The return of The Good Place

Series 2 of The Good Place has just returned to the UK (yes we are a long way behind the US!). I loved the first series and did not see the shock ending coming, so I was really looking forward to series 2. For those of you who have never seen The Good Place or need a recap of series 1, here's a little recap (obviously spoilers from series 1 ahead):

Eleanor Shellstrop (played by Kristen Bell) dies in a tragic accident and to her surprise wakes up in "The Good Place", where all the good people go. Eleanor quickly realises that there is a case of mistaken identity. Michael, the architect of The Good Place, has Eleanor's name correct, but all the details of her life were wrong. She was not a selfless, good Samaritan, but was instead a selfish individual who had never achieved anything great in her life. Eleanor was supposed to be in The Bad Place. Series 1 sees Eleanor try to keep her identity a secret and prove to herself that she does belong in The Good Place. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way, but eventually Eleanor realises that she is supposed to be there, because "The Good Place" is actually "The Bad Place" - Eleanor had been torturing herself trying to pretend to be someone she's not. On discovering the truth, Michael wipes Eleanor and her friends memories to try to recreate the Good Place/Bad Place torture with a few little tweaks. We are left wondering if Eleanor will be able to find out the truth again.

Now, fast forward to series 2. Would it live up to the brilliance of series 1? Well, no it doesn't. I was left feeling very disappointed after the first 2 episodes. Episode 1 is like deja vu for us being introduced to the characters all over again and it just wasn't that interesting. Episode 2 sees Eleanor work out that The Good Place is actually The Bad Place all over again, and they get their memories wiped again. It was all very anticlimactic and felt like the writers had run out of story. We know there are going to be 4 series of The Good Place in total, so I only hope that the writers are able to come up with some gripping new story lines, instead of just rehashing the old ones.

The Good Place is on E4 every Thursday at 9pm in the UK.

(Cover image from imdb.com)