S3 Ep1 Everything is Bonzer

[miss_s_b]

OMFG!!!!

TREVOR!!! And I loved the Doorman. And Michael did nice things for him and made him happy! And Janet is still soppy for Jason <3! And all Michael's silly pseudonyms!

Anyway, I really enjoyed it.

Comments

[st_aurafina]

That was amazing and adorable. And the accents were certainly interesting.

Trevor!! Omg.

[miss_s_b]

I feel like there is going to be a lot of OMG this season

[author_by_night]

Most definitely!

Also, I actually thought this episode was one of the best, and that's saying a lot. Especially for a first episode of a new season. So that's really encouraging.

[silverr]

We loved it as well! I think our favorite part was the doorman, especially his glee over the frog tumbler. And Marc Evan Johnson continues to crush it as Shaun.

Also, Simone was such a delight! Kirby Howell-Baptiste's bubbly energy reminded us a little of Pearl Mackey's Bill (from the last season of Doctor Who).

Finally, a weird question: Did Chidi look really odd to anyone else when he was sitting at the desk in his office talking to Eleanor? Like, oddly foreshortened, with his head disproportionate? ( know they were using some off camera lenses at points, so perhaps it was a side effect of that.

[miss_s_b]

I kind of... I felt for Chidi how much Simone was teasing him. I am a big soft marshmallow of a person and I felt his pain and confusion.

[silverr]

Ah, I can see that. For me, though, Chidi sometimes seems like a car stuck in the mud and snow, spinning his wheels; it would be crueler not to help out by giving him a push.

Side note: how beautiful did he look in that MRI machine? That lighting was angelic! :)

ETA: I forgot to mention Maya Rudolph. I hope Judge Gen recurs as well (she's a great counterbalance to Shaun).

[miss_s_b]

I think the lighting is an underappreciated part of the show in general, but this is a thing I geek about a lot that other people don;t seem to bother so much about. But yes, the MRI machine was very well done.

And you're probably right with the snowy car analogy. But it doesn't stop me feeling for him, bless him.

[silverr]

Same. I think we've all been in The Flaily Churny Place at least once in our lives.

[author_by_night]

I can't imagine she won't - she seems to have been established as a possible threat. I'll be disappointed if they just write her off.

[enemyofperfect]

I definitely felt for him, too. I love Simone overall -- she's just so enthusiastic about her work and so welcoming of surprises -- but Chidi's poor nerves! He isn't cut out for that kind of humor!

[author_by_night]

It wasn't just me? Something was really off.

[silverr]

(are you referring to Chidi at the desk? Because we kept rewinding and doing dog-head tilts trying to figure out why it looked so odd.)

[thatwasjustadream]

I liked the whole doorman concept and the set for that. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop with the frog tumbler, but no! He just loved the frog tumbler!

[silverr]

I know! He was so delighted!

[cosmolinguist]

I said exactly this thing!

[thatwasjustadream]

:)

[sorchasilver]

I just finished it a minute ago. So much fun, loved Simone and the Doorman. I'm so glad it's back, I missed these characters a lot.

[author_by_night]

Me too!

Also, I pretty much just finished it as well. :P I saw the subject of this post earlier, and I knew I had to get cracking!

... now moving onto everything else I was supposed to do today. (I have to go to a party later. Must not eat all of the shrimp.)

[author_by_night]

Hoollly mother forking shirtballs at the end. Although for a minute I thought it was going to be Shaun. I should have known they wouldn't have been that obvious!

I wonder where they're going with Trevor? Also, how does Michael expect to pull this off with Gen? He's made it more obvious there was interference. However, Trevor's presence also makes me think this'll become bigger than the fates of our Good Bad Place Crew, which might actually work in their favor that way. That way...

I also love that they explained the "why does Chidi know English" thing five minutes into it. It was obvious, but done so well that it was also perfect.

I liked how all of them tried to be better people, but then life wore them down. I've been there myself. (Especially Chidi's end, but to lesser extremes.)

[miss_s_b]

I loved that little explanation too :)

[thatwasjustadream]

I liked that aspect of it, too - how it shows them trying and making progress and regressing. So very human. Tahani's was perfect- she truly goes out of her way to lose herself in something bigger...then writes a book about the amazing impact of losing yourself in something bigger! :)

I'm so happy they're all back, it was great to have an hour long premiere episode to enjoy.

[enemyofperfect]

Totally agreed about both Chidi the polyglot -- they made that explanation so fun: he's hoping for Latin to come back after all these years! -- and the way all of them had trouble sustaining their progress on their own.

[brainwane]

..... I just realized folks are calling the judge Gen, not Jen. Like in "Generator" or "Genesis". OMG!!

[dhampyresa]

Michael was nice when he didn't need to be! So excited to see where this season is going.

[enemyofperfect]

I have to co-sign everyone's love of the Doorman and his love of frogs. And of this entire episode, basically! For a few minutes at the very start, I felt thrown and confused, like they were retconning the S2 finale -- but no, they were just filling in the gaps, and so beautifully.

Is it just me, or has there been a noticeable change in Janet even since the end of last season? She said she had to learn a lot really fast to help the others in the Bad Place, and I feel like that process hasn't really slowed down since then. Go Janet!

I also have to say, I loved seeing Eleanor act as a matchmaker for Chidi. It's funny, because even though I lowkey shipped them in the first season, the emphasis on romantic love in season two rubbed me the wrong way -- it felt a little like the show was saying their relationship couldn't be transformative or deeply meaningful if it didn't include kissing. So I'm delighted to see it explicitly affirmed that even though we know they can fall in love and be very happy together, that isn't the only way they can be good for each other. (And hey, who knows how many more times things are going to reboot. Maybe they'll still be endgame!)

[thatwasjustadream]

I felt the same way with S2- it got so very 'shippy' for the sake of it, or that's how it felt. I'm so good with Eleanor being Chidi's wing-woman here, lol. I loved the line from Janet that no matter what, in all the reboots, Chidi always helps Eleanor. You have to know that will come back around in the plotting this season, somehow.

Also wondering if the Tahani/Eleanor dialogue about Eleanor having a free couch will come back around, too- whether it's as roomies or ...otherwise. ;)

[enemyofperfect]

Eleanor and Tahani really hit it off this time around, didn't they? Maybe this will finally be the season where Eleanor's legit crush is realized!

[yourlibrarian]

It took me several minutes until my partner Mike noted that the doorman played Kurt's father in Glee.

The whole maneuvering Chidi and Simone into a date while in the MRI proves that Eleanor is still somewhat evil but she's using her powers for good.

I half expected Michael to need to make a half dozen visits for Jason alone to make sure he ended up in Chidi's office at last when he, say, somehow ended up on the wrong plane, ended up distracted by something on the way to the university, misread the directions, etc. I'm picturing the "Accepted" stamp going down over and over again.

[sidleypkhermit.livejournal.com]

G'day mates -- I don't know if the mods here are planning to resume episode posts or not, but in the meantime I wanted to let folks know that if you have an LJ account, we are current and updating weekly at thegoodplace. Cheers!