The Good Place S4 |OT| Now You're Thinking With Bortles - Thursdays 8:30/7:30c

[SonofDonCD]

The thing is depression isn't always anger or sadness, it's emptiness that you can believe there's nothing else left for you in this world. That you no longer belong here. I've been through it, maybe you have too. IDK

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But again, that thought of emptiness comes from negative thoughts. Being content in what you've done and the life you've lead is not the same thing. In this scenario, you're not giving up on life, but simply satisfied with the amount of experiences they've had and don't feel the need to live longer for its own sake. Why force someone to live longer than they want?

From what you're expounding, existence by its very nature is better than non-existence, no matter the circumstances. Do you believe that someone who is living in pain, whether it's physical or mental, should be forced to live, even if they will never escape that pain? They should be forced to live in that pain forever? Or do they have the right to choose to end it? I think we all should have the right to choose, to have agency over our lives.

You say the decision wouldn't be made straight away but not everyone would make the decision at the same time and that makes it even more fucked up for the people who don't join you. There's not a universal amount of time when it's become nice to go through with it. Hopefully you're right and they do something more tasteful and inspiring in the end besides just walking to their ends.

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True, but just like real life, we all go at different times. We need to get over the thought that the ending of life is the worst possible thing to happen, in particular in this instance. We need to start to celebrate the life we do have, and lean into the fact that yes, we might have lost someone dear to us, yet their memory will live on in those who are left behind.

We can still celebrate who they were. We can still honor their accomplishments after they're gone. We can still continue their traditions and the good works they left for us can still be treasured and disseminated to everyone.

Getting back to this show, with this change, essentially The Good Place will be closer to earth in that life can be finite, but only at the time of your own choosing. This will give the time you have more meaning, the same as it is on earth.

And how would it be substantially different from just wiping their memories of being in The Good Place, as far as loved ones are concerned? They still would've lost a substantial amount of memories they share, as most likely they would've been together in The Good Place longer than their time on earth. You would, in essence, be living with someone who has Parkinson's. Do you want to have to make new memories from scratch with your wife every few hundred years? Wouldn't that get tiring after a while? Even reincarnation could get tiring after a few millennia, especially if you are made to recall past lives after a point.

So I say again, we are thinking too short-term. After so much time, you would get bored of doing the same thing. Having the option to end it all, permanently, makes sense.

 

[Godfather]

I don't think I like where this plot is going. Feels like they're pushing suicide as an acceptable solution to depression. Like if I have nothing to look forward to, I might as well just kill myself?

 

[Deleted member 15737]

Maybe they end up on the dot of the i in bearimy. The time island. Taco Tuesdays for an eternal July!

Truly it is knowing that suicide is always an option that makes life worth living... What were they thinking with that shit???

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I kind of agree with that point. Life without death isnt life. And being forced to be anywhere for eternity would absolutely lead to issues. I doubt it's an unusual viewpoint.


I'm really fascinated to see how they end Janet's story in particular. Seems like someone capable of creating life could play a key role if combatting eternal boredom is what the finale focuses on. Can people hump and have babies or age in the good place? Can Janet create a baby Chidanor? Speaking of.....where are all the babies?

 

[The Unsent]

But again, that thought of emptiness comes from negative thoughts. Being content in what you've done and the life you've lead is not the same thing. In this scenario, you're not giving up on life, but simply satisfied with the amount of experiences they've had and don't feel the need to live longer for its own sake. Why force someone to live longer than they want?

From what you're expounding, existence by its very nature is better than non-existence, no matter the circumstances. Do you believe that someone who is living in pain, whether it's physical or mental, should be forced to live, even if they will never escape that pain? They should be forced to live in that pain forever? Or do they have the right to choose to end it? I think we all should have the right to choose, to have agency over our lives.

True, but just like real life, we all go at different times. We need to get over the thought that the ending of life is the worst possible thing to happen, in particular in this instance. We need to start to celebrate the life we do have, and lean into the fact that yes, we might have lost someone dear to us, yet their memory will live on in those who are left behind.

We can still celebrate who they were. We can still honor their accomplishments after they're gone. We can still continue their traditions and the good works they left for us can still be treasured and disseminated to everyone.

Getting back to this show, with this change, essentially The Good Place will be closer to earth in that life can be finite, but only at the time of your own choosing. This will give the time you have more meaning, the same as it is on earth.

