Half the fandom right now...
Not today Justin

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taylor price

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Misplaced Lens Cap

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he wasn't even looking at me and he found me

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@alrischapisces
Half the fandom right now...
I've been spending a week telling myself that the ending of Good Omens S3 didn't affect me because the only canon boys for me are the ones in the book, but...
that's probably untrue because I also seem to have written a whole fanfic just to retcon it.
I don't consider this a fix-it fic, it's more of a I DARE YOU TO PROVE THIS DIDN'T ACTUALLY HAPPEN fic.
So here you go, spoilers under the cut:
Describing Terry Pratchett’s books is difficult. Someone asked me what the book I was reading was about, and I had to tell them it was about banking and the gold standard, but like in a cool way with golems and action.
I don’t think they believed me.
welcome to the club
It is so, so difficult to explain to people that your favorite book is about transgender feminist dwarves, Nazi werewolves, and the mystery of a missing piece of really old ritual bread. And Opera saves the day.
yes, give us those sweet, sweet, terrible descriptions
A tortoise who’s really a god, finds an allegory for Jesus and they go on adventures in an ancient greece like place and then a desert
The chief of police averts a rerun of an ancient war, partially despite and partially because of being possessed by a dying dwarf’s graffiti
It’s like Les Miserables but Javert is the good guy and also there’s time travel.
Macbeth but it’s about the witches
Chapter one, the protagonist is hanged. Then he’s put in charge of the post office. Yes, in that order.
it’s like mulan if there were way more mulans in mulan and also pratchett is extra irritated that too many people missed the point of jingo
The bureaucrats of the universe get annoyed at the paperwork humanity causes so they decide to steal Christmas. Replacement Christmas is done by Death and replacement Death is done by goth Mary Poppins, who is also in charge of the investigation.
these are all nice and accurate reasons to read discworld if you haven’t yet
Romeo and Juliet football AU but the other team is wizards
Hollywood????
An entire clan of tattooed, hairy, kleptomaniac, alcoholic Scotsmen decide a little girl is their new best friend whether she wants to be or not and she rescues her absolutely worthless brother by discovering the power of selfishness.
@cosmictwobyfour
Someone is dying, journalism is being invented, and part of Pulp Fiction is going on in the background.
The universes burocrats want to measure everything so they pay a man to imprison time so everything will stop and they can measure things in peace. Goth mary Poppins saves the day, the fifth horseman of the apocalypse is the best Milkman in the world, and chocolate saves the day. Also someone was born twice.
Classic dynastic machinations are happening in fantasy China, to be completely overturned by a gang of elderly barbarian heroes and the world’s worst wizard and best sprinter
Death incarnate battles a shopping cart for the fate of the world.
@grifalinas
Phantom of the Opera au, except there’s witches, a cookbook that is thinly-veiled pornography, and Christine is played by a fledgeling witch with multiple personalities who can’t stop being sensible long enough to enjoy herself
Hidden heir to the throne decides an cynical, alcoholic cop is the best role model in the world.
Atlantis provides an excuse for a xenophobia-inspired war between Britain and the Middle East but it’s fine because the armies are arrested for conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
the jfk assassination is parodied in the above.
Rain is brought to australia by a lousy wizzard who runs from dropbears, steals a sheep, and invents vegamite
(sigh)(smile) All of the above.
You can defeat Vampire Fascism with the powers of violence, your debilitating anxiety disorder, and a nice cup of tea
the pied piper is a racket being run by some talking mice and a cat but they accidentally invent socialism. then of course there are also the rat horrors
A trio of witches (two of them uninvited) go on a journey to find out how the third one should be a fairy godmother. They run into and out of half-finished stories and manage to encounter a large amount of classic literature unscathed.
Ignore for the moment whether you like or dislike like the finale. That isn't relevant for my question here. (Shocking, I know.) There is enough upset in the fandom to suggest that this finale was not a fully successful rendering of Pratchett's storytelling. What do you think went wrong?
