The Good Place season 3 review: Better than ever

The Good Place is over for the season, and now we get to ponder on Season 3 and why it was better than the first two.

If you read my recaps, and my articles about awards show fodder, you know I’m a big The Good Place guy.

I’ve said numerous times that this show is inventive, quirky, heartwarming, well-acted, and quite frankly, one of the best shows on television. And at the end of Season 3, I still feel that way.

Instead of a typical review of Season 3, I want to give you the three major factors as to why this show is number one in my heart and should be number one in yours.

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1. It’s unpredictable.

Since Season 1’s very first segment, we knew this wasn’t going to be your average sitcom. Just when you’re getting used to the idea that these characters are in heaven, you find out the main character isn’t supposed to be there. That’s a catalyst if I ever heard of one.

And the twists and turns keep coming, right up until and beyond Season 3.

Seasons 3 began with a reset – all of the humans were getting a second chance at life on earth. Michael and Janet would watch them to see if they could, in fact, become good people and eventually get into the Good Place on their own merit. When things begin to go sideways, Michael interfered, and thus the show gets sent down another path.

In just 12 short episodes, the main characters came back to life and died again, traveled through different dimensions, fugitives on the run from demons, fell in love, started a new experiment, and made sacrifices. It’s a fully-formed series that keeps us guessing and wanting more. It never gets boring.

I think part of the reason the storyline is so good is that we are only giving 10 to 12 episodes a season. I’d like to think that the showrunners already know exactly how it will end, sort of like How I Met Your Mother, when they knew they had a beginning and an end, just needed to figure out how to get there.

As wacky as this show seems to be at times, I think it will all make sense at the series finale, whenever that may be. But hopefully, that won’t be for a long time.

2. Every part is perfectly cast.

It says a lot when you have an ensemble series, and you can’t name a weak link. It also says something when you have two comedic powerhouses in Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, and they aren’t the ones carrying the show.

Don’t get me wrong, Bell and Danson are always a delight, but they are perfect pieces to this puzzle that includes a superb supporting cast: William Jackson Harper (Chidi), Jameela Jamil (Tahani), Manny Jacinto (Jason), and D’Arcy Carden (Janet). I can’t emphasize this enough; there is no weak link. I also can’t imagine the show without any of this core six.

3. The cleverness is off the charts.

During the first season, when they would replace curse words with “forking” and “shirt,” I thought that was clever.

But the specificity in which they use metaphors and throwbacks to make jokes or make light of situations is phenomenal.

Here are some of my personal favorites from Season 3.

When Tahani decides to delete celebrities’ phone numbers from her phone, including the Edge’s private number that Bono doesn’t even have.

All of the scenes and references at the American-themed restaurant in “The Brainy Bunch” is amazing. The alternative Mount Rushmore of David Hasselhoff, Judge Judy, Paris Hilton, and Hulk Hogan and each table being a different state is funny enough, but their “Cowboy Skyscraper Buffet” just sends it over the top.

When Tahani is engaged to the “ugly” Hemsworth brother, but he’s actually gorgeous, smart, and talented.

The Jacksonville airport is called “Macho Man Randy Savage” Airport.

"Eleanor: Jason, talk to no one, go nowhere, do nothing.Jason: I won’t let you down.Michael: If you eat anything at this IHOP you will literally explode.Jason: Yeah, I know, it’s IHOP."

Those are just a few.

I enjoyed Season 3, and I think The Good Place continues to get stronger with each season. With its understated finale, I think it will jump right back into its twists and turns for Season 4. You have plenty of time to binge watch until then!