And how would it be substantially different from just wiping their memories of being in The Good Place, as far as loved ones are concerned? They still would've lost a substantial amount of memories they share, as most likely they would've been together in The Good Place longer than their time on earth. You would, in essence, be living with someone who has Parkinson's. Do you want to have to make new memories from scratch with your wife every few hundred years? Wouldn't that get tiring after a while? Even reincarnation could get tiring after a few millennia, especially if you are made to recall past lives after a point.

So I say again, we are thinking too short-term. After so much time, you would get bored of doing the same thing. Having the option to end it all, permanently, makes sense.

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If the choices with infinity and having achieved enough is not comparable to our world, why are you bringing up assisted suicide? When it comes to telling a story about choosing to end your life, you have to be careful not to romacticize suicide and when you have like a wizard character who could give you infinite stimulation, challenges or reincarnate you into another positive force in this realm, all these unlimited possibilities... and then you have an ending where they still choose to end their lives. You're not really treating the subject with the right tact and you're muddling the message that 'life will be finite'

 

[Guppeth]

If the choices with infinity and having achieved enough is not comparable to our world, why are you bringing up assisted suicide? When it comes to telling a story about choosing to end your life, you have to be careful not to romacticize suicide and when you have like a wizard character who could give you infinite stimulation, challenges or reincarnate you into another positive force in this realm, all these unlimited possibilities... and then you have an ending where they still choose to end their lives. You're not really treating the subject with the right tact and you're muddling the message that 'life will be finite'

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The possibilities aren't really endless though. The time they have to spend there is. At some point they will have nothing left to do. Not only will they have had every possible experience, with every person who ever existed, they could repeat every one of them a billion, billion, billion times, and still they have infinity left to hang around in.

It feels like Hypatia of Alexandria and the others burned out pretty fast, but we don't know how long it feels like they've been there. And maybe just a thousand years is more than anyone can bear.

 

[ExtremelyBitter]

This episode did sort of roundabout address something I'd been wondering for a while--specifically how, if the Good Place was full of Good People, none of them had never tried to raise a ruckus about people just no longer getting in. Mushed-brain bliss zombies would maybe notice but not really retain the information or annoy the Good Place committee about it, so works for me.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the door and whether or not I'm okay with the idea of watching the members of team cockroach work their way through one at a time, and I still don't really know. Like, there's the idea of reincarnation door or something where they'd get their memories back after every incarnation but live each life blind, and that seemed like a thing they could have tried BUT then you have the period of having your memories and processing each life lived being essentially infinite as well--so while the individual lives would always seem fresh and new, after a billion billion lives the continuous consciousness of the person would probably have seen and been boded by everything.

I liked the episode. I liked the solution. But I'm struggling with the difference between the possibility of an ending giving life meaning and seeing the actual reality of these characters winding down after an eternity. But then the idea of an eternal existence is kind of horrifying so...

I am curious if we get to see our characters react to the inevitable end of the human race--like ennui can't set in while humanity's still out there doing new things, but given an eternal existence they should witness however it all ends.

 

[Buttchin-n-Bones]

I feel like I have a very different take on suicide and life autonomy than most people, so perhaps that's why I really liked the concept of the "end" door. Because it does feel different from suicide, in the same sense that living in heaven feels different than living on earth - as S3 so aptly communicated.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

I fully expected the Judge to show up at the end of the episode and be like "What the fork did you do, Michael?!" But instead it ended on that really sweet note.

 

[Feep]

I love that they tackled the idea of eternal boredom, but they still took the cliched, trite line of "death makes life worth living".

I'm all for a door letting me exit when I want to exit, but whether or not I'm excited to get out of bed in the morning has nothing to do with the far-off theoretical time of my death. It's not really a solution and it wouldn't suddenly rouse people into suddenly "living life to the fullest".

For some interesting thoughts on this, I recommend reading this series of essays. Yudkowsky has some dubious beliefs, but I loved this sequence.

 

[makonero]

I was really expecting the door to lead back to earth, where you live life again all over—making the afterlife part of a cycle. So the actual ending hit me weirdly.

As someone who believes in God, I've always kind of hand-waved paradise as something beyond human experience because humanity naturally limits our thinking. If it was just all the stuff you ever wanted to do on earth, I'd definitely get bored eventually.

