I like to think of Chidi’s wave line when I’m feeling down. We’re all just riding that wave until we’re back to being part of the ocean.
Picture a wave. In the ocean. You can see it, measure it, its height, the way the sunlight refracts when it passes through. And it’s there. And you can see it, you know what it is. It’s a wave.
And then it crashes in the shore and it’s gone. But the water is still there. The wave was just a different way for the water to be, for a little while. You know it’s one conception of death for Buddhists: the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from and where it’s supposed to be.
This is why The Good Place is my comfort show. Chidi’s monologue both brakes me and puts me back together. Every moment in the finale is a work of art but that scene on the couch, there just aren’t words.
Every time someone I know passes I watch that whole episode and it helps me find peace.
Thanks for that! I need more of the good lines distilled. People miss that there’s a ton of legit philosophy in the show (I mean beyond the scenes where Chidi is directly teaching of course). It’s not just a side bit to use here and there where it helps the jokes or the narrative or whatever. I really fell in love with that, like not only was the show hilarious and FULL of interesting and likeable characters, they really made it kind of a class in (or “love letter” about?) the strengths/weaknesses/clashes to different approaches to existential philosophy.
And they did it in a way that wasn’t ham-fisted, ya know? If you already knew some, you’d pick up on it, if not, maybe you’d pick up a few tidbits here and there but otherwise, just a great show without any of that! That’s so hard to do well, idk, I’m just so impressed lol.
