Season 4 Episode 07: Help Is Other People

[enemyofperfect]

Speaking personally, I love this episode title and I can't wait to see what they'll do with it. Once you've watched the episode and found out, comment here with all your reactions, spoilery and otherwise!

Comments

[jadelennox]

My heart hurts for Chidi all the time.

And I keep being startled by Simone's choices, yet they are so totally in character, when I think about it. She has tolerated some whack BS for the last year, and she is 100% done. And she's a hard-nosed skeptical pragmatist.

Also she was stunningly gorgeous in that dress, my god.

[enemyofperfect]

I love Chidi so much. I was just thinking that I missed his participation on Team Cockroach, and then he got to argue for pulling people out of holes. And think of hypothetical situations in which Brent might actually try to help him too. And look so defeated in that final scene, oh, Chidi!

It's also great how it now makes sense in hindsight that Simone didn't make more noise about Brent obviously not belonging in the Good Place -- she couldn't let them know how much she'd guessed.

And you're right, that dress was an amazing look for her.

[jayeless]

I feel like this is the point where the season's plot is just about to hit its stride. I have no idea what's going to happen in the next episode and I am loving it.

I thought Simone was great in this episode. While Eleanor and co. smugly thought they had her under control, she proved to have been outsmarting them all along. Given the obvious flaws there'd be in the tale that she's in the Good Place, it's good to see how her sceptical instinct hasn't just let her come along for the ride.

I was kind of uncomfortable with how Eleanor was treating Michael for most of the episode… it was really coming across like she's looking down on him now, for some reason. Given how Michael just wants to be accepted by the group, I felt so sad for him 💔 Buuut things did turn around for the end. I loved the cackling from Michael and Eleanor when Chidi announces that he thinks they're in the Bad Place. Just a great callback to that classic first-season cackle and of course it led straight to the scene where Chidi FINALLY GOT BRENT TO FACE UP TO THE REALITY THAT EVERYONE THINKS HE'S A BAD PERSON and maaaan I think next week's gonna be good. 🍿

[enemyofperfect]

Simone was fantastic! Not only did she realize something was off, she went on to gather all the information she could instead of just leaping to the first conclusion that came to mind. It's fun to compare and contrast her realization with Eleanor's in season one, too -- the scientist versus the cynic.

I feel like they have to be doing something deliberate with Eleanor's increasingly short temper. Power corrupts? Sometimes people become worse under pressure? I don't know exactly where they're heading with it -- pretty much a given with this show, I guess! -- but having Michael outright say "you're being mean" seems too on the nose not to be leading up to something.

[yourlibrarian]

We continue to have insightful Jason!

Tahani also got a little more to do this time around, attempting to deflect attention from Simone's revelation with her whiteboard. "I know Sting!" made us laugh.

I was also feeling sorry for Michael given Eleanor's reactions, but I'm glad they managed to make his magic work for them.

One thing that I was thinking about though is that, since his memory was wiped, all of Chidi's progress should have been wiped out. He seems to have recovered it awfully well in this experiment given that he's been awfully decisive and we've seen a decided lack of stomach aches.

I was amused by "the most boring breakup ever" but also felt sorry for his disappointment in not having a soul mate. But I think that it did make something clear, which is that while in the first experiment he and Eleanor were both told that they were soulmates, both apparently also felt the need for someone else. Whereas it's less that Simone doesn't believe in soulmates as much as she doesn't feel that gap in herself that they did. She seems very much "on her own" in the neighborhood, roped into being with others more because the team manipulates her into doing it than because she feels the need. This independence also allows her to assume that it's all in her mind for the first few weeks and later for her to step back and observe everything that's going on.

I have my doubts that Brent is actually going to apologize for his own behavior, but I'm guessing that cutting him off at that moment will result in a hung jury sort of situation and there may be yet another reboot.

[erinptah]

I think it makes sense for Chidi to have regained his development by this point.

It's been a year. He thinks he's in Heaven, which settles his anxieties over "was I doing the right thing on Earth" and doesn't create a whole lot of "am I doing the right thing now." The Jason reveal stressed him out, but it seems like they've fallen into a good routine, and the longer they go without being "caught", the less he has to worry about it.

Plus he's had Eleanor dropping in to say inspirational things that she knows will help him get more confident, and he's had a stable romance that he still hasn't screwed up by doing anything wrong (and might think he can't screw up, since they're "soulmates"), which sure doesn't hurt.

Good points about Simone's bedrock independence, which ties in to why she works with Chidi so well. She enjoys his company and appreciates the nice things he does, but she doesn't depend on him for anything, so it's very hard for him to let her down.

Maybe Brent will end up in his own Medium Place. But not in Mindy St. Claire's neighborhood, because I can't see that ending well...

[enemyofperfect]

Seconding erinptah that you make an awesome point about Simone's independence!

And I agree, I'm far from sure that Brent was going to give a real apology this time. I mean, I'd be happy to be wrong, but from everything we've seen from him so far, another fauxpology seems much more likely.

Insightful Jason really is fun. I'm just crossing my fingers that Tahani gets her moment too!