The Good Place: Janet(s) (3x10)

Wow. That was brilliant. Probably the best episode of the season thus far, and that's saying something, since there haven't exactly been any duds.

Cons:

Okay. The only thing I have to say in the "cons" section might arguably not be a con, but I do want to mention it. Throughout the history of this show, there have been so many great surprises and plot twists and rule-changing reveals, and each and every one of them has kept me on my toes and surprised me in the best way. This week, the big reveal is that nobody has been sent to the Good Place in over 500 years. Honestly, I was expecting this. Or something similar. I wondered if anyone had ever been to the Good Place, or if the Good Place even existed, but I had definitely already worked out that the points system was faulty. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to figure out a plot twist ahead of time once in a while, but I just wanted to mention that this was the first and only time in this show's whole history that a new development didn't completely blow me away. I figured out the whole "this is the Bad Place" twist in Season One, sure, but I hadn't realized that the whole neighborhood was part of the trick. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop with this twist, I guess. I'm sure I'm going to love whatever comes next.

Pros:

Where to even start? D'Arcy Carden was incredible. She plays Janet, but also Chidi, Eleanor, Jason, and Tahani for the bulk of this episode, and she does an amazing job. So much so that when I think of the important conversations that Chidi and Eleanor had this week, I see Chidi and Eleanor having them, not Janet dressed up in their clothes. Really good stuff.

There are just too many good jokes to count, but a few of my favorites include Eleanor pretending to be Jason, Jason's impression of Eleanor, Tahani and Jason discovering Janet's former relationship with Jason, and Jason taking it in stride, Janet's reaction to the puppy that Eleanor conjured, as she talks about reality unraveling, Neutral Janet in the accounting department, the poor accountant stuck in the weird sex stuff job, the corner-piece of the birthday cake debacle, Janet's discomfort with having people in her void, and more. Such a good episode, filled with so many genuine laughs.

Chidi and Eleanor are adorable. Chidi spends the episode in denial, shielding himself with his ethical learning as always. He argues that the Chidi who fell in love with Eleanor was not himself, because he can't remember any of it, and thus what happened between this other Chidi and Eleanor has nothing to do with him. Eleanor argues that Chidi is just running from his feelings, but Chidi's insistence leads to Eleanor starting to doubt herself, and in turn this destabilizes Janet's void. We then get a beautiful scene where Chidi tells Eleanor about herself, to remind her of who she is and help her get a grip on herself. The two share a kiss, starting as two Janets but then transforming into Chidi and Eleanor by the time the kiss ends. During this whole scene, even though I was watching D'Arcy Carden talk to herself, I really felt like I was seeing a big moment in Chidi and Eleanor's relationship play out. Truly superb.

Tahani and Jason were relegated to comedic support this week, which was smart. One of the things I admired about Carden's impressions of her co-stars was that she didn't go too far with them. Particularly Eleanor and Chidi - they felt real and grounded. Since Tahani and Jason had less heavy lifting in terms of plot and emotion, they were allowed to be a little bit more silly and over the top, which led to some great laughs, like Tahani's initial horror at wearing a vest, and Jason summoning Pill Boi to hang out with him in a broken hot tub.

This was also a great episode for Michael. He was so sure that he was going to find answers by exposing a flaw in the points system, but at the end of the day, he realizes that he's the one who has to make change happen. Janet helps him come to this realization, and it was a good moment of bonding for the two of them.

As we end the episode, our core characters have traveled to the Good Place to see what's what. It's taken nearly three full seasons, but we're finally going to see what the Good Place is really like, and I'm beyond excited. As much as I've been enjoying this season thus far, this episode made me realize that being earth-bound did put a lot of constraint on the story. Now that we're free to get weird again, I can't wait to see how things unfold.

9.5/10