Janet(s)
"Janet(s)" | |
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The Good Place episode | |
Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 10 |
Directed by | Morgan Sackett |
Written by |
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Original air date | December 6, 2018 |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
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"Janet(s)" is the tenth episode of the
After rediscovering the afterlife earlier in the season, Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason help others on Earth alongside afterlife architect Michael and assistant Janet. In the episode, the four humans find themselves transformed into versions of Janet as they seek to escape demons from the Bad Place. Eleanor tries to address her romantic feelings for Chidi and has an identity crisis when he denies any feelings for her. Meanwhile, Michael and Janet visit Accounting, the section of the afterlife that calculates point totals for people's good and bad actions during their lives, to determine if the Bad Place is manipulating the points system.
The premise of the episode originated during production of
Seen by 2.58 million viewers in its original broadcast, "Janet(s)" received praise from critics; Carden's performance earned widespread acclaim. The episode was ranked as one of 2018's best television episodes by many publications. Analysis has focused on its discussion of the meaning of the self, as well as why nobody had reached the Good Place in over five centuries. The episode won the
Plot
When Janet (D'Arcy Carden) brings Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason into her void – an alternate dimension tied to her essence – the four humans are accidentally transformed into versions of Janet. The original Janet gives each person different clothes to identify them before she and Michael (Ted Danson) leave to visit Accounting. The humans stay in Janet's void, as they are now fugitives within the afterlife.
Michael and Janet meet the head accountant, Neil (Stephen Merchant). Neil insists the Bad Place cannot be tampering with the afterlife points system, but agrees to show them the system anyway. He explains that everything someone does on Earth is assigned a positive or negative point value. If something new occurs, an accountant gives it a value based on its intentions, effects, and other factors. Every new value is verified by three billion other accountants, leaving no room for tampering. Despite this, Michael asks to see Doug Forcett's file.[a] Neil finds the Book of Dougs and says Doug is on track for the Bad Place. Michael considers this proof of tampering, as Doug has spent his life devoted to good actions. He asks to see a file for someone on track for the Good Place; Neil reveals nobody has reached the Good Place in 521 years.
In Janet's void, Eleanor-Janet talks with Chidi-Janet about their past romantic relationships. Chidi-Janet argues those experiences happened to him in different lives. He cites several philosophers to prove his point, but Eleanor-Janet becomes frustrated and thinks he is avoiding a discussion of his feelings. Meanwhile, Jason-Janet and Tahani-Janet discover signs of Janet's romantic feelings for Jason. After more failed attempts to get Chidi-Janet to talk, Eleanor-Janet wonders why she is bothering to reach out to him. Her resulting identity crisis causes her to change into random bodies, and Janet's void begins to collapse. To restore her identity, Chidi-Janet lists off Eleanor's memories and the good things she has done before ultimately kissing her. This causes the four humans to both regain their normal appearances and be ejected from Janet's void. Michael, Janet, and the humans flee from the accountants; Michael takes the Book of Dougs with him. The six escape via a pneumatic tube and arrive in a mailroom. Eleanor (Kristen Bell) realizes they are in the Good Place.
Production
Development and writing
According to series creator
Schur told Carden to begin preparing for the episode in March 2018, four months before the episode would be filmed.[5] Carden later said she was surprised when she learned about the episode and was grateful that the writers and producers trusted her to pull it off.[10] For the episode, Carden plays a wide range of characters, including her normal character, each of the four humans as a Janet, a "Neutral Janet" in Accounting, and one scene in which she plays Eleanor pretending to be Jason.[3] The cast began rehearsing for the episode earlier than normal to provide references for Carden's impressions.[5] Her co-stars recorded footage of their performances for Carden to listen to and review, including a rehearsal on set with the cast playing their usual characters.[4][10] The actors' movements during these performances were also tracked for use with special effects.[5] Additionally, Carden followed the actors around when she was not in scenes and would mimic what they were doing.[10] The other cast members provided help in various ways as Carden was learning to portray them; for instance, William Jackson Harper sent a copy of Chidi's lines the way he liked to memorize them, while Manny Jacinto showed her a video that inspired his portrayal of Jason.[11] Carden later explained that she struggled to perform her impression of Harper as Chidi even though she could imagine it, and she found Bell's subtle actions to be hard to emulate.[10]
Filming
