The Good Place Season 3, Episode 12 (“Pandemonium”)
NBC
Jan 25, 2019
The Good Place
The Good Place mastered the art of the season finale ages ago. “Pandemonium,” its third season finale, nevertheless ups the show’s ante. It is unilaterally the show’s most heartbreaking episode to date.
It opens innocuously enough: Eleanor gives Michael one of her classic motivational speeches to get him back on track, following his meltdown ending last week’s episode. It’s a funny surprise, then, to see Eleanor open the door to welcome John (Brandon Scott Jones) to what he thinks is The Good Place: “Hi John. I’m Eleanor. I’m the architect. Come on in.” Her explanation for his circumstances is both a great callback to a longtime The Good Place gag and another of her instantly gif-able moments: “Ya dead.”
John quickly turns out to be an awful person, far more so than any of the original four Good Place humans. On Earth, he ran a celebrity smear blog called The Gossip Toilet, and Tahani was one of his frequent targets. She hasn’t at all forgotten how meanly The Gossip Toilet wrote about her, so, when John asks, “Gosh, what are the odds that you and I would end up spending eternity together?,” Tahani becomes suspicious.
And thus, three seasons into The Good Place, Tahani finally gets her turn as the human who figures things out. “The Bad Place didn’t pick the worst people,” she tells Eleanor and Michael. “They picked the people who would be the worst for us.” This scene occurs in Michael’s office, where a tube containing the file on the next new human arrives just after Tahani presents her case.
And here’s where the heartbreak begins. The file is on…Simone (Kirby Baptiste-Howell).
Perhaps in season four, we’ll learn how Simone died. All we know now is: Shawn (Mark Evan Jackson) sent her there as the person worst for Chidi. Nowhere in the rules Shawn and Michael established with Judge Gen (Maya Rudolph) did they declare that the new humans can’t be people whom the original humans know. Judge Gen lets these new humans stay, but she does allow Michael to erase Simone’s memory from before she met The Brainy Bunch.
It’s not enough. Although Simone-whose froyo flavor choice is “half strawberry, half male coworker gets called out for stealing your ideas”-very clearly does not remember Eleanor, Chidi certainly remembers Simone, his literal ex-girlfriend. He realizes that somehow, completely unintentionally, he will say something to Simone in the afterlife that gives away the experiment’s premise and entirely ruins it. Remember when he thought she knew about the afterlife in the moments after their earthly breakup?
What Chidi suggests to save the experiment from himself is radical: Reboot him. More heartbreak ensues. “If I am awkward around my ex,” he says, “everyone gets tortured forever.” Unfortunately, Michael can’t erase Simone from Chidi’s memory, because she’s intertwined with his memories of Eleanor from the Brainy Bunch days, and everyone’s main objection to Chidi’s rebooting is the obvious one: It means the end of Chidi and Eleanor.
Yes, this is The Good Place’s key tension: teasing the romance between Eleanor and Chidi, then taking it away before it can truly percolate. Now, though, we’ve gone through three episodes where the two are together in the present, deeply in love with each other, and growing rapidly for it. Even before Eleanor and Michael try to find a solution other than a reboot, we all know Chidi and Eleanor are going to become a thing of the past again, a thing that the writers’ room will need to rebuild towards across season four. It is genuinely the most devastating thing a sitcom has done in recent memory.
Eleanor’s pain is palpable, but since The Good Place is a sitcom, it begins exploring her devastation with a brilliantly layered joke. “The Bad Place has pulled off the most intricate corkblork of all time,” she says, before noting, “It’s a nice touch that the cursing filter maintains the rhyme. I appreciate that attention to detail.” This is the last we see of a fully humoristic Eleanor in “Pandemonium”: Her later jokes are wrapped in intense sadness and ire.
