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No other show on television has made a habit of wiping the slate clean quite likeThe Good Place.
Will they become better people all on their own?
Though it feels like its going backwards,The Good Placeis actually moving ahead in its own unique way.
Thats a lot to ask of an audience.
Three seasons in,The Good Placeseems determined to keep us stuck in a loop.
Again: This is averystrange thing to keep doing within serial storytelling.
The reboots are not a side effect.
Theyre the whole point.
The Good Places philosophical undergirding means that its always revolving around big questions about human nature.
Youre on a trolley, and the tracks split into two routes up ahead.
What if you knew one of the people?
What if youre just a bystander?
What if its a scenario where youre a doctor instead of a trolley driver?
I made the trolley problem real so we could see how the ethics would actually play out!
Michael says, as they ride a trolley barreling toward several construction workers.
This time, Chidis friend Henry is tied to the tracks.
Next time, its a doctor/organ transplant scenario.
Still, even though it was intended as a form of torture, the thought experiment works.
This is howThe Good Placeworks, too.
Weve been through several reboots of the original scenario, each with its own minor variations.
First, Eleanor had to figure everything out herself and was motivated by fear.
Next, Eleanor understands shes in the Bad Place and has to learn to get better anyhow.
Now, shes no longer in the afterlife and has no external motivation to get better?
How does each variation change the problem?
How does each new scenario put slightly different pressures on its characters?
The show has become its own philosophical thought experiment, with season threes premiere just the latest version.
Each time, it adds real stakes to abstract questions.
Sure, theres something frustrating about that.
Its annoying to be caught in a loop.
But, in trueGood Placefashion, its also deeply reassuring.
Weve been through several loops, now.
Each time, without fail, Eleanor and her friends become better people.
The thought experiment proves that they canchoose to change.
It is frustrating, but its also fundamentally optimistic.