Filming took place over five and a half days in July 2018.[7] For the episode, Janet's void was represented by an entirely white set, though director Morgan Sackett decided to add furniture to prevent the audience from becoming bored by the setting.[13] Filming required significantly more planning and visual effects than normal; Schur later called it "the opposite of how [they] usually make television" due to the precision required.[8] In a separate interview, Schur described it as both "an extreme bottle episode" due to the limited setting and cast, and "the opposite of a bottle episode" because of the level of detail required.[6] Though some scenes used stand-ins in costumes and wigs, many were filmed with only poles to represent the other characters. Carden later called those scenes the hardest part of filming for her, describing it as "kind of los[ing] your mind a little bit".[10] A particularly difficult shot was the climactic kiss due to how Carden's body had to be positioned and the alignment of the shots. To film one part of the scene, she had to kiss a pair of wax lips placed atop a pole.[4][13] The height differences between Carden and Bell added to the scene's challenges.[6] After combining her multiple roles, Carden spent about 40 minutes performing in the episode, which was only 22 minutes long.[8][9]
At one point, Eleanor transforms into a series of different individuals as she loses her sense of self. Morgan and Siegal credited the idea to Schur and explained that they carefully scripted what each new person said for both emotional impact and humor based upon who would say the line. Visual effects producer David Niednagel added
Merchant, co-creator of the British version of The Office, makes a guest appearance in the episode; Schur worked as a writer on The Office's American adaptation.[15][16] In the episode, Merchant holds a mug reading "Existence's Best Boss", an allusion to a similar mug used by Michael Scott. The prop was printed with the slogan, but Merchant held it the wrong way during filming, so the words were reapplied using special effects during post-production.[4][15]
Analysis
One of the episode's themes is the meaning of the self; Chidi even leads a lecture on the topic within the episode.
Another major topic of discussion was the reveal that nobody had reached the Good Place in 521 years. Several critics speculated as to why this happened.
Reception
Ratings
In its original broadcast on December 6, 2018, "Janet(s)" was seen by 2.58 million American viewers and received a 0.8
Reviews
"Janet(s)" received highly positive reviews from
Entertainment Weekly's Darren Franich deemed "Janet(s)" the best episode of season three by far and felt the show was reaching its "runaway-train phase" at the end of the season. He said the revelation about nobody reaching the Good Place in centuries was, in some ways, the show's biggest twist yet.[27] Sepinwall remarked that the show's return to the afterlife helped to produce one of its best episodes. He found himself appreciating the Eleanor-Chidi relationship more and praised Michael's growth as he took the situation into his own hands.[16] St. James found the episode to be "a surprisingly romantic and sweet story" and praised the setup for future episodes, particularly after the less enjoyable episodes from earlier in the season.[17]
Carden's performance in the episode, which was described as a "showcase" for her character,[16] was widely singled out for acclaim. Brian Grubb of Uproxx called it "one of the best television comedy performances by one person" he could recall.[3] Perkins called it "marvelous", noting the details she was able to incorporate into each impression.[12] Bojalad applauded Carden's ability to realistically depict the conflict between Eleanor and Chidi without using the main actors and described the episode as Carden "at the absolute height of [her] powers".[26] St. James praised the show and Carden for committing to the premise and nailing the performances, suggesting that Carden deserved an Emmy for the performance.[17] The editors of Paste named Carden's performance as Janet as their top television performance of 2018 and singled out her role in "Janet(s)" for displaying her talent.[28]
The episode was ranked among the best of the year by numerous publications. In an unranked top-ten list, Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter remarked that it was able to advance the story and hit emotional beats while not using most of the main cast.[29] Esquire's Justin Kirkland also placed it in his top-ten list, describing it as "a triple threat of episodes: excellent acting, excellent narrative, and impressive visual stunts".[30] In The New York Times's list of the year's most memorable episodes, James Poniewozik credited the show's strong writing for allowing its characters to all be played by Carden while maintaining their traits.[31] The episode was also ranked seventh for the year by Entertainment Weekly[32] and twenty-first by both IndieWire and The Guardian.[33][34]
Awards and nominations
The episode resulted in several nominations for major awards. It received the
Notes
References
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (November 15, 2018). "The Good Place Recap: Death Becomes Them". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
- ^ Murray, Noel (January 30, 2020). "Every Character on The Good Place, Ranked". Vulture. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
- ^ a b c Grubb, Brian (December 7, 2018). "All Of The Janets From The Multi-Janet Good Place Episode, Ranked". Uproxx. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f Friedlander, Whitney (December 6, 2018). "How The Good Place Made Its Very Special Janet Episode". Vulture. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Eakin, Marah (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place's latest gambit was over a year in the making". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on November 25, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b c Porter, Rick (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place Creator on the Latest Twist and "Hero" D'Arcy Carden". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2022.
