善地第二季

By Miles Surrey Feb 2, 2018

The Good Place is the only half-hour comedy that makes you overanalyze promotional photos like a Westworld fan on Reddit—that’s what happens when a show ends its first season by completely flipping the script and revealing that the beloved protagonists who had been chosen to live in a froyo-filled utopia are actually trapped in a specially concocted place of eternal damnation. Even more than a year after the fact, the Season 1 finale reveal that the Good Place is actually the Bad Place—underscored by Ted Danson’s maniacal laugh, as his previously affable Michael morphs into a literal demon—is bewildering, and leaves you a puddle of discomfort and twisted joy. The Good Place really went there, and Season 2 was a hard reset in every sense of the word—all four main characters’ minds having been wiped of the shocking revelation.

Somehow, the second season has followed that twist with even more twists, surprising less in the conceit than the manner in which they were presented. That Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Jason (Manny Jacinto), and Tahani (Jameela Jamil) figure out they were still in the Bad Place was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was that they discovered this in the season’s premiere, and that through the next three episodes they became allies with Michael. Turns out even an omniscient demon might be capable of becoming a better “person,” one willing to help humans venture through Bad Place and beyond to save their souls.

So before Thursday night’s finale, “Somewhere Else,” I saw a photo of Eleanor pointing in astonishment at something out of frame, and my mind raced from the possibilities. Was the Good Place never real to begin with? Were they going back to the Bad Place? Will they get their own Medium Place? Are they watching the Jacksonville Jaguars fall apart in the fourth quarter against the New England Patriots? (Honestly, an infinite loop of that game could be Jason’s Bad Place.)

The Good Place’s premise has always felt exceptionally bleak. There are jokes about torturing people with “butthole spiders,” but off-screen there are millions of dead humans being subjected to this stuff, for eternity. If you watch the show, you’ve probably thought about whether you deserve to be in the Good Place; and the scary thing is, a lot of us would concede that we don’t, considering how few characters in the show have earned it based on the established points system. Despite what the wallpaper says, everything is not fine. The Season 1 finale’s twist, transparently cynical in nature, only reinforced that by rendering the moral strides made by Eleanor and the other humans feel like a complete waste of time. Heading into the Season 2 finale, it was impossible not to brace for the worst again.

What a relief, then, that “Somewhere Else” ended with the show expressing optimism about humanity’s ability to better itself—even if it means that our four main characters must literally crash back down to Earth.

As it turns out, the tests given to Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani by eternal Judge Gen (Maya Rudolph, in a lovely bit of casting) in the penultimate episode weren’t as high-stakes as they seemed—rather, they were just a form of personal amusement for a bored omniscient being who loves burritos. After a few more attempts to find a solution that makes everyone happy, Michael comes up with a revolutionary idea—by afterlife standards—for how the humans could prove their worth: What if they were sent back, to continue living their lives after a near-death experience?

It’s probably not an actual return to Earth proper, but a kind of simulation, one where the characters’ ability to be good for the sake of being good can truly be tested. This is essentially a litmus test for their humanity; if the lessons from Chidi’s philosophy classes will be applied without the prospect of a heavenly reward. For Eleanor, the only human we follow in “Something Else,” that means a process of personal betterment, starting with cleaning her filthy room, quitting her crappy job, going vegetarian, and telling the truth to her shitty roommates, even at the risk of losing them.

That the process eventually weighs Eleanor down and she begins to slip isn’t meant as an indictment of her character, but the taxing nature of trying to make every right decision every time, and how that can backfire—you’re lying to yourself if you say you’ve done every possible good deed for every scenario for an entire year. In Eleanor’s odyssey we see the inherent flaws of the Good Place–Bad Place system, which asks for near-perfection when being human rarely is so cut and dry. The entire ethos of The Good Place’s afterlife is in need of a reboot—not just Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani.

As Eleanor slides back into her old ways, it takes a nudge from Michael, cheating the simulation by going inside of it as a bartender—a cheeky Cheers reference for Ted Danson—to set her on the right track. “What do we owe to each other?” he asks her. The philosophical treatise from Thomas Scanlon was one of many moral lessons from The Good Place’s resident philosopher, Chidi. Eleanor actually finds a seminar on YouTube of Chidi explaining the concept at a university in Australia, and watches the whole thing. (It’s like three hours long, so she definitely deserves arbitrary Good Place points.) As Season 2 comes to a close, Eleanor has boarded a plane and flown all the way to Australia to seek Chidi out; Michael, observing from afar, lets out a triumphant, “Here we go.”

