And soThe Good Placecloses its twistiest season with its biggest twist yet: A finale thatdoesnthave a twist.
The basic stakes established in last weeks penultimate episode will, it seems, define next season.
But, for now, theyre down one friend.
Credit: Colleen Hayes/NBC
Pandemonium has some fun watching the characters reboot their original neighborhood from the other side.
But John isnt just some random sinner.
And John has a history of writing outrageously nasty, in-fairness-generally-accurate things about Tahani.
Hes stunned at the prospect of spending eternity with her and is full of fun things to say.
Tahani died in Canada?
Thats like the nipslip of dying!
They picked the people who would be the worst for us, the gang realizes.
Simone, the chipper neuroscientist Chidi dates back in the Australia days.
Shawn gleefully admits that he picked people dangerously close to the onetime Soul Squad.
The Judge didntsayhe couldnt, after all.
Her Judgeship lets Michael erase Simones memory to before she met Chidi.
And whats the problem?
Chidi could live a hundred years in the neighborhood without even running into Simone.
The team has full faith in Eleanor.
Says Jason: Youre like the Blake Bortles of whatevers going on right now, Im not really sure.
But Chidi is troubled.
His role in this experiment has been neutralized.
He cant teach their new arrivals moral philosophy.
Chidi thinks Shawns outflanked them so they have to double-outflank him back.
you gotta erase my memory, Chidi says, And reboot me.
NEXT: A real corkblork
Surely there has to be another way?
So Chidi will run into his ex occasionally.
It will be awkward, but thats life/death!
Or maybe they could just erase Chidis memories of Simone?
Thats a no-go, unfortunately.
Chidis memories of Simone are all tied up with Eleanor on this cycle.
Removing Simone will remove everyone.
Minor point of order, maybe, as we hurtle towards a very emotional final act.
A couple elements of the gangs plan seem a bit loosely defined.
Like, Eleanor just stepped in to become the new Architect, and that seems to be going fine.
Surely theres some clever way to incorporate Simones shared history with the gang?
Lying is the core of this experiment!!
Couldnt he, like, Cyrano De Bergerac-ify this situation, feeding lines to Professor Tahani?
Or, even better, Smart Guy Jason?
Nothing occurs to the gang, unfortunately.
Michael keeps waiting for someone to say something innocuous so he can say: Wait!
Instead, Chidi says goodbye to his friends, making a huge sacrifice to save them all.
Eleanor and Chidi spend a quiet night in the town square.
Michael makes them a sweet YouTube montage ofSome Memories You May Have Forgotten.
Eleanor begins to cry.
She cant imagine how it will feel to see Chidi again and know that he doesnt remember her.
I know that youll be here taking care of me, he says.
And they are confident about one thing.
They found each other before, hundreds of times.
They can do it again.
Jeremy Bearimy, Chidi tells Eleanor.
You and I can chill out in the dot of the i forever.
Its a sweetly romantic scene, but the final sequence is really gutting.
Eleanors behind Michaels desk, asking Janet the big question.
She wants to know The Answer to Everything, she says.
Whats the point of love if its just going to disappear?
There has to be meaning to existence.
Otherwise, the universe is just made of pain, and I dont like the thought of that.
Janet knows where Eleanors coming from.
She remembers how it felt when Jason didnt even recognize her.
It would just be machinery.
Eleanor and Chidi had a life together isnt that remarkable?
Isnt that, as Janet says, Euphoria in all this randomness and pandemonium?
Its fromParadise Lost, the center of Hell, the place of all demons.
Left unsaid: If all this randomness is pandemonium, then maybe the whole universeisthe center of Hell.
Which means, paradoxically, that this Hell is Heaven, too.
Eleanor has to believe it.
She didnt just find love in a hopeless place.
She found her soulmate, and became a better person, in Hell.
She walks outside to welcome in her next guest.
Hi Chidi, Im Eleanor, she says, meeting him for the first time all over again.
Pandemonium was a low-key finale compared to the shows past seasons.
Chidis decision still confuses me on a pure plot-logic level, frankly.
Look, it is possible for even the best shows to have too much amnesia.
But the emotions resulting from that decision left a mark.
After everything theyve been through, eternity escapes them again.
And now Eleanor has to lie to Chidis face.
And how gutting that shes such a good liar!
Damn, thisisthe Bad Place.
