Season 1 Rewatch: 1x01 "Everything is Fine"

[sorchasilver]

Welcome to our first rewatch post! I’m really looking forward to rewatching the show, and having the opportunity to discuss it with you. Watch the episode at a time that works for you, and come join us in the comments.

Writer(s): Michael Schur
Director: Drew Goddard
Originally aired: September 19th, 2016

Synopsis:
Newly-deceased Eleanor Shellstrop is sent to the Good Place but only by mistake; Eleanor is determined to become a better person in her afterlife with help from friends Chidi and Janet.

Memorable Quote:
Chidi Anagonye: Well, I've narrowed it down to two possibilities: yes and no.

Useful Links:
Episode Transcript
IMDb entry

ETA: As this is a rewatch, references to future episodes is fine.

Comments

Starter Question

[sorchasilver]

To get us started, tell me: who is your favourite character in this episode?

Re: Starter Question

[enemyofperfect]

Gosh, how can I even pick? But I will say that Jason is vastly more enjoyable on rewatch here. It's so much fun to try and guess what's going on in his head, poor guy!

Re: Starter Question

[sorchasilver]

I haven't rewatched until now, so it was really fun to see the characters being introduced for the first time, in the light of later developments. Jason in particular, yeah, the way he maintains the whole silent monk routine here despite the fact that he must be freaking out internally is great.

Re: Starter Question

[sorchasilver]

I think Chidi is my favourite from the beginning. He's so earnest and keen and relieved to be in the Good Place, poor guy.

Re: Starter Question

[enemyofperfect]

He cares so much! And even though he's incredibly torn about whether to let Eleanor stay, he's so gentle with her after Tahani's party.

Re: Starter Question

[ahbuggrit]

Same! I find his earnestness and his reaction to all the bad news to be so entertaining

[author_by_night]

I didn't technically just rewatch, but I've rewatched the first episode an embarrassing number of times.

- I want to meet Doug Forcett. Is he in the Good Place for a good guess, or the Bad Place because afterlife's a bitch, even if you got most of it right?

- Something that seems odd is that as horrible as Eleanor is later in this episode, she seems perfectly nice at first. Given that the synopsis of the show is that Eleanor doesn't belong there, I don't think it's to trick the audience. Is it like Jason, where as soon as she realized the "error", she knew she had to play along and pretend to be nice? But even before he starts talking... you'd think she would be less "hello! Where am I?" and more "who the hell are you, and where did you take me?"

My only other guess is that perhaps there's a bit of a supernatural tranquilizer initially, so that people don't jump straight to "nooo how can I be dead!!!"

And of course, bad people aren't awful ALL the time, but I do think someone with a short temper would be impatient upon ending up in a place they didn't recognize with some guy telling them to come into their office. Especially given her immense trust issues.

-

[enemyofperfect]

I'm going to vote for an initial dose of tranquilizer segueing smoothly into lying her face off. Even before she realizes there's no way she's supposed to be there, she clearly gets that the stakes are pretty high: as soon as she fills in the gap in her memory that is how she died, she's trying to learn more about the nature of the afterlife and how worried she should be about her place in it.

And it's not like only terrible people would be disconcerted to wake up in an unfamiliar waiting room and be informed that they're dead -- at least, I hope not, because I'm pretty sure I would be! -- so I think your idea of a little mental nudge to smooth over the transition makes a lot of sense. They're already deleting their memories of how they died, anyway, so what's a little more meddling?

[author_by_night]

And it's not like only terrible people would be disconcerted to wake up in an unfamiliar waiting room and be informed that they're dead -- at least, I hope not, because I'm pretty sure I would be! -

Oh, for sure! I'm not sure I worded that point correctly. I was thinking more that anyone would be disconcerted, and someone like Eleanor would be even more vocal about it. "What the hell are you talking about? How can I possibly be dead? What happened to my Margarita Mix?" Even Chidi would have that reaction, nevermind Earth!Eleanor.

[enemyofperfect]

Aw, no, I think you worded it great! Because you're right -- anyone (except possibly a real Buddhist monk?) would be kind of freaked out, but Eleanor does seem especially likely to go on the offensive. And yet she even smiles at the "Everything Is Fine" sign! Where is your bone-deep cynicism, Shellstrop?

[sorchasilver]

I wondered if Doug Forcett is even real! The story is such a neat deflection from the "who got it right?" question - no follow-up on how all the religions got a little bit right, what that means, etc. it made me dubious. But apparently the writers have said it is indeed real (as things stand, anyway), so that's a good question. Maybe we'll see the character in person one day!