Gaiman thought he was creating a successful tribute to Pratchett, but failed.
Gaiman wanted to re-establish his own vision and authorship over the story
Something else is going on (tell me in comments)
What do you mean? GO3 is perfectly Pratchettian
So you know why I love Good Omens?
Because it's HAPPY.
I am tired of watching shows and films that think that the only way to be compelling or "edgy" is to showcase abusive relationships and torture and kill their protagonists.
Good Omens is compelling because it shows genuine love, respect, and kindness when it would have been so easy to show literally anything else.
Crowley, a demon, doesn't lie to Aziraphale, doesn't hurt him or trick him, doesn't disrespect or power-trip him; he cares about him and treats him well. Aziraphale, an angel, never for a moment rejects Crowley for being a demon, he doesn't try to change him, tell him he is wrong or attempt to "save" him, but instead recognizes all of the good in him and treats him well.
The only unhealthy relationships are between heaven and hell, and they FREE THEMSELVES OF THESE ABUSES.
The whole thing is filled with healthy relationships of all kinds.
Adam and the Them? Even though Adam is seen as the leader of the group, he takes this as a responsibility to provide his friends with the best games and bring them joy, not as a means of controlling them.
Witches and witchfinders fall in love.
No one is tortured or tormented, the world does not end, and a fucking nightingale sings in Berkeley Square.
Good Omens was the first time I have watched a series that didn't leave me tense wondering when the hurt was going to start. I actually realized how emotionally abusive media has become, and that is so fucked up.
Sliding in here... not to say how wrong OP was given the current circumstances, but to say how RIGHT they were for saying it in the first place.
I really want to know OP’s take on the finale now, because THIS is what Good Omens was and I’m still so fucking devastated with what it BECAME.
This is about Good Omens but it's also about Terry Pratchett and fucking neil fucking gaiman and I think it's worth a read.
Those of you that subscribe to this blog know it as a place for short fiction, and usually, that is exclusively what it is. But just this on
Y’all. Read this.
This genuinely convinced me that what we’ve been given is a nihilistic doomy NG ending that feels so tonally and thematically wrong because it is wrong— and doesn’t align with the main point of what we’ve been told and shown Good Omens is all about.
It healed something in me to read it. I feel lighter than I have in days and reassured that I’m not a fucking idiot for feeling that the entire message of gos3 was fucking bleak and grim and the opposite of humanist.
And seeing this as well:
Just super interesting, I think.
Bravo. So well said.
Something else I've been thinking. (Sorry, I promise I'm not becoming a Good Omens/Pratchett blog, it's temporary).
In many of Prtachett's books storytelling defines reality. But it also constrains it (cf. William de Worde in The Truth says, quite literally, that only the thing he writes in his newspaper are true). I always thought it was strange for such a writer as him that he never wrote explicitly queer protagonists, even more since there are many, many characters that can be read as queer quite obviously, but never explicitly (except for Monstrous Regiment, I know).
My point is: God is a wirter, she wrote the Book of Life, and it creates reality, and also constrains it. That is the whole point of Good Omens, since the beggining, God being the only one who knows what's going on.
So, for true freedom to exist, it is essential that she stops interfering with reality through her writing, i.e., exactly what happens in GO3.
I always thought that, in the Discworld novels, Vetinari and Vimes were kind of a reflection of Aziraphale and Crowley, since there is innuendo, and I think the subtext for their relationship is intentional, but Dumknott says it perfectly in Snuff, they can't have an honest relationship (I am using this word in a broad sense, not a romantic one) because they are constrained by a superior power. That is, I think, their respective internal narrative regarding who they are and what their place is in the whole machine that is the city. They never get to scape it because they are its creators, they put htemselves, willingly, in their positions (well, the willingly part is debatable for Sam and his titles 😹).
MY POINT IS (I know I'm chaotic...) a really free wold has to be free of a closed narrative, and that is what Aziraphale and Crowley achive in the finale.
