Why Some Fans Of The Good Place Are Upset With The Ending
Contains spoilers for "The Good Place"
Upon the opening of NBC sitcom "The Good Place," the series' core cast of recently deceased characters believe that their accomplishments in life were sufficient enough to land them in the Good Place — essentially Heaven by another name. The Season 1 finale, however, reveals that what they all were led to think was the Good Place is actually the hellish Bad Place, and their deception a form of torture.
The final season of "The Good Place" then follows a concerted effort by protagonists Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), Jason (Manny Jacinto), and Janet (D'Arcy Carden) to convince those in charge of all afterlife affairs that a Bad Place is no longer necessary. Instead, they push for a system through which, rather than determining a person's eternal resting place immediately upon their death, the souls of the dead instead have the chance to demonstrate moral growth and earn their way into the Good Place no matter the past deeds of their Earthly selves.
One important facet of the new afterlife they successfully create is an exit door, allowing anyone who walks through it to willingly bring their time in the Good Place to an end. It's this facet specifically of the series' finale that left some fans feeling upset.
Some fans were unhappy with the door at the end of The Good Place
In a discussion thread about the final episode of "The Good Place," Reddit user punishedpat76 shared their disappointment particularly with how the Good Place's door is at odds with a Catholic conception of an eternal afterlife. "Up until this point, the show had always offered up a hodgepodge of religious and philosophical viewpoints," they wrote. "Walking through the door is presented as committing suicide because you're bored, a grim answer to the meaning of existence that I can't relate to."
Reddit user white_mammy expressed a similar opinion in a Reddit thread explicitly about their disappointment with the series finale. They described the fact that nearly all of the show's main characters enter into the afterlife-ending door as feeling "like a contrived send off IMO because the writers ran out of ideas."
Finally, user LittleLizard_2 shared that the Good Place including a exit reminded them too much of their own mortality. "I watch it to FORGET i will one day go through a door. (And not when i am ready for it) Not have my nose pressed into it when i watch the show to make we want to escape of that very thought for a while!" they said.
Though they each expressed their appreciation for the series on the whole, it was the exit door in particular with which these and other viewers felt angry upon the show's conclusion.