Before Chidi’s rebooting, he and Eleanor have one final conversation as lovers, which Michael interrupts with a montage of afterlife moments they may have forgotten. The montage is incredibly moving, featuring scenes from old episodes, touching moments we haven’t yet seen (including a surprise donkey), and even arguments. It presents a fully rendered picture of Eleanor and Chidi’s spark in just about a minute of silent film. Naturally, it breaks them both, although they manage to find some optimism in what they’ve seen.
“I’m gonna miss you, [but] you’re just gonna think I’m some sexy god-like figure who you wanna hump immediately after meeting her,” Eleanor says, through tears, after the montage rolls. Chidi reassures her (and the audience) with a line that’s unusually confident and lacking in indecision: “I am not even scared to get rebooted, because I know that you’ll be here taking care of me.” Eleanor responds: “We’ll be okay. We’ve found each other before hundreds of times. We can do it again.”
This scene is far more believable than a typical moment of heartbreak in a rom-com. Chidi’s assuredness is believable since he’s not stomach-sick and anxiety-riddled. Eleanor’s utter despondency at losing the first person she’s ever loved still fits in ample space for her constant jokes about how hot she finds herself, how her origins as an Arizona scumbag will never quite leave her, and all the other things that make her the most compelling lead in any of Michael Schur’s handful of beloved half-hour sitcoms.
At the episode’s end, Eleanor, frazzled by the Bad Place-engineered demise of her romance with Chidi, hails Janet to ask, “Can you just, you know, like, tell me the answer?” By which she means, Janet, you know everything—Why am I living if my love keeps being taken from me? “There has to be meaning to existence,” she says, “Otherwise, the universe is just made of pain.” It’s easy to forget that Janet has every reason to relate to Eleanor’s experience: On Earth, she spent ample time around a Jason whose memories of her had been entirely erased. She too had to watch the love of her life forget who she was.
“The more human I become,” says Janet, “the less things make sense. But that’s part of the fun, right?” If we had all the answers to everything, then none of our actions would feel meaningful, she says. It’s this search for meaning, the quest that The Good Place undertakes every episode while landing great jokes and teaching the basics of philosophical theory, that makes our time alive worthwhile.
In this scene, both the audience and Eleanor can find optimism amid the titular pandemonium, or as Janet deftly puts it, “In all this randomness, in this pandemonium, you and Chidi found each other.” Eleanor, upon hearing the word “pandemonium,” refers to something Chidi taught her, via Paradise Lost: “Milton called the center of hell pandemonium, meaning ‘place of all demons.’” The Good Place has put its protagonists through literal pandemonium time and time again, but they’ve all survived despite insurmountable odds. (Also, Chidi got Eleanor to read Paradise Lost by describing Satan as “her type,” which Janet agrees is accurate.)
So, when the episode ends with Eleanor opening the architect office’s door to a newly amnesiac Chidi and saying, “Hi Chidi. I’m Eleanor. Come on in,” it’s easy to feel hopeful despite the magnitude of this episode’s loss. Sure, the Chidi in this final scene isn’t the self-assured, deeply-in-love Chidi we’ve come to know these past few episodes, but we’ll have that Chidi back someday. The loss is still brutal, but nobody, audience or The Good Place protagonist, would have it any other way, as Eleanor says to Chidi at the start of their final conversation: “You don’t need to apologize for making a huge sacrifice to save your friends. This is why people love moral philosophy professors.” (www.nbc.com/the-good-place)
Author rating: 9.5/10
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April 23rd 2009
8:05pm
this album is amazing!
April 26th 2009
9:00pm
What a weird combo. ‘The Last Picture Show’ is a great film.
April 27th 2009
6:56am
This movie so rocks. I loved it.
April 27th 2009
8:05pm
It’s weird, “That Beep” sounds so much like Annie. AIH have definitely changed up their style.
April 28th 2009
11:47pm
It’s all about vinyl: http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/01/music-sales-up-10-in-2008-thanks-to-downloads-and-vinyl.ars
April 29th 2009
5:14am
A lackluster DVD so mediocre that it’s been reviewed twice on this website!
