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?

[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.

-

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?

[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?

[siderea]

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