Have you ever thought about what happens after you die? This series begins in the afterlife. Rest assured, The Good Place is very different from any TV show you've ever watched. While making you laugh with its universal comedy, on the other hand, it discusses the theories of famous philosophers such as Kant, Nietzsche, Socrates and Plato and you end up questioning life. It is one of the best philosophical series and netflix shows.
If you are searching for good Netflix series to watch, comedy series on Netflix, best tv shows 2020 or if you want to read The Good Place review, let's move on to the post. Don't worry, it does not contain any spoilers.
The Beginning
The Good Place begins with Eleanor Shellstrop, a woman from Arizona, opens her eyes to the afterlife. Michael, an afterlife employee, greets her. According to this series, no thinker, philosopher or religion was exactly able to predict the way that the afterlife's system works, or you can also say the way divine justice works. Each of the religions guessed only 5% of it.
According to the system here, there is a Good Place and a Bad Place. Although they are a little different from the Christian understanding of heaven and hell, they are still similar. Eleanor was one of the minorities selected for the Good Place. Good Place consisted of different neighborhoods, in which there were a certain number of people with specific personalities and likings. Some of the neighborhoods had a warmer climate or a different season, and some of them were colder. This changed according to the people in it. Michael is the architect of the neighborhood where Eleanor is going to live.
The way they estimated who is going to the Good Place or the Bad Place was by calculating every behavior of each person and counting them as positive or negative points. Those who entered the Good Place had to have a really high score.
Besides, in the Good Place, everyone has a soulmate. The idea of living with someone who is a perfect match for you for forever sounds absolutely fantastic. Eleanor's soul mate is a Moral Philosophy Professor named Chidi Anagonye. Eleanor was an Environmental Activist and Lawyer.
The Plot Twist of the First Episode
Now I want to talk about the most crucial point of the first episode; Eleanor didn't actually belong to the Good Place. The memories that Michael showed, the house he had prepared for her, nothing he told, including her profession was not true. He got only her name and how she died right. This is the turning point that creates both the comedy element of the series and the starter of many interesting events.
Chidi is of course shocked when she explains this to him. Eleanor actually worked for a company that sold fake medicine for the sick and the elderly, and she was really good at it too, which is of course a big obstacle for her to be even considered a good person. Other important characters, aka The Good Place cast, are; extremely wealthy and a little arrogant Tahani Al-Jamil, her soul mate Jianyu, who has been a silent monk for many years, and Janet, another Good Place employee that they can ask anything about the Universe, but Janet was more like a computer rather than a human in the beginning.
Eleanor's presence in the Good Place is of course a bug for the system and she needs Chidi's help to fix it.
Learning is Fun with This Series
This is such a series that everyone can find a side of themselves in a character because these 4 characters; Tahani, Eleanor, Chidi and Jianyu, are so well-written. The creator of the series, Michael Schur, has given each of them the common characteristics of every people. Their mistakes, truths, but most importantly, their capacity to develop in a difficult situation is all crucial characteristics of human beings, which Michael Schur detected so well. This is definitely enough to make the Good Place different from other series.
Also, thanks to Chidi, we learn many philosophical theories throughout the series without realizing it. I think it is very fun to be able to watch and learn from a series. If you have an interest in philosophy, especially moral philosophy, The Good Place is the one for you. But don't think of this learning process as a lesson, it slowly creeps into your mind throughout the four seasons of the series.
This series shows us that we are not alone in trying to understand what is right and wrong every day in this chaotic world we live in. After finishing the series, I couldn't watch another series for a long time, I just watched it from the beginning over and over again. There are many things that people miss when they watch it for the first time, so I'm sure if you watch it, you will want to watch it again. Also, all the Good Place episodes are on Netflix which is very convenient.
- What do you think about The Good Place? You can write any comment, idea, or theory about the series in the comment section down below, but please write spoiler in the beginning if you are going to give any spoilers.
You can also check out another great Netflix series that I wrote a review for; Anne with an E Series Review: A Hidden Gem on Netflix. I also suggest you read A Detailed Film Review: In the Heights(2021), it is such an amazing movie.
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