MovieChat Forums > The Good Place (2016) Discussion > Tormenting Tahani

Tormenting Tahani

posted 8 years ago by weikelm
11 replies | jump to latest

Poor Tahani!

I started re-watching, and I couldn't help but notice that Michael really tortures the heck out of the poor girl. If you watch closely, in nearly every episode he:

1) Gets her to help him with something that should be right up her alley.
2) Makes sure it goes disastrously wrong.
3) Lets her know in some subtle way that she did a terrible job.

You'll notice her every effort is met with rebuke. Even something as innocent as offering Michael a Saltine is met with displeasure.

Upon re-watching it makes me feel really bad for her, since her sins were pride and vanity in her abilities as a hostess, and in that regard, she really takes a beating on a weekly basis.

[–] SyrupBuccaneer 8 years ago

It's such a treat to rewatch it! The finale opened such a puzzlebox and the writing IS there to match it. I still laugh at Jianyu simply being too stupid to be tortured properly. He is so resistant that he turned The Bad Place into his Good Place through the relationship with Janet.

Which worked oddly well. My favourite relationship on the show, their chemistry together is insane.

[–] sooperklew 8 years ago

She deserves it. Name-dropping pretentious ass. She's obviously a liar too, there is no way she did all those things she brags about.

I think thats another part of her torture, i think Michael and the rest are only pretending to believe her to make it worse.

[–] tomatosauce6808 8 years ago

I wouldn't be so sure. In elenor's final final flashback to the day she died. When she was in the checkout. Tahani was on the cover of one of the magazines in the rack. Indicating she was famous enough to at least be on the cover of a magazine

[–] SetiXeper 8 years ago

You are right, she was probably a wonderful person, always thinking of others first. Like Kim Kardashian, not at all shallow or vapid.

[–] mddwbsst 8 years ago

Yeah, poor Tahani.

What better hell is there for someone with an inferiority complex, than to take away your crutch?

[–] The_Grither 8 years ago

I noticed something similar with Chidi. Almost everything Michael does makes him have to make a choice about something which he obsesses over.
And when he gets him to give up on his dream of writing that book the things he suggests are all things Chidi is even more anxious about.
It was one the things I thought was weird about the show when I first saw it. The Good Place seemed way too stressful for Chidi and Michael didn't seem to helping at all and was actually making things worse at times.
I just wrote it off as a quirk of the show though and didn't even consider there was a deeper reason.

Although they really screwed up with Eleanor since they made her a better person. And Jason is just too stupid to be affected by psychological torture, which is hilarious.

[–] Jennie_Portrait 8 years ago

Upon re-watching it makes me feel really bad for her, since her sins were pride and vanity in her abilities as a hostess, and in that regard, she really takes a beating on a weekly basis.

I feel sorry for her too. Pride and Vanity are probably the most minor of sins because they only hurt oneself.

I am always amused at people who complain if someone else is arrogant. My answer is "So what?-- what does this have to do with you?" If it bothers you, then that's your problem.

Tahani desperately NEEDS something to be able to feel good about herself because she was denied love and support when she was growing up. So she assembles a life for herself where she does a lot of good and gets to feel good about herself. Why is this grounds for eternal punishment?

___________________________________
Never say never...

[–] weikelm-118-940400 8 years ago

I agree completely.

There is much that has not been shown yet, but my guess is she's there for the way she treated other people-- belittling their efforts and harping on their inferiority, because that's what her family did to her. In order to feel good about herself she has to build herself up at the expense of the little people, like Eleanor.

Remember the episode where Tahini brought Eleanor a plant (she would have to maintain) and Eleanor reciprocated with a basket of pears that Tahini found an excuse to throw in the trash right in front of her? That's probably a pure Tahini move.

The wrench in their plan was that Eleanor saw her crying and gave her a peptalk about how great she was, which really helped the dynamic between the two.

I'd still rather have a Tahini in my life than a Chidi.

[–] Jennie_Portrait 8 years ago

I'd still rather have a Tahini in my life than a Chidi.

Sigh... This sort of thing begs the question of which character do you identify with the most. Sorry to say, I think I am most like Chidi--- but I am trying to change. Chidi actually created a burden for his friends. Oddly, Chidi and Tahani would have been uniquely well suited for one another. She is decisive and loves to talk. Chidi is very cerebral and like to talk too. And he would have been perfectly happy to allow Tahani to make all the decisions.

I have a friend who is like Tahani and I am actually grateful to her for her blunt, tactless opinions. It saves time not to have to wonder about things. And I am happy to give her all the positive reinforcement she craves. Totally symbiotic relationship.

___________________________________
Never say never...

[–] weikelm-118-940400 8 years ago

I think were all a bit like Chidi, but I don't think anyone is as severe a case as him. Remember the show was trying to trick us into thinking he and Tahani deserved to be in the good place. I think they would drive each other crazy after a while.

His problem is not just that he is indecisive, it's also that he won't let the matter drop even after makes a decision, especially if he feels that he didn't make the right choice. It's not merely a matter of taking an extra hour to order off a menu in a restaurant. Chidi would wake Tahani up at three in the morning to debate whether he should have had the eggs instead of the pancakes. Tahani would put up for it for as long as she could until she snapped. Then she'd have to put a good public face on her marriage, though it would be a nightmare behind closed doors, and she'd cry because she'd think it's just them.

Fake Eleanor is probably his true soulmate, because she'd tell him right off the bat it doesn't matter and to fork off and go back to sleep.

[–] I_hatenazis 8 years ago

I feel sorry for her too. Pride and Vanity are probably the most minor of sins because they only hurt oneself.

I agree. In fact, she genuinely is a caring person despite her flaws. When she saw how Michael was being treated by the bad place honcho, she had a flashback on how she was a door mat and immediately encouraged him to stand up for himself.