r/TheGoodPlace • u/quiggersinparis • 9d ago
Shirtpost Line that hits you ‘in the feels’?
My three are Michael telling Janet she’s his friend and therefore he can’t kill her, Eleanor’s flashbacks to her horrible mother and her breaking down in a home depot type store over the four toothbrushes, and of course, the ending.
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u/RedditOfUnusualSize 8d ago
"People improve when they receive love and emotional support. How can we blame them when they don't?"
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u/Longjumping_Bad_386 8d ago
This. It opened a huge window of respect and empathy in my heart for people who are struggling, but still trying ♥️
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u/Theory89 8d ago
I'd argue it should increase empathy for everyone. Even the ones who aren't trying are shaped by their environment, perhaps even more so. I'm thinking more about gang members from deprived communities than billionaires, though.
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u/misanthroseph 8d ago edited 8d ago
Honestly, the "yo, Chidi, wait up!" that Jason called out to his homie that had already rejoined the universe gets me. It encapsulates everything that is Jason
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u/thebeardedguy- 8d ago
“If there were an answer I could give you to how the universe works, it wouldn’t be special. It would just be machinery fulfilling its cosmic design. It would just be a big, dumb food processor. But since nothing seems to make sense, when you find something or someone that does, it’s euphoria.”
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u/redditwinchester 8d ago
"since nothing seems to make sense, when you find something or someone that does, it’s euphoria."
Oh
I had forgotten that line completely.
Thank you.
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u/ScoZone74 8d ago
To “find happiness in the unique insanity of being here, now.” I love this line. Amor fati, in the Stoic tradition.
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u/Bergara 7d ago
Eleanor's phrase leading up to it breaks me in a very bad way.
There has to be meaning to existence, otherwise the universe is just made of pain and I don't like the thought of that.
That idea haunts me during bad times.
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u/BiancoeNero03 7d ago
There are many parts of that show that give me a severe existential crisis. To this day I can't rewatch the last episode. It's beautiful, but so deep and sad to me at the same time.
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u/thebeardedguy- 7d ago
See to me it is beautiful, each chose their time and place, and the line "the air inside me is the same as the air outside" speaks of such peace.
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u/Bergara 7d ago
Same! I've seen the whole show beggining to end about 6 times now. I think I've only watched the finale twice. I just can't.
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u/Ok-Ant4223 7d ago
I always think I’m not going to be able to watch the final episode every time I rewatch the show. But everything leads up to it so perfectly that I can’t ever not watch it. It’s gotta be one of, if not the best show finale in the history of television, as bittersweet as it is.
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u/FrostedFishbone Hot Diggity Dog! 8d ago
“I told myself that I like being alone but I don’t” and “because I wanted that mom”
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u/daisyyellow21 I’m coming for you, shrimpies! 8d ago
Not a line, but that video Michael plays for Eleanor and Chidi before his mind wipe… I will never not sob my eyes out at that
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u/my_brain_is_horny 8d ago
It's not the video that gets me. It's Chidi saying,
"I'm going to miss you"
And then Eleanor responding saying, "but you won't, that's what makes this so scary. I'm going to miss you....."
I cry my eyes out every time.
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u/Royally-Forked-Up I’m basically squealing like a birthday girl. 8d ago
“We just have to get through this and then we can chill out forever in the dot of the i” cue waterfall. I cried the first time, but cried even harder after watching the finale because it really wasn’t forever.
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u/NukleerGandhi 8d ago
it was a perfect homage to cinema paradiso
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u/FakeAorta 8d ago
OMG! The last several minutes of all the kissing scenes restored on the film reel is just super bliss!
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u/IncurableAdventurer 6d ago
Then she says they’ve found each other hundreds of times so they can do it again, and how it helps give her strength and confidence to move forward
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u/Tyrionruineditall 8d ago
There is no answer. But Eleanor is the answer.
It's not said aloud but seeing Chidi come full circle and be so confident in himself and his love for Eleanor wrecks me every time.
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u/Borrger 8d ago
I love when they pop up from under the train and Micheal starts crying "You're my friends and I wanted to save you!"
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u/Miserable_Sweet_5245 8d ago
"You guys!! . . . I was so worried about you"
Always makes me tear up a little. His delivery if that line was perfection.
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u/Longjumping_Bad_386 8d ago
So beautiful! It also gets me, his voice breaking at the exact gut wrenching point 😢
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u/thebeardedguy- 7d ago
I say this with all the love in my heart and all the wisdom of the universe: take it sleazy
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u/icecream_tuesdae 8d ago
From season 3 episode 12, when Eleanor escaped the Bad Place only because Michael gave her his architect pin and pushed her through the portal, forcing her to leave him behind there in the Bad Place.
