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The Good Place S04E06 - "A Chip Driver Mystery" discussion thread
So this is probably one of the meatier episodes of the ones that we've seen so far, with the experiment taking a hit, Bad Janet being a free agent, and Brent being impossible to deal with. What do you all think?
I really liked the discussions Simone had with people about what to do about Brent. I saw someone mention I think on reddit that the show is kind of ignoring the conclusion of season 3, that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism and I wish they had continued with that. I'm really interested to see what happens with Brent.
After putting some thought into it, Brent's kind of reminds me of AMO from Adventure Time, BMO's prototypical sibling. (Both are MO's, which are Magical Robots) ALLMO, which is a composite of every other MO type ever created after AMO threw them all down a trash compactor and made them into one being, comes away with this conclusion about them.
Probably could have just referenced the Hedgehog Dilemma and saved some time, but the point is that Brent did express himself and create a thing that was very personal, and everyone rejected it, so by extension everyone rejected him. Not saying that wasn't warrented, or that they should have blown smoke up his ass, but to then write him off as, "nah he's the worst, Bad Place should stay open just for him," seems shortsighted, considering the Soul Squad doesn't do that, and I am of the personal opinion that Butt Spiders for infinity years is a bit much for anybody.
My suggestion is that assuming the Experiment goes off the rails, Brent is given the opportunity to be recruited by Sean into the Bad Place if he acts as some sort of traitor to the group. Sean butters it up as a prestige deal (it's probably not) with the opportunity to ascend into demonhood if he plays his cards right, compared to the regular shirty time that he would get like every other human when the experiment fails. I think that's when we learn who Brent is if it comes to that. Or he's hopeless.
Edit: Regarding "no ethical consumption," assuming you mean the metaphor of attempting to make the world a better place nets you bad place points, that would have to come to a head eventually.
I agree completely. No matter how awful of a person you were in life, a literal eternity of suffering is too much.
I kind of hope that Brent isn't hopeless, but as long as they don't do it in a "privileged guy is our last hope" way like you mentioned in your other comment. There's half a season left to resolve him in some fashion and I just hope it's not that or "nah he just sucks, he's going to the Bad Place."
On Brent:
Although the show does have a history of yeeting it's obnoxious characters into the void, I don't think that's in the future for Brent. Do I think there is going to be a point where all the chips are on the table and Brent has to grand gesture his way into an unambiguously good action? In another show, yes, but I don't really know about this one.
I was about to say that it's unreasonable that the redemption of humanity requires the coddling of one privileged guy who never had to take a hard no to the face, but real life circumstances have consistently proven otherwise.Hopefully he gets his ass out of his head, or turns heel or something happens, because I don't know if he can be redeemed, but he's got to change one way or another.On Bad Janet:
I have no idea how she plays into the endgame, but she has the book of "The Good Place," and if that goes to the Bad Place, it's either going to be read by some demons, or some humans, and either one of those could be pretty interesting to have play out.
On Pacing:
It feels like with the new humans, the show is kind of spinning a whole lot of plates at once when trying to explore everything. Maybe that changes if the plot consolidates/the new humans get on the same page with the Cockroach alums, provided that's in the cards. But I like where things are going.
Maybe I shouldn't, but I have some faith that they won't do this.
This is a really good point that I hadn't thought of. It has to have some sort of impact I think.
They are really giving strong Donald Trump vibes from Brent.
I found this episode interesting because they are tackling a genuine problem we are facing as a society at the moment. I thought it was reflective of a lot of the debates I’ve seen on the web - eg, around “cancel culture”.
I found myself agreeing with Simone - but given Brent’s character, I can also understand Elenor’s (etc) position that it won’t help with bringing up net “good” points.
So what’s the solution? Brent isn’t going to change- no matter how gently the feedback is delivered, he takes it as a personal insult and casts himself as the victim. But Simone and Tahani should not be expected to forgive and coddle Brent even as he ignorantly insults them. I’m interested to see what kind of solution the show suggests. I suspect that the actual demons may be redeemed before Brent is.