April 29th 2009
6:59am
Can I get a comment on the music of Conor Oberst and not his comments or who he dedicated songs to. Please. It’s not too much to ask from a music website is it.
May 2nd 2009
1:31am
I still haven’t seen this movie. I’ve really admired Aronofsky’s previous films though.
May 2nd 2009
1:32am
What a terrible DVD cover. WOW. Terrifying.
May 20th 2009
1:51am
I’ve never been a big fan of Silversun…meh.
May 22nd 2009
4:52pm
“The material isn’t always up to par the way earlier between-the-records EPs were, but it still beats the hell out of Plans.”
THANK YOU. and agreed.
May 26th 2009
6:52pm
great review! both shows rocked!
May 26th 2009
7:14pm
This reviewer really transported me to the show! Great writer for a great performer.
May 27th 2009
9:47am
Hello Kyle lemmon, Really very nice information on Buraka Som Sistema. Really very nice and fantastic info on black diamond. Thanks for your nice info.
May 28th 2009
3:35pm
I just wanted to say I really liked your review of House of Mystery. It was good to know how it has developed over the years. Keep up the good work.
May 30th 2009
12:47am
This is an ok ep. I have to say that none of their recent material is even close to their earlier albums.
June 5th 2009
5:46am
FYI just watched this show, sucks! Wished it didn’t but it does. Haha all wealthy people are dumb, evil, and think they can buy anthing… jeeze lets just stereo type everyone. Wealthy people just don’t deserve to live I guess according to all these shows that exploit wealth as evil.
June 7th 2009
8:26pm
Rockband for real. It’s realy kicks ass) I hope the part two kicks ass as twice)))
June 11th 2009
9:39pm
The lyric in “James Blues” is:
“James incurred the wrath of jealous woman
And not long after that
Was spending all his weekends
Trying to relearn
How a young man yearns after a nurse”
It’s about castration. I have little more of a sense of humor than your interpretation suggests.
June 11th 2009
9:42pm
“have a little more of”. oops.
June 18th 2009
1:06am
Great review, Frank.
June 22nd 2009
8:57am
This picture represents a huge leap forward for its director..a very nice post Chris.
June 22nd 2009
9:06am
Wonders never cease, Coachella’s when this both fabulous performers start the event with a great start it is great to watch..
June 22nd 2009
9:12am
The rock band which we can say alternative is My Bloody Valentine..This is a very nice post
June 22nd 2009
9:19am
She’s so hot/cute/adorable….....She is so cute…
June 22nd 2009
9:22am
Wow! Marcus, This is a very nice post…Depeche Mode are fabulous..
June 22nd 2009
9:45am
Some styles are more casual while others are meant for going out on ...poofing up skirts is very good
June 22nd 2009
10:01am
When Bruce Springsteen finally broke through to national recognition in the fall of 1975 after a decade of trying, critics hailed him as the savior of rock
June 22nd 2009
10:04am
The bonus features with Doubt on Blu-ray start off with From Stage to Screen, a series of interviews with the cast and crew about…
June 24th 2009
9:40am
I’m one of the fans of The Killers. They’re cool.
June 26th 2009
10:00pm
I saw them play in Austin a few weeks ago. The new stuff is awesome, and they played beautifully. My favorite track is “Slow Fade,” a single tear streamed down my face when they played it. So good.
July 3rd 2009
9:33am
Thanks for such a detailed review. You’ve very keen observation for the details that should be there, indeed.
July 3rd 2009
9:39am
Hi Chris, you are so right about the borders - the top one is incredible. Great thinking!!!
July 3rd 2009
9:42am
Bonnaroo has always placed an emphasis on local and sustainable ways of making music. ..Nice Blog.
July 3rd 2009
9:49am
I was actually hoping for a really good Doubt as a Blu-Ray comp….and it is able to prove itself….
