The Good Place - season 3

The second season of The Good Place was in my opinion one of the best of all the comedy series out there.
It was a wonderful combination of absurd humour, colourful characters and the search for what it actually means to be a good person. The finale felt a bit like an anticlimax, but was necessary to keep the third season interesting as well. The first half of this third season was a bit disappointing, but the second half more than made up for it.

At the start of the third season Michael (Ted Danson), as an experiment, reverses the death of Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason (Manny Jacinto). He hopes to prove that they can change into good people under the right circumstances. Of course, this goes wrong almost from the start and Michael is forced to intervene. But the more he interferes with the lives of these four people, the more things go wrong.

The first half was a bit of a disappointment. Almost all of the ingredients of the first two seasons were there, but the operative word is 'almost'. The first half mainly takes place on earth, when our main characters are still alive. Even though there are still funny jokes and interesting character developments, the whole falters a bit.
The absurd nature of the afterlife is missing. It is still entertaining and it makes you think, but the absurdity is greatly absent. And this is a shame, for the show becomes a bit of a drag.

The first half of this third season was a bit disappointing, but the second half more than made up for it.

Fortunately, the season recovers itself halfway when our four friends find themselves once again in the supernatural and the last few episodes are just as good as in the previous seasons. Then it becomes clear that all that running around on earth had a purpose: to give more depth to the main characters. We have more access to their inner thoughts and that was necessary because without it the final episode wouldn't have been so heartwarming and at the same time so heartbreaking.

Next to the humour, the main characters really do steal the show.

The Good Place has so many wonderful aspects: the humour, the philosophical questions and the great acting. Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason appear to have finally accepted that they are not perfect and start working on improving themselves and their environment. In this season there are some big changes in the relationship between Eleanor and Chidi and the actors take this opportunity to bring even more depth to their characters. The artificial life form Janet also becomes more interesting as she becomes more and more of a real person instead of only a plot mechanism. The highlight was the episode where all the main characters take on her appearance. D’Arcy Carden manages to imitate her fellow cast members perfectly.

Creator and writer Michael Schur is well known for his ability to seamlessly interweave humour and depth and again in this season he comes up with some great scenes.
The one where Michael tries to explain the timeline of the afterlife by means of a strange name was wonderful. And the scene where Chidi has to teach a class while at the same time having an identity crisis was terrific. Michael's visit to the accounting department of the afterlife is an apt parody of typical office situations. And during all of that he is trying to teach the viewer about what it means to be a good person.

Not many series manage to combine so much as The Good Place: great lead actors, absurd humour, philosophical depth and much more. Even though the first half falters a bit, the second half makes up for it. And with an emotional finale, this season got an ending it deserved. The adventures in the afterlife aren't over yet because a fourth season has been announced and I can't wait!