It's always exciting to start reviews for a show I haven't written about yet. I binged seasons one and two of this excellent NBC comedy a month or so ago, and I'm thrilled to be on board for the start of Season Three. Let's just get right to it.
Cons:
It's hard to complain. This show is very good. I have a potential future-complaint, though. I really hope that now that the four humans are back on earth, alive, we're done resetting their memories. Thus far, I haven't been bothered by how many times they've forgotten and then gotten to know each other again, but at some point I think it might start to be a problem. We can see Michael form growing and adapting relationships with people, but Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason all keep getting rebooted so their relationship progress is effectively lost. There's a point at which this becomes shaky. We haven't hit it yet, but I'm watching out for it.
Pros:
I really admire any show that can shake itself up and give itself new structures so often. It was the thing that BBC's show Merlin did so poorly, relying on one central conceit and overplaying it to death. This show started with a premise, ripped that premise to shreds, and then started this season ripping it even more to shreds. This comedy about four people who have died and are in the afterlife is now about four people who are alive. Going about their day to day. That changes everything, in a good way.
Let's talk about the new folks, too. I really like the character of Simone. She and Chidi have instant chemistry and I totally love them together. The great thing about Eleanor and Chidi's relationship in the last few seasons is that they always find a connection, they always grow to care for each other, but it's not always romantic. I would be totally okay with Chidi and Eleanor as strong friends, and Chidi and Simone as a cute couple. That concept doesn't bother me in the slightest. Simone was instantly hilarious and charismatic. She's the kind of person that just jumps right in to strange new scenarios, which makes her the perfect partner for Chidi, who still needs some help making decisions.
The other new guy is the Door Man, who is freakin' hilarious. I love his random frog infatuation, and his blase attitude. I wonder if he knows Michael is breaking the rules, but he's just bored enough that he lets it happen anyway. In any case, I bet this guy is going to have a fun role to play moving forward.
One kind of abstract thing I enjoy about this show is how it manages to create a consistent tone, even though we have some scenes on Earth where Chidi and Eleanor are walking around a college campus, and we have other scenes in the afterlife where Shawn zips his subordinates into cocoons for annoying him. These things are so oddly juxtaposed, but they create a cohesive whole.
Michael is such a fun, fascinating character. I love his creative and silly methods for interfering down on Earth, especially his conversation with Jason, and the flashbacks we see to all of his failed dance competitions. Each interference is catered to the person involved. It's not necessarily about helping them with a gentle, guiding hand. It's about maneuvering them into the right position so they can help each other. Michael is funny, he's good at portraying wildly disparate people, and his delight in the humdrum reality of humanity is such an interesting growth from all of his earlier assertions that humans were insignificant and pathetic.
Janet should also get a comedy shout-out. It looks like we'll continue to explore Janet and Jason's romance, which should be a lot of fun. I should say that the woman who plays Janet is one of my favorite things about the show. She's so matter-of-fact, and so good at giving sympathetic energy to the character without betraying the premise of her being essentially a cosmic computer interface. I imagine that balance is hard to achieve, but she definitely pulls it off.
The setup of this season so far leaves a lot of room to explore. Basically, all four humans had near-death experiences that Michael prevented. For a while, they all decided to make a change and live better. But each one eventually fell back into their old patterns. The thesis, then, is that people need specific other people around them to be their best selves. Whether "soul mates" are real or not remains unclear. But maybe there is something hardwired into these four humans, after all of their experiences in the afterlife, that means they belong together. It's a beautiful concept, and I trust this show to explore all of the nuances therein.
I'm excited to continue on into the season, and to be writing about a new show!
9/10
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