Sunday, October 28, 2018

The Good Place - The Ballad of Donkey Doug


After learning the truth (again) and concluding that they will use their remaining time on Earth to help others avoid the Bad Place, Jason (Manny Jacinto) leads the group to the magical location of Jacksonville where he hopes to save Donkey Doug's (Mitch Narito) soul. Jason has offered many tales of Donkey Doug during his time with the group, but the one fact he left out is that Donkey Doug is is father. What's interesting here as the show delves in to the hilariously depressing relationship between Jason, Donkey Doug, and Pillboi (Eugene Cordero) is that the episode conclusion with an idea that, despite what these four people accomplished together, flies in the face of the show's core idea that everybody can be saved.

Allowing the show not to end on a downer, "The Ballad of Donkey Doug" does offer a late twist as Donkey Doug sacrifices himself to save his son from the police (maybe there's a small part of him to redeem after all), and Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Michael (Ted Danson) are able to trick Pillboi into being a better person. Mission accomplished? The episode's B-story provides much of the episode's humor featuring a new simulation where Chidi (William Jackson Harper) struggles with the right way to break-up with Simone (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). While Eleanor (Kristen Bell) and Janet (D'Arcy Carden) attempt to help, in the end it all falls on Chidi to offer an honest break-up without revealing too much information that could hurt Simone's feelings or damage her chance to get into the Good Place.

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