The Good Place Series Finale Review: Whenever You’re Ready (Season 4 Episodes 13 and 14)

The Good Place solidifies its standing as one of the most important TV comedies in history with a perfect series finale. 

On The Good Place Season 4 Episodes 13 and 14, “Whenever You’re Ready,” each member of the gang we’ve come to know and love finds the end to their story — though those endings aren’t necessarily endings at all.

The new afterlife that they’ve created, complete with the option for anyone to leave The Good Place once they’re ready, is one that they all exist in for an unspecified amount of time.

One by one, each character makes that choice, all doing so once they’ve had closure and feel a sense of completeness and quietude.

It’s something that they’re able to feel thanks to the additional time they’ve been given — time that allows them to revisit with old loved ones once they’ve also made it to The Good Place, time that allows them to continue bonding with one another, and time that allows them to reach goals and have a sense of purpose.

That additional time is really what makes “The Good Place” such a heavenly afterlife. Sure, getting margaritas any time you want or seeing the most beautiful places in the world just by walking through a door sounds pretty perfect, but those details are trivial compared to literally having all the time in the world. 

It gets at immortality in this way, too. There are so many stories of people getting the chance to live forever, only to realize that immortality is a curse rather than a blessing. The Good Place is addressing the same idea. The new and improved Good Place that offers the option to leave allows for its inhabitants to find their sense of peace, whereas when it was simply infinite, they were miserable and broken. 

It’s mortality that gives their lives meaning once again. But the beauty of it, and the second most important way the new and improved Good Place is such a magical, wonderful, rewarding afterlife, is that each person can choose when they walk through that door. No one chooses for them. 

Imagine for a moment that’s how life on earth worked. That our lives didn’t end until we were satisfied with our accomplishments, had closure with our relationships, and felt we’d grown as people? That they didn’t end until we were completely at peace and ready to say goodbye?

The Good Place is getting at that fundamental human desire and presenting an idea about the afterlife that feels completely universal. 

Each character makes the decision about their next step in a different way, allowing for these individualized goodbyes that aren’t just for the other characters. We as the audience get to say goodbye to each character one by one. 

Jason is *sort of* first. He makes the decision first, which occurs after having closure with a personal relationship and accomplishment of a goal. It’s bittersweet because even though it’s sad for him to leave, he’s at peace with his decision.

His goodbye to Janet is a bit of a tearjerker, maybe even more so because he’s so at peace. It turns out, though, that he doesn’t actually walk through the door. He waits for many Jeremy Bearimy’s for Janet to return so he can give her the necklace he made.

As he waits, he’s essentially becoming the person he was thought to be when we first met him. He learns to be still and quiet and alone with his thoughts in nature, letting the time pass with no worries. Janet points it out when they reunite, that he was passing time sort of like a monk — and it’s a beautiful way to bring him full circle. 

Tahani is the second to make her decision. She first learns a whole host of skills, including how to make a chair thanks to guest star Nick Offerman (a nice nod to Parks and Recreation).

It’s her time with her parents that really brings her peace, though. Once they enter The Good Place, we have a way to see just how dramatically changed people can be once they go through the new system. These two people are kind, apologetic, and very concerned with their daughters — not at all the parents that Tahani and her sister knew when they were alive. 

It’s really one of the most endearing parts of the episode because it’s not just about more time with her family, it’s about forming a bond she wishes she’d had. And it’s about forgiveness. 

Every character has grown over the course of the series, but Tahani’s growth is particularly evident in this finale. Her relationships and her empathy are part of that, but she’s also become humble and a person who’s willing to work — and who even derives pleasure from it.

Tahani is happiest now that she’s learned new skills and had very specific accomplishments, all of which lead her to a unique decision about what she wants next. She doesn’t want to go through the door, but she doesn’t want to stay in The Good Place either. She’s able to get special permission, thanks to Michael, to become an architect. 

For Chidi, making the decision to leave is more complicated. He’s content and ready to go, but Eleanor can’t stand the thought of him leaving. With the help of Janet, she stalls, and eventually, Chidi just agrees to stay so she won’t be alone.

But it doesn’t take Eleanor long to realize that keeping him there is selfish. I can’t help but draw a parallel here to the complications of seeing a loved one on life support, where they live in a sort of purgatory. Eleanor doesn’t want him to go, but she realizes she needs to let him.

Something I appreciate about this line of storytelling is that their romantic relationship — and this is true of Janet and Jason too — is largely beside the point. It’s important to their lives and to their momentary happiness, but the “happy ending” has nothing to do with two people winding up together and living happily ever after.

They get their time together, they make the most of it, and then it ends. 

Eleanor is the last of the four to want to go, and the last of the four to find that sense of calm and completeness. It’s remarkable considering how much her character had grown too, but there’s still work to do. She thinks at first it must be about Mindy, who she sees a lot of herself in.

Eleanor believes Mindy is what she would be like had she not met her friends, which of course, is another common thread of The Good Place.

Human connection matters, and forming bonds with other people brings more happiness and meaning than being alone possibly could. Beyond that, it’s the idea that you can make such connections with people who are entirely different from you, and you can learn from one another.

Eleanor and Tahani’s friendship is just one example. Two women who couldn’t stand one another at first and couldn’t have possibly had different ideas about life wound up teaching one another meaningful lessons. Now Eleanor wants something similar for Mindy, and Tahani will get to be a part of that.

Still, Eleanor isn’t ready. But Michael sure is. He’s bored and he’s over it. He has no sense of purpose left. When Eleanor realizes what he needs, she finally feels complete. 

All Michael has really ever wanted is to be human. 

He’s been fascinated by humans all along, particularly as he began to realize how good humans could really be. Now he gets to live that life himself. 

It provides some of the best humor of the episode, and Ted Danson just radiates with joy. I would happily watch more of Michael figuring out how to be human and laughing at burning himself on microwave dinners. 

We get glimpses of his human experience, even down to learning the guitar from a very special guitar instructor. It truly is a lovely detail that Danson’s wife, actress Mary Steenburgen, makes an appearance in such a meaningful way.

What’s most significant about his human experience, though, is that he doesn’t really know what will happen after he dies. As Eleanor points out before he goes, the afterlife could change while he’s on earth. He can’t count on knowing what will happen next. 

He’s okay with not knowing that answer, though, because what’s more human than not really knowing?

What The Good Place has done in its four seasons is remarkable. What felt like a funny and witty sitcom become something so much more complex and thought-provoking that strikes a deep emotional chord.

I doubt anyone who’s seen every episode hasn’t thought, at least a little, about how they might spend their limited time on earth and how they might do so while becoming a better person. That’s quite a feat for a humble sitcom. 

We’ll miss you, The Good Place. Take it sleazy.

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