MovieChat Forums > The Good Place (2016) Discussion > I didn't like the season finale (spoiler...

I didn't like the season finale (spoilers obviously)

posted 8 years ago by MoshiMoshiYoshi
9 replies | jump to latest

I mean I did like it, because I like the show and enjoy all of the characters... so in that aspect I liked it.

However, with the twist... I had joked a while ago that maybe half of the people there are actually bad and it wasn't a mistake. But I didn't think they'd make the whole thing the Bad Place.

Eleanor and Jason (especially Jason) obviously don't deserve to go to the good place, but the excuses for Tahani and Chidi are ridiculous. It seems as though only individuals who are 100% selfless and perfect are given a great afterlife. Chidi's mistake was his severe indecisiveness. But he didn't purposely set out to hurt people. It's like faulting someone for having ADHD, or severe anxiety. They must go to the bad place for that?

And Tahani, yes her intentions were selfish, but the outcome for each act helped many, many people in need. If anything she should have gone to the Medium Place.

It all seems so... contrived, the good place accepting only robots who never make mistakes. Perfection isn't a human trait.

[–] The_Grither 8 years ago

I agree with you on Chidi, he clearly has an anxiety disorder and shouldn't be sentenced to eternal torment for it but Tahani was a vain, shallow person in her life who probably only ever cared about how good her deeds made her look which cancelled out the good she did.
Although maybe purgatory would be a better place for her since she wasn't evil or even mean, she was just out of touch.

But then if Chidi's anxiety disorder excuses him, should Jason's potential low IQ excuse him? Is he really a jerk or just too stupid to know any better?
And even though Eleanor was a horrible person in life, look at her parents. She didn't really have much chance to be good with them.

I'm probably reading way too much into this though. Or maybe we'll find out in season two that this is actually all part of a bigger test, but I doubt that will happen.

[–] Jennie_Portrait 8 years ago

Yes, understanding the circumstances of each person's background really informs the decisions they made in living their lives:

Eleanor- unloved/neglected by her parents, builds a shell around herself to deflect others and keep from being hurt.

Tahani- unloved by her parents. Seeks love and positive affirmation by taking on the persona of a philanthropist-- and she does good things for others.

Chidi- Lives a life of complete anxiety and indecisiveness. He chooses to study and teach ethics-- in all likelihood to better understand his own problems. I am sure he was a decent teacher. Look at how well he taught Eleanor and Jason.

Jason- not sure about him. But there is a genuine sweetness about him and I don't think he is a terrible person

In each of the above circumstances, every person could have become "good" by receiving love. This is why I reject the idea of a divine judgement. A person who has had the opportunity to receive (and give) love is much happier and better able to demonstrate goodness. Not everyone has that opportunity.
___________________________________
Never say never...

[–] CharlesTheBold 8 years ago

It all seems so... contrived, the good place accepting only robots who never make mistakes. Perfection isn't a human trait.
================================

This is actually a history behind this idea.

According to the historian William Durant, the midieval church taught that only a tiny fraction of humanity would reach heaven and everybody else went to hell. The people who got to heaven were called The Elect or The Elite, the origin of the modern word "elite".

It is not clear where the church got the idea, but apparently it was based on several Bible passages, such as "many are called but few are chosen", or the metaphor of heaven having a "narrow gate" and hell a "wide gate".

The idea finally died out during the Enlightenment, when philosophers such as Voltaire pointed out that having so many souls in hell implied that "the devil won, for he has more souls than God". I don't think any modern church still adheres to the "elite" doctrine, and many of them downplay the "hell" doctrine altogether.

"The Good Place" is one of the few TV shows I can think of ( the other being "Joan of Arcadia" about 15 years ago) that would even touch philosophical issues such as this.

[–] mddwbsst 8 years ago

According to the historian William Durant, the midieval church taught that only a tiny fraction of humanity would reach heaven and everybody else went to hell. The people who got to heaven were called The Elect or The Elite, the origin of the modern word "elite".

It is not clear where the church got the idea, but apparently it was based on several Bible passages, such as "many are called but few are chosen", or the metaphor of heaven having a "narrow gate" and hell a "wide gate".

Makes sense if you think about. I mean technically speaking its normally harder to live a good life than a bad one (especially as during the middle ages the church was a lot stricter on what was considered a bad life) as choosing to live a good life does mean you have to pass up certain opportunities and make at least some personal sacrifices.

I can easily see that over a few hundred years, when communication wasn't really that good that the idea could easily degrade from:

It easier to get into Hell than Heaven.

To:

Only a small percentage get into Heaven.

Besides if you tell people that only the elite will go to Heaven, its going to be a much bigger incentive to ensure your actually part of that elite, rather than just costing along and hoping that by the time you die the good you've done will out weigh the bad.

[–] stevefisher 8 years ago

Given that the old characters we've met are our four "heroes" or Bad Place actors, we have no evidence that The Good Place even exists. Maybe nobody goes there. Maybe in this universe, there only is one afterlife… the Bad Place.

[–] mddwbsst 8 years ago

Well Michael told Shawn, he stole Janet from the actual good place.

So its probably safe there is one, its just we don't know what its really like.

[–] barkbarkwoof 8 years ago

I liked the twist to it and didn't necessarily figure it out. I will say I was confused by the frozen yogurt thing. I like yogurt. Yogurt is not ice cream. Not even close.

[–] zingbot1000 8 years ago

"It seems as though only individuals who are 100% selfless and perfect are given a great afterlife."
EXACTLY. And they made that crystal clear in the very first episode that almost NO ONE gets into the Good Place except the best of the best of the best.

[–] bbrown2676 8 years ago

It seems as though only individuals who are 100% selfless and perfect are given a great afterlife.

I disagree. All we know is that these 4 people ended up in the Bad Place. Everything Michael ever said about who made it into the Good Place, and indeed, about the Good Place itself, is questionable...in fact, everything from the point system on up just fed into one or more of the character's flaws.

Chidi's mistake was his severe indecisiveness. But he didn't purposely set out to hurt people. It's like faulting someone for having ADHD, or severe anxiety. They must go to the bad place for that?

A Good point. But I think the idea is that in his case, it isn't a medical condition, and he could stop if he "wanted" to. He's just annoying and ruins people's lives with his selfish need to never be wrong.

And Tahani, yes her intentions were selfish, but the outcome for each act helped many, many people in need. If anything she should have gone to the Medium Place.

I disagree. She is awful. Selfish, vain, superficial...she was the one character where I almost figured it out because I could not understand why she would be in the Good Place.

It all seems so... contrived, the good place accepting only robots who never make mistakes. Perfection isn't a human trait.

And nobody said it is. But these 4 people were terrible because of deliberate decisions, not because of simple mistakes.

There is an argument that Jason is the most innocent of all of them, since he is just dumb. But he is still terrible.