The Good Place has produced a six-episode digital mini series titled “The Good Place Presents: The Selection” as a bridge between season three and the upcoming fourth and final season that begins Thursday, Sept. 26 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
“The Good Place: The Selection” Review
In the finale of “The Good Place” season 3, we learnt that four new humans were going to be added into Michael’s Good Place experiment to see if the original four humans (Eleanor Shelltrop, Tahani Al-Jamil, Jason Mendoza and Chidi Anagonye) getting better was a fluke. “The Good Place: The Selection” is a mini series of six episodes which show us the selection process the Bad Place went through to pick the four humans they have selected for this experiment.
Episode one, “The Mission,” starts with several Bad Place demons in a conference room. These demons include Shawn and Bambadjan from previous seasons. They start discussing possible candidates for this experiment. Not knowing the rules for this experiment (the candidates must be the same level of “bad” as the original four humans, therefore to quote Shawn, “no white rappers that have done a semi-ironic cover of a rap song” are allowed) the bad place demons suggest humans such as as John Wayne Gacy, Adolf Hilter and the lesser known Steve Hitler. We also learn in this episode that Bad Place demons are forced to watch videos of red pandas as a punishment because they are “extremely cute.” This episode was a very entertaining first part to this mini series.
Episode two, “The Candidates,” continues with the Bad Place demons discussing candidates (minus Shawn). When Shawn returns to the room, he is greeted with the whole room farting, which is considered a friendly gesture in the Bad Place, classy as always. Shawn discusses how this experiment will be the most important thing they ever do, even more important than the time they “stuffed a globe up Christopher Columbus’s butt” (personalised punishments are the best). The Bad Place demons get twenty seconds to discuss their ideas. One demon suggests a human called Mackenzie, who seems to be a real Draco Malfoy type with her constantly asking, “Do you know who my father is?” She is also racist and a shop lifter. Bambadjan then suggests a human called Troy, who is a firefighter and arsonist with a Tik-Tok account. Gail pitches her suggestions of a cult leader, someone who hunted rhinos into extinction and someone who unfairly doxed a comic book illustrator. Shawn and another demon then come to the conclusion that “Humanity is a massive screaming pile of greasy dookie” which they’re not necessarily wrong about. Episode 2 is definitely darker than the first part, but its jokes take the cake.
Episode three is called “The Takeout Order,” which is very fitting as it starts with the Bad Place demons discussing what to order for dinner, in which a demon wonders why they even need dinner as their primary sustenance is the pain they inflict on humans. Food offered to the group include human babies, expired New England clam chowder (this show seems to LOVE chowder) and sludge from inside of shoes when people don’t wear socks (which according to another demon, isn’t great, not enough dandruff). Then, there is a little scene where a lava demon asks for directions to evil zumba (I really want to know how that differs to normal zumba, as someone who hates exercise, all zumba is evil to me). The demons then get back to discussing dinner options, which includes an overflowing toilet and a can of mixed human teeth. Overall, this episode isn’t that relevant to that actual human selection process, but it is absolutely one of my favourites due to the amount we learn about the Bad Place demons. The food is so creative, so good job to the writers who thought of them. Remind me never to go to their dinner parties.
Episode four is titled “The Storm Out,” which was apparently written by “Your Mom.” This is a small detail I personally enjoyed. This episode directly follows episode three, as it starts with Shawn discussing how full he is after dinner. If you were wondering, the demons had sun-dried mayonnaise and burritos full of hair. Delightful. The candidate discussion is back on the table, along with their plates that they’re leaving to fester. Shawn then calls the demons “flat ironed pubes” which is an insult I will definitely be stealing in the future. The demons seem to not be taking this seriously enough, in which Shawn expresses how much he doesn’t want Michael’s team to win the experiment. Shawn then storms out, thus the title of the episode. The demons peer pressure the least secure demon into going to talk to Shawn, however said demon expresses how much he does not want to do that, and how scary Shawn is (this demon seems sweet, you know…for a demon). After more peer pressure, the insecure demon agrees to talk to Shawn. This episode in a way makes me feel bad for Shawn, as the demons don’t seem to understand his passion for sending the original four humans to The Bad Place, but how bad can you really feel for a demon?
The second to last episode is called “The Talk,” which starts with Shawn smoking a “goose turd” which he offers to the insecure demon. The demon then says how he’s on the patch. This scene is interesting because it suggests that smoking goose poop is worse than nicotine, which is a very interesting point. What IS worse? A harmful substance or the excrement of a barn yard animal? Anyway, that is off topic. Shawn then suggests that they need to start from scratch with the candidate options. The demon then, without thinking, tells Shawn that Simone, Chidi’s ex girlfriend, recently died. Shawn then very clearly gets an idea and storms out along side the demon. This episode is the turning point for the entire show. In that one line about Simone dying, it lets the final series of the show into action. This one line caused so much hassle with Michael’s team. This one insecure demon discovered a way to derail Michael’s entire operation by complete accident. This episode is an absolute must watch in understanding the demon’s decision to bring in Simone.
Finally, episode six is titled “The Solution.” It starts with Shawn coming to the conclusion that in order to beat Michael’s team, the four candidates need to be perfectly selected to target each of the original four humans. For Tahani, a demon suggests Johnny Depp for some reason. However, he is still alive. It is then revealed that Depp does giraffe blood transfusions which is strange, but we’re not going to question it. The real candidate for Tahani as seen in season 3 is discussed, a gossip blogger that made her miserable on Earth. The insecure demon then suggests how this feels like cheating. (See, told you he seemed sweet. Almost suspiciously sweet if you ask me.) The other demons, including Shawn, then laugh. A different demon (who was definitely not paying attention) then suggests Steve Hitler again, which is followed by a stare off between her and Shawn that lasts for the entirety of the rest of the episode apart from Shawn stopping to say, “You suck so bad!” which is the final line of the mini series. That demon may suck, but this series doesn’t. This mini series was hilarious, and it was such a fun insight to the demons side of the story. It was a lovely way to get people ready for the upcoming series four which airs on September 26th (which I will also be reviewing). Overall, I personally give this mini series a full five stars. The episodes may be short, but it holds so much character and humour.
You can watch the series on the NBC App.
Link to download the NBC App here: https://nbc.app.link/pMBNjHTOVZ
Edited by: Madison Morrow
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