“Hot diggity dog.”

First off, let’s hear it for the Judge. The fact that Eleanor, Chidi, Jason, and Tahani were going to throw themselves on the mercy of this weirdo universe’s all-seeing arbiter of Good and Bad Place placement set off a flurry of dream casting guessing games. And while the suggestions on my Twitter feed (Amy Poehler…

“Jortles!”

“The real Bad Place was the friends we made along the way?”

“Why is it always the ones you most expect?”

Of all the twists and turns The Good Place has rolled out in a season and a half, this still counts as one of the biggest surprises: The NBC sitcom is the very first acting gig for co-star Jameela Jamil. Having spent the better part of a decade counting down pop hits, quipping on panel shows, and engaging in…

“The best news is, none of this is suspicious.”

So let’s get philosophical.

“He just smoked a big bowl of ennui.”

“But it’s hilarious. Of course, I mean sad.”

“Okay. Take two, folks.”

Look, no sentient being reads a review before watching the thing being reviewed and then complains about spoilers. Still, in the interest of not getting yelled at by a TV-loving rock or something… SPOILERS. Big ones.

“What’s My Motivation” is The Good Place in a rush. It’s tempting to call this episode a table-setter, as Eleanor, Jason, and Janet all seek an abrupt escape at the end of the episode, while Michael, Tahani, Chidi, and Real Eleanor are scrambling to help them. Sure, Michael’s help involves rebooting Janet in order to…

The Good Place left us (all the way back in November!) with a number of cliffhangers to worry about. There’s the coming of the dreaded Sean (or Shawn, Shaun, Siân—we don’t know), the arbiter of all disputes between the Good and Bad Places, who will determine Eleanor’s ultimate fate, and has Ted Danson’s Michael in a…

As bright and funny a center as Kristen Bell’s Eleanor (known hereafter as Fake Eleanor) has been to The Good Place, at times she has functioned more as foil for the good place’s sunny perfection. That’s the initial impression The Good Place gave, that Eleanor would function sort of like Rodney Dangerfield at the…