. Nudgie nudge nudge." 

[pootlus]

As a half-Australian, Simone was definitely at least attempting an Australian accent, but it wandered between Australian and NZ and possibly South African.  If that is the actress's real accent it's really, really odd, so I'm assuming it's not.  I wish the producers had let the actress use her regular (British) accent, as the (sorry) awful attempt at an Aussie one was really distracting. There are so many Poms here (including me) that it's not like a British academic at an Australian university would be out of place.

It's a shame as I love her character and hope she sticks around. Just lose the accent.

(Disclaimer: I can't do an Australian accent either and I've lived here for sixteen years).

I liked the season openers (mostly because of Michael's antics, and the doorman) but I hope it picks up.  As others have said, we've seen the gang get together multiple times.

[DrScottie]

I was reading the names in the directory for Simone's department

Brumby Hall
Biology Department

• Dr. Pamela Watermelon, Ph.D., Physical Chemistry
• Dr. Pawwsten Bridgehampton, Ph.D., Organic Chemistry  
• Dr. Nerlis Mrelk, Ph.D., Neurobiology   
• Dr. Ginger Catapulp, Ph.D., Sensory Physiology
• Dr. Simone Garnett, Ph.D., Neuroscience
• Dr. Ginger Letitia Schrmpf, Ph.D. Oceanography
• Dr. Fran van Plannaram, Ph.D., Deep-Sea Biology 

Also, Tahani went to Bardo Monastery. Bardo is the Buddhist concept of the state between death and rebirth. 

[Mockingbird]

9 minutes ago, DrScottie said:

I was reading the names in the directory for Simone's department

Brumby Hall
Biology Department

• Dr. Pamela Watermelon, Ph.D., Physical Chemistry
• Dr. Pawwsten Bridgehampton, Ph.D., Organic Chemistry  
• Dr. Nerlis Mrelk, Ph.D., Neurobiology   
• Dr. Ginger Catapulp, Ph.D., Sensory Physiology
• Dr. Simone Garnett, Ph.D., Neuroscience
• Dr. Ginger Letitia Schrmpf, Ph.D. Oceanography
• Dr. Fran van Plannaram, Ph.D., Deep-Sea Biology 

Also, Tahani went to Bardo Monastery. Bardo is the Buddhist concept of the state between death and rebirth. 

I wonder if Ginger Letitia has any relation to Detlef...

[arc]

Those Bio dept names are some of the most Mike Schur show names ever.

[Enginerd]

23 hours ago, Smacky55 said:

 

I just read an article on BuzzFeed about the bad Australian accents on the show, with a lot of people commenting on Simone’s accent. I didn’t for one minute even think she was supposed to be Australian. Her accent sounds like a regular old Briitish accent to me. I just assumed she is a Brit in Australia. Any thoughts on this? Did I miss something? 

She didn't sound Australian to me, but I assumed that, like Chidi, she was from elsewhere and had moved there for the job and academic opportunities. Michael's "Australian" accent was supposed to be terrible, of course. I wasn't sure if red boots guy was meant to be a sort of caricatured particular sort of Australian, someone who may also have been from somewhere else, the actor just couldn't nail the accent, or something else is afoot. I didn't really pay attention to the others, but I would believe they aren't sounding properly Australian. I think this show definitely has the resources to get genuine Australian actors and/or a good dialect coach if they wanted to, so I think it's slightly off on purpose. Things are always a little off and there usually turns out to be a reason for it.

But who knows? Maybe they just liked these actors and decided perfecting the accents wasn't a priority.

[possibilities]

I wanted Chidi to say that one of the languages he speaks is Wolof, but I guess if he'd said he did, a lot of people wouldn't know what he was talking about. Still, the show drops enough obscure references, if they were going to make him Senegalese and multilingual, it would have been nice.

[Danny Franks]

14 hours ago, arc said:

Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Simone) is British in real life and I'm pretty sure that was her real accent, so I never thought Simone was Australian. 

As a British person, that was not a British accent, of any kind. She was definitely doing an Australian accent. Not a particularly strong one, but still an Australian accent. It reminded me of the softer Australian accents that tend to populate the soaps that Australia has long sold to Britain.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Danny Franks

[Zuleikha]

I loved it, and it was so what I needed right now. But... I am really not sure what the writers are doing with Simone after last season ended with Eleanor and Chidi declaring their love for each other. Also, Simone seems a little unbelievably too good to be true. She's exactly what's needed for the group and intrigued by, rather than annoyed by, Chidi. Her area of specialization doesn't really overlap much with Chidi's, so they're only surface level nerds of a feather. It's not like they can talk shop to each other. 

