5 Things We Want To See From The Good Place’s Final Season

Mike Schur’s afterlife comedy The Good Place premieres its fourth and final season on September 26. It’s a shame to see it go so soon, as there’s frankly nothing else like it on TV. Each season has ended with some kind of “reboot” which has flipped the story on its head, remaining completely charming all the while. With this is mind, there’s no way of knowing what to expect for The Good Place’s final run. But here are five things we’d like to see in this upcoming season.

 

1. More Derek

This is a given, right? Jason Mantzoukas brings such a fun and chaotic energy to his role as Janet’s “son/rebound booty call” Derek. Mantzoukas is known for intentionally trying to make his castmates on the show break, and that fun radiates on screen.

Since he is such a big performer, Mantzoukas is often brought in to enhance some of The Good Place’s subtle yet zany bits. This includes Derek touting his sophistication by sipping out of a martini glass full to the brim with olives. Schur really knows how to land a joke that lives in this space, and Mantzoukas is the guy to do it.

 

2. High Concept, High Stakes

Last season, The Good Place pulled off a one-of-a-kind episode, “Janet(s)”. The four humans are pulled into Janet’s void, turning them all into Janets themselves. That means actress D’Arcy Carden was tasked with playing five characters. Very few shows have a concept as out-there as The Good Place, meaning they don’t have the ability to take risks like that because they simply don’t have the opportunity to.

With a talented writing staff and skilled performer in Carden, The Good Place pulled off this gamble. Janet(s) was widely praised by critics and fans alike. It earned the show an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. Janet(s) may go down as The Good Place’s most memorable episode to date, so let’s see if season four can top that.

 

3. The Eleanor/Chidi Connection

Something that made Janet(s) such a great episode of TV was its careful balance of humor and heart. It’s something Schur executes well in all his shows. But the beating heart of The Good Place is the connection between Eleanor and Chidi. The pair have a bit of a star-crossed lovers element to their story. With all the reboots, they are constantly pulled apart, but always end up back together — whether it be as friends, teacher and student, or lovers.

The Good Place is at its strongest when Eleanor and Chidi have a solid connection, particularly a romantic one. At the end of season three, Chidi and Eleanor found each other once again, but as lovers. And this is the first time the audience really got to see that element of the story played out. Chidi’s reboot in the season three finale tragically severed this connection. But if The Good Place were to end with a disconnected Chidi and Eleanor, that would be an uncharacteristically weak move for the show.

 

4. An Element of Mystery

Once the first season twist was revealed — that our four leads were in the Bad Place, not the Good Place — their overarching motivation has been to get to the real Good Place. Over the last three seasons, we’ve gotten little snippets of information on both the Good Place, such as the smells and the lack of cussing. But what if we kept it that way?

Schur has stated that he was inspired by ABC’s wacky island drama Lost. The season three episode, “Don’t Let The Good Life Pass You By”, literally includes a direct homage to the hit show in its cold open. This scene follows a man wake up and begin his day, right before a big reveal – much like one of Lost’s most iconic openings, showing a man begin his day, only to reveal he resides in the mysterious hatch found on the island. But you can see Lost’s fingerprints in more subtle, thematic ways as well. Faith and spirituality are huge elements of Lost — it even ends in the afterlife. One of its final scenes features a door in purgatory opening into a bright, white light.

Taking a cue from Lost, The Good Place focuses on our four humans becoming better people for the greater good, not for the ultimate reward. So, let them reach their final destination of the Good Place, but leave its contents up to the imagination. The audience is simply rooting for the humans to make it to The Good Place, so what’s behind that door shouldn’t matter.

 

5. Kill Blake Bortles

Hear me out — Schur’s shows love a good recurring gag, and Jason Mendoza’s undying love for quarterback Blake Bortles might be the longest and best recurring gag on The Good Place. Jason shouts out Bortles’ name — or that of his former team, the Jaguars — as something of a battle cry on more than one occasion on the show. At one point, the all-knowing judge claims previous meddling on Earth altered the timeline to the point that the Jaguars have become a good football team.

The season three finale sees our core cast of characters running a new experiment in The Bad Place. The humans have to maintain strict cover. Kill Blake Bortles in the most ridiculous way possible, send him to the Bad Place, have him cross paths with Jason, and hilarity will ensue.

However Schur and team plan to end the Good Place, it’s bound to be a good one. With shows like Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn 99 under his belt, Schur has become an NBC powerhouse in the 2010s. He’s perfected an endearing type of humor with these shows, so fingers crossed he continues to build upon his empire. But let’s hope life without this show does not feel like the Bad Place.