[ahbuggrit]

It's interesting that the show starts off with Eleanor being so pleasant and chill, and then learning about how mediocre/bad she was IRL (while later seeing her improve throughout the show - shows her progression really well)

interrogating heaven + time frames

[enemyofperfect]

I feel like the first clear sign that something is off here is when Michael airily tells everyone not to worry what happens to the people who don't make it to the Good Place -- right after saying that's most of humanity, no less!

So I'm really proud of Eleanor for figuring out, in the very first episode, that something is royally forked up about this system. Sure, her reasons were selfish -- she'd much rather go to a Medium Place than the land of endless screaming and two-mouthed bears -- but she isn't wrong. And sometimes I wonder if in a way, her deep commitment to herself is actually part of what lets her grow as much as she does later on.

Meanwhile, poor Chidi is so relieved at finally having the answers that I guess it's not surprising that he doesn't find it in himself to question much. For the first time in his existence, he doesn't have to worry about getting it wrong! But it makes me wonder how complacent he would have been if he'd made it to the real Good Place and never met Eleanor.

Unrelatedly, it's interesting to me that Michael says he's spent "over 200 years" as an apprentice. Obviously that's a long time for a human, but for an architect, I'd think that would be just a blink of an eye. Is he downplaying how long it really was? Or what else was he doing before that?

Re: interrogating heaven + time frames

[sorchasilver]

Yeah, that line really stands out on rewatching - I don't remember finding it odd on first viewing, possibly because there's SO much to take in. But this time, with the benefit of knowing what's to come, it's like a big flashing sign. Eleanor's comment about her parents is likewise so on the mark.

Oh, Chidi! And his stomach aches, poor guy.

Re: interrogating heaven + time frames

[enemyofperfect]

Oh, that's a great point about her remark about her parents, I didn't even think of that! Wow. Now I have to love that scene even more.

Re: interrogating heaven + time frames

[sorchasilver]

It jumped out at me on this viewing - she gets right to the heart of what's going on without realising it. Her being the one to figure it out later on makes so much sense!

Re: interrogating heaven + time frames

[enemyofperfect]

It's so poignant, too, because there she is quietly wondering if anyone even cared that she died while Chidi stands awkwardly by, and obviously she's naming Michael's entire evil plan -- but at the same time, in Chidi's concern and Eleanor's introspection, I feel like that scene contains the seeds of why Michael's plan fails. It's like it's foreshadowing not only the season's big reveal, but also the fact that Team Cockroach was always going to overcome it.

[sorchasilver]

So I posted this, rewatched the ep, then accidentally took a 2 hour impromptu nap, after which I had to sort out dinner etc. Face, meet palm.

I'd forgotten the point about the Good Place having a universal translator - I wonder if that's something that exists in the real Good Place too. Does Michael have to follow some of the real Good Place rules/conventions to make the neighbourhood work? Does the need to steal a Good Place Janet suggest he might? And I saw a trivia note somewhere that said Tahani would have said ladybird instead of ladybug, being British, but is that perhaps the universal translator at work?

[enemyofperfect]

It's fun to imagine a real Good Place full of people happily learning each other's languages! Meanwhile, I wonder how the translator does with puns. It kind of seems like something would have to be lost in translation at some point, but that never really happens on the show that I remember.

I guess if nothing else, Janet's presence probably means that Michael can't do anything too out of character, or she might notice that she wasn't in a proper Good Place?

[sorchasilver]

Yeah, I feel like the universal translator is something that is needed to make the world make sense, but they don't really use it for any jokes or plot points later that I can remember. Maybe I'll notice something on rewatching, but I feel like I forgot about it because it never really comes up again.

[enemyofperfect]

I can only think of one other time it's crossed my mind -- which is that I'm desperately curious about whether Chidi does actually speak English in his own right, or if the universal translator is still in effect at the end of S2!

[erinptah]

This is one of the reasons I was so puzzled to see a bunch of people reacting to the s2 finale as if the characters' deaths were actually averted.

There's never been any indication the demons have time-travel or history-rewriting powers. What they have is the ability to wipe humans' memories and put them in fake environments that are carefully tailored to their (the demons') goals. And right now their goal is "prove that these humans can learn from each other and grow in the afterlife, even when their motives aren't distorted by knowing they're in the afterlife."

[enemyofperfect]

Yeah, I don't think it even occurred to me that it might be real! It was just a question of how much the simulation's being tinkered with -- is that real Chidi speaking English, real Chidi speaking another language but the simulation makes it work, another fake Chidi like during Eleanor's test, etc.