 

[SonofDonCD]

If the choices with infinity and having achieved enough is not comparable to our world, why are you bringing up assisted suicide? When it comes to telling a story about choosing to end your life, you have to be careful not to romacticize suicide and when you have like a wizard character who could give you infinite stimulation, challenges or reincarnate you into another positive force in this realm, all these unlimited possibilities... and then you have an ending where they still choose to end their lives. You're not really treating the subject with the right tact and you're muddling the message that 'life will be finite'

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I made that comparison because I feel there are circumstances where you can end your life in an ethical way, or where you should have the choice/option. Assisted suicide is one, the solution this episode came up with is another.

I really think you're getting too wrapped up in the destination as opposed to the journey, as far as what you think is the message of the show.

The show's message isn't that you should commit suicide. That would be a total misread of this episode and of this show at large. And again, no one is forced into taking their life. That is an option for those who want to take it. But hopefully for everyone in The Good Place, it will give their time meaning, much in the same way it does for us here on earth. And for those who choose it, it will take most likely hundreds or even maybe hundreds of thousands or even more of our equivalent years to do so. Again, I don't think you're appreciating how long that is to exist. To repeat the same basic things, over and over again. I just don't know that's sustainable forever.

Here's an interview with the creator Mike Schur about this episode. It's pretty enlightening, and explains the thought process for him and the writers room about the decision: https://variety.com/2020/tv/feature...oice-death-with-dignity-interview-1203477066/

 

[Punchline]

i dont really like how the mere existence of the door is presented as like, a instant solution to what was wrong with the good place. the fact is that its presented to the good place audience like a door you go after when you're done with everything and then suddenly people start partying again was very jarring. i dont think i misread the intent because patty talks about how the door gives her time in the good place somewhat of an end and its pretty clear that the isolation in the good place was the bigger problem but i felt it was oddly paced in how it was presented.

 

[Prototype Viktor]

Couldn't they just erase the memory to the point of death/entry to the good place, a giant afterlife reset hell you could combine it with the notion of a final exit. Walk through the red door and your current existence ends but you're back to the start of your heaven.

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Not everyone would wipe at the same time so you'd know you've been wiped

 

[NookSports]

Pending on what will happen on the finale, I think the message / the overall message of the show is being OK with dying. Not suicide or euthanasia, but valuing life, friendships and not being scared of death

 

[AtmaPhoenix]

I feel like the key element of this episode is that the group didn't actually say the door ends your existence, that they actually don't know what will happen just that you find peace.

My guess is they think the door is an existence-ender but it turns out to be reincarnation. I like the idea of Chidi and Eleanor finding each other again in reincarnated forms and it loops back around to the idea that they are actually soulmates.

 

[SuperPac]

Pending on what will happen on the finale, I think the message / the overall message of the show is being OK with dying. Not suicide or euthanasia, but valuing life, friendships and not being scared of death

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I am in this boat, or the reincarnation boat. But definitely the valuing life, the journey, the friendships, the experiences, and not being scared of what happens after boat. Is that two boats? Three? All the boats.

I expect however it ends for there to be people disappointed in how things resolve. That's OK too. But man, this series as a whole has been a beautiful ride and I'm glad that NBC gave Schur & Co. the money and latitude to make this thing. Eternally grateful.

 

[NookSports]

I am in this boat, or the reincarnation boat. But definitely the valuing life, the journey, the friendships, the experiences, and not being scared of what happens after boat. Is that two boats? Three? All the boats.

I expect however it ends for there to be people disappointed in how things resolve. That's OK too. But man, this series as a whole has been a beautiful ride and I'm glad that NBC gave Schur & Co. the money and latitude to make this thing. Eternally grateful.

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I think they already foreshadowed how it's going to end

Spoiler: Speculation

they will all cross over together, arms linked, not knowing what awaits them

 

[Mariolee]

I love their solution if only because it sparks interesting debate.

 

[Psittacus]

i dont really like how the mere existence of the door is presented as like, a instant solution to what was wrong with the good place. the fact is that its presented to the good place audience like a door you go after when you're done with everything and then suddenly people start partying again was very jarring. i dont think i misread the intent because patty talks about how the door gives her time in the good place somewhat of an end and its pretty clear that the isolation in the good place was the bigger problem but i felt it was oddly paced in how it was presented.

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For hundreds of years Earth-time the Good Place has been completely stagnant. The architects ran out of ideas and nobody new was getting let in, so they were all stuck in a perpetual cycle. The episode assumes that inevitably new inputs won't be enough, and that what the Good Place needed isn't just the idea that your time can end, but the idea that everyone else's time can too. One day you'll wake up and instead of it being just like every other day for the last hundred years, your best friend is gone and you have to adapt to that change.

