S03.E13: Pandemonium

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SEASON FINALE!

Quote

Various events occur, in a certain specific order.

Original air date: 1/24/19

[Loandbehold]

Can we vague up that description any more?

[cpcathy]

I love it, it's hilarious.

[Ailianna]

Plus, if there is a certain specific order, it's not Jeremy Bearimy.

[taragel]

I'm putting money down now that Pandas are somehow involved. 

[bros402]

I love that amazingly vague description

[ClareWalks]

I read it in Neutral Janet's voice. It should have "End of description." at the end.

[Paloma]

Is this the season finale? 

[Mockingbird]

On 1/18/2019 at 9:03 PM, taragel said:

I'm putting money down now that Pandas are somehow involved. 

If it’s the magic panda who’s been popping up in the background of scenes, I might lose my mind. 

Edit: Yes, it’s the season finale. 

Edited January 21, 2019 by Mockingbird

[sjankis630]

Interesting. I usually download my episodes from the internet. (it works out for me because the kind people who encode episodes take out the commercials)

I have already downloaded and watched this episode yesterday. Was there some sort of leak?

[Mockingbird]

Pandemonium is the capital of hell in Paradise Lost. This has to be the most clever, nerdiest writers’ room in existence, and I love them so much. The Wikipedia article on Pandemonium here. 

[bros402]

13 hours ago, sjankis630 said:

Interesting. I usually download my episodes from the internet. (it works out for me because the kind people who encode episodes take out the commercials)

I have already downloaded and watched this episode yesterday. Was there some sort of leak?

On the torrent sites, good place episodes are one nubmer off, because S01E01 was two episodes back to back, so this would be listed as S03E012. I just checked one of the scene sites I use, and I do not see this episode.

[Affogato]

Forkityforkfork

[Indigo Luna]

I'M NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING 

[cambridgeguy]

S1 ends with the gang getting their minds wiped.  S2 ends with the gang getting their minds wiped.  S3 ends with only Chidi getting his mind wiped.  Does that represent an improvement?

[SoMuchTV]

My family members were oddly hostile to me when they learned this was the last episode of the season  :(

[jmonique]

May be unpopular, but I'm OVER the mindwiping as a narrative tool on this show.

Yeah, they mixed it up a little by only mindwiping Chidi, but what's the point of watching the show if they're just going to reboot over and over and over again? 

[Dots And Stripes]

I loved Janet telling Eleanor she was 1 of those 3 things (robot, girl, friend). She's a friend! Awww!

I've missed the neighborhood so much, and the Eleanor/Chidi goodbye was sweet. I'm just over the endless reboots.

[MrWhyt]

Sean is an evil motherforker

[Guest]

It was impressive how quickly the blogger managed to get on my very last nerve.  Shawn is diabolical.

[Mabinogia]

I am devastated right now. I mean, sure I had a pretty crappy day leading up to this, and yes, I usually expect the Good Place to be my happy place, but DAMN! From the moment Michael played them that movie of their love story to the closing credits I was blubbering like a fool. And once again, did NOT see this coming. Kind of thought/hoped Simone would show up. I loved her character, but so did not see it leading to Chidi and just Chidi getting wiped. I love the writers of this show so much. They never cease to amaze me. 

Chidi's speech about how he knows Eleanor will take care of him and they will always find each other and they will live happily ever after on the dot on the I of Jeremy Bearimy KILLED me. I ship these two so hard right now. 

[Panopticon]

I just want everyone reading this to know that you are the Blake Bortles of whatever this is.

[tennisgurl]

I cant believe I didnt realize that this was the season finale! I think that this might finally be the Bad Place!

Loved ending on the Paradise Lost quote, its very appropriate. Really, you gotta love a show that can easily jump from Milton to butt munches like it aint no thing. "Chidi tricked me into reading it by saying that Satan was totally my type." "Yeah, thats on brand for you" 

Sean really is a diabolical motherforker. And when Chidi and Eleanor were watching the video of them together...why is my house so dusty all of the sudden...so strange... "Whenever I talk about my stomach hurting because of anxiety, I am thinking of you." "So all of the time" "Yep." SOBS!!!

Edited January 25, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Mockingbird]

OUCH. The dot on the I in bearimy may have broken Chidi, but Michael’s going away video broke me. 

Janet IS a great friend. 

I don’t actually mind one last mind wipe. While each season did end with a mind wipe, I’ve always thought it was more important that each season ended with Eleanor setting the wheels in motion to find Chidi. 

