The Good Placehad a massive plot twist at the end of its first season that changed everything, but it dropped a key clue in its first episode that is very easy to miss. In 2016, Michael Schur shared a unique take on the afterlife, heaven, and hell in his fantasy-comedy TV showThe Good Place. The series premiered on NBC and ran for four seasons, ending in 2020 and earning a place amongthe best TV finales of all time, with the show ranking amongthe best of the decade.
The Good Placefollowed Eleanor Shellstrop, who died and found herself in the Good Place, which is basically heaven. However,Eleanor was aware that she didn’t deserve to be in the Good Place, but she did what she could to not be caught, as life in the Good Place was pretty cool (except for some details that later on made sense). While in the Good Place, Eleanor met Chidi (William Jackson Harper), her assigned soulmate, and it was through him that the show dropped a hint about its big twist.
Chidi Getting A Stomach Ache In The Good Place Episode 1 Shouldn’t Have Happened
Discomfort Shouldn’t Exist In The Good Place
Although they weren’t addressed as such, the Good Place was what heaven would be like, and the Bad Place was hell. It was explained inThe Good Placethat the deceased were sent to one or the other depending on a points system based on their actions when they were alive. As an interpretation of heaven,the Good Place was supposed to be a perfect place– or, as Chidi calls it, a “perfect utopia” – where everyone lives happily and peacefully. Because of this, Eleanor knew she didn’t belong there, but she wanted to earn her place.
The Good Place had all the favorite things of the people who lived there, they could get anything they desired, Janet (D’Arcy Carden) couldn’t tell them about the Bad Place if they asked, and they couldn’t even say curse words, this last one being especially annoying to Eleanor. However,this Good Place seen throughout season 1 was actually the Bad Placedisguised as the Good Place, so Eleanor was assigned to the right afterlife, after all. This big reveal came in season 1’s finale, but there was a big clue about it in the show’s first season.
Eleanor confessed to Chidi shortly after being introduced as each other’s soulmates that she didn’t belong in the Good Place, but as Chidi took the soulmates concept very seriously, he agreed to help her figure this situation out. This was too much for Chidi to handle, and he got a stomach ache, with him even saying that he was in a perfect utopia and still got a stomach ache – butif it was truly that perfect world, he shouldn’t have felt any type of discomfort.
There Are Different Clues To The Good Place’s Big Twist
Chidi’s stomach ache should have been a hint to him and Eleanor that something wasn’t right in this supposedly perfect afterlife, but they were too busy trying to figure out why Eleanor was there and how she could maintain her spot in the Good Place. However, there were otherclues throughoutThe Good Place’s first episodethat Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani (Jameela Jamil), and Jason (Manny Jacinto) were actually in the Bad Place.
First off,Michael (Ted Danson) was very evasive when it came to everything about the Bad Place, which is understandable as he wouldn’t have wanted Eleanor and the rest to question his Good Place too much. The soulmate pairings, especially Tahani and the silent monk Jianyu (Jason mistaken for a monk), didn’t make sense at all, and Tahani and Chidi’s attitudes of superiority didn’t fit the concept of the Good Place, either.
All this makesThe Good Placeone of the most rewatchable shows in recent years, and makes the big season 1 twist even better.
Throughout the rest of season 1, there were other hints at Eleanor and company being in the Bad Place, such as chores existing and causing inconveniences to Eleanor and Chidi,Tahani sobbing about being in paradise but something not being quite right, none of them caring about where their families ended up, and the Good Place having fro-yo instead of ice cream (with Michael even arguing that humans ruined ice cream by creating frozen yogurt). All this makesThe Good Placeone of the most rewatchable shows in recent years, and makes the big season 1 twist even better.