Though I guess what that means is that the message is that the entire concept of eternal paradise is inherently flawed, and that an eternal almost paradise is more stimulating.

 

[gunlovefiction]

Ending the show with them walking through the door would be really bold but omg i don't think i would be able to handle it

 

[Godfather]

Ending the show with them walking through the door would be really bold but omg i don't think i would be able to handle it

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I fear it will retroactively sour the experience for me. Knowing that's how it ended would keep me from rewatching it. Unless they nail it somehow, but I dunno. I'm trying to keep an open mind but this is heavy shit IMO.

 

[Guppeth]

Interesting to read everyone's perspectives on "the door". For me, the thought of an afterlife that never ends is terrifying, and it makes perfect sense that no human mind could possibly handle it. This week's ending, where they're there and happy and they can stop it when they're ready, but not yet - that's a nice ending. There are lots of ways things could turn dark, but being trapped anywhere for eternity is hell, so I'm glad they won't be.

But there might not be a door next week. Anything could happen.

 

[baron doggystyle von woof]

Interesting to read everyone's perspectives on "the door". For me, the thought of an afterlife that never ends is terrifying, and it makes perfect sense that no human mind could possibly handle it. This week's ending, where they're there and happy and they can stop it when they're ready, but not yet - that's a nice ending. There are lots of ways things could turn dark, but being trapped anywhere for eternity is hell, so I'm glad they won't be.

But there might not be a door next week. Anything could happen.

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I feel the same way. Eternity sounds like horror to me. I want to end it whenever I can. Though heaven sounds nice. Visit any time any place? Do you know how amazing that sounds for a history nerd!

 

[Harusame]

Interesting to read everyone's perspectives on "the door". For me, the thought of an afterlife that never ends is terrifying, and it makes perfect sense that no human mind could possibly handle it. This week's ending, where they're there and happy and they can stop it when they're ready, but not yet - that's a nice ending. There are lots of ways things could turn dark, but being trapped anywhere for eternity is hell, so I'm glad they won't be.

But there might not be a door next week. Anything could happen.

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I share the same notion as you. An afterlife where you get everything you want with no challenge, but is forever ongoing and infinite, does not sound appealing. The premise of the door adds an option those that are willing to consider, and it helps what brings purpose in the afterlife.

Still interesting people's differing opinions and how they interpret the addition of the door as an option.

 

[Chitown B]

maybe Janet gets put into a newborn baby at the end.

 

[SpartyCrunch]

One thing I haven't read people here point out is how the boredom of the people in the good place directly mirrors the boredom of the demons in the bad place. And the new good place helped solve the demon's boredom.

I wonder if the finale will tie that together? Seems like the show is too obviously drawing a parallel to not.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

I have a feeling the very ending will be something absolutely mind-boggling in scale like all of what's left of humanity after maybe a thousand years (or maybe say after 30 years and get a dig at climate change in there) walking into The Door hand in hand.

I can't believe how emotional the idea of the door in the good place made me feel, though. It felt beautiful to think about.

 

[nekkid]

I really enjoyed the antivaxer dig lol.

 

[nekkid]

dp

 

[The Unsent]

The possibilities aren't really endless though. The time they have to spend there is. At some point they will have nothing left to do. Not only will they have had every possible experience, with every person who ever existed, they could repeat every one of them a billion, billion, billion times, and still they have infinity left to hang around in.

It feels like Hypatia of Alexandria and the others burned out pretty fast, but we don't know how long it feels like they've been there. And maybe just a thousand years is more than anyone can bear.

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They are endless, for like when you have a character that can turn you into a content unicorn for a 100 years, and then they have a new challenge to create a unicorn civilisation, whatever lol surprise me Michael.

I made that comparison because I feel there are circumstances where you can end your life in an ethical way, or where you should have the choice/option. Assisted suicide is one, the solution this episode came up with is another.

I really think you're getting too wrapped up in the destination as opposed to the journey, as far as what you think is the message of the show.

The show's message isn't that you should commit suicide. That would be a total misread of this episode and of this show at large. And again, no one is forced into taking their life. That is an option for those who want to take it. But hopefully for everyone in The Good Place, it will give their time meaning, much in the same way it does for us here on earth. And for those who choose it, it will take most likely hundreds or even maybe hundreds of thousands or even more of our equivalent years to do so. Again, I don't think you're appreciating how long that is to exist. To repeat the same basic things, over and over again. I just don't know that's sustainable forever.