I'm also not sure what the writers are doing with Eleanor and Tahani. Eleanor's always been into Tahani to the point where Eleanor being bi seems more canon than Eleanor being straight. But I can't remember any indications that Tahani returns Eleanor's interest. But the whole Kamilah line made me wonder if the writers are going to actually payoff all of the Eleanor-attracted-to-Tahani throwaway lines. I really liked Eleanor-Chidi, and it seems so weird for the show to build up to Eleanor-Chidi over two seasons only to left field and put Chidi with a new character and Eleanor-Tahani together. OTOH, I wouldn't mind exploring Eleanor-Tahani either!

Especially because I feel Tahani always should have been in the Good Place! Tahani is a genuinely nice person. Her only "sin" is caring what other people think about her, which isn't really a sin in my book (or my religion). Especially since the show established that Tahani is so concerned with impressing others because of the horribly emotionally abusive way her parents treated her. We've also seen her arguably be annoying, but we've never seen her cause anyone pain. I have problems with Chidi being in the Bad Place, too, but at least Chidi's indecisiveness did cause him to negatively affect people in serious ways. 

I didn't see this episode as a truly resetting the characters. They did all change on their own already. This is about how to make the changes stable in the face of life's inevitable challenges/temptations rather than about learning what they need to change in the first place. I am curious how Janet and Michael will stay involved without it becoming either ridiculous or annoying (and I strongly suspect Gen already knows what Michael's been up to).

[arc]

On second thought, and especially after rewatching the clip where Chidi first asks for Simone’s help, I now think KHB was attempting an Australian accent.

[Danny Franks]

46 minutes ago, Zuleikha said:

I'm also not sure what the writers are doing with Eleanor and Tahani. Eleanor's always been into Tahani to the point where Eleanor being bi seems more canon than Eleanor being straight. But I can't remember any indications that Tahani returns Eleanor's interest. But the whole Kamilah line made me wonder if the writers are going to actually payoff all of the Eleanor-attracted-to-Tahani throwaway lines. I really liked Eleanor-Chidi, and it seems so weird for the show to build up to Eleanor-Chidi over two seasons only to left field and put Chidi with a new character and Eleanor-Tahani together. OTOH, I wouldn't mind exploring Eleanor-Tahani either!

I love the idea of Eleanor/Tahani, and I'm not really interested in Eleanor/Chidi (it's too saccharine and predictable for me, and I just don't see any romantic heat between them), but I don't think they were going anywhere in particular with that line about Kamilah. It just seemed like they wanted to do a quick bit of work to get Eleanor and Tahani on good terms, and that one line does the job. I think it's more likely that Simone will serve as the traditional (and tired) role of Romance Obstacle, and that part of Eleanor's journey will be trying to be happy for Chidi, even while developing feelings for him.

Regarding Eleanor being nicer and 'better' in this episode than she has been before, we should remember that she's lived another year of her life, trying really hard to be good, and even when she failed, she still took the time to listen to Chidi's lecture, and take a lot of it to heart. She is a better person, even if she's not had the growth that she got in the first two seasons.

Edited October 1, 2018 by Danny Franks

[cpcathy]

Unpopular opinion: I don't ship anyone from this show. It's okay for me if everyone is just friends.

[April Bloodgate]

9 hours ago, Zuleikha said:

I'm also not sure what the writers are doing with Eleanor and Tahani. Eleanor's always been into Tahani to the point where Eleanor being bi seems more canon than Eleanor being straight. But I can't remember any indications that Tahani returns Eleanor's interest. But the whole Kamilah line made me wonder if the writers are going to actually payoff all of the Eleanor-attracted-to-Tahani throwaway lines. I really liked Eleanor-Chidi, and it seems so weird for the show to build up to Eleanor-Chidi over two seasons only to left field and put Chidi with a new character and Eleanor-Tahani together. OTOH, I wouldn't mind exploring Eleanor-Tahani either!

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/10/01/netflix-the-good-place-eleanor-super-bisexual/   WJH says it's a "fact that Eleanor is super bisexual." 

[Loandbehold]

17 hours ago, pootlus said:

I wish the producers had let the actress use her regular (British) accent, as the (sorry) awful attempt at an Aussie one was really distracting.

Well, of course it would have to pale in comparison to Michael's pitch perfect Aussie accent. As a demon, he has the ability to do any accent better than any native speaker and he amply demonstrated it here.

