S03.E03: The Brainy Bunch

[DrSpaceman73]

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

I think, if they were supposed to die, fate will find another way to kill them. I can't imagine them being allowed to live much longer, not just because it's better for the show for them to go back to the afterlife, but because the longer they are alive the more then might change the world. What if Chidi becomes this youtube sensation and the entire world becomes ethical? Ok, that would actually be hysterical to watch. Ethics professors could replace pop stars as the new American Icons. Tahani could become the new Martha Stewart and teach us all to be posh and sophisticated and name drop all the ethics professors we have in our contact lists. 

And what about Michael and Janet? If they are trapped on Earth, without power, are they mortal? What kind of mess could those two make? 

Yes I had considered that might happen to Michael and Janet as well, that their "punishment" might be to just be made mortal. 

[Amarsir]

3 hours ago, clack said:

This show needs the afterlife. Without it, it's still a very good sitcom, but not all that special.

I don't know if you've listened to the podcast, but one thing they say is a priority is to ensure there are some supernatural effects in every episode just to emphasize that it is the afterlife.  So at minimum there will be some kind of portal shenanigans like we got this episode. Which is good because I agree. Especially with Michael and Janet powerless on Earth, there just isn't that much of the premise in play. It risks becoming a Friends episode: "The One With the Morals."

[ElectricBoogaloo]

While you don't want experimenter bias to affect a study, I didn't see that being much of a problem in this particular situation since it sounded like the data was supposed to be based on their MRIs. Chidi having a drink with the subjects would in no way affect which parts of their brains light up in the magnet when they're shown pictures of things related to their near death experiences.

I actually had a nitpick about the premise of the study because Chidi said he wanted to use MRI scans to see if a near death experience alters brain function. In order to do that, you would need scans of their brains BEFORE the near death experiences to see if any changes occurred as a result of said near death experiences.

I'm still just so happy to have the show back! I love that they pay so much attention to details but they really outdid themselves at the Cowboy Skyscraper Buffet. The Manifest Destiny package was perfect, as were all of the decorations! And OF COURSE Jason wanted to try to turn himself into Spider-Man.

[Enginerd]

10 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I actually had a nitpick about the premise of the study because Chidi said he wanted to use MRI scans to see if a near death experience alters brain function. In order to do that, you would need scans of their brains BEFORE the near death experiences to see if any changes occurred as a result of said near death experiences.

I had the same question about the study. How can you know if the experience altered their brains without getting data on their brains before the experience? Plus they seem to be having the moral philosophy lessons as well. How does that play into the study? What are they testing aside from looking at their brains while showing potentially triggering images?

[topanga]

25 minutes ago, Enginerd said:

I had the same question about the study. How can you know if the experience altered their brains without getting data on their brains before the experience? Plus they seem to be having the moral philosophy lessons as well. How does that play into the study? What are they testing aside from looking at their brains while showing potentially triggering images?

I suppose you can compare their MRIs to those of people who’ve never had near death experiences. This has been done with serial killers and people who suffer from depression, anxiety, etc. 

[RainbowBrite]

29 minutes ago, Enginerd said:

I had the same question about the study. How can you know if the experience altered their brains without getting data on their brains before the experience? Plus they seem to be having the moral philosophy lessons as well. How does that play into the study? What are they testing aside from looking at their brains while showing potentially triggering images?

I totally agree about the necessity of pre-near death MRIs. And! What purpose does the moral philosophy lessons serve? I feel like I'm missing something...

[cpcathy]

I feel the way to get them together in a room is weak this season, it's like when Friends has everyone sitting in the coffee bar all day, no jobs, no commitments. I hope this study doesn't last all season long.

[BoogieBurns]

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What kind of a neuroscientist is Simone if she doesn't pick up on Chidi having near textbook traits of high functioning autism (HFA)? This has been bugging me the entire show. His whole character is written to fit HFA: paralyzing indecision, crippling love shyness, general anxiety, tics, rigidity, high book smarts to low life smarts ratio. And yet NOBODY ever suggests that he get his butt over to get diagnosed. Because if they did - then the premise of his character would disappear because HFA is incurable. No amount of character growth can cure the neurology causing it, and ending up in The Bad Place because of it would send a terrible message.

Does he have ticks? No one has said he doesn't have HFA. I do think that could be a good reason for the flaw in the scoring system to add to all the other issues with getting a high enough score for The Good Place.

[Dowel Jones]

On 10/10/2018 at 9:53 AM, DrSpaceman73 said:

Yes I had considered that might happen to Michael and Janet as well, that their "punishment" might be to just be made mortal. 

Michael would be required to be a bartender at some random Boston tavern for the rest of his days.

[cpcathy]

And he would be 40 years younger.

[EyewatchTV211]

3 hours ago, BoogieBurns said:

Does he have ticks? No one has said he doesn't have HFA. I do think that could be a good reason for the flaw in the scoring system to add to all the other issues with getting a high enough score for The Good Place.

It has never even crossed my mind that he has HFA, and I work in a field where I evaluate for that sort of thing. Even now that it has been pointed out, I still don't think so. I think there are other disorders/factors that better explain his issues. And while HFA is generally considered to be incurable, individuals with HFA can learn and improve in their skills and behaviors. I know you weren't the one who originally posted with that theory, but your response was more recent and easier to respond to. Anyway, that's all that I will comment on regarding this topic. 