Here's an interview with the creator Mike Schur about this episode. It's pretty enlightening, and explains the thought process for him and the writers room about the decision: https://variety.com/2020/tv/feature...oice-death-with-dignity-interview-1203477066/

Click to shrink...

If by journey, you mean details. If you want to bring up an option to end it all, then show how that might hurt the others who don't make that choice. What if they're peole who still struggle to change themselves in the new afterlife system? Do they get an optional death door or only the previlaged? When Chidi wiped his memory, Elanor was devestated by his choice and he looked worse for makng it. Hopefully they won't run away from the ethical questions and consequences there

Pending on what will happen on the finale, I think the message / the overall message of the show is being OK with dying. Not suicide or euthanasia, but valuing life, friendships and not being scared of death

Click to shrink...

The message of the show I guess is you can change and better yourself at any point, even if you've already died like in series 1 and Chidi will teach you ethnics, or in series 2 Michael a demon changes, or in series 3 you can get a second chance and change your family relationship or in series 4 where they choose the 'worst' test subjects and change them. The quality of the different good places in the show may not be what the characters thought it was, but they didn't let go.

 

[Dr Doom]

That would have been a good finale.

But good thing there's one more

 

[Guppeth]

They are endless, for like when you have a character that can turn you into a content unicorn for a 100 years, and then they have a new challenge to create a unicorn civilisation, whatever lol surprise me Michael.

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And when you've done that a million billion billion times, as every possible creature, and done every possible challenge a trillion billion times, and you still have eternity ahead of you? After a zillion million billion billion billion surprises do you think you'd still be hungry for another surprise? Maybe the unicorns are a slightly deeper shade of pink, and 0.3mm taller than last time, and they hop upside-down on their horns and their legs are on the inside. And maybe we can think up a new scenario that's interesting and different than the previous billion billion billion scenarios. Or at least one we've done less than a million billion times.

And you're there forever, so after all this you're 0% closer to the end. It's really scary.

 

[SonofDonCD]

They are endless, for like when you have a character that can turn you into a content unicorn for a 100 years, and then they have a new challenge to create a unicorn civilisation, whatever lol surprise me Michael.

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Endless or not, it doesn't matter. Just because there are infinite experiences doesn't mean that you'd want to experience them all.

If we retain our personalities and wants and likes and such in the afterlife, then there will certainly be things that you will not want to do, even with the guarantee of not dying and having infinite amount of time to experience it. Why would I want to listen to literally every type of song or watch literally every movie or tv show or read every single book in existence, if there are entire genres that I don't like or don't appeal to my likes and sensibilities? Certain activities that I would never want to go through (especially those that would be considered more evil and get you sent to the Bad Place)? Not every thing will be fun, enlightening or even worth exploring or experiencing. I wouldn't want my afterlife to be reduced to having a checklist of things I had to do just because I'm going to be alive forever.

If by journey, you mean details. If you want to bring up an option to end it all, then show how that might hurt the others who don't make that choice. What if they're peole who still struggle to change themselves in the new afterlife system? Do they get an optional death door or only the previlaged? When Chidi wiped his memory, Elanor was devestated by his choice and he looked worse for makng it. Hopefully they won't run away from the ethical questions and consequences there

Click to shrink...

The show doesn't have to go into great detail about that, as we know how they will feel. Life on earth will have prepared everyone in The Good Place for this situation. Everyone has lost someone they care about. That's inherent to everyone's existence now. This is no different.

As far as who can use the door, they already explained: Everyone has the option, no one is forced into it. Unlike real life, you can prolong going through the door as long as you want. You can go through a millennium spanning bucket-list, have as many huge parties in your honor with all your loved ones as they need to prepare themselves, and do whatever else you please. Then, when you're ready, go through and be at true peace and rest. It's a beautiful, meaningful option (with an emphasis of the word OPTION).

The message of the show I guess is you can change and better yourself at any point, even if you've already died like in series 1 and Chidi will teach you ethnics, or in series 2 Michael a demon changes, or in series 3 you can get a second chance and change your family relationship or in series 4 where they choose the 'worst' test subjects and change them. The quality of the different good places in the show may not be what the characters thought it was, but they didn't let go.

