‘The Good Place’ season 4 episode 2 recap: “A Girl From Arizona Part 2”
Now that the two-part premiere has come and gone, The Good Place has shown its cards for the upcoming final season. Well, as much as they usually show. We all know Mike Schur has something up his sleeve that will simultaneously break our hearts while also being satisfying in just the right ways.
The Soul Squad has a lot up their sleeves as their new neighborhood continues to move forward. After last week’s shocker of the Bad Place sending a spy in disguise, we have our official cast of characters for the season, and it’s time for some self-improvement. Unfortunately, it’s not just about improving the new humans.
Eleanor (Kristen Bell) is struggling to work through this plan and the rest of the gang is starting to realize this. Eleanor walks in on a conversation about replacing her and calls it quits. But in what is the first in a bunch of genuinely sweet moments, Michael (Ted Danson) reminds Eleanor that she’s just “A Girl From Arizona” – and is exactly who needs to do this.
Jason (Manny Jacinto) and Janet (D’Arcy Carden) have broken up, and the most important moment of the season happened: Jason finds out Blake Bortles got cut from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Let’s be real: everyone was waiting for this.
Of course, Jason is still sad about it but his ex Tahani (Jameela Jamil) is there to step up and be Jason’s supportive friend – so perhaps we’ll watch the two of them get back together. Janet, not being human, can’t be the greatest girlfriend to any human, even one as Floridianly dumb as Jason.
Brent Norwalk (Benjamin Koldyke)
Trying to get Brent to admit he’s a terrible person, Eleanor decides to host a talk show activity with the Good Place residents discussing their lives. She invites Judy, Chidi, and Brent on stage to discuss their lives. Of course, Brent didn’t understand that, so it was time for plan B.
Almost exactly like Eleanor’s nightmare experience from season one, the organizers whip up a disaster, with the Princeston mascot climbing buildings, black SUVs driving down the streets, and a rain cloud of Perrier. Finally, Brent understands this is his fault: he figures he needs to be moved to the Best Place.
Realizing they can’t get through to him in a sensible way, Michael and Eleanor decide the only way Brent will listen to them is if they tell him he’s right. So they tell Brent if he continues to be ethically good for the next year, they’ll evaluate him and he’ll be promoted to the Best Place. Maybe his motivation is corrupt – but so was Eleanor’s to begin with.
Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper)
We already knew that our hearts were going to break, but listening to Eleanor tell Chidi that Simone is his soulmate? We’re in forking tears. Eleanor tells Chidi this in a push to get him to go talk to Simone finally and help her become more ethical. But in reality, Eleanor is pushing Chidi directly into Simone’s arms, because we know they fell in love on Earth, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they do the same in the afterlife.
Simone Garnett (Kirby Howell-Baptiste)
Simone is still not believing anything is real, but with the help of Chidi, she’s starting to see where she’s going wrong. After getting some fro-yo brushed on her nose, Simone is willing to hear out Chidi’s philosophical reasoning for why she’s wrong (cf. solipsism). While she still thinks that she’s just imagining the Good Place, she’s at least willing to be kinder to people and pretend like it’s reality, in case she’s wrong and it’s real.
John (Brandon Scott Jones) wasn’t featured in this episode, as Michael and Eleanor had to spend most of the time figuring out how to get Brent to stop being an ashhole. But now that he’s on the party side of things with Simone and Chidi, we’re expecting next week’s episode to be dedicated to getting him on the good side.
