Adventure Time: Together Again fills the void of The Good Place

[Ed. note: This essay contains significant spoilers for Adventure Time: Distant Lands — Together Again and The Good Place.]

Let’s get one factor out of the way in which: Within the newest HBO Max Journey Time particular, sequence stars Jake the canine and Finn the human are lifeless.

This isn’t an enormous plot twist. The particular actually kicks off with the revelation that the characters are lifeless, full with a title card hammering the purpose dwelling. Jake died earlier, since he’s a canine, with a restricted life span. Finn, who has solely not too long ago died, should search by means of the totally different ranges of the land of the lifeless to seek out his previous buddy. Every degree is a separate little pocket universe, like a lush inexperienced backyard or a sticky quagmire. However whereas the “separate tiers of the afterlife” idea is paying homage to the underworld’s layers in Greek mythology, or the circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno, the place every concrete degree has a special schtick, relying on how good or dangerous you had been in life, Journey Time’s strategy to the land of the lifeless truly takes on a extra poignant taste.

Picture: HBO Max

The way in which Journey Time handles what comes after loss of life is definitely paying homage to the way in which The Good Place handled the identical points. The specificities aren’t the identical (particularly relating to “dangerous” individuals), however they each focus on two core concepts: the perfect factor we are able to hope for within the afterlife is a bit additional time with the individuals we love, and finally, regardless of how good a paradise could also be, it’s higher if what occurs after loss of life is one thing we are able to’t comprehend. These two ideas weave collectively properly in each exhibits, creating an idea of an afterlife that isn’t centered round everlasting riches.

It’s laborious to craft a fictional afterlife. Or moderately, it’s laborious to craft a fictional paradise. Actually, it’s straightforward to consider what may await us in a tortuous pit of despair, however attempting to provide you with a type of everlasting bliss that received’t get tiresome after a century or so is surprisingly laborious.

The ultimate few episodes of The Good Place interrogate this notion of a fallible paradise. When Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), and Jason (Manny Jacinto) lastly make it to the coveted good place, they study that it’s truly not that nice. Certain, it’s stuffed with infinite events and unicorns and no matter else your coronary heart may need, however as Hypatia of Alexandria (Lisa Kudrow) shares, after a couple of hundred years, that every one will get actual previous.

The answer? Leaving it behind. As Eleanor realizes, trip is simply particular as a result of it ends. And so demon architect Michael (Ted Danson) opens a door into the universe, designed for inhabitants of the nice place to step by means of as soon as they’re prepared. What that prepared is rarely actually will get outlined concretely, as a result of it’s totally different for each particular person. There comes a time, after centuries of residing the nice (after) life, the place every character feels prepared to maneuver on. The kicker is that nobody is aware of what occurs while you stroll by means of that door. With The Good Place, creator Mike Schur crafted an in depth afterlife that developed and shifted as the principle characters fought for the whole lot of humanity — however in the long run, their closing destiny stays unknown.

Photograph: Colleen Hayes/NBC

Journey Time: Collectively Once more takes a special strategy to what comes after loss of life. Whereas the realm of the lifeless is organized in tiers, the last word degree for the perfect do-gooders feels extra just like the idea of Nirvana than a Heaven the place each want is catered to. Finn finds Jake on this degree, the place he’s reached a spot of non secular contentment, serenely spending his eternity bathed in golden mild. Finn manages to steal a tool that lets him journey by means of the totally different loss of life ranges and discover Jake, however he hasn’t earned his place in that prime tier, which signifies that if he desires to spend his afterlife with Jake, he must strive once more in a brand new life, doing higher this time.

Journey Time’s afterlife operates with a system of reincarnation, permitting anybody who’s unhappy with their lot to take one other shot at life, as fully new people. Some — like Jake’s household and Tree Trunks the elephant — are content material with the afterlives they’re given. However Finn can’t think about eternity with out Jake, so on the finish of the episode, he decides to step by means of a door to be reincarnated, bidding Jake farewell. However within the second that Finn steps by means of the portal, Jake decides to surrender everlasting bliss for an opportunity to be with Finn in some new kind.

Journey Time provides a extra concrete reply than The Good Place about what occurs on the opposite aspect: Finn and Jake can be reincarnated in some kind, however viewers don’t know who they’ll develop into, and even whether or not they’ll keep in mind one another. We simply know they selected one another over paradise.

Photograph: Netflix

The thought of a Nice Past past an preliminary Nice Past isn’t new. In Black Mirror’s “San Junipero,” Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Uncooked) waffles between spending eternity within the blissful simulated beachside city or embracing the unknown. In Pixar’s Coco, when somebody lifeless is forgotten by the residing, they fade into nothingness. In Hirokazu Kore-eda’s After Life, lifeless individuals spend per week deciding what good reminiscence from their lives they need to re-experience earlier than transferring on to the unknown.

It’s significantly evocative that in all these situations, the thought of an afterlife we are able to’t even comprehend — whether or not it’s an final destiny, a brand new option to make, or a punishment — is juxtaposed with some of the basic components of being human and alive: spending time with individuals we care about. It’s not a lot that companionship or recollections of it are a most well-liked selection, or the last word future. It’s simply that when creators attempt to comprehend the thought of what lies past, they try to floor it into one thing actual and tangible. We don’t know what occurs after we die, and possibly that’s for the higher. However what we do know is that it wouldn’t be all that nice if we confronted it by ourselves. As Chidi says within the penultimate episode of The Good Place: “That’s what the Good Place actually is. It’s not even a spot, actually. It’s simply having sufficient time with the individuals you like.”

Journey Time: Distant Lands — Collectively Once more is accessible to stream on HBO Max. All 4 seasons of The Good Place can be found on Netflix.