Click to shrink...

The message of this show has been, from the beginning, that you should always try to be a better person. The religion doesn't matter. The philosophies don't matter. Whatever way of life you choose doesn't matter. So long as you are making choices that help you to be a better person to the world, that's what matters. That was the message when everyone was taking philosophy classes with Chidi in S1 and S2, when they returned to earth and subsequently discovered the points system was inherently flawed in S3, and with the final experiment and finding the solution to the whole Good Place/Bad Place dichotomy in S4. The points system really was the thing that makes this message clear. It showed that being a good person in this system is very complex in the modern day. So many actions that you think are inherently good have negative connotations and consequences that the individual has no idea about. So even when you think you're doing good, you can be doing bad. It's not your fault, but that's the way life is. If you stop to think about that, it can be debilitating. But we can't stop trying to be better. We can't stop trying to do good in the world. Which is why their solution is to give people as many chances to do good as necessary. So that we all have the best chance to get into The Good Place. Cause we all can do better. Considering the message of the show, the solution lines up exactly.

 

[The Unsent]

And when you've done that a million billion billion times, as every possible creature, and done every possible challenge a trillion billion times, and you still have eternity ahead of you? After a zillion million billion billion billion surprises do you think you'd still be hungry for another surprise? Maybe the unicorns are a slightly deeper shade of pink, and 0.3mm taller than last time, and they hop upside-down on their horns and their legs are on the inside. And maybe we can think up a new scenario that's interesting and different than the previous billion billion billion scenarios. Or at least one we've done less than a million billion times.

And you're there forever, so after all this you're 0% closer to the end. It's really scary.

Click to shrink...

I'm guessing you wouldn't get bored if you keep being reborn with only vague but relaxing dreams of who you might have been. Do you ever have a dream in bed when you're someone else and then forget about it 5 minutes? The devices of heaven can remove that crippling fear of eternity.

 

[jph139]

It's interesting (and probably pretty telling) that the writers dreamed up a perfect afterlife and it's essentially just Buddhism with a victory lap in Christian Heaven. Nirvana, the closest thing to an "ultimate reward" in Buddhism, is just being allowed to... stop existing. Because existence, in any form, is ultimately going to be dissatisfying.

But I think there is a basic separation, where Buddhism doesn't have "designers" like Christianity or the Good Place. It's just the natural cycle of the universe - things are born and die in an endless cycle without a beginning and without and end. That's just how things work. But when you introduce a being (or beings) that's omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, that answer is itself unsatisfying. If you can create ANYTHING, isn't getting rid of things like ennui and dissatisfaction kind of a small job?

I think the answer is that you can't really carve those things out without carving out what makes us people. That's why the "memory erasure" thing was called out as torture - I think, if they had time to get into it, they'd probably make the argument that people only exist, as individuals, as long as their histories line up. That if you lived for a thousand years and got "reset" back to where you were at the beginning, that, in and of itself, would be a form of death, just as permanent as your physical form being erased.

It's a comedy, and they always play fast and loose with how the rules work. I think they've danced over the "omnipotence" line a bit too often for the answers to feel satisfying here, though. It's tough for humans to grasp what "all powerful" and "all knowing" really means. Their solutions only work in a universe where there isn't anything in that role, and they haven'y always made that clear. The cosmic entities running the universe of the Good Place aren't gods - they just act like them a lot of the time.

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

An eternal existence for a being designed to function with all the limitations of a mortal existence would be kind of a hell.

That kind of thing should have been something they thought about when creating humanity, but hey... it's just a sitcom.

 

[The Unsent]

An eternal existence for a being designed to function with all the limitations of a mortal existence would be kind of a hell.

That kind of thing should have been something they thought about when creating humanity, but hey... it's just a sitcom.

Click to shrink...

I think Michael should give them the chance to ascend into a creature like himself who can withstand billions of years or reincarnate. To me it's not just a sitcom, the story is better than the jokes and I don't think it needs to run away from ethical dilemmas, like what could be alternatives to giving up your existence, but still be a version of yourself? I hope they do an open ending, no easy answer

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

I think Michael should give them the chance to ascend into a creature like himself who can withstand billions of years or reincarnate. To me it's not just a sitcom, the story is better than the jokes and I don't think it needs to run away from ethical dilemmas, like what could be alternatives to giving up your existence, but still be a version of yourself? I hope they do an open ending, no easy answer

Click to shrink...

