Have started rewatch, and with the lens of Ep 13 this holds up like gangbusters. (Including adding this whole smarmy diabolic layer to every utterance of Michael's.) That E, C, T, J are being purposefully tortured by this set-up. That Michael is manipulating them, and Janice is playing it straight. That all the thinly…

I am wildly tickled that Jamie beat him by choosing things that couldn't be made into a taco. (And I love tacos.)

And yet, while he was making those speeches, Eleanor was in her own way proving that humans are way more interesting than he suspected.

If Chidi can improve fake Eleanor's ethics, the demons of hell will never know what hit them.

My children are suspicious of many of my pizzas, and I immediately thought of their "apples on pizza? but that is wrong" reactions.

Gosh darn it, I just had to rethink those times Jason used his post-manatee-killing calming technique on Michael and it worked.

On the four (and Janet) losing their memories, and whether that destroys character growth:

The two guys who LOVE collecting garbage do look different now.

TGP's stakes are the fates of 4 people. And a Good Janet, and possibly a whole lot of Bad Place minions. Without piling lots of depictions of rape and torture and some 'for our straight male viewers' viewing pleasure' orgies on top of that philosophical question, but instead flying shrimp and frozen yogurt.

And now the insistence on 13 episodes, not inserting extra hang-out ones to explore the nature of the good place, makes even more sense.

I stopped reading the reviews for Netflix shows here, because usually one or two screens down the comments on the review of the first episode people start arguing about the events of the finale and what they mean.

In hindsight, the clowns are a huge clue.

I think closer to a first handful of eps where they figure it out, then we do something different.

It could be like Janet, where they manage to progress a little with each reset.

… or of Camilla al Jameel.

Nope. Janet and Jason. And the one thing the Bad Place architects couldn't account for is the power of love between their information system and an idiot presuccessful DJ.

As someone who was sure the "soulmate" thing wasn't—my theory was that it was more like college roommates, and everyone just went along with it because if you ask questions they'll realize you're a mistake—there are so many delightful layers to that whole aspect now.

Cacti.

It makes you want to stagger around the living room shouting "Aha, aha, it all makes sense now!"

Something I wondered about while Michael and the other architect were talking about neighborhoods—if no one has ever lived in a Good Place neighborhood, how do we know they work? Couldn't they all have rapidly devolved through some unforeseen error in rock choice into desperate saints eating the bark off trees while…