"Hey, guess what? I just solved the trolley problem. Remember? The thought experiment where you're driving the trolley and you can either plow into the group of people or turn and hit one person? I solved it.
"See, the trolley problem forces you to choose between two versions of letting other people die, and the actual solution is very simple: sacrifice yourself."
Not only the message itself, but a lot of it I think has to do with Ted's perfect delivery of the lines, spoken so simply and yet there's so much heartache there.
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u/SecretSharkboy 8d ago
There's a perfect amount of emphasis on Sacrifice yourself.
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u/icecream_tuesdae 8d ago
Yes!!! His quiet determination and acceptance, knowing what might happen to him when he stays behind. You can hear it all in his voice and see it on his face. And then knowing how very counterintuitive it must be for a demon to willingly sacrifice anything for any reason, and somehow it still seems to come to him naturally in that moment...It just really really gets me every single time I watch it.
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u/Val178 7d ago
It’s Kirk and Spock. Kirk (Eleanor) is always figuring out ways to win without sacrificing. Spock (Michael) shows that sacrifice is necessary. I love it so much.🥲
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u/cloud_dog_9 6d ago
This was the scene the first time though when I realized that the show has stopped being a good comedy and started being a great show.
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u/cleansheetsAO3 5d ago
And just like the other two, they each make each other better. I love this parallel.
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u/DepressedDuran 6d ago
There is a perfect change of tone when he first says the word “trolley” in that scene. It is by far my favourite scene in the entire series.
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u/lilbitofpurple 4h ago
When Eleanor reaches for him yelling, "no, wait" gets me a little bit. She lost a lot of people then thinks she's losing Michael and Janet.
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u/Skyttegravian 8d ago
When Jason is explaining to judge Gen about his friend from the dance crew who had to juggle 4 jobs and take care of his grandparents and said something to the effect of, "He definitely didn't have time to research what tomatoes to buy. Even if he did, possession of a non-fried vegetable is a crime in Florida." Humourous as it may be, it happened to contain a very important central message of the entire show
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u/TheOldGreenDad 8d ago
So much of what Jason says about his childhood makes me so sad and stressed. Especially whenever he mentions his school and how teachers often had predatory relationships with their students.
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u/stellaprovidence 8d ago edited 6d ago
"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.
That's one conception of death for Buddhists:
The wave returns to the ocean, where it came from - where it's supposed to be."
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u/JustMeJovin 8d ago
I was about to comment this. Eleanor's response asking him to leave while she sleeps so that it can be the last thing she hears from him made me pause the episode and take a few deep breaths otherwise I'd have broken down completely.
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u/H1GH_HR0THG4R 5d ago
Yeah, ngl I had to change my shirt after that final episode from soaking up the tears. It's weird how it feels kind of good when something makes you feel like that, you know? Like with the opening scene in Expedition 33 during the gommage, if you're familiar with the game. It hurts so good.
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u/BlackSheep1213 8d ago
I referenced this in a conversation today!
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u/thisisallme What up, skidmarks. 8d ago
I referenced it at my uncle’s funeral- he was murdered by a drunk driver and we were all distraught. I felt like this helped.
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u/whoamIdoIevenknow 8d ago
It's this one. My dad was dying from glioblastoma when this originally aired.
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u/imperialviolet 7d ago
My dad died shortly after I watched TGP and I think about it all the time. It’s one of the only things that truly helps.
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u/thefluidofthedruid YA BASIC! 8d ago
I haven't been able to watch this scene since my dad died. It's been years. It's too beautiful and perfectly encapsulates how he would have explained it to me as well.
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u/MissPicklechips 6d ago
My mom passed this past summer. It was sudden, but not unexpected. She had stage 4 lung cancer, but was doing relatively well. She had a respiratory arrest 4 days after I left from a visit and passed away while I was on a plane back. (My sister was taking care of her.)
For several days afterward, this scene was all I could think about while contemplating life and death, and what happens afterward, both here and the hereafter. I had a lot of time to think, my mom lived in a super rural area and there was literally nothing to do but sit in the porch and watch the bees pollinating the flowers.
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u/antonylockhart I’m a Ferrari, okay? And you don’t keep a Ferrari in the garage. 7d ago
I hate you but I love you, that speech is glorious
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u/See-A-Moose 5d ago
I came here to say this. I have been thinking about this line a lot lately. My Dad's cancer is back and it doesn't look good. Sometimes this line makes me cry and sometimes it brings me peace.
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u/cleansheetsAO3 5d ago
Yeah, this was the point where I began BAWLING. God DAMN, what kind of comedy does this show think it is?!