July 5th 2009
7:13am
I totally get what you mean when you say “the sound of best friends making music together.” I think their sound is really warm and strangely intimate. I don’t know. It feels like music at a house party and the band is having beers and talking between songs—I like it; but the production is really thin, as you said.
Thanks for the review, Laura.
July 9th 2009
7:29pm
You have to be kidding me Lily. This show does suck and bad. Totally unrealistic specifically in how these characters behave. Stupid crap.
July 10th 2009
12:24pm
Saw Bruce in Philly April 28th and April 29th. ALWAYS a great show! I went with a friend who had never seen him and she said it was more than a concert, it was an event—how right she was.
July 13th 2009
6:36pm
It is really a nice post, its always great reading such posts, this post is good in regards of both knowledge as well as information. i like stuff like ghostland observatory, the hush sound, the kills, indie music, black moth super rainbow, radiohead. anything that sounds weird and funky and has good sound to it. i do not like the teen boy singing the song. generations i like are indie, visual, experimental, psychedelic. along those lines. thank you in advance for the helping me on my music quest.Thanks for the post.
July 14th 2009
11:34pm
Nice Cracker reference!
July 16th 2009
7:51am
A full album is set for release in September 2009. The confidence, wide range of obvious natural talent and exceptional promise of these songs is undeniable. The future for First Aid Kit feels star bright.
July 17th 2009
5:57pm
thanks for info.
July 19th 2009
7:43am
The “barely” is everything in Wendy and Lucy. The sparse dialogue and lack of plot was the film’s message. Its panoramic moments said so much without saying anything at all. Wendy appears sedated much of the film but in a single moment, a bathroom meltdown, her story unravels. A story no one is sure of. In most every shot of the film we follow Wendy but learn little. We leave her without closure, but feel satisfaction without the closure nonetheless, amazed that such simple experience could be so captivating for two hours. I only wish I knew what her bandage was for and why her sister rejected her. Why else was she hurting and why was it so important for us not to know?
July 19th 2009
7:53am
thank you
very much
oo fantastic film
July 20th 2009
8:01pm
This was SO good!!!!
July 21st 2009
4:09pm
Why are you so LATE on the tallest man UTR? I’m disappointed and mad at you for it. I hope you do a feature on him when his next album is release!
July 24th 2009
6:25am
Counting down…freaking out. Come on Friday!
July 25th 2009
6:26pm
thanks for article.
July 31st 2009
8:57am
I downloaded a few songs from this collection, I like it.
I really love it, play it on my laptop regularly.
July 31st 2009
3:25pm
I love “Tracy’s Waters” , it’s a wonderful mix of Psych folk and Dream pop
August 5th 2009
8:04pm
I loved Grizzly Bear! It was so calm and intimate in that space
August 7th 2009
6:27pm
So, if I understood this correctly, they are Australians making Brit pop? I’ve seen a lot of this lately. Looks like UK nostalgia never died out.
August 8th 2009
2:00pm
I think I’ll get this from the library if they have it… I know nothing about this band.
August 11th 2009
7:11pm
Wow…you totally missed the boat on the Jane’s review…Claiming you were there to see the one song that was a commercial smash led me to discount your review immediately, but I read on to see if you redeemed yourself. Nope. Fans of the band would absolutely disagree with your take, as the band’s true genius was displayed over and over during the set, Perry’s prancing aside. He’s a consummate front-man, great voice, showmanship, and control of the spotlight.
And, yes, ugly girls DO have to be sluttier than the good-looking ones. Stick to reviewing bands you have a clue about.
August 12th 2009
5:10pm
You are, of course, referring to Alexander Mccall Smith’s series. There are so many witty observations in these books regarding male-female differences and the impact that these have on relationships.
Mma Ramotswe believes that women are best suited for detective work because women notice details, are observant, listen, and have more insight into human psychology than men.
August 14th 2009
6:53am
Gives Thanks, Very fascinating read, you should be dramatic of your web logs. I’ve been genuinely delighting developing up your situations from meter to time. Looking forward to understand your future positions
Many wonderful selective information, thanks for partaking. Testament definitely be back more often….
