Spoiler Warning for all three seasons of the show abound in this review: Read at your own risk.
The final season of The Good Place wastes no time picking up right where the third season left off, with Eleanor dealing with newly mind-wiped love interest, Chidi not remembering her name as she introduces him to his new, philosophy book laden home in the newly built Good Place neighborhood, of which she is now the boss of instead of Michael. It’s a somber start to the end of a show mostly known for his philosophical brand of humor.
The episode mostly deals with the lingering plot points of season three’s finale, which saw Michael’s Good Place neighborhood from season one rebooted by Janet and the arrival of four new human test-subjects, two of whom we were introduced to in the finale: John, the gossip columnist and Simone, Chidi’s former colleague/love interest. Meanwhile, the other two lab rats: Linda, a surly and boring Norwegian lady and Brent, an amalgamation of middle-aged, white guy stereotypes.
Like all good episodes of The Good Place, quick-witted, quirky humor and twists abound in this episode as Eleanor deals with being in charge and having to deal with the four test-subjects. The return to the show’s roots dug in seasons one and two, gives a sense of nostalgia after the constant changes season three brought with its episodes.
The twists including Simone thinking the Good Place is a hallucination from being in a coma, and Linda actually being a Bad Place demon in disguise, serve as inventive ways to set up the main conflicts of the season. As not only does Eleanor have to figure out how to make horrible people like Brent and John good, she also has to deal with Chidi taking Linda’s place in the test.
Eleanor is far from alone in her quest, as she still has Michael, Jason, Tahani and Janet by her side. While the premiere mostly features Eleanor and Michael as the main players, Jason in particular has perhaps the funniest subplot of the episode as he starts a war over Janet with her human-like creation, Derek.
The funniest moment though has to be intercutting between Michael giving a pep-talk to the soul squad, while Bad Place leader Sean also gives his team a pep-talk, which finishes with the Bad Place fight song, the Kars4Kids jingle. The writers could not have picked a more perfect song as it is the bane of many a driver when it plays as a commercial on the radio.
Overall, “A Girl from Arizona Part One” is a nice return to The Good Place’s roots as the pieces are set in motion for the final season. The rebooted neighborhood serves as the perfect place for the final season to take place, as Eleanor and company fight for the survival of the human race, a far cry from where they started all the way back in season one.