Star Trek: Discovery and The Good Place each found humanity in hell

Vox

The CBS All Access series may be completely different from The Good Place, but they are both is "moving in parallel" with each other, says Genevieve Valentine. "Though they couldn’t be more tonally different, each show is deeply concerned with how one person making moral decisions — or compromising them — can change a world," writes Valentine. "And those complexities of subjective morality, utilitarianism, and acceptable collateral damage are all tied into stomach-sinking revelations: The characters in these stories are trapped in horrible places, the utopia they’ve been sold is a lie, and it’s a surprisingly small jump from that supposed utopia to their horrible reality. The central question of each show is whether their protagonists will be defined by the hell they’re in, or whether they’ll be able to redefine it."

ALSO:

• Discovery's portrayal of Michael was troubling -- she isn't a person, she's a symbol
• Sonequa Martin-Green saved Discovery from getting lost in a maze of plot twists