August 16th 2009
3:24pm
i thought it was a good movie
August 18th 2009
9:39am
This game looks just as terrible as the movie!
August 21st 2009
12:27am
At first I thought Hester and Parks were just biting ‘Ghost Rider,” but I’ll have to check it out sometime.
August 21st 2009
12:30pm
They are COOL
August 24th 2009
8:57pm
wow! that was a lame review. I think they are great. Apparently thousands of others do too. They love them in Europe as well. U.S. is always the last to recognize real talent.
August 25th 2009
4:08pm
The looks very pretty :)
Thank you for the post and photo.
August 27th 2009
9:42am
Agreed. This was a dope show. One of the better I’ve been to in ‘09. Check out their performance of “Jump In the Pool” from the show.
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August 27th 2009
9:44am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il83g8-bkA0
August 28th 2009
6:58pm
This high of a review score makes me question how you call yourself a journalist. I read the initial issue and it was utter trash with no redeeming value whatsoever. This title could have done for Greek mythology what Fables did for children’s stories and fictional characters. Instead the writer decided to go for the disgusting, unimaginative stories. I agree that Peter Milligan can be hit and miss in what he writes but this 1st issue made me want to throw up and regret spending $1.00 to give it a try. I have read Vertigo comics for about 10 years and this comic is truly the worst executed idea with no redeeming value I have ever had the misfortune to read.
August 31st 2009
6:49pm
I would’ve loved to see Henry Rollins. He cracks me up!
September 2nd 2009
12:39pm
Thank you for your review. If this show was a decade earlier, I would’ve been there! Also, I empathize on your anger, when people leave before the show is “over” [the encore]. A band like MEW deserves an encore!
“Comforting Sounds” is awesome to hear live. My husband and I were privileged to see/hear them in D.C. a few years ago.
September 2nd 2009
7:08pm
I love this show! Can’t wait untill next summer to pick up the New Shows.
September 5th 2009
8:45am
Whats Fray for the uninitiated? A buffy spin off comic from a few years back, which I understand never got its story finished. So Joss has decedied to combine it with a buffy story to finish it.
So we have a back history a number of fans may be unaware of and time travel etc thrown in? sounds like an awful idea but it works excellently.
The art is by Korl Moline who i believe did the original Fray comic, he is fairly similar in style to Georges Jeanty who usually does the book so its all pretty familiar.
The story is complicated and takes a little while to see where it is going but the end result and character writing are excellent. Not a good starting point for new readers but a great read none the less.
September 5th 2009
9:34pm
I became interested in this topic and tried to find additional information. Much of it I downloaded from http://www.ebook-search-queen.com.
September 6th 2009
1:07am
As I visited the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair it was interesting for me to read The Road to Woodstock (http://www.ebook-search-queen.com) and to compare its contents with what I saw. Great!
September 7th 2009
9:37am
The overarching plot, revolving around the secrets buried underneath a clandestine basement, fares much better. Head writer, Matthew Sturges, is learning at a fast pace as the series[..]
September 8th 2009
9:58am
Did anybody watch this film? Share your impressions, please.
September 8th 2009
11:42am
Have you ever considered adding more videos to your blog posts to keep the readers more entertained? I mean I just read through the entire article of yours and it was quite good but since I’m more of a visual learner,I found that to be more helpful well let me know how it turns out! I love what you guys are always up too. Such clever work and reporting! Keep up the great works guys I’ve added you guys to my blogroll. This is a great article thanks for sharing this informative information.. I will visit your blog regularly for some latest post.
September 9th 2009
6:14pm
I’m in the middle of reading this book and was stoked to see it reviewed in one of my favorite mags. The review is pretty strait up, as is the book. Interesting for those who know about Steve Kilbey or not. For those who have been in or are in music groups, with it’s drama and challlenges, No Certainty Attached of particular interest.
