‘The Good Place’ deserves a breakthrough writing Emmy nomination for ‘Janet(s),’ dammit!
The best episode of the third season of “The Good Place” — and this is not up for debate — is “Janet(s),” the 10th installment that also served as the fall finale in December. That, of course, was the multiple Janets episode, in which D’Arcy Carden was tasked with playing all four humans after they enter Janet’s void, along with a new version of Janet, the deadpan Neutral Janet. It was a tremendous showcase for Carden’s skill and versatility — and would obviously be her submission if she makes the Best Comedy Supporting Actress Emmy cut — but she definitely should not be the only person recognized for the episode.
The entire gamble works not just because of Carden’s stunning ability to mimic her co-stars, but because of the writing. Penned by Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan, “Janet(s)” used the neat party trick of multiple Janets as the other characters (and also an Eleanor-as-Jason-Janet and a Jason-as-Eleanor-Janet) to underscore one of the show’s favorite themes: identity and the self.
“The Good Place” has always explored the idea of bettering one’s self and being capable of change, and for our initially Bad Place-banished humans, Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Harper Jackson), Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason (Manny Jacinto), this journey has taken them through so many permutations of themselves that they’re not sure who they really are anymore in Janet’s void. The episode literally cycles through all the different corporeal versions of Eleanor she could’ve been, as her identity crisis threatens to destroy the void. Chidi also tells Eleanor that he’s not the same person who had fallen in love with her in the past.
SEE D’Arcy Carden on the ‘Good Place’ episode that made her husband cry [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW]
This declaration deftly ties together multiple threads. Eleanor and Chidi have gradually been built up as true soul mates and they finally get together — without getting their memories wiped — in this episode while they’re being played by a different (but the same) actor. He reminds her who she is with various bits of info, both dumb (she lists Britney Spears as her emergency contact as a long-shot way of meeting her) and important (flying halfway around the world to meet him to be a better person), spurring him to admit he loves her. They have their first real kiss, transforming from two Janets kissing into Chidi and Eleanor kissing. Their actualized feelings are strong enough to restore their actual selves (and the void).
And just when you think that was enough action for one episode, Siegal and Morgan pull off another classic unexpected “Good Place” surprise at the last minute. After trips to various Places and a detour on Earth over two and a half seasons, the Soul Squad at long last arrives somewhere that’s also a true version of itself: the real Good Place.
“The Good Place” has had a slow burn at the Emmys. After getting zilch nominations for its first season, it broke through last year with two pretty big ones: Best Comedy Actor for Ted Danson and Best Comedy Guest Actress for Maya Rudolph. It’s expected to improve this year with a Best Comedy Series nomination — it’s in sixth place in our odds — after posting its best guild run-up yet with five nominations. Oh yeah, it also won a Peabody Award. One of those guild nominations was for Best Comedy Series at the Writers Guild of America Awards, boding well for perhaps its first Emmy bid for writing, which has always been the strongest and most creative aspect of the show. And if it’s for “Janet(s)” — ballot submissions are out June 10 — it would be more than motherforkin’ deserved.
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