- ^ a b c Meslow, Scott (December 7, 2018). "The Good Place team on the show's most insane episode yet". The Week. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Nemetz, Dave (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place's D'Arcy Carden, EPs Break Down the Year-Long (!) Process of Making Janet's Big Episode". TVLine. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
- ^ a b c Nguyen, Hanh (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place: How Its Team of Philosophers Made the Fall Finale Go Deep". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Snierson, Dan (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place star D'Arcy Carden on playing Janet(s) in that insane episode". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
- ^ Sun, Rebecca (June 7, 2019). "The Good Place Star D'Arcy Carden on the "Crazy Amount of Pressure" for Her Most Challenging Episode". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b c Perkins, Dennis (December 6, 2018). "D'Arcy Carden dazzles as The Good Place drops a few more narrative bombshells". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b c Turchiano, Danielle (June 4, 2019). "The Good Place Team Goes Inside the Making of Season 3's 'Janet(s)'". Variety. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b Murray, Noel (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place Recap: Void (Where Prohibited)". Vulture. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
- ^ a b c Adams, Erik (December 7, 2018). "The Good Place, annotated: "Janet(s)"". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Sepinwall, Alan (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place Recap: Dammit, Janet(s)". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e St. James, Emily (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place offers one of its best episodes ever with "Janet(s)"". Vox. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- S2CID 230669690.
- S2CID 230664890.
- ^ St. James, Emily; Trolio, Jen; Wilkinson, Alissa (January 10, 2019). "The Good Place sets the stage for season 3's endgame in "The Book of Dougs"". Vox. Archived from the original on March 14, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ Perkins, Dennis (January 10, 2019). "The Good Place gets close enough to the Good Place to make us question everything". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on July 18, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- S2CID 230674924.
- ^ a b Welch, Alex (December 7, 2018). "Thursday Night Football adjusts up, Mom adjusts down: Thursday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on December 8, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ "The Good Place: Season Three Ratings". TV Series Finale. February 1, 2019. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
- ^ Pucci, Douglas (December 18, 2018). "Live+7 Weekly Ratings: Fall Finales of The Big Bang Theory and The Good Doctor Lead All Telecasts in Overall Gains". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on February 7, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ a b Bojalad, Alec (December 7, 2018). "The Good Place Season 3 Episode 9 Review: Janet(s)". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
- ^ Franich, Darren (December 6, 2018). "The Good Place recap: "Janet(s)" is a radical tour de force". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 18, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ "The 25 Best TV Performances of 2018". Paste. December 14, 2018. Archived from the original on June 27, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
- ^ Goodman, Tim; Fienberg, Daniel (December 18, 2018). "Hollywood Reporter TV Critics Pick the Best Episodes of 2018". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 18, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ Kirkland, Justin (December 10, 2018). "The 10 Best Episodes of Television in 2018". Esquire. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ Poniewozik, James; Hale, Mike; Lyons, Margaret (December 24, 2018). "The Most Memorable TV Episodes of 2018". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ "The 10 best TV episodes of 2018". Entertainment Weekly. December 7, 2018. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ Miller, Liz Shannon; Nguyen, Hanh; Greene, Steve; Travers, Ben (December 7, 2018). "The 30 Best TV Episodes of 2018, Ranked". IndieWire. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ Mumford, Gwilym; Abbott, Kate; Heritage, Stuart; Bakare, Lanre; Belam, Martin; MacInnes, Paul (December 19, 2018). "The best TV episodes of 2018, from Inside No 9 to Maniac". The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 17, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
- ^ Whitbrook, James (August 19, 2019). "Here Are Your Hugo 2019 Award Winners". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
- Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archivedfrom the original on June 12, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
- ^ Horton, Adrian (September 22, 2019). "Emmy winners 2019: the full list". The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
- ^ Giardina, Carolyn (February 2, 2019). "Art Directors Guild Awards: Favourite, Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians Among Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
- ^ Giardina, Carolyn (February 17, 2019). "Bohemian Rhapsody Wins Pair of Trophies at Sound Editors' Golden Reel Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
- ^ Lee, Ashley (July 20, 2019). "Comic-Con 2019: The Good Place creator calls out Emmys for D'Arcy Carden snub". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 18, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
- ^ Heritage, Stuart (July 16, 2019). "From Homecoming to The Good Fight: this year's Emmys snubs and shocks". The Guardian. Archived from the original on June 17, 2020. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
- ^ Adams, Erik (August 24, 2020). "D'Arcy Carden on her Good Place goodbye, unconventional Emmys plans, and Barry's delay". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 28, 2021.
External links
- "Janet(s)" at NBC.com
- "Janet(s)" at IMDb
- "Ch. 36" of The Good Place: The Podcast