cool article

[cofax7]

International Treasure Abigail Nussbaum on Season 3 of The Good Place.

[I]t can be a bit intimidating to express criticism or skepticism about The Good Place's worldbuilding, because odds are that your reaction is the point, all the way back to "wait, the afterlife in this show doesn't make any sense" in the first season. Nevertheless, I find myself troubled by some of the conclusions the show reaches in its third season and where it proceeds from them.

As I would have expected, Abigail provides a deeply thoughtful analysis of the season and its philosophical & ethical underpinnings. Worth reading.

Comments

The Good Place vs Capitalism

[oldtoadwoman]

The thing I find fascinating is that based on the points system, Mindy St Claire is officially the highest-ranking human in the last few centuries. Not because she's a remotely good person, but because she was rich and thus one moment of altruism helped the largest number of people. That alone should be proof of how broken the points system is.

Re: The Good Place vs Capitalism

[jadelennox]

Mindy St Claire was bothering me after the season ended, because if that enabled her to get into the medium place, then shouldn't every rich person who left all their money to charity in their will have successfully bought their way into the medium place?

But since they are actually going to be in her backyard next season, I'm hoping that will be addressed.

Re: The Good Place vs Capitalism

[oldtoadwoman]

Has any rich person ever left all their money to charity though? Perhaps Mindy's greatest "accomplishment" is that she didn't leave any spoiled rich kids behind.

[allheadybooks]

Thanks for sharing this! It’s a great read.

[jadelennox]

I think she makes an excellent point in that article that, back in season one, many of us were critiquing the moral code of this universe ("wait, Tahani's snobbery seems disqualifying!") and then in season two, as we learned more about these characters, that didn't take away the critique ("wait, being an idiot/victim of long-term psychological abuse disqualifies you from heaven?") And the show delivered on all of those concerns: they were planned, and our reactions were appropriate.

So I do have some hope. But yeah, I have shared many of the same questions this season. Exactly how are they going to fix it? The people in the comments to the her post can't see an alternative in the GP world other than automated luxury communism, but I could see it going toward afterlife anarchy, you know? Stop judging us, let us do our own stupid human thing on our own stupid human time, thus sayeth the Arizona Trashbag.

[mruk]

Ooo, thanks for linking, it's a great read.

[yourlibrarian]

I suspect that S4 will turn on sacrifice. Each season has always ended with an important aspect of this. In S1 it was Eleanor admitting she was not supposed to be in The Good Place. In S2 it was Michael ensuring that the four escaped The Bad Place even as he was left behind. In S3 it is when Eleanor and Chidi agree to separate for the good of others. I think maybe S4 is where that will all come together (though I think there's a S5 also being planned, right?) I also think that Janet's evolution will prove crucial in all this.