created by Michael Schur, 2016-2020
As you may have seen in my other post about The Good Place, I have never seen it before. I, like other people I have spoken to, was expecting a cheesy network sitcom whose main joke was “what the fork?” It took the show being spoiled for me to realize that the show has MUCH more substance than that.
The Good Place, as it was described to me by a friend, is “a class in philosophy disguised as a comedy.” Truer words have not been spoken. While it is quite funny at times, and is a half-hour format, the show is not just a comedy. It makes me think about what it means to be a good person, as well as what the afterlife is truly going to be like. You leave the series feeling more positive about humanity than you have in a long time.
While the show does start with a few cheesy “what the fork” jokes, there are some elements that are truly very funny. It never strays too far away from being a sitcom. Because of this, the characters are all quite exaggerated versions of themselves. Eleanor, the main character, is “Arizona trash,” and quite a trashy version at that. Chidi, a philosophy professor, uses philosophy concepts to make the tiniest decisions in life. Tahani is an absurdly well-connected English aristocrat that name-drops everybody. Jason is simply a really dim-witted man from Florida (think: the opposite of Sheldon Cooper). All of these characters keep these traits throughout the show, but it makes room for them to grow a lot, which is great to see. Also, they all are extremely endearing and easy to root for.
Although The Good Place discusses some really big topics in philosophy, the show’s aesthetic is rather light and airy. There are bright colors all over the screen. The characters wear cheery clothing. It’s a rather easy show to digest because of how positive everything appears. Even when the show gets to its heaviest points, you never feel dark and depressed watching it, which is a huge plus in my opinion, and makes it so that you can pick the show up at any time and watch it again.
The dialogue in the show is very well done. It can, at times, be rather inauthentic, but that is because the show is trying to disguise itself as a sitcom. So, jokes are sometimes rather corny. However, the parts of the series where they discuss philosophy were super easy to digest. I learned more about philosophy than I would ever have reading a book. This is impressive, because philosophy is so hard to cut into bite-size chunks, and they do it effortlessly.
This series is not watched by enough people. It is not great for the same reasons that people love Parks and Rec and The Office, and I think that is what people are most wrong about. It is an intelligent, great television show, and is better for its plot than its comedy. I hope that more of you read this and realize you will like The Good Place, too. I wish I could spoil it for you all so that you would be more interested in watching, but you’ll just have to spoil it for yourselves: by watching it!
Comments