And I think this is a fundamental theme in Pratchett's writting, the power of creation of fantasy, yes, but also it's power to constrain.
Queer people are constrained by the narrative of our real world, and so he reflected it also in his fantasy world. There are barely any explicit queer relationships or character, but there is a ton of intentional subtext.
I am mixing three different ideas here, I know, but deep down they are the same. And I don't even know if it makes any sense.
Anyway, I love Terry Pratchett, I love Good Omens and I love Discworld.
Also, now I'm thinking about The Truth, in the newspaper, there's always a typo in the word "free" when they write their motto "The truth will make you free", and yes, that's a joke, but it also means that written word can never be free, it always has bias, because it always is someone's words, and it is written, unchangable (that makes me thing, being the ancient greek philosophy nerd that I am, about Socrates hating the written word because it can't answer and defend itlsef from being misunderstood, and so refusing to write his philosophy down, so Plato did, and as fictional dialogues, and the peak irony that all this is). So, the whole theme of The Truth is, actually, how the written word shapes reality and constrains it, and creates opinion and motivates behaivour, and it may give the illusion of freedom, but actually is incapabale of real freedom. Even when there is the fire in the Times offices and the moveable types melt, the letters form the sentence "the truth is free" but "free" has still a typo, because it is still written word, even if it is melting.
SO, the only truly free world is outside the written word. And that bring me back to GO3. A world without a written script, a world without a Book of Life. Aziraphale and Crolwey could very much not have written back their ideal world into being, because it would still be a written world, an imprisoned world! The ending we had was the only possible ending all the time.
Another example of freedom coming from the destruction of the written word in Pratchett is Feet of clay. There, the golems, that are regarded as objects without feeling or free will, gain their freedom by destroying the paper with the shem inside their heads. They keep being alive and functionin because, as they say, "words in the heart cannot be taken". So, there is a clear distinction between words on paper (that limit and constrain, that abolish free will) and words in the heart (that bring live, autonomy and free will).
I think GO3 was about the same thing.
All of these takes are helping me reconcile myself to the ending. I had sincere issues with a certain allusion to authorship in the finale, but I believe I now see what that dialogue was driving toward, even if I think it was poorly executed.
And this explanation also changes the cheapness of a "multiverse" into the profundity of "we are all co-creators."
I wrote an essay about the ending of Good Omens, and you can read it now.
How I learned to love the finale of Good Omens for what it is (and maybe you can, too).
It got so long I had to find another home for it, but if you're feeling sad, confused, lonely or even ambiguous after the finale, maybe reading some hopeful analysis will ease the way. I haven't written an essay in 12 years but this is what this show has done to me so here we are.
This essay...really, really helped.
With thanks to those that requested it, we are organising a sympathy card for Rachel Talalay following the loss of her husband and would like to invite Good Omens fans to sign:
Add your message to Rachel Talalay's card.
This is simply an opportunity to extend condolences and kindness during a difficult time.
Whatever opinions or disagreements people may hold, harassment is unacceptable. We do not condone that behaviour, and it should never define this fandom.
Compassion costs nothing and it is reflective of the community many of us want to be in. If you'd like to sign, please do so by Sunday 24th May - otherwise, please scroll on by.
This fandom always seemed to me to be filled with good, kind, humane people. I was shocked and stunned by what I learned about the online harassment of Rachel Talalay, and right after she lost her life partner.
Please let's redeem ourselves through this offering, showing her real kindness and condolences in signing this card.
And thank you, TIC, for organizing it!
And they really thought they ate with this ending like it’s so crazy…
Y’all literally Job’d the fuck out of us.
And it all hinges on them Putting Their Faith in God to do what they asked 💀
Reblogging to make sure I can find it again. It really does sum it up so well.
in all timelines, in all possibilities… only you.
imagine being Gabriel and Beelzebub just chilling out in Alpha Centurai and then you start disintegrating and your last thought before the void is "those two little idiot motherfu-"
GOOD OMENS (2019 - 2026) I 1.03 // 3.01
This touch from Crowley, that look from Aziraphale. This shot means everything to me.
