Hi! Thanks for reading! In this “column,” we will discuss upcoming or recently released games, movies and other big things in pop culture every other week. It will be formatted like a conversation, but can be read like a column. In this week’s column, we discuss the most recent and last season of The Good Place. We hope you enjoy the column!

– Briana and Jillian

Intro

Jillian

Welcome back to our column!

Briana

Or welcome to our column if this is the first time you’re here. If so, you should go read our first one because it’s funny! I laughed.

Yes, go ahead and read that, it’s pretty great. So this week, we are going to be talking about the fourth and last season of a great show, “The Good Place.”

Yes. I haven’t watched it even though it’s been recommended to me a million times. Warning, there are spoilers ahead for the all of the seasons. If you don’t want to be spoiled, why are you here? Sorry, that was rude.

If you don’t want to be spoiled, go binge watch the first three seasons right now and then come back.

(A moment of silence, then the sound of a crisp high five)

Okay, “The Good Place.” I know the bare minimum, but for someone who would know even less than me, give me a very quick overview.

So “The Good Place” is sort of a fantasy/comedy show about four people who die and end up in the heaven-like afterlife, which is the Good Place. But there are a ton of crazy plot twists and… yeah!

(a round of applause)

Thank you.

So, today we’re looking at the first look trailer of the season. I can hear you all screaming, ummm Briana you said you haven’t watched any of this aren’t you going to be massively spoiled? (scoff) Uh, yes! But I’ve chosen to live with that.

And if you haven’t watched it, but you learn all the spoilers, I would say still go watch it, because there are some things you won’t have spoiled, and also it’s hilarious. You should definitely do that.

Everything Is Fine

Okay, so the first thing that I’m noticing kind of being thrown into my face is this whole “everything is fine” thing that all of the actors repeat, and then you see it on the wall, which makes for interesting wall art, I suppose.

Yeah, so that’s actually a pretty big part of the show! Whenever anybody dies and goes to the Good Place, that’s the first thing they see when they wake up.

Nice and horrifying.

(*laughs*) I think it’s supposed to relax you, but —

Imagine you just died horribly, like an anvil falls on your head or something, and you wake up, and you just see “everything is fine” and you’re still having memories of your brain bleeding out of your ears. Calming?

Yikes. Thanks for that image. Something interesting I heard in a podcast about The Good Place was that the creators of the show actually spent a long time trying to get that shade of green on the wall just right. 

(*laughs*) It needs to be forest green…

Yes, not emerald green…

We can’t have it looking like a compost bin!

The Point System

So the next main topic in the fourth season that we want to cover is this whole idea of humans being judged unfairly once they die.

Okay, full disclosure, I do know a teeny tiny bit about this because I saw a GIF about it on Tumblr. So I think the reason no one had gotten into the Good Place in so long was because there are all these small actions that deducted from their average point value on Earth? There was an example where someone got flowers for their grandpa, which is good, but then you know, underpaid laborers had to produce them, and it’s just all these small things that deducted from their points.

Yeah exactly!

Thanks Tumblr!

Eleanor and Chidi

Alright, the last thing that I really notice in this trailer are the characters Eleanor and Chidi. Their relationship seems to be a very vocal point.

Yes. It’s been pretty big throughout the show. It started out in the first season as them being paired up as soulmates, but they kind of hated each other. And then you find out that that was all just part of the plan, and they weren’t really ever meant to be soulmates —

But they did end up actually falling in love?

Yeah. But then in seasons two through four there was a lot of memory-wiping and craziness and —

Romantic!

Yeah! So it’s just been a very complex relationship. Obviously there are going to be a lot more complications for them throughout this season… 

Fingers crossed that it ends up well! Everything crossed! I’m a human pretzel.

Conclusion

So. “The Good Place,” season four. Still coming out as we record this, and hopefully when we get this up too. So is it a good show? Should you watch it?

It is a great show and you should definitely watch it.

I think it looks good. I’ve gotten enough positive reviews from people who I trust that I’m like, “Hmm. I want to give this a try when I have less homework.” So do you think season four is wrapping it up well so far? Do you think it’s a worthwhile journey for people to go on?

I think so. I feel like it hasn’t really gotten to the point where they’re wrapping it up yet, but it has definitely been great so far. I was kind of worried, because some shows start out really well and then just kind of get worse —

It’s okay, you can just say Game of Thrones.

(*laughs*) But anyway, I think the fourth season has been really great so far, and I think it’s gonna be a good end to the show.

Alright, thank you for reading the Pop Culture Column!