Ancil
No one really knows what happens after we die, and one guess is as good as another. The Good Place is a fantasy comedy based on that premise – what happens after we die? We follow the protagonist Eleanor (Kirsten Bell), as she is transported to The Good Place and agonizes over the fact that she’s in “heaven” even though she doesn’t deserve it. As the series progresses, however, we slowly start to realize that things aren’t as “good” as they seem. If you haven’t yet watched the series, it’s available on Netflix, so you should go check it out.
How The Plot Progressed
Eleanor meets a handful of the residents of The Good Place when she first gets there. Jason (Manny Jacinto), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), and Chidi (William Jackson Harper) all show up to welcome her to “heaven,” but we see later that all three are being kept in The Bad Place by Michael (Ted Danson), the architect responsible for the community they live in. Eventually, the characters become freedom fighters, intending to change the way the afterlife works or at least make it more bearable. Calling themselves “Team Cockroach,” the crew set about trying to change things from the inside. Season 4 was no exception to this rule, as the group had already wiped Chidi’s memory to enable him to be a test subject for an experiment. Afterlife reform was necessary, but before they could get there, they had to figure out why no new humans (with obvious exceptions) were being allowed into The Good Place for centuries. Eventually, they located the solution and brought the season (and the series, it seems) to a close.
Will There Be The Good Place Season 5?
Renewal Status: Canceled
Show creator Michael Schur noted after the season 4 renewal was announced that it’d be the show’s last season. Looking at the numbers raises a few questions. The Good Place has been steady in its ratings, so it makes little sense that NBC would just pull the plug on this series without batting an eyelid. However, as Shur mentioned, he thought that the show had come to its natural conclusion. The creator also stated that he had a finale planned since the middle of season 2. Shur didn’t intend to close the series too soon but wanted to give the show a good run for as long as they could. The studio had pitched him on expanding the show to cover more than just Team Cockroach, but he wasn’t keen on the idea.
Maybe it’s a Good Thing?
If you’re a fan of television series, you’ll realize that unless there’s substantial source material, shows that end their run in their fourth or fifth season tend to bow out with grace. You don’t have to look too far to find evidence for this conclusion. Series such as Breaking Bad or Sons of Anarchy were brilliant, and they ended on a final note. Breaking Bad even got a spinoff movie that tied up all the loose ends.
However, series that overstay their welcome either fizzle out or become unwatchable as they continue. Examples of these include Dexter and Lost. Neither of these series had satisfactory endings for their audiences, and too many of them tried to build too much into their stories to create future seasons. The consensus from fans of these shows agrees that there didn’t need to be so long a story. Sometimes, some series are better off ending sooner rather than later. In this case, we’ve seen the last of The Good Place, but the ending was well worth the four-season watch.
