The Good Place season 2 first look: Lap up this clam chowder fountain

When the Good Place turned bad in the season 1 finale, things got even better. Now, after pulling off arguably the year’s best twist — these souls weren’t in heaven, they were in hell all along! — NBC’s clever afterlife comedy The Good Place will return this fall with Bad Place architect Michael (Ted Danson) unleashing his new plan to torment our memory-wiped quartet: Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), and Jason (Manny Jacinto).

“He has an individual torture vector for each of the four involving different soul mates and new scenarios,” creator Michael Schur tells EW. “The idea is to keep them apart for as long as possible, but Eleanor’s note to herself, which says ‘Find Chidi,’ ends up making that impossible.”

As you can see below, Eleanor and Chidi remeet sooner rather than later, and the jokes start flowing — much like that clam-chowder fountain. “It’s a torture device that became funny enough to imagine being put forth as a positive thing,” says Schur, nodding to the season 1 gag when Bad guy Trevor (Adam Scott) announced over a train PA that the dining car served only room-temperature Manhattan clam chowder — and it was closed. “You can take a bowl and scoop up some clam chowder and just chow down. That’s pretty disgusting.”

You will see below a scene in which Eleanor and Chidi are talking to Michael about their reunion, which obviously creates an issue for Michael. “She has found Chidi because of the note and has some questions,” says Schur. “He is trying to do his Michael thing and try to spin his way out of those questions.” You may also notice that Eleanor’s clothes are “a little less basic than in the first season, which is a tiny bit of a clue,” he says.

Speaking of sartorial things, Siri-in-human form Janet (D’Arcy Carden) is sporting new threads, which is indicative of a reboot. “I will say that’s not the only time during the season that Janet gets rebooted,” hints Schur.

There is also a disturbing increase in clown decor in Eleanor’s house. “If you were Michael doing the end-of-the-year debrief about what worked and what didn’t, the clowns worked,” says Schur. “Eleanor hated the clowns, Chidi hated the clowns, everybody hated the clowns. So why not? Let’s beef up the clown volume.” Sounds like a hell of a good time.

Schur answered a bunch of burning questions about season 1 finale’s game-changing shocker, which you can read right here. Season 2 of The Good Place kicks off Sept. 28.