Edited January 26, 2019 by Mockingbird
I wasn’t paying attention the first time I watched, clearly

[phalange]

Oh, ouch. That was mean. Eleanor and Chidi got to be happy for about five minutes before something happened to upend it. Chidi was being selfless in volunteering to have his mind wiped, just as in the last season finale when Eleanor made the selfless choice not to go to the Good Place without her friends. Nice parallel. And Chidi making such a big decision without agonizing over it shows how much he's grown. Tahani, too, when she realized that the point of the blogger was to set her back and she refused to let it happen. 

It was really sweet of Michael to give them the montage and it made me tear up. Loved Chidi's line about them living in the dot on Jeremy Bearimy forever. 

Love how serious Jason is about going nowhere, doing nothing, and talking to no one. "I won't let you down." lol

Eleanor and Janet's last scene was sweet. Not a girl or a robot, but a friend. Aw.

[Dots And Stripes]

4 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I cant believe I didnt realize that this was the series finale! I think that this might finally be the Bad Place!

It's the season finale. NBC already picked up the show for season 4.

[Amarsir]

1 minute ago, jmonique said:

May be unpopular, but I'm OVER the mindwiping as a narrative tool on this show.

Yeah, they mixed it up a little by only mindwiping Chidi, but what's the point of watching the show if they're just going to reboot over and over and over again? 

You know I would expect to be annoyed at another reset. But this isn't resetting the plot or most of the interactions. It's more like a weird twist on a breakup. Which makes it a creative and emotional thing to do and very much forward progress IMHO.

[Wandering Snark]

No forking way... show, you are NOT supposed to make me cry, maybe in laughing so hard but NOT like this. Arggh.

I'll make a more composed statement later...

[Chaos Theory]

Wow really good ending and clever to only wipe Chidi's mind because you have everyone else remembering their history with Chidi except him and yet needing him not to remember.  Add to it his ex girlfriend who was actually a good girlfriend and someone he geniunly liked into the mix and you have ALOT of well Pandemonium because of simply wiping Chidi;s mind.   The scenes with Chidi and Eleanor where they were watching their history was both sweet and sad.  

16 minutes ago, MrWhyt said:

Sean is an evil motherforker

Anyone can send serial killers to "The Good Place" but it takes real naughty bitch to bring in Tahani's tormenter and then Chidi's ex.    And we still have two more contestants,  

[Samsnee]

I feel like the season finales are always a little disappointing. 

The montage was nice but nothing really happened in this episode. Jason was barely in it. 

[Linny]

God, this SHOW, man. Ripping apart my Chidi/Eleanor ship but doing it in such a way that I can't even be mad about it. There was so much strength in Chidi's quiet assurance that he and Eleanor would find their way back together, as that's what they'd always done. That memory package was beautiful but even without it, Chidi felt confident in his decision and confident in his bond with Eleanor. It shows a remarkable amount of composure from a guy like Chidi that he trusts that his connection with Eleanor can overcome any obstacle. And Eleanor echoed that composure by taking on the role of the architect, embracing the pandemonium, and having faith that through that insanity some order will prevail. "I got you, dog," indeed.

"Foot Lager" and its associating image is my new favorite pun. +1 to whichever writer thought of that one.

The Drake/Ruth Bader Ginsburg joke was amazing on its own, and the follow-up from Tahani elevated it even further. I should have seen it coming that she'd set them up, because OF COURSE she would.

"Eat butt, ya ding dongs!" The demons are truly just a bunch of mean fifth-graders gifted with immortality and unreasonable amounts of power, aren't they?

It's going to be tough for me to find my inner "dot on the i" Jeremy Bearimy solace to get me through to next season. There's so much packed into these short seasons, and still I want more.

[tennisgurl]

23 minutes ago, Dots And Stripes said:

It's the season finale. NBC already picked up the show for season 4.

Thats what I meant, oh God thats not even something to joke about! Now THAT is the ultimate Bad Place!

[Guest]

I'm having a bit of a problem with the finale in that I don't actually buy that Chidi needed mind wipe to avoid ruining the experiment.   Or that he even really thought he would.  Or that anyone would go along with it.  They didn't sell me on that at all.  For the first time it felt like the mind wipe was a convenient cliffhanger for a finale rather than a set up for some amazing swerve.  

I guess the point was that Chidi was decisive about it and it didn't matter if it was noble or cowardly.  So progress on what got him sent to the bad place?

[Chaos Theory]

It will be interesting to see how mind wiped Chidi will view Good Place Worthy Arcitect Eleanor.  

