“Everything is Fine” as ‘The Good Place’ Resets in the Season 2 Premiere [Recap]

“Welcome to The Good Place. Everything is Fine!”

 

Well, if you remember season one then you know that THAT statement is a crock of “shirt!” Wait…why can’t we say shirt?

Anyway, so in the series’ first season, we meet a morally imperfect Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) who is sent to The Good Place after dying in a freak accident and finds out that she is mistaken for a different Eleanor Shellstrop that deserves to actually be there. She is greeted and welcomed by the architect, Michael (Ted Danson). He introduces her to her soulmate, Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper), who she confides in that she is not the actual “Real Eleanor.” He promises to keep her secret while helping her to become a better person so that she can remain there. The fact that Eleanor does not truly belong in The Good Place sends it into chaos.

Along the way, she also encounters other inhabitants of The Good Place including Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil), a wealthy Philanthropist, her soulmate Jianyu Li (Manny Jacinto), a silent Buddhist monk, and Janet Della-Denunzio (D’arcy Carden), who is more or less a computer info database in human form.

As things fall apart, it comes to light that neither Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani nor Jianyu belong in The Good Place at all. Chidi for his indecisiveness, Tahani for her bitter jealousy and corrupt motives during her charitable achievements, and Jianyu, a.k.a Jason Mendoza, a DJ/drug dealer. Oh, and do you want to know the real FORKING ice on the cake? Eleanor figures out that The Good Place isn’t even the REAL Good Place. It’s The Bad Place!

“Holy Mother Forking Shirt Balls!”

Michael admits he created this fake Utopia as an experiment and the rest of the community had been in on it, each with their own roles to play. His reasoning was to put them through a different type of torture where the four individuals would torture each other. He threatens to erase everyone’s memories and start again but make changes the second time around to prolong the torture. Before he can, a smart Eleanor decided to leave a clue, a note to herself inside Janet’s mouth.

With a snap of his fingers, The Good Place restarts and we join Eleanor, once again being greeted by Michael and given a tour. She meets a different soulmate who quickly runs off to the gym when confronted with whether or not he would stand by her. The same question was asked of Chidi when she confessed to him in season 1. Janet locates her and gives her the note she left behind. She opens it and it reads, “Eleanor — Find Chidi.”

“What the fork is a Chidi?”

That brings us to the season 2 premiere picking up right where we left off.

Michael briefs the town on the changes he has in store. He decides to give them different soulmates which will make it more difficult for our four main characters to find each other. Each member of the community will have different roles as well. His plan is to keep them separated as long as possible to prolong the ordeal. As with the first experiment, Michael’s superior Shawn thinks his plan will fail but allows him this second chance, his last chance.

Eleanor:

Most of the episode has Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason re-entering The Good Place. All of their previous memories have been erased. Eleanor knows that something is not quite right in paradise. Why would she leave herself a note? Obviously, she’s been there before. On her quest to find who or what Chidi is, she explores that town. She runs into Jianyu. They stare at each other for a moment and she asks if he’s Chidi. He doesn’t respond, silent monk, DUH!, and hands her a gear. Confused, she accepts it just when Michael interrupts them. He tells her that due to her extraordinary work as an activist, he wants her to give a speech later that night to address the community. She politely tries to refuse but he ignores it. His diabolical plan is for the community members to help get her drunk so she can insult people during her speech. Her bad actions will send The Good Place into chaos 0nce again.

At the party, she mingles but refuses to drink. Townspeople are confused on what to do next and her soulmate runs for the gym every time she confronts him with a question. Frustrated, she decides to give in and take a few shots and just before she downs them, she overhears Chidi’s name. She hands the shots off to an unknown person and confronts Chidi who confirms it is him. She tells him that they need to talk.

Chidi:

Chidi is greeted into The Good Place by Michael. While touring the town, Michael informs him that the system matched him with 2 soulmates instead of one. Knowing that Chidi struggles with indecisiveness and it will be pure torture for him, Michael tells Chidi that it is up to him to choose who his soulmate will be, Angelique or Pevita. Before Chidi can announce that he has chosen Angelique, Michael interrupts them and says there was a miscalculation and his soulmate is Pevita.

At the party, Chidi is struggling, not that he could not make a decision but that it was made for him and he doesn’t agree with it but decides to accept it. At the bar, he is approached by Angelique. He asks if she feels the same for him and states that the calculations could still be wrong. She responds, “Stop! Please don’t make this harder than it already is, Chidi,” with Eleanor listening nearby. She hands off her shots to an unknown person and confronts Chidi who confirms that it is him. She tells him that they need to talk.

She pulls him into an empty room and shows him the note she left for herself. Trying to make sense of everything, she figures out that at some point she put the note in Janet’s mouth. She tells him that everyone has been acting strange ever since she arrived. She admits that she doesn’t trust anyone but herself and according to the note, herself told her to find him. Expecting that he would know what is going on, he instead brushes her off telling her that he is dealing with his own issues and walks away just as Michael is about to announce Eleanor, to give her speech.

