Even this, the quarantined months of the COVID-19 pandemic, may evoke thoughts of a purgatory, an in-between of time and space. Standing in line at the DMV feels “like purgatory,” a slow-moving existence for a new license and registration. Someone might say that they are “in purgatory” at work, anxious to see if they will get a raise promised by their boss. This idea-the liminality of purgatory-has infiltrated our language in other ways.

Purgatory becomes a place of waiting, of struggle, of transition. Consider the waiting room in Beetlejuice or even the never-ending repetition of Groundhog Day. The closest approximation in the Christian tradition to this “Medium Place” is something called “Purgatory.” Other popular movies and TV shows have tackled this concept in different, creative ways. In the show, characters end up in the place appropriate to how they have lived, all based on an elaborate points system that sorts the “good” from the “bad.” As the episodes progress, viewers are introduced to another option: a “Medium Place,” a space reserved for those who fit into neither category. While I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum, suffice to say, the show’s premise rests on core ideas of what is indeed a “Good Place” -Christians might say “heaven”-juxtaposed with a “Bad Place”-Christians might say “hell”-being the possible destinations of the soul after death. Take, for example, the popular television show, The Good Place. In mainstream American media, the afterlife appears in various guises, most often with embedded Christian structures and undertones. The religions of the world differ about the nature of this great beyond, and about what, if anything awaits us there. Those of us who look to the afterlife peacefully, even hopefully, often draw on their religious beliefs, and hold to an anticipation of reunion with departed loved ones, and perhaps of being embraced by divinity. Death and the beyond, however fascinating, are concepts that elicit dread and are regarded as best-suited for cemeteries or funerals. This question can seem, well, unseemly, even macabre.

Hayley Bowman: What happens after we die? An ominous question, one that captures our imagination as all-too-mortal human beings.

The office season 2 episode 5