Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this episode review. Please read with caution.

The episode opened fun, until Chidi’s rushed giraffe drawing came to life, that lead into an exploration of constant mishaps. The Soul Squad—Eleanor, Janet, Jason, Tahani, and Michael—meet to figure why all their plans aren’t working or going ridiculously wrong. Then, Glenn the demon shows up to drop the bombshell of Vicky being in the Michael suit the whole time, bringing a lot of unneeded tension and mistrust among the group.

I was having a hell of a time watching this episode by the way.

Michael’s character was put on the spot where he revealed lie after lie. I had a feeling this was the true Michael only because the show wouldn’t just hand us their plot twist in such a straight-forward delivery. There was something else going on, and I rolled with it. I had no interest in trying to figure it out, and wanted the surprise for a change. The Bad Janet made sense, but it was something I never considered. I bet somebody on Reddit thought about it, though.

I love watching all this of escalate one thing after the next through Eleanor’s point of view and reactions. Kristen Bell is delivering this final season, rewarding us her grand performances. Ultimately, the writers put the momentum of this episode’s pace onto Eleanor’s choices as she is the one who has to make the tough calls. Her run-in with a stressed-out Chidi was another great scene, and helped push her to make a decision.

Then, Michael makes an tougher call to sacrifice himself for the good of the experiment, which leads to Eleanor trusting him again as only the real Michael could make that kind of sacrifice. This was another powerful scene that was played off Kristen Bell. These folks discovered they work really well together.

Jason was the MVP of the episode, which baffled me in a satisfying way. The “Not a girl” simply means Jason knows Janet more than he could possibly let on. His “Jason” special speech about wanting to save Janet from The Bad Place and to punch Shawn in the face has me rooting for him. It’s sad that’s all Jason knows about the plan but at least trusted Michael will be there to figure out the specifics.

Overall, a well-crafted episode delivered by a strong cast with good chemistry. Although the episode centered mostly on Eleanor and Michael’s struggles, Jason saving the day as the MVP was such an amazing moment, I almost stopped breathing. I can’t wait for next week’s episode!

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