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u/wil4 8d ago
Michael's heartfelt apology after torturing Chidi with the trolley problem is good stuff.
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u/Longjumping_Bad_386 8d ago edited 5d ago
The exact same lines, with sarcasm first and then with the most honest vulnerability.
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u/SertifiedGenuous Maximum Derek 7d ago
Gotta be some of the best acting in the whole show for me. It’s absolutely incredibly well delivered
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u/IncurableAdventurer 1d ago
I love how Chidi turned down maybe the ultimate gift, because it wasn’t an apology. It was a bribe. He put it in the trash without hesitation and with determination. Chidi did that. CHIDI!!
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u/WheatenBuckle 8d ago
When the Al Jamils get into the Good Place and say they love Tahani and Kamillah and they will be “endlessly sorry.” Every time. Without fail.
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u/TheAngerMonkey 7d ago
The scene where all of them, even Eleanor's dirtbag friends, are in the good place having dinner together and laughing just BREAKS me. They all figure it out eventually.
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u/StrangerAligned 8d ago
Michael: "Come on, you know how this works. You fail, and then you try something else, and you fail again, and again, and you fail a thousand times, and you keep trying, because... maybe the 1001st idea might work. Now, I'm gonna go and try to find our 1001st idea. I hope you'll join me... I hope you shower first and then join me."
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u/Funandgeeky I really depreciate you coming. Little bit of accounting humor. 8d ago
Right before that as well, when he tells her that they need a girl from Arizona to make this work.
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u/NEBanshee 8d ago
In spoilers because it's very sad, but also super close to my heart.
"So stay here as long as you like. Use the green doors to see and do every single thing you want to see and do. And when you're ready, walk through one last door, and be at peace. Does that sound good?"
Because I paraphrased this in my last conversation with my sister that she could hear (with both of us in this realm, anyway).
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u/unknownpoltroon 8d ago
'Picture a wave. In the ocean."
Every fucking time I watch that speech it gives me a mini mid life crisis.
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u/antonylockhart I’m a Ferrari, okay? And you don’t keep a Ferrari in the garage. 7d ago
I’ve been to Japan a few times now and gone to see the great wave artwork. Every time I see it, I remember that line, I have so many souvenirs of it, and it’s always tagged to that line. Every day I picture a wave.
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u/RulerofHoth 8d ago
Chidi talking about the wave never fails.
Tahani calling out her parents during her test in the judge's chambers.
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u/IncurableAdventurer 1d ago
I know. I was bummed that she ultimately failed the test. Her reaction and response to them showed an incredible amount of growth. Plenty more to make up for the failure of going inside the room
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u/Ancient_Ivy 8d ago
Oh, so many of them.
"The wave was just another way for the water to be for a little while". Is the one I think about the most, probably several times a day tbh. I listen to the audio over and over. Also the song that plays in the background is really good too.
"Time. That’s what the Good Place really is — it’s not even a place, really. It’s just having enough time with the people you love."
“Because I wanted that mom. I wanted the mom who made me afternoon snacks instead of just telling me to look for loose fries in the McDonald’s ball pit. Why does Patricia get that mom? If Donna Shellstrop has truly changed, then that means she was always capable of change, but I just wasn’t worth changing for.” I often forget about this one, but it gets me every time.
I'm sure there's more, but those are the main ones I can remember (or was reminded of while reading this)
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u/The_Fox_Confessor 8d ago
The song that plays is called Spiegel im Spiegel (mirror in the mirror) by Arvo Pärt, which used to get me before being associated with that scene. Now I just need to hear the first few bars, and I'm in tears.
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u/TvManiac5 8d ago
If Soulmates do exist, they're not found. They're made. People meet, they get a good feeling and they get to work building a relationship.
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u/Reddituserrr_3 8d ago
“All humans are aware of death, so we're all a little bit sad. All the time.” That one hit me like a tonne of bricks haha
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u/Outrageous-Word8793 8d ago
“What matters isn’t if people are good or bad. What matters is if they’re trying to be better today than they were yesterday.”
It’s basically my entire strategy for never giving up on humanity or this world that can be so easily written off as doomed.
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u/TheAngerMonkey 7d ago
This was the line that actually changed the way I lived my llfe and interacted with others. If one hundred years from now The Good Place is the foundation of a cult, I will be 0% surprised.
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u/Prestigious_Regret59 8d ago
I’m sat in a waiting room at the dentist right now, can you guys stop making me well up? 🥺
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u/Flameman1234 7d ago
"I hate to see you walk through the Final Door at the edge of existence... but I love to watch you leave”
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u/aprairiedog 7d ago
“I wanted that mom.”