[jumper sage]

On 10/10/2018 at 9:47 AM, clack said:

This show needs the afterlife. Without it, it's still a very good sitcom, but not all that special.

I agree.

 I am out.  Loved season 1 but after that the whole premise has lost me.

[Zuleikha]

 I guess it's because a.) they have no memories of "The Good Place" and their past interactions, and b.) they're no longer in "The Good Place," which is somehow less interesting. It's not as fun.

I think part of the problem of them not being in "The Good Place" is that the show wants to keep the quirky humor, but it now needs to deal with the reality of life on earth. Which means explaining how everyone is acquiring money. Tahani could be living off savings/book royalties, but Jason and Eleanor were both poor with no savings. 

The broadness of the restaurant would have worked in the right "The Good Place" plot but felt out of place in real-life Sydney. I can buy an American-themed restaurant, but not one that level of over the top ridiculous. 

The friendship thing would not be a moral dilemma. Chidi is not running a controlled experiment. I'm not sure what exactly he's doing, to be honest. But he does not have the training to be running a conventional hypothesis testing type of experiment nor would that make any sense for a moral philosophy professor to do. At most, he should be doing some form of qualitative participant-observation research with an interesting partnership of the MRI data (which also doesn't make sense for moral philosophy as I understand the discipline, but is at least a bit closer)

[bros402]

23 hours ago, Zuleikha said:

I think part of the problem of them not being in "The Good Place" is that the show wants to keep the quirky humor, but it now needs to deal with the reality of life on earth. Which means explaining how everyone is acquiring money. Tahani could be living off savings/book royalties, but Jason and Eleanor were both poor with no savings. 

The broadness of the restaurant would have worked in the right "The Good Place" plot but felt out of place in real-life Sydney. I can buy an American-themed restaurant, but not one that level of over the top ridiculous. 

The friendship thing would not be a moral dilemma. Chidi is not running a controlled experiment. I'm not sure what exactly he's doing, to be honest. But he does not have the training to be running a conventional hypothesis testing type of experiment nor would that make any sense for a moral philosophy professor to do. At most, he should be doing some form of qualitative participant-observation research with an interesting partnership of the MRI data (which also doesn't make sense for moral philosophy as I understand the discipline, but is at least a bit closer)

Simone's part is monitoring how their brains look after a near death experience, when shown images relating to their experience. Then Chidi philosophizes them, shows them different moral constructs (or whatever), ways to go through life or lenses to view it between, then redo the images under the MRI - I assume it is an fMRI.

[BTBAM310]

On 10/4/2018 at 7:04 PM, Wanda said:

Maybe it was the state of the news, but neither the good place nor Murphy Brown provided the salve they did last week.

Never mention Murphy Brown in the same sentence as The Good Place. Blasphemy!

[aradia22]

It was a little hard to watch this one because it doesn't matter what Trevor/Sean and Michael/Janet are doing if at the end of the day, they already lost because they broke the rules by interfering in the experiment. 

Maybe this is just because she met Chidi first but I don't like how this episode adds weight to the idea that Eleanor's romantic interest in Chidi is what drives her to be a better person.

Trevor working on the group also suggests that maybe the Bad Place disguised as The Good Place would have worked better with another demon in charge. 

I knew there had to be a reason they were spending so much time on Mike O'Malley. Good job, Jeff.

[aradia22]

Quote

So happy Australia has their own version of The Outback in the US. 

That's such a good point. It was totally the US version of Outback Steakhouse. 

[John Potts]

I'm glad the demons from The Bad Place do things "just for fun". But Trevor is truly diabolical (appropriately enough). Though I was a little surprised Eleanor didn't comment, "my, you are pleased to see me!" after that hug.

Jason - what a gent, sleeping in a dumpster after making sure Tahani got safely to her room.

Love that "8 minute sleep" Chidi misspelt Plato!

On 10/5/2018 at 2:25 PM, Mockingbird said:

Michael’s “Those four humans are all I care about in the universe” was super sweet. (Though it may mean he needs a bit more moral philosophy...)

And does he not care about his co-conspirator Janet?

On 10/5/2018 at 10:05 PM, Rockstar99435 said:

My favorite part about that joke is that in the picture Larry has a stethoscope around his neck. Larry being a doctor and not an actor is the shameful secret they're trying to hide.

Maybe he just plays one on TV?

[John Potts]

On 10/7/2018 at 7:44 PM, arc said:

She plays Gen very big, but her role as June on Forever is much more subtle.

I thought I'd seen every episode of Forever and didn't remember her, but you clearly meant Forever and not Forever!

[bros402]

18 hours ago, John Potts said:

I thought I'd seen every episode of Forever and didn't remember her, but you clearly meant Forever and not Forever!

Forever (2014) was so good

Edited July 27, 2020 by bros402

[Virtual]

Funny part is, Michael accomplished his main objective without getting caught by Gen for going to Earth more than once. But you knew he would keep pushing his luck and happen to be gone when Gen came back to the ticker room to check on the progress.