It doesn’t feel like a coincidence that Eleanor’s cosmic journey of enlightenment is taking her to Australia, which was also the setting for the final episodes of The Leftovers. It’s a primal, earthy expanse that evokes apocalyptic symbolism, but it is also a place of self-discovery. Where else can you find yourself, if not at the very edge of the world?

When The Leftovers ended, there was a bittersweetness, but also a sense of optimism; that two people who were irreparably broken by a Rapture-like event could learn to live and love again, even if it took actual decades and might be predicated on an elaborate lie. The Good Place’s own spiritual journey may not deliver quite the same emotional heft—or as many gorgeous shots of the Outback—but as the show goes on, one can expect Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani to test their moral compasses. And though they’ll probably struggle, Season 2 ends with the hope that they will leave this other-Earth as the better people they’ve been striving to be.

It is a far more optimistic bend than Evil Ted Danson wiping their minds for a hard reset of their personal hell. The Good Place is hoping for the best out of people, despite a few stumbles along the way. What’s more human than that?

//www.theringer.com/tv/2018/2/2/16964936/the-good-place-season-2-finale

如果要找一部气质比较接近的剧可能就是好兆头，第一季结尾开始反转反转，第二季开始更是在一日循环、道德困境具现化、神之法庭等场景里一路玩梗停不下来。 死后人们都会被系统根据生前所作所为评分统计，只有达到一定程度的分值才能去The good place。狗血的天堂地狱设定，刚开始网飞初上时，一直觉得他会扑街，结果后面分数一路飙升终于引起我好奇。 坚信自己不是好人的女主在“善地”醒来，在尝试隐瞒自我的过程中闹出了一系列事故，看多了反乌托邦作品整个第一季其实在一开始就可以猜出大概剧情。但依旧是非常欢乐又有梗的下饭喜剧，虽然架子老但整体概念却有趣完整，也从一个无厘头的极端环境里通俗易懂地谈论着哲学。 作为ai的janet和Michael演的太棒了，男女主还算可以，女主和Michael之间互动可爱，忘年老友的气氛太舒服了…jason实在过于浮夸。 最后的反转还是非！常！好！玩！而且引出了更有趣的第二季。 第二季很像好兆头+苏菲的世界沙雕混杂版，开头几集的疯狂重启仿佛回到了沙雕版土拨鼠之日/源代码/明日边缘。女主每次发现并感慨“This Is The bad place！”的方式太可爱了！而不断重启的janet还在继续安利汉密尔顿，后面角色的成长也很棒。更好玩的大概还是把电车难题变成直观的场景，把平时似乎很少接触的各种哲学理论变成了剧中活泼生动随口提及的谈论和玩笑。 虽然我只看完第二季但整体能感觉剧组的积极、真诚和可爱，是一部看了不亏的剧

第二季整个开头一个噩梦轮回😐好家伙第一季蛮不错 挺有意思 但是回忆+现实穿插有点懵逼 挺突然的 但是整体不错 最后反转也很好玩 很少看美剧 但是这个居然完整看下来了 就很棒 下饭神剧😐 第二季只看了开头 但是一直噩梦轮回不知道后面发生什么 就慢慢看吧 总体来说第一季好看 第二季开头有点无聊😐😐😐后面不知道会不会好点

第一集比较chaotic，不知道反转后的剧情会如何。

周末在家门口贴了"The Good Place"善地，哈哈哈

补充一下第一季的感觉，就是洗刷心灵的赶脚。第一次感觉看一部剧像读一本书，边看边思考，很有意思也很治愈。看到第一季中后部分的时候发现也许这部剧想表达的其中一点是Nobody's perfect.

看了第二季第一集感到大家也许会慢慢意识到There are some flaws that we cannot overcome.