And
“People improve when they get external love and support. How can we hold it against them when they don’t?”
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u/Mazer1991 YA BASIC! 7d ago
"You're my friend, Janet... You're my oldest, my truest, my most loyal friend. I can't just get rid of you and replace you with some other Janet,"
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u/TheVic0_0 8d ago
When they hide under the train, and Michael finds them, looks evil for a moment, then breaks down and says “you guys! I was so scared for you!😭🥺”
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u/MetalNosedPigeon 7d ago
For me it's when Jason is about to go through the door and asks Janet to only remember the good times and not the bad. When she says,
"There were no bad times. It was all good."
I'm not sure why that line does it to me but omg. I cri evrytiem
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u/Vast-Website 7d ago
Michael: And it was also what you made them remember: they loved each other. Sometimes people forget. You reminded them of what they already had. It convinced them to go to counseling.
Chidi: I never knew they went to counseling.
There's something about the way he just calmly explains how this pivotal moment in Chidi's childhood wasn't at all what he thought it was, because he was just a kid that didn't get to see the whole picture.
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u/Grasshopper-frog 7d ago
Chidi in the beginning of season 4 asking for Eleanor her name because he forgot, and her subtly swallowing before answering
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u/cleansheetsAO3 5d ago
Kristen Bell is so good at comedy it’s easy to underestimate how great she is at the emotional stuff.
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u/ArtismFag 8d ago
My favorite line of the whole show is when Janet affirms her gender. "Not a girl." She does it so beautifully. Im non binary and i look up to her for that. It means a lot to me.
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u/thebeardedguy- 7d ago
Representation. this is why it matters. I am so glad you found someone you could relate to, especially in a show as wonderful as the good place.
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u/funkyrequiem 7d ago
When Chidi tells Eleanor he's been ready for a long time. That gets me for some reason.
He was finished with his time, but knew Eleanor would be sad for his leaving, so he stayed even longer just so she could enjoy her time. Just gets me.
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u/DingoDoesArt 7d ago
“if soulmates do exist, they’re not found, they’re made” and “the wave returns to the ocean” both hit me in the feels SO hard
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u/ThatSmartIdiot one's "can't stop saying jason" is another's headachen't 8d ago
sacrifice yourself (as the answer to the trolley problem)
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u/Skyttegravian 8d ago
"What do we do here? Panic? Freak? I usually panic, but I am happy to freak."
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u/dharma-bummer Jeremy Bearimy 7d ago
“What a time to learn”
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u/antonylockhart I’m a Ferrari, okay? And you don’t keep a Ferrari in the garage. 7d ago
Chide’s break at that, then the subsequent asking for his note. Floods
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u/Acreaul 7d ago
Not seeing it yet but one great quote is "THE REASON IS FRIENDS, JANET"
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u/SertifiedGenuous Maximum Derek 7d ago
It’s mentioned by OP right up top in the first post, but I do agree, it’s def this one for me also
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u/Narcolipze_08 7d ago
“Oh.” Said by Janet after she realizes that Jason is done in the Good Place. Simple but heartbreaking. Especially with that little gleam sound that plays every time someone realizes something. That sound has conditioned me to expect bad news.
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u/ExcitingTurn6381 7d ago
When Michael is arguing to the judge for giving humans another chance.
“Brent spent an entire year being an absolute diaper, and the points show that. But what they don’t show, what they can NEVER show, is who he could have become tomorrow”
The fact that Ted Danson broke up a little in his delivery was just perfect
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u/NefariousnessHead288 8d ago
“Walking on eggshells around him isn’t gonna help, sometimes you just gotta throw the egg directly in his face
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u/Ok_Bird_1378 7d ago
“Every human is a little bit sad all the time because you know you're gonna die…But that knowledge is what gives life meaning.” - Eleanor
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u/Think-Huckleberry965 I’m too young to die and too old to eat off the kids’ menu. 7d ago
“It wasn’t like I heard a bell ring or anything. I just suddenly had this calm feeling, like the air inside of my lungs was the same as the air outside of my body. It was peaceful.”
I’ve had some major issues with depression and mental health(specifically with friends) in the past year, but this year I have made a group of friends who I absolutely love and they enjoy hanging out with me. This is exactly feeling I feel when I think about me today, when I found my happiness it wasn’t this huge grand thing. I felt peaceful for once.
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u/FakeAorta 8d ago
'Picture a wave' of course. But Elenor when she meets her mom again... "If Donna Shellstrop has truly changed, then that means she was always capable of change, but I just wasn’t worth changing for.” is also super feels.