[Amarsir]

2 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I'm having a bit of a problem with the finale in that I don't actually buy that Chidi needed mind wipe to avoid ruining the experiment.   Or that he even really thought he would.  Or that anyone would go along with it.  They didn't sell me on that at all.  For the first time it felt like the mind wipe was a convenient cliffhanger for a finale rather than a set up for some amazing swerve.  

I guess the point was that Chidi was decisive about it and it didn't matter if it was noble or cowardly.  So progress on what got him sent to the bad place?

It isn't clear what the rules allow them to tell people. But presumably they can't know they're in an experiment so Chidi couldn't ever discuss anything from the breakup on. And it makes sense that Chidi couldn't pull off lying to her, even if the show does look the other way on that occasionally.

[tomsmom]

This may be an unpopular opinion but....meh. Chidi can’t be around Simone but he expects Elenor to be around him???? Harsh! So now we have to watch them find their way back to each other again???? Like I said....meh.

[Dots And Stripes]

5 minutes ago, tomsmom said:

This may be an unpopular opinion but....meh. Chidi can’t be around Simone but he expects Elenor to be around him???? Harsh! So now we have to watch them find their way back to each other again???? Like I said....meh.

Good point! I guess one huge difference is Chidi can't lie and Eleanor is a world class liar. But yeah, he's kind of setting her up for some torture. I'm a little surprised they didn't spell out some of the danger here: Chidi will genuinely like Simone. He won't know that he had chosen Eleanor and in fact a big reason why he left Simone was that he knew more than she did about the afterlife. With them back at the same level of knowledge, they may connect. The show went heavy handed on the Eleanor and Chidi love story that they ended up underplaying how much of a threat Simone is to Eleanor.

[thuganomics85]

Oh, Shawn, you diabolical little bastard!  That demon totally knew how to game the system and the four new "guests" are going to be people who will personally torture the heroes in their own way.  Well played, Shawn!  So, now we've got this blogger that made Tahani's life a living hell and Simone is back (yay) to cause conflict with Chidi.  I wonder who he got for Eleanor and Jason.  For Eleanor, that list is likely a mile long.  As for Jason, it probably is someone responsible for the Jacksonville Jaguars failing to make it to the Superbowl!

I'm not majorly wild about Eleanor/Chidi still, but Kristen Bell and William Jackson Harper really sold their reactions to everything.  I'm unsure if wiping Chidi's mind was the only real option, but I can understand why he would think he would be incapable of not spilling the beans to Simone somehow, and believed that it was the only way.  I am curious to see how a memory-wiped Chidi will coexist with not just Eleanor, but Tahani and Jason as well.

Loved that Chidi said that Michael was acting like him, and that's why he knew things were bad!

I'm glad Tahani got a lot to do at the beginning of this episode, but it kind of feels like she really didn't factor in this season.  Hopefully that will be rectified going forward.

As usual, I can't wait to see where this all goes next.  Still one of my favorite comedies these past few years and maybe even of all time.  Great job by everyone as usual, although special recognition to William Jackson Harper and D'Arcy Carden, who I think were the MVPs this season.  Oh, and, of course, Marc Evan Jackson for stealing every scene he was in, one deadpan line at a time.  Can't wait till next season!

[morgankobi]

2 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Oh, Shawn, you diabolical little bastard!  That demon totally knew how to game the system and the four new "guests" are going to be people who will personally torture the heroes in their own way.  Well played, Shawn!  So, now we've got this blogger that made Tahani's life a living hell and Simone is back (yay) to cause conflict with Chidi.  I wonder who he got for Eleanor and Jason.  For Eleanor, that list is likely a mile long.  As for Jason, it probably is someone responsible for the Jacksonville Jaguars failing to make it to the Superbowl!

(Snip)

I think he just got Chidi for Eleanor...

[Marley]

I still love this show but another reboot just annoys me. Couldn’t they do something else? I hate repetitiveness like this. It starts to make me slowly not like the show as much. I guess we will see next season.

[tennisgurl]

12 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

I'm glad Tahani got a lot to do at the beginning of this episode, but it kind of feels like she really didn't factor in this season.  Hopefully that will be rectified going forward.

 

Not as much Tahani as I would have liked, but what we got was golden. "He said that I didnt go to P. Diddys White Party, but I was there! I swear it Eleanor I WAS THERE!!!"

[twoods]

I’m still a blubbering mess. The final scene of them watching some of their memories (dancing in the rain!) made it worse. They finally got to be happy, cute and horny together and now the writers ripped them apart again. And now I find out this is the season finale? No forking way, show. No forking way!

