One of the most interesting explorations into seriality I’ve had this semester was through watching The Good Place out of order. I had picked this show to watch a random episode from the middle, and then later went back and watched the first two episodes for class. I’m really glad I ended up choosing this show for the first assignment, because I was pretty surprised with what I found.
The random episode I chose was Season 2 Ep. 7: Derek, and…I was confused to say the least.
Pictured below are the notes I took while watching (I started writing on the right page and then wrote on the left):
At first it was jarring trying to figure out the logic and world structure of the show. There ended up being a lot of question marks in these notes. There are also a few notes I made where I commented on an aspect of the show and then tried to deduce what it meant. For example, I wrote: “We’re farted -> can they not cuss?” I also made some incorrect assumptions earlier into the episode and then realized I was wrong later on. For example, I wrote, “Is this white man God?” (referring to Michael), and then at the end of the episode I wrote another note about him which read: “He’s a demon? In a suit?” I was also surprised that I found it particularly difficult to try and figure out the characters’ names. I think this might have been the case because once characters are established and everyone knows everyone, people don’t tend to refer to each other by their names as much in casual conversation. It helped that I started writing their names next to my notes about them. (Although I did still refer to Eleanor as Kristen Bell at times).
Two weeks after watching the one random episode, I watched the first two episodes of the series. I had initially assumed that I would be able to follow the plot better, because I had already been introduced to the characters and the world they’re living in. However, I actually found that I was even more confused. It seems that so much had changed since the beginning that the assumptions I made from the middle of the second season didn’t add up at all. One aspect of the world that I wasn’t prepared for was the concept of soul mates. At the end of the S2E7, Eleanor and Chidi were shocked to find a recording of memories of them together. I wrote: “They dated???? / They loved each other / But no feelings now.” Because of this, I found it difficult to believe that they were set up as soul mates in the beginning. Why would they be surprised at having been in love if they were soul mates? I was similarly shocked to learn that Jason and Tahani are soul mates, since they almost got married in S2E7 but their wedding was stopped because Jason was married to Janet before some so-called “reboots.” (I also had the note “Jason eats candles & Tahani is way too smart 4 him” so I was especially shocked that these two would have been chosen as soul mates from day one). Had I seen everything leading up to S2E7, these concepts would have made more sense, but because they didn’t match up with the ideas I had formed based off of a later point in the show, they almost felt out of place. Had I taken notes while watching the first two episodes, I feel like there would have been even more question marks.
By biggest take-away away from watching a TV series out of order is: don’t do it. It’ll just leave you confused and in the know on major spoilers (see note: “Is this the middle place?“). The episodes all build off of each other and are therefore clearly made to be watched in a particular order. However, if you do watch a TV show out of order, you’ll realize that knowing the spoilers won’t entirely ruin the experience because there will still be a lot that you don’t know.
Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow,
Dessi