Sometimes I see people talk about how pointless the GO3 Gang Subplot was and how it should've totally been cut and it contributes nothing to the episode and I am… of two minds about it. Because I actually do see what was the intention here. That whole thread was supposed to be Important Thematic Set-Up to Crowley and Aziraphale's conformation with God. It's, y'know, Crowley has been playing the same rigged game over and over again expecting different results that he will never get, because the person actually in charge makes sure that he will never Find the Lady. And then Aziraphale swoops in and wins the only way you can win these kinds of games, by changing the game completely.
And then in the ending, Aziraphale and Humanity has been playing God's rigged game, which only goes the way God wants it to, until Crowley requests to change the rules of the game, by creating that new 'Real' Universe.
But the thing is, that STILL makes the Gang Subplot detrimental to the episode and something that should've probably been cut, because that ending absolutely FAILS to actually fulfil the thematic throughline that the Competitive Crossword Sequence established and thus it's existence and the attempt to create parallels with the climax only highlights the failure to show God being outplayed, outwitted or defeated in any meaningful way.
The contrast between the Gang Storyline; where Crowley and Aziraphale clearly want a Thing (the Bentley), and the Mob Boss clearly does not want them to have the Thing, and Aziraphale clearly takes that Mob Boss aback by twisting the contract about 'choosing a game' to mean the most bullshit game that he is most optimized to win ever, and then winning so hard the Mob Boss gets a Heart Attack, to the God Climax; where Crowley and Aziraphale want…. the universe to not end, mostly, and God can end the universe whenever They feel like but They decide to humor them, and then Crowley just shouts at God a bunch of time that it's not fair and he knows Their game is rigged, and then God is like "okay then, what better idea do you have?" and Crowley is like "kill yourself!" and God is just "yeah sure why not lol, but you know… this mean I have to kill you and your boyfriend as well" and Crowley is like "-pensive emoji- yes", is just too vast.
And trying to look at the parallels only emphasizes how weakly the climax plays as a "defeat the oppressive system by changing the rules of their game" thing. How there is never really a point where God isn't holding all of the cards, how there was nothing binding Them to do what Crowley asked other than because They felt like it which leaves open the possibility this is still all part of the Game They want to play somehow, that Crowley and Aziraphale don't even really get what they want at the start of the scene because the universe still ends and God just starts a new one, that there's no way for them to know that God will actually keep to Their word and they literally just have to blindly trust the person that the whole point is that they shouldn't trust to do anything but rig the game in Their favor…
This is much less like Competitive Crossword and more like if Aziraphale came in to that Mob Boss' office like "Oh, you know, taking my boyfriend's car/pet/extension of body away was very rude and mean of you! And I know you games aren't fair! ):<" and complained at him a bunch of time, and then the Mob Boss was "yeah, okay, my games aren't fair, what do YOU think would make them fair?" and then Aziraphale was like "let's both stick our heads into this pit of burning deadly Hellfire and if we both die you HAVE to pretty please pinky-promise me you tell your next of kin to send Crowley's Bentley back to him, okay? (:" and the Mob Boss is like "yeah sure that sounds cool I guess I guess I wouldn't mind dying today" oh and also since the Mob Boss had access to Hellfire he always knew he could've killed Aziraphale immediately and completely consequence-free…
And also maybe the Bentley was already stripped for parts and Crowley was dead but the Mob Boss really really promised he'd get a new Bentley and send it over to someone who is probably named Anthony Crowley.
In general, I think that even under the best circumstances it's hard to make your ending both "the protagonist outwitted God by changing the rules of Their game into something they can win" and "the protagonists selflessly sacrifice themselves in a bargain with God for the Greater Good". With all the themes of unfair games and changing the rules, it's Odd that when God sets up a seemingly-impossible price and ultimatum to our heroes… they really do have to just Nobly Accept it. Those rules are apparently set in stone. It would've felt much more resonant with this supposed theme if Crowley and Aziraphale could have it all somehow, the way the Mob Boss made Crowley choose between the Bookshop and the Bentley but Aziraphale made sure they'd have both, if Crowley and Aziraphale could also have a world free of God and Heaven and Hell and be an 'Us'.
And I don't think the Reincarnation thing counts both because even if (and it's important to remember that is an 'IF') they have Crowley and Aziraphale's souls/consciousness, Asa and Anthony are fundamentally different people who have gone through fundamentally different life experiences, they were just not what Crowley was thinking of when he was hoping for an 'Us'… and also because there was no Agency here on the part of Aziraphale and Crowley, they didn't make this happen or chose for this to happen or plan for this to happen. It was just, fate or the cosmos or whatever. For this theme to work, Crowley and Aziraphale would have to figure out how to do something tricksy and clever to somehow outwit God themself.
So, y'know, Gang Subplot still Stupid and Bad and should've been cut. But it's not that it should've been cut because it was pointless, but because it had just enough of a point to drag the story down even farther.