[erinptah]

Oh, good, it's not just me!

I feel like it would be a cop-out for this to be a simulated Chidi again, so my curiosity is all around what fake narrative has been constructed to get him here, and what he understands to be going on. (Also, how and when they're going to get Tahani to rejoin the party.)

[enemyofperfect]

Totally not just you!

It would be way less narratively satisfying if it isn't the real Chidi, wouldn't it? I think the main thing that made me wonder was the part where Chidi Anagonye, king of indecisiveness, seemed totally calm and confident while giving a talk to be shared with the entire internet. Which I admit is unfair of me -- he was a professor, he must have had some experience with public speaking!

But yes, I so share your curiosity about season three!

[executrix]

Errr, can we refer to later episodes? Because I have some ideas about this.

Not a spoiler, however, to say that under any circumstances I would believe that an extremely intelligent person working in a field where many people speak English....would be fluent in English. And one reason for Chidi's idiosyncratic way of speaking is that he is not only debating every word, but debating every word in a language that is not his first language.

[sorchasilver]

I think we should be OK to reference later episodes as it's a rewatch. I certainly have been!

I'll add a note to that effect in the post, so no one gets spoiled by accident. Thanks for thinking of it!.

Yeah, I think it would make total sense that he speaks good English. It's just the way he tells Eleanor he's actually speaking French when she compliments his English that makes me wonder, since he doesn't add that he does in fact speak excellent English. If he's speaking French then, and there's a universal translator, would he switch to English?

[executrix]

Thanks for the reply!

Later on we see him teaching in Australia, not, e.g., the Sorbonne (...although it is an alternate universe...)

They wouldn't really need a universal translator though, because there are actually only four people involved, three of whom are native English speakers. Everyone else is a demon, and most of the demons don't even talk to Team Cockroach, they;re just in crowd scenes and could be saying the demonic equivalent of "Rhubarb, rhubarb."

Of course Janet speaks English--she speaks all languages, including dialects once spoken by 232 people the last of whom has died off! I'm imagining some kind of programming that teach human languages to Michael, Shawn, Vicky, and anyone else with contact with humans.

We only have Michael's word for it that there *are* any other neighborhoods (or for that matter a real Good Place or Bad Place); all we see is this neighborhood and the Medium Place. And Michael is not exactly the most reliable of narrators--apart from being a guy who kicks a dog into the sun in the very first episode.

[enemyofperfect]

Don't we at least have the evidence of the Good Janet storage facility, though? And I'm pretty sure Shawn has had interactions with Michael -- with no humans observing -- that confirm the existence of both Good and Bad Places. Unless you think it's going to get really meta and reveal that they've been acting purely to fool the viewers, which, I guess with this show you never know...

[executrix]

We definitely see lots of Good Janets, although maybe they just wear out quickly--rebooting looks pretty brutal!

[enemyofperfect]

I can totally buy that he speaks English, especially given the Australia thing -- although he also mentions visiting Hong Kong for work, and if he speaks Cantonese along with everything else, I'm really going to be impressed! But I guess that's pretty much a given, really: going by his brief account of his early life, I think it's pretty likely that he has at least conversational Igbo and Wolof in addition to his French. He's almost certainly at least a bit of a polyglot.

[kindkit]

Chidi taught in Australia, so I would assume he does speak English well. But presumably not with the American accent and native fluency that the translator gives him.

[thatwasjustadream]

Really good point! If it is their former lives they are in at the end of S2, then it would have been genius to have Chidi speaking with a French accent.

My take has been that they really did get sent back to their lives - it would be all too easy to explain away how Michael and the judge could accomplish that, i.e. perhaps she has the power to allow a reboot, being all-powerful.

But the lack of an accent might be more of an indicator of another 'fake' world than is his speaking English to someone appearing at his door in Australia.

[enemyofperfect]

That's exactly my question about it! Another possible piece of evidence is that he speaks English with an American accent in the ugly boots flashback -- but that's also true in the scene from his childhood when he filibustered recess, so it seems likely that there's a translation convention at work.

I am ridiculously invested in this tiny mystery.

[sorchasilver]

I love the idea of the real Good Place requiring people to learn each other's languages - I feel like with eternity to learn, that would be a great project.

[siderea]

(Pssst. There's an error in your Useful Links. They have extra quotes.)

[sorchasilver]

Oops, that's what I get for trying to edit on the iPad! :) Thanks for noticing.

Fixed!