The Good Place - What's My Motivation - Review: "Pobody's Nerfect!"

In the most recent episode of The Good Place, the gang decides that they need to increase Eleanor’s good deed point total so they throw a party similar to the one Tahani threw in the first episode so that Eleanor can make amends with the town. Afterwards, Eleanor’s point total barely goes up and she realizes that it is because she was doing good things for selfish reasons. As a result, she decides to leave The Good Place. Meanwhile, Oleanor says "I love you" to Chidi and he can’t say it back. Finally, Jason/Jianyu and Janet reveal their marriage to Michael, who decides to reboot Janet as she is developing the ability to feel. Jason/Jianyu and Janet then flee and run into Eleanor and all three get on the train that Sean is arriving on and head towards The Medium Place!

So as we have been theorizing this entire season: The Medium Place does exist!  I think this development is especially interesting with how it relates to the question "how is season 1 going to end?"  Since Eleanor revealed herself as being in The Good Place by mistake, I've been pretty stressed wondering if she was going to end the season in The Good Place or The Bad Place, but now there's a third place she could potentially end up!  On the one hand, after all the amazing personal progress and friends she's made, I want her to end up The Good Place.  On the other hand, she's been talking about how she would be the perfect candidate for a hypothetical medium place all season and now that we know it's real, I'm kind of thinking she may belong there.   GAH! I'm so torn and love how this quirky, random sitcom can do that to me.  Other than the existence of The Medium Place, the name Mindy St. Claire also provided some intrigue.  Who is she? Does she have a connection to Eleanor or a different character? Only time will tell!  Let me know in the comments what theories you have! 

I also really loved Jason/Jianyu and Michael's B Story this week. It was interesting to see how Jason/Jianyu handled all of the tests that Michael put Eleanor through earlier in the season with his signature unaware happy attitude. It was also funny to see how crazy he made Michael, just as Eleanor did. On top of that, Janet continued to show more development with the admission that she is developing feelings. It’s been a really fun ride to see Janet go from rebooting and redownloading all the world’s facts to getting married and having feelings. It’s just another random, quirky, but incredibly endearing storyline that The Good Place has pulled off.

One thing that did fall a little flat for me this episode was Oleanor and Chidi's storyline.  After last week's crazy, ridiculous, love confessing episode, I was hoping to see a bit more fall out from that.  Now don't get me wrong, there was definitely some important progress made, which was told through Chidi's inability to say "I love you" back to Oleanor.  From my perspective, that pretty much eliminates her as a possible soulmate for Chidi and I'm glad that that progress was made.  It was just a little disjointed and felt like it killed some of the awesome momentum coming out of the previous episode.  That being said, it still had some pretty funny moments and as I said last week - I totally trust the writers to handle the soulmate stuff correctly.

Other random thoughts:
-I enjoyed Tahani and Eleanor throwing the party and getting to see some of the other residents. It was a fun trip down memory lane of all the terrible things Eleanor has done, but more importantly, also helped highlight all the progress she’s made.
-The Jason/Jianyu flashback was great!
-There was so much going on I almost forgot to mention that SEAN. HAS. ARRIVED! So excited to see how he adds to the show.

Overall Grade:
A-. A strong, funny episode that stumbled only a little with the Chidi/Oleanor storyline.

Favorite Quotes:
Chidi: Woah, your point total was crazy high, Eleanor!
Eleanor: (Laughing) Sorry, Crazy High Eleanor was my nickname in college.

Tahani: Who else feels Eleanor has ruined every moment of your existence since you arrived? *Everyone raises their hand* (This isn’t the funniest quote but it reminded me of “Raise your hand if you have been personally victimized by Regina George" so I was dying)

Janet: Jason, you are all that I care about. Possibly because I did not have the capacity to care about anything before you. I love you. Also interesting side note - I think I might hate things now. So far it’s genocide and leggings as pants.

What were your feelings on this episode? Excited for the finale tonight?! Let me know in the comments!