Season 1 Rewatch: 1x05 "Category 55 Emergency Doomsday Crisis"

[sorchasilver]

Hi everyone, and welcome to rewatch week 5. As usual, just watch the ep whenever you can, then join the discussion in the comments.

Writer(s): Michael Schur (creator), Matt Murray
Director: Morgan Sackett
Originally aired: 6 October 2016

Synopsis:
Teaching Eleanor about ethics becomes a full-time job for Chidi; Michael and Janet must deal with an emergency.

Memorable Quote:
Chidi: I am not going to have sex with someone to get them to stop talking to me.
Eleanor: Really? You and I are very different.
Chidi: Yeah I noticed.

Useful Links:
Episode Transcript
IMdB entry

Comments

[erinptah]

Someone transcribed all the ice cream flavors! The hero we deserve. (Recognized Actor's Voice From Commercial Voiceover! Baby Kittens! Finding a Kidney Donor! The Softness of a Puppy's Tiny Ears! Perfectly Removed Sticker! Caller Doesn't Leave a Voicemail, whoo boy do I feel that one.)

Tahani being so cartoonishly good at everything, and so flatly unappreciated for it by her family, is heartbreaking. You can draw a straight line from there to the way she comes off as humblebragging all the time. She genuinely thinks everything she says is just what's expected of her -- if not actively substandard for what's expected of her.

In retrospect, the fact that Chidi had to do dishes should've been a dead giveaway that this isn't really the Good Place.

[enemyofperfect]

Totally agreed about the heartbreakingness of Tahani. Her entire life, nothing she could do was impressive enough. Of course she never stopped trying to reach that unreachable standard!

(Also, I really want a nice cup of Peeling An Orange In One Piece now. Curse you, The Good Place!)

[enemyofperfect]

This is such a fun episode. Eleanor is so psyched about getting a little bit better at this being a good person thing! And alarms poor Chidi so much with her willingness to have sex at the drop of hat! And their cautious honesty under the eyes of the (secretly demonic) swingers is so guarded, yet so heartfelt! And her gesture at the end -- with the "fork off, Eleanor" sign and the promise to give him as much space as he needs -- is so lovely!

A few other notes:

-I'd forgotten that Tahani's parents are dead. I'd just assumed their appearance in S2 was purely simulated, but I guess it's actually possible that it wasn't. Poor Tahani!

-I'd also forgotten Jason framing his fellow dance crew member's fiancee for a different crime than the one she actually made a living from. Oh, Jason. So lovable, and yet so sketchy.

-Chidi repeatedly lies to Eleanor about why he's trying to get away from her whether or not something is wrong! I thought he wasn't cool with that? Idk, maybe he rationalized it to himself somehow -- like, in the larger view, can a little discomfort resulting from helping out another human being really be said to be "wrong"?

[erinptah]

My take with Chidi is that he's desperately trying to pretend to himself that everything is fine. Because when someone earnestly wants to learn, the Good Thing To Do is to have infinite reserves of patient indulgence, and he's doing something wrong if he doesn't.

[enemyofperfect]

Oh, that's all too plausible. Poor guy!

Watch me get so swept up in emotion I comment from the wrong account...