Tahani:

Tahani is greeted into The Good Place by Michael and she accepts. She is introduced to her soulmate, Tomas who, to her dissatisfaction, is short. She continues to put her foot in her mouth by constantly pointing out his shortcomings. They are taken to their new home which turns out to be a small, quaint cottage. Obviously, used to more luxurious accommodations, she pretends to be happy until she notices a self-portrait of her sister on the wall. Tomas expresses his admiration for Tahani’s sister to her polite disgust.

At the party, Tahani decides to “dress down” to match Tomas’ choice of attire. Comfort over style. She uncomfortably walks in wearing a denim jacket and cargo pants. She relays her concerns to Michael who tells her that there may be a little bit of adjusting to do but if she wants something, all she has to do is ask. She realizes that she is being petty and accepts what she has been given. Michael wakes away and she is left standing alone at the bar. Eleanor hands off 4 shots to her and walks away. She downs the shots after being complimented on her cargo pants.

Michael announces Eleanore who is about to give her speech. A drunken Tahani interrupts her and pushes her to the side. She publically announces her complaints. Michael advises Eleanor to try to persuade her off stage. Eleanor politely tries to help an inebriated Tahani who angrily responds by insulting her. Eleanor tries to pull her aside and Tahani pulls back accidentally knocking over a table and setting the curtains on fire.

Jianyu/Jason:

Jianyu is greeted into The Good Place by Michael. While giving him a tour of the neighborhood, Michael explains to Jianyu that not all soulmates are romantic. His soulmate is a spiritual companion. Another Buddhist monk named Luang. Jianyu would never have to feel loneliness because Luang will be at his side…always. All Jianyu wants to do is to be able to be himself but with Luang practically glued to his hip, it’s a struggle. While riding their bikes into town, they stop and Jianyu motions for Luang to grab a couple of kites for them to fly. While Luang is distracted, Jianyu removes the gear from Luang’s bike wheel, he turns and runs into Eleanor. She asks him if his name is Chidi and without responding, he hands her the bike gear. They are interrupted by Michael who takes her away and Jianyu rides off, alone, leaving Luang behind. He arrives at their yurt only to find Luang waiting there for him.

At the party, Michael offers them a drink. Since they can’t ask for what they want, Michael has Janet bring them Yak’s milk. An envious Jianyu notices Eleanor pouring herself shots. They both drink the milk, Jianyu spits it out with disgust.

Eleanor is called to give her speech and Tahani interrupts, falls and sets the curtains on fire. Michael senses that things are not as he planned them the second time around.

“What the fork is happening?”

Replaying everything back in his mind, Michael tries to figure out what went wrong. He is confronted by Denise, real Eleanor from season 1, who is upset about the role she is given in this second chance. He realizes that instead of Eleanor getting drunk, insulting people and causing chaos like he planned, it ended up being Tahani in her place.

While Michael is distracted helping Tahani, Jianyu uses the chance to sneak away. He later calls for Janet and confesses his true identity. They become friends. Chidi also pulls Eleanor aside and informs her that he recognizes the paper that she wrote the note on from one of his books. He tells her that even though they don’t remember, they may, somehow, know each other.

Michael is trying to salvage what he can from his plan. He obviously can’t use Tahani’s speech to send everything into chaos because she believes that she belongs in The Good Place as opposed to Eleanore who knows that she doesn’t and the chaos would be torturous for her as she struggles with being good and bad.

He notices that Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jianyu are all missing and it is quite possible that they have found each other. He sends the neighborhood to search for them.

Meanwhile, Chidi and Eleanor are at her house where he is trying to piece it all together. He knows that she doesn’t belong there which makes him question himself. He can establish that somewhere, beforehand, they knew each other. Michael finally finds them and pretends that he is happy that they have met. Tahani walks in returning Eleanor’s sash from the party. She also admits that ever since she arrived, things seemed a little off as well. Tomas walks in, followed by Pevita. Eleanor realizes things are not matching up from the looks of everyone’s soulmates. Michael eagerly tries to have everyone leave and return to their homes. Janet and Jason walk in announcing that he would like to speak with her privately. Luang walks in and Michael tries to get him to take Jason home but Jason refuses.

With Chidi, Tahani and Jason standing there confused and the rest looking on, Eleanor announces that Michael is “forking’ with them. That she doesn’t know where they are at but it’s not The Good Place. They knew each other before and she has the note to prove it. Michael asks about the note and Eleanor admits that she wrote it before the reset and placed it in Janet’s mouth. An astonished Michael admits that the note is the reason why his plan went downhill so fast, that she was clever for writing it but that it won’t help her the next time around. Knowing that he is plotting on resetting again, she shoves the note into her own mouth but Michael warns her that it will not work. As Tahani confronts him and demands to speak to his superior, Michael snaps his fingers and resets!

Michael is again addressing the town and apologizes for the hiccup they had. He assures them that everything is going as planned, nothing has been left in Janet’s mouth and that Shawn has given his full support. He later lies to Shawn who believes he is still on his second attempt and tells him that everything is great and even better than the first time around. Shawn reminds him that he still does not approve of his plan and that there will never be a third attempt unaware that a third attempt is already in progress. He ends his conversation with Shawn and opens the door to his office. He invites Eleanor Shellstrop inside.

The Good Place airs Thursdays at 8:30 pm on NBC.

 

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