‘The Good Place’ was one of TV’s best comedies with an even better ending

Posted on July 24, 2020

By MARK VIOLA

I don’t watch much network television anymore. I honestly don’t watch much television at all anymore. Back before coronavirus (COVID-19), I spent a good portion of my weekends watching movies, and television always came in second. I’m still only one season into “Stranger Things,” and most of the “must-see” television released over the past decade I’ve never seen.

One exception is the NBC comedy “The Good Place.” It ran for four seasons and ended its run this past January — not because it was canceled, but instead because the writers decided their story was done.

The reason I’m talking about it now is because I stopped watching with three episodes left, both because I didn’t want to see it end and I was worried that the ending would not do justice to everything that came before.

However, I recently went back and watched those final episodes, and to say that it wrecked me would be an understatement. The ending left me emotionally drained in all the good and bad ways only a truly exceptional finale can.

I also want to talk about the show because its central message of personal betterment is an increasingly important one in today’s world of cancel culture and eternal outrage.

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