昨天好像看到第七集还是第八集，当Michael晚上专门过来问Eleanor怎样成为一个更好的人，因为他好像并没有看到很大的进步，而Eleanor却能一直坚持。我看到这儿，忽然意识到，也许是因为Eleanor不想让一直全心全意帮助她的Chidi失望！也就是说我们为了“爱我们的人对我们有期待的人”而变得更好！阿朵在浪姐里就说过，“我们是为了爱我们的人、对我们有期待的人而活。”之前在陈果老师的课上听到类似的内容，我们是为了别人而变得更好。而我这次的灵光乍现就更加详细地说明了这个“别人”是怎样地“别人”。

我发现最近的几个小习惯的养成跟Gregory对我的影响很有关系。一开始是因为他的自律太强大，我也有了成为更好的人的期待，在期待的驱动下去尝试，然后我会跟他说我最近在做的事，他会给我一些小建议帮我解决一些好习惯养成之路上的obstacle，这就让我有一点为了“对我们有期待的人“而变好的意味了，虽然Gregory并没有那么强烈地表达什么期待，但是我能感受到对方强烈地气场。

昨跟他说起善地，他说他也喜欢，不过具体情节忘记了，只是remember liking it。然后说吃完晚饭后，你可以看一集，就一集。昨晚我真的做到了！

To be continued...

编剧的初衷也许是想讨论一些哲学问题，但主角们的行动又实在太个人英雄主义了，枯燥的把人分为善与恶，认为自己是good people之后，就可以高举正义之旗。哲学、逻辑、道德在影片中的作用退缩到仅限于丰满了台词。

迈克尔的实验崩了八百多次的原因是每次都被看穿，但你说你设计一个折磨人的场景，还要让对方觉得自己是在天堂，这不矛盾么？再说就这么点折磨，每天有吃不完的炒酸奶，把我也扔进去吧，这地狱日子比人间好过多了，怎么也得设计出“无声告白”里面的折磨，才能算是勉强及格的恶魔吧。以及，被看穿了能说明四人组就变好了？无语。

最后的考验仿佛玩笑一样，女主看穿了题目是假的就算通过？这哪证明她不自私了？虚荣女跨越无数障碍，仍想听父母的评价就是恶的？教授选个帽子需要选82分钟，你们赶紧给他扔个精神科医生吧，有病早点治；小白这个完全不懂了，让他打游戏，不打才算赢，你在逗我么？

迈克尔的实验是成功的，主角们在死后依然在学习，在变化，其他人只要死亡一到来，计分就停止了。但这并非是四位人物有多独特，或者把他们合在一起有多强大，仅仅因为，主角们被设定了deadline，如果天堂或地狱都是forever，那改变毫无意义。所以剧中还是讨论了一些人性道德的。

看的美剧越多，越不喜欢那些给自己贴上“good people”的标签就各种作妖的主角。还是喜欢日本的悲情文化：“正义的反面不是邪恶，而是其它的正义”。

1

第二季作为续集很难不被与第一季来比较，但是这样的比较确实是令人沮丧的，因为明显作者想要表达的主题已经发生了变化。

在第一季中，最大的反转在剧末的爆点，通过告诉所有人在“恶地”来反映出每个人的本质是什么。女主的自私，男主的犹豫，富家女的虚伪和dj的小白。

但是在第二季中，在已知这些前提的情况下，不得不改变策略。

叙述了如何四个人，加上“小恶魔”一起努力升的故事。这样的故事基调，基本已经定位为正能量和合家欢了，相较于现在人追求新奇的口味来说，这的确是有些乏味的。

但也许正是这样，我们可以看到了与第一季不同的东西，更深层次的探讨哲学和道德

2

印象最深的是铁轨理论，一边是五个人，一边是一个人，失控的火车掌握在你的手上，你会如何决定这些人的命运。

这个理论曾经在哈佛的公开课《公平与正义》中提到过，同时说的还有比如在船上，弹尽粮绝了，你是否会同意用一个人的生命延续别人的生命。

无论是功利主义的讨论，还是生命价值的平等，最终回归于人性。

3

第二季最令人惊喜的地方是，主创们已经不再通过炫技的反转来博人眼球，而是愿意舍弃掉一些花哨来促成一个命题的产生：

人，是否真的可以简单的分善恶？

这就是在第一季时刚看到good place给人的感受。

everthing is good

越是好到极致越是不真实，直到Janet开始会撒谎，她才融入了集体里。

4

第一季给人的感受是惊喜连连，是等待着反转的那一刻。

第二季给人的感受是应接不暇，对照着自己的生活去审视道德的边界。

5

当然，这剧也是有瑕疵的

在讨论善恶时，批判的还不够，总是对主角们很仁慈

但是不认识到恶就不会发现善，一味的避重就轻并不能触及痛处

第三季，还是很期待，“复活者”代替人类去表现，人性中却有不计较得失的善