Oh I really love likening it to the trans experience! The desire to become more your ideal person is fairly universal, but Michael’s journey does hit some specific notes and it’s fun to think about.

I don’t think it’s deliberate, either. Mostly because Michael’s experience is relevant to almost everybody on the planet — as a recovering addict, his anxieties certainly speak strongly to my own sense of self.

More trans Michael: literally taking down a photo of the old you and talking about how much it hurts to look at it, and being afraid of the people you knew “before” still seeing you the same old way.

That she didn’t immediately follow up Tahani’s comment about the new colors with “It’s not hair” was the biggest clue to me that she might be a Bad Janet. Our Janet has never let someone describe her physical form in human terms without immediately correcting them.

Michael’s save for Eleanor crying was very good and if he can kick a dog into the sun perhaps he can destroy anything he creates with Janet for this fake Good Place. I’m almost thinking he’s real? But I’m not gonna bet on that or anything. Janet is extra questionable to me, after the punching suggestion and very…

Interesting you should mention that- as soon as they showed Manson walking into the room, I knew with total certainty that he was going to sit on the back of the chair, and then he did it. I must have read another interview with him where he did the same thing, or the Tom Snyder interview, Burbank that was definitely…

My ranking of the aspects of the show:

Like Batman?

In a show full of serial killers and an episode with both Charles Manson and Ed Kemper (there’s something about Cameron Britton’s voice that gives me the chills, not only here but also in Umbrella Academy), by far the creepiest thing of all was that little tug Gunn gives on the zipper of Wendy’s top.

Complete is the word.  Some killers lie just to mess with people.  Ted did that all the time.  Some lie constantly to paint themselves in a better light.  Charles just loved hearing his voice.  He had a lust for celebrity culture like no other.

Yes I noticed that. Maybe because she is still trying to get out of jail and it’s fairly controversial.  Side note but those were the actual crime scene photos that were briefly shown right? God.

I'm well aware and I understand.  Its just easier then saying cult leader.  He did never touch anyone and isnt really a serial killer by definition.  Actually none of the family members were.  The event was a mass murder.

Agree with everything you mentioned. “You won’t get anything useful from him” is what I think frustrated my teacher the most. I think you can learn from their lies in some ways (like with Bundy) but when the lies are never-ending, it might be better to look at others with similar traits to really learn anything. My…

Speaking of pedantic, did no one else notice that they included Linda Kasabian and Mary Brunner among the pictures of “the killers”, despite the fact that neither actually participated in any killings, but left out Leslie Van Houten? Gotta wonder if there was some kind of rights issue with her likeness.

An aspect of this show that I find fascinating is how so many characters just listen. They take things in and rarely drop a cool response.

Maybe that’s one reason I like this show so much, especially this season? There’s a meditative aspect that I dig, a lot. 

The pedant in my has to point this out, because you mentioned a couple of times: Manson was not a killer.

This was the only “Charles Manson” appearance on any medium that I didn’t hate (I have valid personal reasons for not appreciating the Manson fanaticism; won’t write about them here). It was quite well done, and that actor killed it. There was obviously a lot of research that went into the writing as well; many lines…

Manson loved playing up his persona so much. Few killers loved to show up on camera near as much, he lived on attention. It’s why he is the most googled killer by far and got so much fan mail.

Has anyone else mentioned the face Manson made at Holden, the same face the real one made in a photograph where he was sticking his tongue out and crossing his eyes? I laughed so hard when he did that and you saw Holden go shy fan girl at it. It’s the little things in this show that crack me up.

Near as I can calculate, if you take out the intro and the credits, Manson appears EXACTLY half way through this episode, which is the 5th of 9 episodes on the season, so half way through the season. They put him right in the middle of the whole thing. They even made a point of delaying the meeting a few minutes, then…