The Good Place Season 4 Episode 1 Review: A Girl From Arizona
Rachel Foertsch
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Holy forking shirtballs! It feels as if the hit sitcom has only begun, yet we're already witnessing the final season of The Good Place.
It's never easy to say goodbye to something you love, but we have to respect the creative team's decision to quit while they're ahead and end the series on their terms.
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While The Good Place Season 4 Episode 1 wasn't the strongest season premiere, it was a fun episode that served as a catalyst for events that The Good Place Season 4 will surely undergo.
Although a lot happened, it felt as if The Good Place Season 4 Episode 1 was lacking something major.
The simple answer is that it was, and it did so purposely.
Chidi is a fan-favorite character, and his presence on the show is one of the many aspects that makes The Good Place such a success.
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Chidi may still technically be a part of the series, but he's no longer a part of the group. He's become an outsider, and the audience can feel the lack of him and easily relate to Eleanor's pain.
Eleanor: Welcome to the Good Place, Chidi.
Chidi: Thank you so much. And I'm sorry. This has been so overwhelming I forgot your name.
Eleanor: Eleanor.
Wiping Chidi's memory didn't just create a hole in Eleanor's heart, but in viewers' hearts, as well.
We have no doubt that Eleanor and her friends can make the experiment succeed on their own, but without Chidi in the loop, it's going to be much harder for them to accomplish their goal.
It was Chidi and Eleanor's bond that helped everyone improve in the first place. Without it, Team Cockroach is going to have to start from scratch.
One consistent factor of The Good Place is that Eleanor and Chidi meet for the first time at the beginning of every season.
The moment they find each other, everything else seems to fall into place.
Now that Eleanor is essentially what Michael was to the group during The Good Place Season 1, there's no way for her to fit into Chidi's ethics class and create the same ripple effect as before.
This new group of test subjects only have themselves to depend on, and it's up to them to make a change.
Well, Linda must be here for Jason because Brent is definitely here to annoy the fork out of me.
Eleanor
It's no surprise that Shawn tried to pull one over on everyone by sending a demon in disguise, but his botched attempt to ruin the experiment ended up being a good thing for Team Cockroach.
The characters know that Chidi can become a better person in the fake Good Place since he's done so in the past. While Eleanor and her friends appeared confident over Chidi's new role, there was something that they didn't consider.
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Chidi may have improved in every reboot, but he improved because Eleanor was by his side every step of the way.
One of the main themes of The Good Place is that Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani make each other better. The connection the four of them have isn't something that's easy to find and it caught the Bad Place off guard.
Will there be a different outcome now that Chidi is experiencing the same thing with different people?
Simone is a whole other issue and given her job as a neuroscientist, it makes sense that she's refusing to accept her new reality.
If Simone doesn't think this is real she definitely won't become a better person.
Michael
This provided the perfect opportunity to bring Simone and Chidi together, which will no doubt bring Eleanor more heartbreak.
Simone may have still believed that she's hallucinating after speaking to Chidi, but we're sure that short scene won't be the end of their interactions.
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Can the writers let Eleanor Shellstrop be happy for once?
I know it's painful to think of the two of them connecting, but Chidi made an incredible sacrifice. He had his memories erased so he could help people. And if we don't let him help Simone it'll all be for nothing.
Michael
Towards the end of The Good Place Season 4 Episode 1, Eleanor appeared to be having doubts about herself and her ability to be the architect of the neighborhood.
As "bad" Janet pointed out, Eleanor didn't think anything of Linda's negative attitude despite Tahani's suspicions.
Eleanor has a lot of her plate. The love of her life has no idea who she is, she's in charge of the entire experiment, and the fate of humanity rests upon her shoulders.
I'll be monitoring the four new humans. A modified point system will be applied to their actions for the next year, and then we'll know how much better or worse their behavior is than when they were alive. But no one will be able to see what's happening in real-time. Good luck saving humanity from eternal doom!
Matt
It's a lot of stress for one person, even if her friends are there to help share the burden.
Eleanor has always used humor to hide her emotions, but she seems as if she may finally be reaching her breaking point.
Now that the experiment has officially begun, there's no saying how it will play out. Although everyone's hoping for the best, it's entirely possible that the original four humans were only a flux.
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Will this new group of people be able to better themselves? Or do they not have it in them?
It seems as if The Good Place Season 4 has come full circle for the show's final chapter. We're right back where we started, yet nothing is the same.
Alright, TV Fanatics. What did you think of The Good Place Season 4 Episode 1? Did it live up to your expectations? How do you feel about the series ending? What do you hope to see in the final season?
Let us know in the comments section down below!
And don't forget, that if you missed the episode you can watch The Good Place online right here at TV Fanatic!
The final season of The Good Place airs at 9/8c on NBC.