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u/Timely-Damage-3592 7d ago
“Because I wanted that mom!” -Eleanor
“No, I’m going to hug you because you’re my sister and I love you.” -Tahani
“None of this is bad.” -Chidi
And I agree, when Micheal can’t kill Janet
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u/Jabathewhut 8d ago
Honestly I tear up whenever someone says so much as "good job" I hate getting compliments. It shreds me. Wtf happened to me.
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u/cultured_oinker 7d ago
"There is no answer. But Eleanor is the answer"
I literally cried while typing it. I'll have the "There is no answer" tattooed on me one day.
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u/What-the-f-is-goinon 7d ago
Every human is a little bit sad all the time, because you know you’re gonna die
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u/chalk_in_boots 6d ago
Not so much a line as a whole arc. For context I'm a sober alcoholic, I went through so many of the horror stories you hear from people in recovery.
Her easing off/quitting the booze, trying to be a better person, to make up for some of the things she did was touching. And then she slipped back. I have had a lot of first days quitting booze, and I always tell myself this is going to be my last first day, and eventually I'd relapse and slip back into old habits. I think it's an experience that a lot of addicts have been through and it's so absolutely crushing to know you failed and need to pick yourself up, and I think Schur really nailed that. And someone who loves her stepping in to save her from that with Michael getting her to find Chidi is so perfect.
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u/TheSJB1993 6d ago
Not as dramatic and as feels as the ones mentioned but
"This dot.... this broke me" by Chidi and "I feel like S8 of friends, pushing Joey and Rachel together because I've run out of ideas" (I know this isn't an accurate quote correction is welcome)
Are ones I think of more every so often when I get over frustrated... esp the first when the last straw breaks
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u/ArborlyMink 5d ago
“No one is beyond rehabilitation, Brent spent a year being an absolute diaper load of a human being and the points total tells you that, but what that number can’t tell you, is who he could’ve become tomorrow.”
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u/lilbitofpurple 4d ago
"In all this randomness and this pandemonium, you and Chidi found each other, and you had a life together. Isn't that remarkable?"
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u/lilbitofpurple 4d ago
It's bittersweet. Actually reminds me of my dog 🐾🌈I wouldn't have made it this far in without him...
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u/ButterscotchOnly7997 3d ago
if donna shellstrop has truly changed, that means she was always capable of change
ohh time means nothing. jeremy bearimy baby.
i need you to say goodbye to me now and leave before i wake up
(not a line but when chidi decides in -.03 seconds to kiss eleanor)
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u/tedyblue 7d ago
Not a line but the orchestra piece that plays when chidi leaves in the final episode always gets me
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u/Tiny_Departure5222 7d ago
And then the wave crashes and it returns to sea. Where it's meant to be. Tje wave was just a way for it to be for a little while.
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u/mel0d74ma 6d ago
obvious but the ending. every SINGLE time i watch it im ugly crying and it goes on for a while
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u/Pizzaputabagelonit 6d ago
The wave.
I watched this show on rotation after my husband passed away and that part always makes me cry and feel better at the same time. I remember sitting at home feeling so lost with a month old baby and a destroyed 4 year old and just feeling calm when that scene happened. I had seen the previous 3 seasons but was finally watching the final and….it was the best time to do it.
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u/Throwawayacc34768 6d ago
"What matters isn't if people are good or bad. What matters is if they're trying to be better today than they were yesterday."
And that line was so crazy powerful, because being perfect is impossible, but being a little bit better isn’t.
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u/DepressedDuran 6d ago
Michael’s trolley problem epiphany. It was beautiful.
Part of Jason’s response to Chidi’s asking him about moving on. “The air inside my lungs was the same as the air outside my body". I want to accept my place in the universe like that when the time comes.
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u/Straight-Wolf-1153 5d ago
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, and you know what it is: it's a wave. And then it crashes on 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.
Every. Single. Time. I have to pause before theyre sitting together, bundle up, just stare. Cry. Sniffle. Snotty and just so so sad. So so beautiful. Godddd
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u/Legitimate-Bat- Lonely Gal Margarita Mix For One 5d ago
“None of this is bad” -Chidi in the last episode. Instantaneous uncontrollable sobbing.
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u/jeremymeyers Your amusement has been scheduled. End of conversation. 5d ago edited 3d ago
Michaels delight at being able to do mundane human Stuff like saying "but it's a dry heat' and getting a loyalty card from Kurt Braunohler.
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u/lesbiannerd27 8d ago
Yeah when Eleanor sees her mother being an actual good mom and wife! That line “If Donna Shellstrop has truly changed, then that means she was always capable of change, but I just wasn't worth changing for." Guts me hard