I liked that Tahani reigned in her crazy and figured out the blogger was there to test her. I’m also wondering who the other two people are going to be- maybe Eleanor’s mother will be one of them? They have to be people that would torture Eleanor and Jason. I love how Michael was not liking the idea of wiping Chidi’s mind and kept insisting they brain storm for a better idea. 

[VCRTracking]

"It's not a joke. I'm a legit snack!"

That delivery is why I love Kristen Bell.

[bros402]

Holy fork that episode was amazing. This episode had everything, tears, laughter, it was great.

Can it be September already?

[Iguana]

That was pretty special.  Michael’s panic and thick neck, Janet being one of those three things (friend!), Tahani choosing to not engage with the blogger, Jason telling Elenor she’s the Blake Bortles of whatever this is, and the lovely home movies for Chidi and Elenor. 

This ep made me laugh then cry then both at the same time. (Lry?? Craugh??).  The Good Place is such a truly one of a kind show, that I have to make up words to describe how it hits me in the feels. 

[GaT]

6 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

S1 ends with the gang getting their minds wiped.  S2 ends with the gang getting their minds wiped.  S3 ends with only Chidi getting his mind wiped.  Does that represent an improvement?

 

6 hours ago, jmonique said:

May be unpopular, but I'm OVER the mindwiping as a narrative tool on this show.

I am WAY over mindwiping. I have to say this season was a disappointment to me. The plot wasn't as good, & now mindwipe again. Not at all happy.

[Winston Wolfe]

2 hours ago, GaT said:

I am WAY over mindwiping. I have to say this season was a disappointment to me. The plot wasn't as good, & now mindwipe again. Not at all happy.

Couple of things.  One: No more dumping on Chidi.  Two: any more mind wiping will kill my intense love for this show.  Possibly forever.

[Chaos Theory]

Anyone who can find anything bad about this finale is an agent from the bad place.   The mind wiping made complete sense.  Chidi can’t lie.  Part of the plan is to teach the new people ethics and to have it start out with him lying to them is a huge problem for him.    Add to that an ex.  

Plus it is a good story line like it or not.  Having  him not  remember who former Arizona trash now good person Eleanor is. It’s every nightmare Eleanor had having her guy right there and forcing her to avoid her worst instincts will be interesting 

Edited January 25, 2019 by Chaos Theory
Typed this befor I had my first cup of caffeine

[companionenvy]

On one hand, this episode was TGP at its best - at one end of the spectrum, you have things like the sublimely absurd RBG/Drake jokes and Jason's sequence of pizza questions, and on the other, you have things like Chidi's genuinely lovely and moving Jeremy Bearimy speech.

But as a whole, I have to agree with those who feel a little jerked around by the whole thing. It isn't that I don't think that -given this particular set of circumstances - Chidi would do this, or that it wouldn't make sense for him to do so. Yet, as the show (like the bad place demons) is responsible for engineering the situation to force this choice, it still comes off as manipulative - and, frankly, a little too close to a traditional sitcom move for this show. Yes, the circumstances are bizarre, but once you take away the Pandemonium of it all, what we have is a show forcing a complication on its OTP, in the form of the return of a romantic rival, immediately after finally bringing them together, which is a really old trope. Plus it relies on yet another memory wipe, which is by now becoming a tired trope for this show, specifically.

[Empress1]

17 minutes ago, companionenvy said:

On one hand, this episode was TGP at its best - at one end of the spectrum, you have things like the sublimely absurd RBG/Drake jokes and Jason's sequence of pizza questions, and on the other, you have things like Chidi's genuinely lovely and moving Jeremy Bearimy speech.

But as a whole, I have to agree with those who feel a little jerked around by the whole thing. It isn't that I don't think that -given this particular set of circumstances - Chidi would do this, or that it wouldn't make sense for him to do so. Yet, as the show (like the bad place demons) is responsible for engineering the situation to force this choice, it still comes off as manipulative - and, frankly, a little too close to a traditional sitcom move for this show. Yes, the circumstances are bizarre, but once you take away the Pandemonium of it all, what we have is a show forcing a complication on its OTP, in the form of the return of a romantic rival, immediately after finally bringing them together, which is a really old trope. Plus it relies on yet another memory wipe, which is by now becoming a tired trope for this show, specifically.

Very well said. I was even moved by the Eleanor/Chidi stuff (when Chidi said he'd miss her and Eleanor replied "But you won't!" I was really struck), but I also thought "Again?" And there's clearly going to be competition between Eleanor and Simone for Chidi's affection that I'm not sure how I feel about.