What I watched:
The Good Place S1.E11-12 "What's my motivation," "Mindy St. Claire" and "Michael's Gambit"
What I saw:
The show returns from break with Fake Eleanor's judgment near at hand from the infamous Shawn. The gang comes up with a plan to show how much Fake Eleanor has improved by restarting her point counter for everything she does in the Good Place. This way she can prove she is morally good enough to stay. She throws a party to make up for ruining Tahani's first party with the giant frogs and raining garbage. However despite her efforts, she realizes her points aren't going up because her motivation for being good and nice to everyone is a selfish one: she wants to stay in the Good Place. Only when she decides to accept her fate and leave do all those points kick in.
This brings up an interesting moral question that many philosophers have struggled with as well. If you do a good thing for selfish or even bad reasons, is it still a good thing? The opposite question has also driven philosophers crazy, meaning if you do a bad thing for good reasons, is it still bad? This show is stating that yes, a person's motivations absolutely have everything to do with the moral value of their actions.
I myself, however, find that to be less certain. You basically have to accept an absolute moral framework to make that kind of conclusion. What I mean by absolute is that it applies to everyone all the time everywhere. This is actually very difficult to do, because once you start to think about all the exceptions (like stealing an apple so you won't starve, giving millions to a charity for a tax write off, giving up a family of Jewish people you were hiding over to Nazis so your own family lives), the black and white lines of morality starts to get smudged in gray.
I myself, however, find that to be less certain. You basically have to accept an absolute moral framework to make that kind of conclusion. What I mean by absolute is that it applies to everyone all the time everywhere. This is actually very difficult to do, because once you start to think about all the exceptions (like stealing an apple so you won't starve, giving millions to a charity for a tax write off, giving up a family of Jewish people you were hiding over to Nazis so your own family lives), the black and white lines of morality starts to get smudged in gray.
Since I obviously lean towards the school of existentialism, I will explain briefly that philosophy's take on motivation. Once again referencing Simone de Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity (I swear I've read more existentialist books and essays, it's just that book mostly talks ethics while others focus more on meaning and absurdity of life), it doesn't really matter what our motivations are, only the actions we take do. Take the example I gave of the millions into charity for a tax write off. The motivation is selfish but the result is charities have a sudden increase of money to spend helping others.
Now what de Beauvoir noted was that if motivation was all that mattered, then you could always justify your actions by saying the ends justify the means. However, that can quickly lead to some super villain type of actions. Say the goal was to end world hunger, but instead of redistributing food, or teach sustainable farming, someone instead just picks a billion people to slaughter and reduce the demand for food. Problem solved right! Now obviously that is a morally wrong thing to do, but the motivation was to end world hunger so whatever. What de Beauvoir then concludes is that the actions we take to achieve our goals (the means) has to match on a moral level what we want to achieve (the ends). Because the road we take to get to our destination is essentially part of the journey. The means and the ends are connected.
Now what de Beauvoir noted was that if motivation was all that mattered, then you could always justify your actions by saying the ends justify the means. However, that can quickly lead to some super villain type of actions. Say the goal was to end world hunger, but instead of redistributing food, or teach sustainable farming, someone instead just picks a billion people to slaughter and reduce the demand for food. Problem solved right! Now obviously that is a morally wrong thing to do, but the motivation was to end world hunger so whatever. What de Beauvoir then concludes is that the actions we take to achieve our goals (the means) has to match on a moral level what we want to achieve (the ends). Because the road we take to get to our destination is essentially part of the journey. The means and the ends are connected.
Alright, moving on to the next episode! Fake Eleanor, Jason, and Janet take off to a "medium" place that was built for a woman who was a real asshole for most of her life, but right before she died she had made plans to set up a really great non-profit. Her sister found the plans and then used the inheritance to make it a reality.
Once again, motivation played a huge part because she had every intention of doing it but she never got a chance to. The Good and Bad Places came up with a compromise to give her things she likes but added a twist of something she doesn't like (infinite supply of her favorite beer but it is always warm). Meanwhile Shawn makes his completely unbiased ruling and communicates through Janet that if Fake Eleanor and Jason don't return he will make Chidi and Tahani go to the Bad Place.