“Any book we write in will be The Book of Life,” Aziraphale said, grabbing the nearest book and whatever writing instrument was within arms reach.
As he wrote, he spoke aloud:
“It was a nice day. All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them…”
the tv adaptation of good omens is only anywhere near as special as it actually is because david and michael love the characters they play so dearly (yes, love in present tense), and gave everything they could to their performances (having fun while doing it, might i add). i will always, always be grateful for the fact that they got to play those roles, because nobody else could the way they did. and the show changed their lives just as it changed ours.
we know they’re proud of what they brought to the finale, whether or not they wanted the story to end the way it did. and i can’t imagine how it must have felt for them to shoot that goodbye in the bookshop. they didn’t give up on showing us all the beauty of aziraphale and crowley, and that’s something i truly appreciate about the finale.
they had every reason to half-arse it, detach themselves from it, and they didn’t. for them, but for us too. again, i’m so grateful.
The 5 real themes of good omens that the finale completely botched
I know we only had 1 episode and whole plotlines were scrapped but I was just left feeling so empty after the finale given how powerful and moving and profound the themes of season 1/the book were. So buckle up for a long ride let's talk about it
Theme 1: Human Incarnate
The book and the show established that humanity is unique because it is neither purely good or purely bad. From the book: "Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people." This Aziraphale describes as "much better" than either Heaven or Hell
This is one of my favorite sequences in the whole show. And the music is soaring and gorgeous. Adam recalls the things in his life he has come to know and love; his parents, his friends, his dog, his home. He makes it have nice weather all year. Aziraphale could feel that love at the Tadfield Manor. Heaven and Hell tried to create an instrument of destruction. But by putting that inside a human boy, they didn't realize the strength of one boy's love would be strong enough to literally burn the hell out of him. He told Satan himself to shove it and rewrote reality to have the dad he truly loved. The power of humanity's love is stronger than any immortal power could ever be.
This is the idea that would have been so cool for the finale but unfortunately never paid off. As the second coming prepares to destroy Earth again, Aziraphale and Crowley could have teamed up with the power of humanity to reshape heaven and hell for good. Adam and Jesus as the antichrist and christ born to end the world and instead used their humanity to save it. Instead we got the book-of-life arc and humans were literally left to dust
Theme 2: Free Will
Next good omens establishes that angels and demons are just puppets but humans are the ones with real free will because they have the ability to be good or bad. Even with heaven and hell, the humans on Earth always have a choice. In season 2, they agree on this, but Crowley's main grievance is the inequity of it all. Humans have free will but it still isn't fair.
God made angels and demons and humans but the humans never had to follow her 'plan.' Free will and the ability to recognize what is truly right outside the propaganda of good vs evil is what saves the world.
Humans always had free will, even if God was around to kill a bunch of them with floods or take their stuff to win bets or something. Creating a new universe without God wouldn't change that. They would still have free will, just less threats from above/below, I guess. What Crowley's established character really should have wanted here was to fix the inequity inherent in human society. That's what is truly holding them back, not a lack of will. Removing God from the universe doesn't actually solve the root problem here
Theme 3: Our Own Side
This is something Crowley learned very early and spends the whole show trying to teach Aziraphale. That good must be separated from heaven and bad must be separated from hell.
