The Good Place 1x13 Michael's Gambit

If you go back to your review for ep 1 or 2, you actually did throw out as one of your early theories that The Good Place was actually The Bad Place, the show just obfuscated your ability to see it as The Bad Place.

Rewatching season 1 after learning the twist shows how great Ted Danson was in this role, he plays both sides perfectly.

Don’t worry, everything is great!

So sorry Juliette, but have been waiting for the reveal for 13 episodes and watching your brain break was the best 🤦‍♀️🤣 so sorry 😁

Michael had so many lines in the season that didn't feel like anything but it got into the other characters' heads so much and it was diabolical and brilliant watching back.

Judging from your face during the reveal, this episode is *your* bad place! What a reveal, right! And don't worry, I'm pretty sure they fooled just about everyone. I know I believed it all. But that moment Michael's face changes is just soooo good!

I love the expression on Michael when Eleanor confesses. He was genuinely horrified, but not at all for the reason we thought at the time.

Love this show. Great reaction. What is so crazy is that all those obstacles the characters had this season that just seemed like sitcom craziness were forms of torture. Michael forced them to act against their nature to torture them (Elenor having to admit to her own weaknesses and see the consequences of bad actions, Jason being forced to not act on his impulses to pretend to be an introspective monk, Tahani being in an environment where her privilege and position did not matter, and Chidi being forced to make decisions within an ethical minefield.) However although that did torture them a little, it mostly made them rely on each other, grow, and improve themselves. How crazy for a sitcom to be so plot driven, to teach moral philosophy, to have this kind of plot twist that makes you re-think the whole show, and still be so funny. I am so excited to see you discover all the greatness ahead. You will continue to be surprised, but please keep predicting. And even though there are surprises ahead, you should be safer to explore YouTube comments now. When it turns out you were not watching the show you thought you were, that is a pretty big surprise.

Don't worry Juliette, Michael might have been lying and a bad character overall, but that quirky humour was all him, and it's ok to like bad people 😂 This reveal completely turns the show on it's head. The entire premise has now changed. Oh, also, there's a really fun clip of them all learning the reveal in real life you should check out (in your own time, it's not reaction worthy imo)

A note about watching season 2: The first "2" episodes aired together as one double-length episode. I'm not sure how Netflix has them structured, but you might want to watch them together even if they're split.

I feel so sorry for you 😭 THIS is where you can feel free to re-watch season 1. Seeing it again with this knowledge in mind is a much different experience. Don't worry, its still a feel good experience, at least for your empathy toward the main 4.

No spoilers of course, but if that feeling of betrayal is weighing on you at all, I'll say, have faith that this show will make it all worth it. We've all been there!

"Micheal's my favorite". Now you know why I was anticipating this episode so much. They got you good... but don't worry. They got us all. And they're not done. The overall excellence of the series never ends.

I thought you were having suspicions at the start, Jules.

"Babe, wake up! Juliette is aggressively-prodding-the-desk-with-her-finger angry"

Strap yourself in. The show is so good at constantly wrong-footing your expectations (in some specific ways but it'd be a bit spoilery to say!), but it's an incredibly satisfying watch throughout.

Now THIS is the reaction we've all been waiting for! The look on your face as it was revealed that we've actually been in the bad place all along was priceless! Just pure shock, disbelief and betrayal! Micheal, how could you!?!?!? 😂 I remember in one of your earlier reactions you actually said "what if this is the bad place?", which luckily you seemed to reject as a real possibility, but gosh darn it Juliette you were spot on! Can't wait to see your reactions to what's still to come. Thanks for the awesome video Juliette. I hope you have a lovely day (and maybe some plain, flavourless yoghurt to remind you of a Michael you once loved 😂).

Wow, seeing how dejected and dispirited this made you, I feel a bit bad for my Whedonverse comment on a previous video! Don't worry, it's still a great comedy moving forward 🙂 It's actually a very fun rewatch once you know this - in case you missed it in another comment, try to get blu-rays if you can - all the episodes have a bit more content mixed throughout that was cut for TV runtime (but high quality comedy still).

If you still want a rewatch, now is a good time 😂. There’s definitely a massive amount you pick up on on rewatch - a lot of moments that you take as a classic comic contrivance of the worst thing that could happen to a character make a lot more sense when you realise that it’s entirely deliberate. There are so many little things that you seem innocuous on first watch, but are retrospectively so obviously a direct attack on one of the four’s issues or insecurities… Getting Eleanor to refer to herself as Fake Eleanor is particularly cruel. Michael’s evil laugh is one of the most amazing moments in anything I’ve ever watched.

I am so happy the season twist was not spoiled for you! If you re-watch it, it adds a whole new context. You can totally see they knew what they were doing.