The Good Place season 3, episode 10 recap: The Book of Dougs
After a short break, The Good Place is back, and everything smells like…barf?
The Good Place gang is in the actual forking Good Place!
In the mid-season premiere, Eleanor, Chidi, Michael, Janet, Tahani, and Jason appear to be in a mail room.
While it looks like something out of Mayberry, they soon realize they must be in the Good Place when they inhale scents that are attractive to them. Eleanor smells her favorite water park as a kid, “chlorine, suntan lotion, band-aids, and a thick cloud of teenage hormones.” Chidi smells warm pretzels. Jason smells Blake Portal holding the Super Bowl MVP trophy, and Tahani smells “a curtain closing between first-class and economy.”
Michael tells them they need to lie to the mailwoman, Gwendolyn (Nicole Byer) so that they don’t get sent straight to the Bad Place. He tells her that the four humans won a contest to come to the mailroom of the Good Place and since she is the most cheery, trusting, and unsuspecting person in the universe, she believes him without question.
Read. The Good Place season 3 midseason finale recap: Janet(s). light
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She shows them a door to the Good Place, but it’s off limits to humans. When Eleanor tried to bust it open, the picks she uses turn to glitter. Eleanor is beside herself. “We’re four Oreos from heaven!” – four Oreos being the thickness of the door.
But Eleanor’s new boo helps to calm her down. He asks her out on a date. They grab a table, a bowl of fruit, and find a bottle of champagne belonging to Gwendolyn. It was a thank you gift from someone who thanked her for thanking them for thanking her for thanking them for thanking her for a bottle of champagne.
No, that last sentence wasn’t a typo.
Their date is adorable, and if they weren’t in constant danger, I think those two crazy kids might make it. But seriously, in the middle of all of this chaos, it’s refreshing to see a sliver of normalcy.
Oh, and by the way, they do it finally. Actually, again.
Michael sneaks a call to the Good Place committee, and they agree to meet him. The committee, another jolly bunch of complimentary, chipper creatures, listen to what Michael has to say about how the Bad Place is tampering with the numbers. He shows them the “Book of Dougs.”
They’re outraged and plan to take action immediately! But “immediately” means organizing, thinking about things, and analyzing that will “only” take about 1,500 years.
Looks like another dead-end.
Meanwhile, Tahani encourages Jason to talk to Janet about what he saw in her void (that she’s in love with him). It completely freaks Janet out, making her feel emotions she’s not supposed to feel and has never felt before.
Tahani dissolves her and Jason’s fake marriage with a fake certificate of death, but this makes Janet feel worse. I mean, her emotions may come out her butt!
Tahani is frustrated and goes to Michael to vent. It brings him to a realization. It’s not the Bad Place tampering with the numbers. It’s that the world is getting too complicated to judge properly.
In the 1500s, Doug #1 gave his grandmother flowers he picked from his garden and received 145 points.
Today, Doug #2 gave his grandmother flowers, but bought them on a smartphone made by children in a sweatshop (-4 points), the roses were made with pesticides (minus more points), and the CEO of the company is a sleaze bag (you get the idea).
Next. The Good Place renewed for Season 4. dark
Michael turns them all into the judge, and she agrees to meet them at IHOP, the Interdimensional Hole of Pancakes. It’s the most dangerous place in the universe, and something tells me it’s not because they’ll be in danger of getting food poisoning.
One last thing – I’m bummed The Good Place, and Kristen Bell both lost at the Golden Globes Sunday. The Kominsky Method and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) were both great and deserving, but I would have loved to see some love for such a unique and witty show.
Watch The Good Place anytime.
Read the recap for Episode 9.