Heaven can do some truly appalling horrors and demons, at least Crowley (and somewhat Beelzebub I guess) have the potential to be kind. 'Their own side' is one where they have the freedom of humanity, to do what is truly right. Aziraphale and Crowley sort of found their way there in the finale, but it was all rushed and Aziraphale never really turned his back on heaven, it sort of just became irrelevant when everything started disappearing. What a beautifully flawed and nice world they could have created together
Theme 4: Love Conquers all
What was it all for? Love. God made Aziraphale and Crowley for each other because she liked to smile at the silliness of their love. The literal only constant in the entire universe. Their love for the world and each other saved it. I think the decision to turn Aziraphale and Crowley's queer love story into a tragedy was the biggest mistake of seasons 2/3. Forcing the soft and romantic comedy of good omens into a queer tragedy was the instant it all crashed and burned. Now everything is tainted leading up to the pain and destruction of it all and the whimsy and lightness is gone. There were moments of it, but it was all leading toward the end. And queer love deserves to not be a tragedy. We have far too much tragic queer love in our society. Yes we got the south downs, but Aziraphale and Crowley never got to experience that freedom. They finally came together just to instantly be destroyed. We deserve happy and fulfilling queer love that is sweet without the bitter parts. Good omens was intended to be a comedy, not a tragedy
And then this was SUCH A COOL IDEA they introduced. Perhaps the first time ever an angel and a demon performed a miracle together. The power of their love could create magic stronger than anything heaven or hell had ever seen. I was so excited to see the wonders they were going to create, they ways in which they could have rebuilt the world better using that love. If they had this kind of power doing a tiny miracle, what could they have accomplished if they really put their minds to it? God herself couldn't have stopped them. And instead, the finale literally revoked Crowley's magic for the entire episode. They sacrifice themselves for a new earth and people that didn’t even exist yet instead of using any of their power to change it. The god awful execution of this theme is probably the biggest letdown of the entire finale imo
Theme 5: Fix It, Don't Replace It
This is so obviously established in seasons 1/2 I cannot believe how badly they missed the mark with this one
Literally shows us the horror of replacing the Earth with all new people. Even children can recognize that just because something is broken, it doesn't mean you throw it away and start all over. They loved the world enough to want to save it. The world is inherently worth saving, flaws and all. If you love something, you don't abandon it. The ENTIRE PLOT of season 1 explores the horrors of humanity and yet humans, Aziraphale and Crowley do everything in their power to save it.
It absolutely blows my mind how directly this scene contradicts the entire message of the finale. Job didn't want new children, he quite liked the old ones. Aziraphale and Crowley didn't want the antichrist's new Earth, they quite liked the old one. We didn't want new human versions of Aziraphale and Crowley, we QUITE LIKED THE OLD ONES. Where the hell did that mentality go when they told God to create an entirely new universe????????????? Season 1 said the world is flawed but it deserves saving exactly as it is. Season 1 said an angel and a demon go off to the ritz together, exactly as they are. The finale said the world is too broken, we have to make it disappear and start over. The finale said Aziraphale and Crowley have too many issues/traumas to be happy, we have to destroy them and start over. That's why as cute as Asa and Anthony's love is, we quite liked them exactly as they were, angel/demon trauma + history and all. They deserved saving too.
Good omens has always been so special to me for how much it pokes fun at but also celebrates the messiness and wonder of humanity and love. The 6-to-1 episodes was a major setback but somehow the finale still managed to drop basically every one of its most endearing and powerful messages. What is the "real world" the finale is trying to make us value? One without a god to screw things up sometimes?? The best parts of humanity always shined through not even despite, but BECAUSE of the heavenly challenges they overcame. It's very clear good omens as a whole was always meant to be a one-season/one-book story. There was so much potential and missed opportunities and I wish we could have had the finale we were all dreaming of. I will always love the world of good omens season 1/the book, so that is the world I'll keep in my heart. And all the nightingales therein
A friend asked whether the finale was all that I hoped it would be. I laughed and said, "Of course not! How could it have been?" Because I always knew that there was little anything created by man could do that could justify three years of hyperfixation. But after acknowledging that fact, I said that it was an ending and it was fine. But there were a lot of "missed opportunities." OP summarizes these missed opportunities so nicely. I'll add my own:
Working within or against the establishment.
The choice at the end of S2 would have been a great opportunity to dig into the reality of the insider-outsider dilemma when it comes to social change. It could have provided an important lesson about building power for change. I would have really liked to see that, and it would have been very much in accordance with the Pratchett tradition.