#employee of the bearimy

[hitchell-mope]

Poor baby. I think

[dailycheleanor]

The Good Place (2016-2020) Employee of the Bearimy (S04E05)

[vifetoile]

Tahani al-Jamil's Endgame

Spoilers for the Good Place season 4, which I'm watching with Mom...

Watching The Good Place for the second time all the way through, and now that I know where it's all going, I'm able to appreciate the ride, and look for foreshadowing about each character's ultimate fate.

In the show's endgame (I mean the last two episodes or so), I think Janet gets a great conclusion to her arc, and so does Tahani al-Jamil. And Tahani's final development is really well set up in season 4. She realizes that John needs human connection to learn about empathy, rather than lessons in a classroom. In the episode "Employee of the Bearimy," Tahani chafes at her role, and expresses a wish to Eleanor to have a life with greater meaning in it.

In the finale, Tahani is the only one of the humans who finds a calling as an Architect: not only creating beautiful neighborhoods, but structuring a place for people to grow/learn/become their best selves, and it all draws off of the same skills that made Tahani such an excellent hostess in her first lifetime: discernment, a taste for beauty, empathy, consideration, understanding people as individuals and as a group.

So longtime viewers of this blog know that I have some quibbles with the ending of The Good Place (grumble grumble) but Tahani gets a perfect conclusion to her character arc. Where she ends up draws off of where she began; in fact, "ends up" is the wrong term because you get the sense her journey is just beginning.

[davidlowery]

“Well, it turns out being a single father of three hundred kids is not that easy, Eleanor.” + bonus

[moonah-rose]

The parallel between Michael being ashamed of his past in EOTB and Eleanor being anxious about Chidi reading her file in MAIR...Why were we robbed of a scene with these two chaos babies confiding their insecurities with each other?!

Fork it would even made for another awesome 'Michael is #1 Cheleanor shipper' if in MAIR, Eleanor and Michael had crossed paths and she tells him how worried she is about Chidi knowing everything about her and Michael sharing how much he understands what she's going through as well as comforting/reassuring her about Chidi - there, one scene that would have made that episode ten times better!!

[nbcthegoodplace]

When my alarm goes off in the morning and I have to wake up. 

[reasonandfaithinharmony]

Yet another meeting that could’ve been an email.

The Good Place: Employee of the Bearimy (4x05)

[old-type-40]

Chidi’s memory has been erased but there are moments like this in which it seems like somewhere deep inside his love for Eleanor is still there. He completely trusts her in the latest episode. And there have been times when his face lights up when he talks to her (not to mention the time his interaction with her made him forget he had summoned a book). I’m wondering if at some point this season, he’s going to realize he loves her even though his memory has not been restored. Or maybe Simone will be the one to realize it because of the way Chidi and Eleanor react to each other and she’ll point it out to Chidi.

[earthshinebot]

everytime eleanor says babe to tahani or they have any cute moments together i get another good night of sleep because that, THAT is proof that the world is good

[lingeringwanderer]

me @god about Manny Jacinto

[pass-the-bechdel]

The Good Place s04e05 ‘Employee of the Bearimy’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes, five times.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seven (43.75% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Nine.

Positive Content Rating:

Three.

General Episode Quality:

Cracking!

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Janet passes with Vicky. Tahani asks Eleanor for a better job. Wanda ‘speaks’ to Eleanor. Tahani and Eleanor pass, twice more.

Female characters:

Vicky.

Janet.

Eleanor Shellstrop.

Tahani Al-Jamil.

Bad Janet.

Simone Garnett.

Wanda.

Male characters:

Shawn.

Michael.

Jason Mendoza.

Glenn.

Chidi Anagonye.

John Wheaton.

Brent Norwalk.

Derek Hofstetler.

Todd.

OTHER NOTES:

Derek sniffing the ‘bouquet’ of the scrabble letters...

“went a little over the top with the cheekbones”

pfffft, the elaborate thing about Kevin Spacey. So embarrassing. 

I mean, it sure does seem easy to pull off a heist in Hell, but whatever. It was fun anway, plus my man Jason got to be up-front, being handsome and helpful. Using this as an opportunity to confront Michael with the shame of his past, even just a little bit, is an interesting choice, and a worthy one. Approved.

[hitchell-mope]

Awwww

[prettylittlearrowfangirl]

Chidi: So what's my first clue?

Eleanor: You've already gotten it.

Chidi: Oooooooooh!

[fandom-oracle]

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy 4x05, but I think I’d have liked it better if they’d approached Tahani’s insecurity differently.

She’s an integral part of Team Cockroach/the Soul Squad. Without her, what would’ve happened? If it were just Chidi and Eleanor? Even if Eleanor had managed to achieve a level of improvement, without Tahani serving as a form of genuine human connection for Chidi, I feel he’d eventually get frustrated, especially if Jason were there acting as another thing to aggravate him. We all know Eleanor’s very insecure sometimes, and at that point Jason might be a bad influence on her. I do not think they’d have improved nearly as much.

Tahani brought them together. Tahani’s parties gave them opportunity to connect. She actively tried to become Eleanor’s friend and unknowingly gave her an opportunity for improvement, forcing Eleanor to learn how to be kind to someone with whom she doesn’t necessarily like. Tahani convinced Gen to admit them to do a test on their improvement, and she blended well in the Bad Place. She’s instrumental in Janet developing personhood and bonding with Jason.

Tahani’s the heart of the group. She’s imperative in helping them form genuine human connection instead of merely improving their knowledge of ethics on an academic standpoint. Her pathological need to be liked is what drives her to constantly attempt to bring everyone together. And I feel like that should’ve been brought up.

[davidlowery]

“You said you could handle this!”

[moonah-rose]

Jason: What do we do with Glenn?

Michael: Just leave him here and hope that no stray dogs come by to drink him up.

Now we know what happened to Glenn.