September 10th 2009
8:12pm
“smashing success” = 6/10?
September 11th 2009
8:10pm
It’s a fine record, but not quite worthy of a 7 or 8, which are reserved for top twenty of the year candidates, which this honestly isn’t for me. But if you’re a fan of Polvo, you’ll like it, and even if you aren’t, it’s an excellent invitation to explore their great back catalog. And “smashing success” is removed from its context of “As far as unheralded reunions go,” as many are downright insipid, and this one is anything but that.
September 14th 2009
5:48am
Who designed Stephanie’s Jacket in science of sleep and where can I get a similar coat?
Science of Sleep is a movie and her military jacket is cute
September 18th 2009
3:13am
I concur my friend.
September 20th 2009
3:05am
The hype machine sold Sweet Tooth #1. It was pretty good, but I’m hoping we’ll see a little more happening in issue #2.
Then again, I ought have a little more faith in Lemire, he’s pretty damned good.
September 21st 2009
6:09am
Will there be a second season of the No 1 Ladies Detective agency?
find public record
September 26th 2009
2:35am
Can’t wait until this year’s concert. Fantastic stuff. Sooo hot though. Bringing plenty of water this year
September 29th 2009
11:33am
Ok this is by far the best series ive seen so far its got great story line, Animation, and good art work…. But one problem is the disc has trouble reading on a Xbox. I putted in the disc once and it worked 2nd time it got defective. Great series to watch a must see
October 3rd 2009
7:08pm
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. It’s got a great soundtrack too: Jens Lekman, Tilly & the Wall, The Go! Team, Radiohead, and others.
October 4th 2009
1:24pm
wow, San Francisco’s Girls must have been very bad. It has been a while since I have read such a damning review of any band
October 4th 2009
3:53pm
Jenny Lewis is a babe. I also like the killers. I think they are class
October 6th 2009
12:19pm
The track wasn’t used and in fact went unheard for two-plus decades, but Gordon and Mingus occasionally unpacked it live. In any case, one can only hope that when Mingus finally flipped the calendar past the greatest year in jazz, dude hit the mattress for a well-deserved nap.
October 10th 2009
4:45pm
Great reviews. Loney Dear has been my favorite band because their music touched my soul and makes me feel good. Live they are incredible. I saw them in Fortaleza, Brazil, and I’ll remember that day for a long time.
October 13th 2009
7:06pm
I like bands what make good musics. And banana splitses.
October 14th 2009
1:51am
Did UTR ever do a review of the Rhino San Francisco nuggets box set?
October 21st 2009
2:22am
As a fan of the series who buys it month-to-month, I guess I’m biased in that I enjoyed it. I would be interested to see if non-Fables readers enjoyed it.
It’s great to see my favourite magazine cover my favourite comic. I check for a mention of it in every printed-issue of Under The Radar, and so far have only seen it in there this month!
October 21st 2009
10:39pm
Wow! Sounds like a fun show. Now if only we could get him to come out west…
October 22nd 2009
11:56pm
mellow but good/interesting mellow, not boring mellow. also check out whitest boy alive (same singer)
October 23rd 2009
10:33am
Where can I buy waterproof trousers not over trousers?
tuxedo trousers
October 23rd 2009
6:55pm
who the hell says “blogosphere” anymore?
October 25th 2009
10:52pm
its a Grower not a Show - er!
October 26th 2009
2:22am
I wish this had been posted earlier. They had a show where I live tonight, and I could have gone ... oh well.
October 26th 2009
4:05pm
This is a fantastic review. I’m one of those people that consumes all things Pearl Jam (50+ live shows). You nailed Backspacer perfectly. I want to tell you how great it is but it isn’t - it is a step in the right direction though. Nice job.
October 27th 2009
6:41am
The overarching plot, revolving around the secrets buried underneath a clandestine basement, fares much better. Head writer,
October 27th 2009
9:07am
What is the best tourist attraction in the Philippines?
camping tourist