I'm not usually a shipper, but I wouldn't mind seeing Eleanor and Tahani get together, at least for a little while. I like Simone so I wouldn't be upset if the show explored Chidi and Simone as a couple. Then again, I'm still amused by Chidi spending an hour trying to decide which muffin to get. Let me tell you something Simone - if you give Chidi the confidence to often be decisive, we're going to be having words. Don't get me wrong, it's not that he shouldn't grow and improve. I just don't want him to forget that he's a moral philosopher and all the over-consideration of choices that entails. More decisive, eventually, but not always decisive.

[marketdoctor]

What if Micheal's accent IS perfect and it's just that everyone in Australia pronounces things a bit wrong? 

(I have no ear for dialect, so..never mind.)

[ByTor]

I'm confused over a silly little thing the doorman said.  When Michael gave the doorman a cup of anti-matter, the doorman said he prefers decaf.  But from the final episode in season 1, I thought the choices were regular or anti-matter, with the one demon woman being annoyed that it was French vanilla (French vanilla? Regular anti-matter is fine!), so I assumed anti-matter is decaf.

[BTBAM310]

On 9/27/2018 at 7:07 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Dammit, NBC!  I love you for supporting this show (and saving Brooklyn Nine-Nine), but did you have to spoil that Trevor was coming back in next week's previews before the final tag tonight?  Put a slight dent on what would have been a great reveal.  Either way, I'm glad he's back.

"We Crumb From The Land Down Under."  Glad to see that being in the real world won't stop the puns anytime soon!

 

Yeah I was pissed at the Adam Scott spoiler in the commercial.

I laughed every time "We Crumb From A Land Down Under" was on the screen.

Funniest line of the episode was from Jason: "Claustrophobic? Why would anyone be afraid of Santa Claus?"

[shoregirl]

21 minutes ago, BTBAM310 said:

Funniest line of the episode was from Jason: "Claustrophobic? Why would anyone be afraid of Santa Claus?"

Thats one of my favorite too. Its so dumb I feel like I shouldn't find it funny but its delivered so well that it makes me laugh every time. Especially followed by Eleanor asking Jason if hes from Florida.

My favorite line though was "Good looking enough to be on the Bachelor but smart enough to never go on the Bachelor."

[Ilovepie]

On 9/28/2018 at 10:00 AM, DoubleUTeeEff said:

I forking loved "hot enough to be on the Bachelor but smart enough not to go on the Bachelor."

This line got the biggest laugh from me too. My favorite of the episode. I wish there had been more Janet.

[SomeTameGazelle]

2 hours ago, BTBAM310 said:

Yeah I was pissed at the Adam Scott spoiler in the commercial.

I was spoiled by seeing his name in the end credits and had just enough time to wonder whether I had overlooked Trevor before he walked in. 

Maybe this has been explained before but I was confused about why Chidi was working on his thesis since I had thought he was a professor, not a grad student.

[EyewatchTV211]

6 hours ago, BTBAM310 said:

Yeah I was pissed at the Adam Scott spoiler in the commercial.

I laughed every time "We Crumb From A Land Down Under" was on the screen.

Funniest line of the episode was from Jason: "Claustrophobic? Why would anyone be afraid of Santa Claus?"

That was funny to me. But I was actually surprised that he even knows what "phobic" means. Guess he isn't quite as dumb as I thought.

[Mockingbird]

3 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Maybe this has been explained before but I was confused about why Chidi was working on his thesis since I had thought he was a professor, not a grad student.

I’ve been wondering about this, too! (As a grad student, working on my thesis...) You can typically get hired as a professor before completing your dissertation, but there’s a requirement you finish within a specified amount of time (usually a year) and I can’t see that job being fine with starting a brand new project. Or providing an advisor, unless Chidi attended St. John’s? 

Just went back to check what his office said, and it’s definitely Professor Chidi Anagonye. If they had just said he was working on his manuscript, everything would be fine... Or it’s some sort of clue that something’s wrong with this scenario. You can never quite be sure with this show. 

[Enginerd]

2 minutes ago, Mockingbird said:

I’ve been wondering about this, too! (As a grad student, working on my thesis...) You can typically get hired as a professor before completing your dissertation, but there’s a requirement you finish within a specified amount of time (usually a year) and I can’t see that job being fine with starting a brand new project. Or providing an advisor, unless Chidi attended St. John’s? 

Just went back to check what his office said, and it’s definitely Professor Chidi Anagonye. If they had just said he was working on his manuscript, everything would be fine... Or it’s some sort of clue that something’s wrong with this scenario. You can never quite be sure with this show. 

