TL;DR – A great start to propel the season forward.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Review –

Well, it is time for all good thing to come to an end, in this case today we are looking at the beginning of the end as we explore the first episode of The Good Place’s fourth and final season. As much as there is sadness, there is also a certain joy that at least the show will get to go out on their own terms. Indeed, from what everyone has said it was a creative decision to end the show at this point and I will always respect that. Well let’s dive into the weird and quirky world of the ever after. 

So to set the scene, in the Season Three finale Pandemonium, The Judge (Maya Rudolph) gave everyone a chance to show that the point system is broken by creating a new neighbourhood to test it out with new people. However, The Bad Place, devious as ever, did not pick the worst people in the world, just the worst people for the team, including Chidi’s (William Jackson Harper) ex Simone (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). Knowing that he could not remain impartial Chidi has his mind wiped of everything including his love for Eleanor (Kristen Bell). Now they have one chance to show that everything is wrong and it is not going to be easy. Just a reminder that we will be looking at the episode at the whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

In many respects this first episode is all about setting the mood for the rest of the season and we really see that right from the start with The Good Place and The Bad Place rallying their troops getting ready for battle. With this fourth season, there are a lot of moving pieces so they take time throughout the episode to remind us what s going on. A good example of this is the Janet (D’Arcy Carden), Derek (Jason Mantzoukas), and Jason (Manny Jacinto) love triangle thingy sort of, but not quite. All of this means that we get to see all the recurring character that has helped make this show as great as it is.

I think at its heart this is a show that reflects real life in that at its core it is a show about family. There is that scene right at the start where everyone is there to comfort Eleanor after she had to show Chidi around. It is that moment of warmth before the chaos erupts. You feel that pain of loss all through the amazing acting of Kristen Bell who has to chart a middle course between comedy and drama and still have it come off as genuine. I think one of the big losses, when the show has ended, is the breaking up of this ensemble because they work so well together.

Then there are the three wildcards added in, we already know John’s (Brandon Scott Jones) deal, and yikes. But this episode we get the absolute worst person in the form of Brent (Ben Koldyke) who is the embodiment of someone we all know and all instantly dislike. It is going to be really interesting to see how the gang deal with them and Simone throughout the season because the complications are already arising.     

In the end, do we recommend A Girl from Arizona? Yes, yes we do. While this episode has to do a lot of the heavy lifting for the season, there is also all the charm and warmth that we have come to know and love there as well. More than anything it completely has me want to see where the season goes from here.  

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Season Three of The Good Place yet?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Good Place
Directed by – Drew Goddard
Written by – Andrew Law & Kassia Miller
Created by – Michael Schur
Starring in Season 3 – Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto, D’Arcy Carden & Ted Danson with Maya Rudolph, Marc Evan Jackson, Jason Mantzoukas, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Brandon Scott Jones, Ben Koldyke, Maribeth Monroe & Jama Williamson, Bambadjan Bamba & Luke Guldan and Brad Morris, Rachel Winfree, Josh Siegal & Aasia Bullock