Nearly 35% Think This Season Of The Good Place Season Was The Worst
NBC's "The Good Place" defies most TV conventions as it turns a sitcom about the afterlife into a bizarre, yet hilarious exploration of humanity's capacity for good and change. It's a set up that sounds unlikely to succeed, but with the darling Kristen Bell and comedy veteran Ted Danson as its leads, and TV's most optimistic writer, Michael Schur ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Parks and Recreation"), as its creator, "The Good Place" becomes a lovable series on all accounts.
Still, "The Good Place" set itself up with a challenge from the beginning. The first season subverted everyone's expectations with its big reveal, blowing audiences away with the surprising, yet earned revelation that the four humans are in the Bad Place. From there, the series needed to keep up the intrigue and develop a longer plot without getting stuck in place. For the most part, the following three seasons succeed in doing just that. Sure, you can argue that the final season never reaches the heights of the first, but for the most part, "The Good Place" keeps being good through the end.
The series never reaches a point where it seems like the writers ran out of ideas. No, in fact, it tells one complete story from start to finish. Yet, even then, "The Good Place" inevitably has its slower moments that aren't as top-tier as its best episodes. So, which season is the weakest link?
Looper asked people "Which The Good Place season do you think was the worst?" and got 637 responses. Here's what they picked.
Many view Season 3 as the show's shakiest season
With just over a third of the vote, Season 3 came in as the top choice for the worst season of "The Good Place," with Season 4 not too far behind. Season 1 ended up getting the least amount of votes, with only 16%.
For a refresher, here's a brief rundown: Season 1 saw the core four first enter the afterlife, only to find faults in their picturesque neighborhood in the Good Place. Eleanor (Kristen Bell) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) pretend they belong there, while the quaint cobbled streets and numerous froyo shops threaten to come apart at the seams due to their presence. Then comes the great revelation: The two of them, along with Chidi (William Jackson Harper) and Tahani (Jameela Jamil), are actually in the Bad Place. In Season 2, the humans' demon overlord, Michael (Ted Danson), teams up with them to cover up his failure at building a self-perpetuating torture circle between the four humans. After seeing how they can change in the afterlife, Michael warms up to them.
Season 3 sends the core four, Michael, and Janet (D'Arcy Carden) back to Earth, where the humans' memory of everything thus far is wiped and they're meant to prove to the Judge (Maya Rudolph) that they can improve their moral standing. This season provides the second biggest twist of the series: No human has gotten into the Good Place in centuries. Finally, in Season 4, they overturn the system and recreate the Good Place on the basis of trying to become a better person.
The series' last episode is its top-rated on IMDB, so no one can argue that "The Good Place" didn't stick the landing, but instead, it seems that it's the middle that is the weakest.
Season 3 lags in the beginning as the characters are reintroduced to each other
Rotten Tomatoes user Severin D broke down what about Season 3 misses the mark: "The first half, however, is marked by many filler episodes, which often makes it seem that the series doesn't quite know which direction it wants to go. Some storylines seem a bit irrelevant, especially when you then realise that they were concluded rather abruptly after just a few episodes."
Additionally, while each season refreshes at least one character's memory, Season 3 has to reintroduce all of Team Cockroach to each other. To Reddit user pac42, this is one of the season's weaker points: "The show works best as a whole when Team Cockroach all know each other. Every time they make it so they don't all know each other, it suffers a bit."
Now, there seems to be a differing opinion between critics and audiences, here. If you check out the show's Rotten Tomatoes scores, Season 1 actually has the lowest critics' score with a still very respectable 92%, while Seasons 2 and 4 boast 100%, and Season 3 has a near perfect 98%. In contrast, the audience scores, which hit a high of 92% for Season 1, drop a few points from season to season, with the last two both sitting at 87%. Still, according to fans on Reddit and IMDB, Season 3 boasts one of the best episodes of the series, "Janet(s)," in which D'Arcy Carden plays each of the humans in addition to her usual role as Janet.
Even at its weakest, "The Good Place" is still good. Or, at least, trying to be.