Ty Watches "The Good Place" Mid Season Finale

Last night was the mid season finale of “The Good Place”, and it was a tremendous episode. The entire 22 minutes were centered around Chidi, who is excellently played by William Jackson Harper. The whole episode was about the people waking him up from his slumber, and it flashed back to all of his crucial memories over his life on and off Earth. It was great.

For those that may not know, Chidi is infamous for being the most indecisive human being ever. He cannot make even the easiest of choices. It was so bad, his lack of urgency caused him to lose his life. I know this sounds dire, but in the context of “The Good Place”, it is put across hilariously. Anyway, when Michael(Ted Danson) goes to snap his fingers, we get to see all these moments. It started for him as a baby, when his parents asked if he liked the name Chidi, and he immediately cried. We then see him struggle to pick a chair in elementary school, breaking up with a girlfriend because he thinks philosophy can keep them together, to his dean at college telling him his thesis is too much, to his friends questioning him, to him being in the good place and struggling there, we see it all. And Harper is so good at portraying this indecisive genius. His quirks and quips she questions are never ending, so much so that it is exhausting.

Near the end of his memories you can see a different Chidi. After finding Eleanor(Kristen Bell), he seems more sure of himself, more confident. Right before he gets his mind wiped, the season 3 finale, he writes a note and gives it to Janet(Darcey Carden), and asks her to hold onto it until they meet again, if ever. When Michael finally finishes the snap, Chidi wakes up and is asked how he feel. He looks relaxed, and he says, “I feel great”, and I totally believed him. He looks, for the first time in his afterlife, like he is calm and confident. He has a look of assurance we’ve never seen from him. He asks all of his friends if he’s been annoying for the last 300 years, and they kind of blow it off to tell him that he needs to save all of humanity and Earth. Just when I thought he would revert to his norm, he says okay, and that he will try. He then asks Janet for the letter, and inside it reads, “there’s no “answer”, but Eleanor is the answer”. It was so sweet and touching and perfect.

“The Good Place” just continues to get better and better, and surprises me with something new almost every episode. This mid season finale sets up the actual finale perfectly, and I’m so stoked to see how they finish it up. In a show with a great cast, great writers and great direction, this episode was an absolute home run. My hat is off to all of the people that work on it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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