The Good Place: Chillaxing (4x03)

Yay, Tahani and Jason had stuff to do! Joy of joys!

Cons:

I missed Simone this week! And while I like that we learned more about John and his journey towards improvement, it feels disjointed to not be checking in with all four humans each week. That might just be a consequence of the season's overall pacing... I should probably be patient and wait for more of the story to unfold.

Pros:

In order to get Chidi to start improving himself and others, he needs to be tortured and put into a stressful situation. Eleanor takes to this task with a little too much relish, and Chidi does indeed start falling apart after they make Jason pretend once again to be a monk, and then reveal his secret to Chidi and beg for his help. However, Eleanor then has a breakdown about the pain she's putting Chidi through, and reveals to Michael that she is feeling irrationally angry with Chidi for leaving her, even though obviously he made a great sacrifice for the sake of them all.

This story was just so heartbreaking for Chidi and Eleanor both. Eleanor puts Chidi through hell, all in the service of the larger goal... but of course personal emotions get so easily tangled up in things along the way. I loved the moment when Eleanor started to cry, and Chidi freaked out because he'd "made God cry." And Michael being there to support Eleanor through this journey is really the perfect arc for his character, as well. He's gone from being "the architect" who is controlling all of these people's lives, to being a support system for his human friend, providing guidance and suggestions where he can, but allowing Eleanor to run the show.

I also love that Jason gets to be part of the plan. He has to act like himself, which isn't rocket science, but he has to do so without revealing the truth of the big experiment to Chidi, and he pulls it off with aplomb. I know Jason is an idiot, but as many other people have pointed out, he totally epitomizes the low intelligence, high wisdom character. Sure, he doesn't understand a lot of basic stuff, but he gets the big ideas and he can be depended on when it really matters. It was fun to see Jason return to that season one dynamic, and to watch Chidi fall apart just like he did back in the day.

Meanwhile, Tahani bonds with John, the gossip blogger. She tries to get him in on the gossip to make him feel included, so that maybe he can move past his petty jealousies. Her goal, of getting him to attend Chidi's ethics classes, does not work out. But Tahani eventually comes to understand what she and John have in common. He was on the outside, she was on the inside, but they were both obsessed with status and one-upping other people. When she relates to him on that level, and points out the folly of that way of thinking, she has a breakthrough. Tahani didn't actually become a better person through Chidi's lessons either, so hopefully she can guide John on this journey of self-improvement.

As always with this show, my review has wound up being pretty short. There's just not a lot to discuss! It was good, as always!

9/10