Once again, motivation played a huge part because she had every intention of doing it but she never got a chance to. The Good and Bad Places came up with a compromise to give her things she likes but added a twist of something she doesn't like (infinite supply of her favorite beer but it is always warm). Meanwhile Shawn makes his completely unbiased ruling and communicates through Janet that if Fake Eleanor and Jason don't return he will make Chidi and Tahani go to the Bad Place.
I already covered the whole thing about motivation, but the great thing about this episode is how I think it showed the character development that Fake Eleanor has gone through. She knew without any doubt that letting her friends go in their stead was morally wrong. We also got to see just how she ended up as bad as she was in life, or rather, how she stopped herself from getting worse. Her parents were selfish and looking out for themselves, neglecting her. She learned that the only fair thing was to look out for herself and not rely on anyone because she had no one she could rely on. But since she became actual friends with Chidi and Tahani, and had to rely on them, she knew what she had to do. And of course, Janet hilariously learned the same lesson and set a "ride or die" protocol for her husband Jason.
Finally we get to the conclusion of the first season. Fake Eleanor and Jason go back to turn themselves in, but they showed up just seconds too late. Shawn then says he doesn't care which two people go to the Bad Place, and gives them half an hour to pick who will go. Somehow, all of them (except for Jason, who spends the whole time making out with Janet) want to throw themselves on the sword for different reasons.
Real Eleanor volunteers to go for one of them, saying that since she already knows what it's like and since Chidi doesn't love her then she should go. Chidi wants to do what he thinks is right and keep Real Eleanor company in the Bad Place. Tahani then wants to take Real Eleanor's Place because she doesn't have a soulmate since Jason took that spot, and wants to try to be with Chidi. And of course Fake Eleanor was supposed to go there to begin with so she feels responsible and wants to save her friends.
Real Eleanor volunteers to go for one of them, saying that since she already knows what it's like and since Chidi doesn't love her then she should go. Chidi wants to do what he thinks is right and keep Real Eleanor company in the Bad Place. Tahani then wants to take Real Eleanor's Place because she doesn't have a soulmate since Jason took that spot, and wants to try to be with Chidi. And of course Fake Eleanor was supposed to go there to begin with so she feels responsible and wants to save her friends.
They all get caught up in their own sense of morality, which I think demonstrates that morality is much more subjective than what the architects of the Good Place presented with in the beginning. Each person has their own moral view, and want to go sacrifice themselves in order to fulfill it. However, that all gets thrown under the bus when (spoiler alert again) Fake Eleanor figures out they are already in the Bad Place.
It turns out ever since they woke up in the "Good" Place they have all been hit with something that has made their stay miserable. Fake Eleanor had to live in constant fear of being caught. Chidi had to repeatedly make morally difficulty choices when even regular choices were difficult for him. Even in the beginning, Chidi had said to Fake Eleanor when he discovered her secret "I'm in paradise and I have a stomachache!" Tahani found out she was second to last in the rankings which shattered her already fragile ego from living in her sister's shadow. And Jason, well, he was too busy making out with Janet to join in on that conversation. To keep the ball rolling, Michael decided to reset everything and try and see if they can get them to make themselves miserable even longer.
As far as storytelling goes, I think they did a really good job in setting up the twist. Over the whole season they not only showed what Fake Eleanor's life was like, but Chidi, Tahani, and Jason's life too. We saw for ourselves what flawed lives they lived, and them being in the Bad Place didn't feel like it came out of nowhere. Chidi's indecisiveness and moral dilemmas caused misery for everyone around him. Tahani did good charity works, but all so she can get out of her sister's shadow (and again, the show set up that motivation is important). And of course Fake Eleanor and Jason are both selfish and didn't do anything to help other people. Overall, a really good and believable twist.
I can't wait to see what they have in store for the second season. I think from here on it will probably focus more on story rather than moral elements, but they'll still sneak some in there. What did you guys think of the twist in the finale? Did you guys see it from a mile away or were you surprised? Let me know in the comments.
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