The Good Place: Season 4

The Good Place's last episode delivers a near-perfect conclusion to the fantasy comedy

Tv Review by Carmen Paddock | 10 Feb 2020
  • The Good Place
Title: The Good Place, Season 4
Series Creator: Michael Schur
Starring: Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil
Platform: NBC

The fourth and final season of The Good Place is a different show to the one which started in 2016, morphing from a cutting comedy to something more thoughtful. Some have complained that the show lost its spark after the first couple of seasons, but there is a reflective joy – and no shortage of entertaining moral quandaries – in its final chapters.

Here, humans Eleanor, Tahani, and Jason are helping Michael trial a new afterlife to prove to the Judge and demons that humans are capable of continual self-improvement. The wrench comes from Chidi’s decision at the end of the previous season to have his memory erased and enter the trial with no memory of his previous ordeals in the afterlife. Some familiar, beloved ground is re-tread here, but the changed perspective and new stakes keep the show as enjoyable and thought-provoking as ever, and the usual pre-Christmas break sets up a conclusion only multiple afterlives could have earned.

The only downside of this final season is some wheel-spinning in the back half, despite its promising set up; it feels as if creator Michael Schur and company had to stretch out a clearly defined ending over thirteen episodes. Fortunately, the very last episode delivers a near-perfect conclusion, with some particularly poignant sequences lending gravity to the jubilant, messy business of living, loving, and choosing when to move on.

Like Bojack Horseman, The Good Place asks viewers to grapple with morality, mortality, and the effects of our smallest choices. It's a show about celebrating responsibility and kindness in life – and afterwards.


The Good Place, seasons 1-4, streaming on Netflix