The Good place
STAR RATING: 4/ 5 for its unique take on life after death, though being such a morbid topic The Good Place is full of life.
MUST-WATCH: The casting is very intelligently picked for the role. Apart from Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, everyone else is a hidden gem waiting to be unearthed, and to our delight none of them let you down. Even a Buddhist monk who is sworn to silence has the interesting role of making heaven more fun than it already is.
It’s an absolute rarity for a family to sit in front of the television and not cringe about the content today, filled with explicit language, glorifying violence and innuendo. While that might make for successful viewership (and TRPs), that good ol’ family drama has been lost in the transformation of entertainment.
Then comes a gem like The Good Place, aired on Netflix, with infinite possibilities of decency with good humour and practical life lessons thanks to the protagonist’s choices. The content is so genuine and simple that from teenager to elderly, both can relate to it.
The premise is also simple. Eleanor, the lead, played by Kristen Bell, dies and goes to heaven. Knowing that she used to be no more than a morally corrupt saleswoman selling fake drugs, she battles with the mere concept of putting on a facade to be remotely good. To make matters worse, it is decided that she live with her perfect soulmate, picked by Michael, the architect of heaven played by Ted Danson. The architect of heaven who has carved out the beautiful place cannot get to grips with reality that things are going haywire. Everyone in heaven is made to experience bizarre and ugly situations. For example, being attacked by giant shrimps because of Eleanor’s choices in heaven with her limited moral etiquette.
The first season revolves around Eleanor’s attempt to live among the creme de la creme of morally perfect humans to make her stay less harrowing for everyone involved.
Given the premise, the cast and makers attempt to answer one of human existence’s toughest question “What happens to us when we die?” The Good Place lends some comfort to our moral dilemmas. As Shakespeare puts it, “There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Created by Michael Schur who has made successful comedies such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation and Master of None, it seems apt to find a heaven, and watch how life transpires there with moral quotients at the lowest of lows. Quite like the Earth we live in.
Like me, if you are tired of all the dystopian, apocalyptic and mind bending content that requires one to overthink to be entertained, watch this to go to The Good Place.
— The writer is an IT entrepreneur and avid stream buff.