They made it clear that no one knew what would happen after they went through the door. It was an end to their time in the universe but it seems to be insinuating that it's open ended. A mystery to them as death would be to mortals and the living.

 

[Guppeth]

The show's version of the afterlife is just a continuation of life on Earth. It's chaotic, often mundane, and controlled by people who don't deserve to be in control, because they have no idea what they're doing.

They made it clear that no one knew what would happen after they went through the door. It was an end to their time in the universe but it seems to be insinuating that it's open ended. A mystery to them as death would be to mortals and the living.

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Right. They're still alive, for now. They experience the world exactly as they did on Earth, just the rules have changed. No one in the show is qualified to give a definite answer to what happens on the other side of the door. For me, it's oblivion, because that's how I think the universe works. But a viewer can just as easily imagine that they go to Real Heaven, where the limitations of the Good Place aren't an issue.

 

[The Unsent]

They made it clear that no one knew what would happen after they went through the door. It was an end to their time in the universe but it seems to be insinuating that it's open ended. A mystery to them as death would be to mortals and the living.

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I know, but your life must be at a very lifeless place if you're willing to take that gamble or plunge and I find that really sad if we have to see the protagonists like that, no matter how long it's been. Either you disappear forever or it's a just a comfort blanket Michael put them and you get reborn again or your memories actually scatter across the world like news atoms/fertilizer... or something abstract.

 

[theme park joe]

I'm really fascinated to see how they end Janet's story in particular. Seems like someone capable of creating life could play a key role if combatting eternal boredom is what the finale focuses on. Can people hump and have babies or age in the good place? Can Janet create a baby Chidanor? Speaking of.....where are all the babies?

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I can't be the only one to see the Green Door and immediately think of sex stuff, right? NGL hooking up with crushes is my #1.

Pending on what will happen on the finale, I think the message / the overall message of the show is being OK with dying. Not suicide or euthanasia, but valuing life, friendships and not being scared of death

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The Good Place was just Persona 3 all along.

 

[-shadow-]

I laughed way more than I should've. It's such a different thing than I expected. So good!

 

[TheZjman]

I really enjoyed the antivaxer dig lol.

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Haha, me too.

Spoiler: Thoughts on the ending of the show

I mean, given how it's being set up and that the last episode is called 'whenever you're ready' I'm fairly certain it will end with them walking through the suicide door together, not sure I could cope with that :(

 

[Kalor]

That was a good episode, the past two have felt like they could be finales but it just keeps going. I didn't like how the door being posed as a solution instantly revived everyones energy but they probably didn't have the time for anymore more substantial. The door is definitely going to be some kind of reincarnation though, with everyone meeting up on Earth again but improved compared to their original lives. Don't think they'd end the show with everyone disappearing out of existence.

 

[DeltaRed]

The show is really going out with a whimper since the little break. Four seasons of build up to seeing the good place and this was it. The show was best when it was unpredictable and constantly moving, the last few episodes have just felt like going through the motions to get to a specific point.

 

[Deleted member 15737]

The show is really going out with a whimper since the little break. Four seasons of build up to seeing the good place and this was it. The show was best when it was unpredictable and constantly moving, the last few episodes have just felt like going through the motions to get to a specific point.

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I've enjoyed them but I still agree. Feels like they kinda had to smush and rush to get stuff lined up for the finale. Hopefully it's worth it, and I would love for it to be surprising. To latch onto something bizarre and run with it hard.

Like, maybe fast forward a million years, michael has put in a plan allow God-ascension. Each character becomes a god of a different earth in time, and we see how those characters would go about it and how well they do.

Lol maybe thatd be dumb but you're right that the show has been best when its surprising.

 

[Lotus]

Sometimes it feels like y'all just want twists for the sake of it tbh

They can't do the whole "We're on the run!" thing forever lol

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Was that the last episode?

 

[Otnopolit]

Was that the last episode?

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Nope! We got a 60 minute finale next week called "Whenever You're Ready". Some Grey Heavens stuff is probably going down, but I like the unpredictable air to it, kinda like the Mr. Robot finale last month.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Nope! We got a 60 minute finale next week called "Whenever You're Ready". Some Grey Heavens stuff is probably going down, but I like the unpredictable air to it, kinda like the Mr. Robot finale last month.

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Thanks! I thought we had the finale left but my wife said this episode really seemed to end it so we were not sure