Rewatching The Good Place -- What we owe to each other

I had some friends in town overnight who had never seen The Good Place. However we started it pretty late in the night so they didn't make it very many episodes into the first season before everyone crashed. But as someone that doesn't rewatch very many shows, just getting a few episodes in to season one made me watch to continue. It's also really entertaining to watch the show with people who haven't seen it before, knowing exactly what they have to look forward to by the end of the first season. Even my expectations feel different despite knowing what's coming.

There's so much about that first season I'd forgotten, especially about those first few episodes the prevalence of Michael's neurosis even before the reveal. (This won't be long, and I'm doing my best not to spoil anything specific, or the specifics about the end of Season One.)


There's something about a show like this one where the end of Season One changes the show fundamentally that makes going back to the beginning feel like a different show. I've seen the full impact of Season Two, so this like innocence of beginnings is so different.

That said, in fact despite the anxiety the main characters feel in the first season everything is just inherently cheerful in a way that has absolutely nothing to do with their location. And while the circumstances are different in the second season, the hope is still there. Though anxiety has given way to something deeper so the happiness is something they have to snatch in small moments for themselves.

I want these characters to succeed in a way that feels new, because I'm now seeing where they started all over again and the growth is pretty monumental.

Have you seen The Good Place? Rewatched it now that it's on hiatus?
I'd be curious to know if the rewatch feels like this for everyone.

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