Maybe the school has already granted the doctorate and/or accepted his thesis several times over, but he just can't stop rethinking it...

[bros402]

6 hours ago, Enginerd said:

Maybe the school has already granted the doctorate and/or accepted his thesis several times over, but he just can't stop rethinking it...

That might be it - definitely fits with Chidi. He probably wants something "perfect" for him to consider to be his big paper.

Or maybe he is working on another degree.

[Zuleikha]

Back in the first season, Michael gave Chidi critiques on a manuscript that Chidi was writing. Does anyone remember how Michael described it? Was it as a book or a thesis?

What would make the most sense (in a US academic context at least--not sure about Australia) would be if Chidi is working on revising his defended dissertation for publication as a book. 

Edited October 2, 2018 by Zuleikha

[cpcathy]

I believe it was a book, if I'm not mistaken.

[Mockingbird]

58 minutes ago, Zuleikha said:

Back in the first season, Michael gave Chidi critiques on a manuscript that Chidi was writing. Does anyone remember how Michael described it? Was it as a book or a thesis?

What would make the most sense (in a US academic context at least--not sure about Australia) would be if Chidi is working on revising his defended dissertation for publication as a book. 

It was definitely a manuscript in season 1. Which makes a ton of sense for him to spend years writing. And why the whole figuring out a topic for his thesis thing is so confusing now. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

I wanted Chidi to say that one of the languages he speaks is Wolof, but I guess if he'd said he did, a lot of people wouldn't know what he was talking about. Still, the show drops enough obscure references, if they were going to make him Senegalese and multilingual, it would have been nice.

I'm pretty sure back in the Pilot, Michael said that Chidi speaks French, but that everyone in The Good Place hears in the same language. Now, of course, they're saying he speaks many languages, which is fine, but I don't think that was the original intent. If Chidi spoke multiple languages there would have been no need for The Good Place to have a universal translator like on Star Trek. He could have simply conversed with Eleanor in English. In other words, there wouldn't have been any reason for Michael to even bring up the fact that Chidi spoke French. So I think the writers are engaging in a bit of revisionism here, because they know it would be difficult to write around a language barrier now that Chidi and Eleanor are alive on earth again.

[Amarsir]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I'm pretty sure back in the Pilot, Michael said that Chidi speaks French, but that everyone in The Good Place hears in the same language. Now, of course, they're saying he speaks many languages, which is fine, but I don't think that was the original intent. If Chidi spoke multiple languages there would have been no need for The Good Place to have a universal translator like on Star Trek. He could have simply conversed with Eleanor in English. In other words, there wouldn't have been any reason for Michael to even bring up the fact that Chidi spoke French. So I think the writers are engaging in a bit of revisionism here, because they know it would be difficult to write around a language barrier now that Chidi and Eleanor are alive on earth again.

Chidi brought up that he was speaking in French, and Eleanor (we) were only hearing it as English.

You're right, the explanation was revised a bit once they knew they'd be going back to Earth. In the pilot they thought it would be too convenient if all characters naturally spoke English, so Chidi's French was a way of seeming more multicultural. But then they needed flashbacks so they sent him to Australia, and they didn't want to bother with an accent that would be confusing to people who weren't following closely, so now he learned English in America before moving again. Overall it's a bit of work for an explanation, but not unreasonable.

[biakbiak]

If there is a magical universal translator that can translate what you are saying I can see choosing to speak in your first language even if you speak others. 

[TheRabbi]

I finally watched the premiere. This show is still pure joy. How many serialized shows can keep getting better into their third season? Not many.

My favorite bits were Tahani's explanation of donating to Good Will, Jason going after the dance poster (Michael: you didn't see a single other poster there?), and every scene with Shawn.

Edited October 3, 2018 by TheRabbi

[andipandi]

On 9/28/2018 at 1:54 PM, NUguy514 said:

"Jif" is peanut butter.  "Gif" is an animated picture, and the "G" stands for "Graphics" (hard "g").  I don't care what the creator says about its pronunciation; he's wrong.

I have made this argument. Therefore it is brilliant. A+.

[Bruinsfan]

I think Simone and Chidi's nascent romance was my favorite part of the episode, so I'm definitely cool with him and Eleanor being non-romantic soulmates or best buds this time around.

I'm wondering if the Judge might also be conducting an experiment on Michael to see if demons are redeemable, as well as humans who've gone to the Bad Place. I mean, despite some underhanded methods his motivations have seemed to be entirely good since about halfway through last season. He demonstrated both self sacrifice and concern for the wider implications to the whole afterlife system as well as the specific fate of the four individuals he's come to like.

