When The Good Place appeared in my Netflix suggestions, I initially ignored it. At first glance I thought it was going to be a cheesy show that would probably not get a laugh out of me. After a month of scrolling past it, I finally gave it a try when I heard my roommate cracking up in the next room watching the show. I’m glad I did. Within two days I binge-watched the entire 13 episodes of the first season.
The Good Place follows Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) who finds herself in the good borough of the afterlife. There, she is welcomed by Michael (Ted Danson), the architect of the neighbourhood. How the Good Place works is that exceptionally good people are sorted into a neighbourhood that embodies everything they love. They are even paired up with a soul mate to spend eternity with. With an abundance of frozen yogurt places, restaurants serving only your favourite meals, and homes that are personalized based on your likes, this place sounds and looks amazing.
The one glitch is, Eleanor isn’t good. Unlike her selfless neighbours, Eleanor was a selfish saleswoman who was downright horrible in life. Crazy things start to happen in the Good Place like flying shrimp and giant bugs, and all of this is because of Michael’s mistake: Eleanor is bad. Now in the afterlife, she forces her soul mate Chidi, a professor of ethics, to keep the secret and teach her basic morals to restore the normalcy of their paradise.
It’s easy to get immersed in this fantastical, hilarious world where Eleanor is the only one to say rude comments. Unable to swear, all you hear her exclaim is “fork.” Due to her misbehaviour and rude comments in the Good Place, her neighbourhood starts to break, and we get to watch as she scrambles around to get a personality check to fix her little heaven.
The Good Place has surprisingly good plot twists that had my jaw literally drop. You’ll never not be entertained watching this unique world unravel.
Season two of The Good Place will be on Netflix next September. In the meantime you can catch up on the first season! If you don’t want to wait until autumn for this gem of a show, you can also catch it on NBC, season two has been on the channel since September 20.