Season 2 of The Good Place teased a new direction for the series with our heroes no longer in The Good (or Bad) Place. Instead they are all back on Earth after being saved by Michael (Ted Dansen) from their deaths as a way for Michael and Judge Gen, played perfectly by Maya Rudolph, to see if they had really changed their ways, thus earning a spot in the actual Good Place.
The third season picks up where the second left off, as Eleanor (Kristen Bell) flew to see Chidi (William Jackson Harper) in Australia after Michael visited her to, in his words, “nudge” the two of them together. Michael and Janet (D’Arcy Carden) watch as the humans all fail to stick with their resolutions to become better people and Michael realizes that he must get all the humans together, so he returns to Earth to “nudge” Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) towards Australia. Michael’s travels to and from Earth gave us a memorable performance by seasoned TV vet Mike O’Malley as the Doorman of the portal to Earth.
While O’Malley was great, the best new character introduced this episode is without question Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s Simone, the neuroscientist Chidi meets after he decides to “fix his brain.” Howell-Baptiste automatically clicks with every member of the group she meets and steals every scene where she appears. Not only that, but she already has a complex, interesting relationship with the main group as a new love interest for Chidi and foil to Eleanor.
By far, the standout scene of the episode comes when Michael meets Jason (Manny Jacinto) on Earth. Michael’s actions are put in context as he tells Jason the story of how he and the other humans helped him change from a literal demon into a good person. Obviously, Jason has no clue what he’s talking about but it is a touching moment that shows the growth of Michael’s character over the past two seasons and sums up the theme of the entire episode.
Then, after illegally tampering with the human’s lives throughout the episode, Michael and Janet must distract Judge Gen from checking in on the humans when she comes to visit the two. This leads to a memorable exchange between Janet and Judge Gen about Mark Harmon and makes it obvious how little Janet is given to do in this episode compared to the previous seasons. While the other main characters, were given satisfying arcs and set up conflicts for the rest of the season, Janet was mostly relegated to being a backboard for Michael. Hopefully, this doesn’t become a trend for this season as Janet has been one of the most interesting parts of the show and it’d be disappointing to see her put on the sidelines.
The final scene drops a bomb that doesn’t bode well for the humans in coming episodes. After a group of demons spends the episode attempting to gain access to the humans, they finally succeed and send Adam Scott’s Trevor to sabotage them. The group obviously doesn’t recognize Trevor but he caused a myriad of problems when he previously appeared last season as a demon who tried to take Eleanor to the Bad Place and will likely cause more problems moving forward.
The premiere episode has its flaws, most notably the lack of Janet, but overall this episode continues the trend of excellence set by this show’s first two seasons. The Good Place has been one of the best and most creative show on network television over the past two seasons and this first episode signals that won’t be stopping anytime soon.
