The Good Place S3E8 Review

The Good Place departs from the structure of its last two episodes this week, with a flashback-centric episode, where Eleanor deals with a bombshell that Michael dropped on her at the end of last week's episode.


S3E8 "The Worst Possible Use of Free Will"

Now that Eleanor knows that she fell in love with Chidi, she understandably really wants to know how that happened. They go to an Arizona public library (making a few good Arizona jokes all throughout the episode), and Michael shows Eleanor some memories from the afterlife.

Eleanor views memories of the reboot where her and Chidi fell in love. Jameela Jamil is a great source of humor in the flashback scenes, as the residents of the good place get magical pets, and Tahani's choice is a horse with her head that is very judgmental. Eleanor and Chidi falling in love has some really sweet moments, especially the tragic moment where Eleanor insists that her and Chidi's love will endure.

After seeing these, Eleanor manages to convince herself that this couldn't be the result of her own choices. She takes a hard deterministic stance, leaving Michael in a position to force her to realize how she is making her own choices. He shows her more memories to show her how her choices couldn't be determined, she is unpredictable. Michael trying so hard to make her realize this shows how far he has really come from his initial demon days.

The episode's ending sets up the future of this series. Michael decides on a grander plan, planning to make someone into a model good person. This will apparently send the group to rural Canada. Then, the bigger twist comes when it is revealed that Sean's team has made another portal to Earth. This episode also has the return of Vicki, who the group uses to test the portal. Tiya Sircar is great in the few moments the episode gives her, and this sets up some real excitement for next week.


This was a wonderful episode. From the lighter comedic moments to the more meaningful one, the episode nailed it. It traveled between the tones with great ease, and had great performances from the always wonderful Kristen Bell and Ted Danson. It also provided great excitement for what's coming up on the show.

Score: 10/10

What did you think of "The Worst Possible Use of Free Will"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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