[cpcathy]

Well, this season is supposed to be an absolute rollercoaster so you may be right!

[Enginerd]

23 hours ago, Mockingbird said:

It was definitely a manuscript in season 1. Which makes a ton of sense for him to spend years writing. And why the whole figuring out a topic for his thesis thing is so confusing now. 

But he could have meant "thesis" as in the theme and viewpoint he's defending in a book he's writing, rather than in the thesis/dissertation school-required paper sense. After so many years as a student, he might just use the term reflexively even now that he's a professor and working on a book instead. Especially if it's all a continuation/revision of his same work.

[Bruinsfan]

Don't you only need a masters to become a professor? If so, Chidi could be faculty and still working toward his doctoral dissertation. I don't recall hearing him referred to as "Dr."

[SomeTameGazelle]

6 hours ago, Enginerd said:

But he could have meant "thesis" as in the theme and viewpoint he's defending in a book he's writing, rather than in the thesis/dissertation school-required paper sense. After so many years as a student, he might just use the term reflexively even now that he's a professor and working on a book instead. Especially if it's all a continuation/revision of his same work.

Chidi said things like the thesis was not finished and it was so many pages long. That is consistent with the dissertation meaning. In my experience an academic who was using thesis in the sense of the premise of the argument would talk about not the progress of the work but the ideas in it. And the accomplishment of completing one's dissertation looms so large that even if you expand it into a book after getting your degree, the dissertation itself is recognized as finished and the academic would like you to know that the revision is more than a doctoral thesis, it will be a book! 

[topanga]

On 9/29/2018 at 4:53 PM, Danny Franks said:

But I wish they'd got a big name to cameo as the person who brings Tahani back to her old life.

The reporter? That was Moshe Kasher. He’s not a household name, but he’s pretty famous in the stand-up comedy world. 

On 9/29/2018 at 7:21 PM, HazelEyes4325 said:

I really liked Simone and the actress playing her seemed so familiar--a little trip down the IMDB road to remind me that she was the co-star on one my favorite one-season-wonder shows, Downward Dog.  So glad to see her again!

She’s also on Killing Eve. And IMDB says she was a guest on an episode of House of Lies (KB’s old show), but I don’t remember who she was. 

On 9/29/2018 at 4:53 PM, Danny Franks said:

But what's wrong with Richard Marx? Heartfelt 80s ballads are great!

Where you around when that song was played every hour on the hour back then? And listened to mostly R&B radio stations! Now ‘Hungry Eyes?’ I could never tire of that one.

[cpcathy]

My husband thinks Richard Marx is whiney. I laughed so hard when that song came on.

[festivus]

Shit, was that song Richard Marx? I thought it was Bryan Adams. Proof that all that whiny 80s music sounds the same. (Some of it I like though)

[cpcathy]

That's why I listen to 80's Brit Rock or Alternative.

[Mabinogia]

48 minutes ago, festivus said:

Shit, was that song Richard Marx? I thought it was Bryan Adams.

Shit. Are those two different people? haha, I kid. But if you played a song by either of them I'm sure I couldn't tell you which one it is.

Though, as a teen in the 80s I listened to oldies, like, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby oldies. So what do I know?

[andipandi]

were you a hipster before hipsters were cool? ;)

I liked richard marx. Had the album even.

[festivus]

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

Shit. Are those two different people? haha, I kid. But if you played a song by either of them I'm sure I couldn't tell you which one it is.

Apparently I can't either! 

[Enginerd]

18 hours ago, SomeTameGazelle said:

Chidi said things like the thesis was not finished and it was so many pages long. That is consistent with the dissertation meaning. In my experience an academic who was using thesis in the sense of the premise of the argument would talk about not the progress of the work but the ideas in it. And the accomplishment of completing one's dissertation looms so large that even if you expand it into a book after getting your degree, the dissertation itself is recognized as finished and the academic would like you to know that the revision is more than a doctoral thesis, it will be a book! 

Yeah, good points. Maybe it's just sloppy dialogue writing. Somehow I always feel like television writers should know stuff about writing and general academia even if they are usually off the mark on most other professions.

[LCanterbury]

As an Australian, Michael's attempt at the accent was better than whatever the actress playing Simone was trying to do. It really took me out of the show so I hope there's a good explanation for it - not like there isn't a lot of Australian actors they could have cast. Worse for me was looking on Twitter to see if the accents were really bothering anyone else only to find a whole heap of Americans shocked that Australia isn't all white people.