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[discipula20]

It fills me with a kind of silly, petty joy that if you search the Post-Canon tag on AO3 and sort by kudos you get lots of post S1 fics circa 2020-ish and earlier.

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Lol. Really though, did the writers actually watch their own show?

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I swear, every time I come across Asanthony content without warning, I get jump scared. Just me?

[twilightofthesandwiches]

While it is true that Crowley and Aziraphale did not themselves ‘destroy the universe because it had no free will’, Michael is the one who destroyed the universe and Crowley and Aziraphale simply refused the offered opportunity from God to ‘put it back the way it was’, it’s… I mean, you could debate from a philosophical standpoint of whatever refusing to resurrect someone is the same as killing them, or the possibility that ‘putting everything back’ wouldn't technically bring back the people who were killed but just replicate them and the problem is that the Finale dialogue did a shit job at establishing this fact, but there’s also…

TV Tropes calls it ‘The Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work’. That’s when an action that would be beneficial for our heroes but is morally unscrupulous in some way is done by a Villain instead. Obviously Tropes are Tools so this is not exactly Inherently Bad, but this is often done as a way to keep the protagonist up to an expected ethical standards without necessarily dealing with the actual ramifications and implications that come with this ethical code. Like, you don’t want your hero to kill the villain, because Killing is Bad, but you’re also not interested in actually committing to what it would mean to spare their life (risk of them harming people again? An attempt at a redemption arc?), so the villains’ minions turn on them and kill them instead! Now you’ve got all the neat plot resolution and Punitive Justice Undertones of killing your villain while keeping your hero ‘clean’!

You might recognize this concept as, like, basically one of the central linchpins to Crowley and Aziraphale’s conflict in S1. They both think that killing the Antichrist might be the only way to save the world, neither of them can bring themselves to do it, and Aziraphale keeps insisting that Crowley must be the one to do it because he’s ’the Bad Guy’.

Obviously, GO1 portrays this attitude as deeply hypocritical, and while killing the Antichrist turns out to not be necessary at all, it is super important that at the end, Aziraphale does end up being the only one willing to pull the trigger.

So I think it is rather ironic how much Michael’s Big Cosmic Breakdown kinda feels like a twisted version of this Trope. Like, their wiping of the entire universe is ‘convenient’ for the plot, it provides the characters with a blank slate without any of them being actually to blame for a destruction of a whole universe.

Because we are told that Crowley wants a ‘Real Universe’ with ‘Real Free Will’ more than anything else, and apparently this can’t be achieved by modifying the current reality (like restoring the previous world and telling God to Fuck Off), but only by starting over from scratch. So… what would’ve happened if God showed up and made Their offer while the old universe was still ticking along just fine? Or even if it was a more 'traditional' Armageddon/Second Coming where Earth as we know it is gone but Heaven/Hell and all the sapient ethereal/occult beings in there are still around?

Would Crowley be willing to actively scrap that universe for the sake of the ‘Real Universe’? Would he refuse that opportunity despite apparently honestly believing this would be the only chance for Humanity to be ‘free’?

The show basically tried to skip any of the implications of these possibilities because the universe was already destroyed. There wasn’t supposed to be any real ramifications or implications for Crowley's character because the world was gone and it totally wasn’t his fault!

But the implications here do still remain, and it’s perfectly understandable that people notice them and point them out!

[discipula20]

Thank you!! I see so many people commenting about how “well, the universe was already gone and what could they do”? Yeah, the universe was gone because the writers freaking wrote that in.

It’s almost astounding how much GO3 just neatly skirts around some really complicated moral and ethical issues by squishing the story into these tiny little boxes that make no room for complexity or nuance or multifaceted choices. Extremely disappointing for a series that used to appreciate shades of gray and clever workarounds and actually standing up for things worth fixing.

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I’ve been listening to the radio drama again. It’s been a while for me and I had forgotten some bits. Probably time to do a re-read of the book also.

In any case, for people who are more versed in, l guess, biblical knowledge, are the Second Coming and the Rapture supposed to be the same thing? It’s interesting to me that this was a potential plot point for a sequel (and in the show obviously) but in the radio drama, both Crowley and Aziraphale state the Rapture to be nonsense. Crowley thinks it’s hilarious.

[discipula20]

Without wanting to jump too deep into, like, moral and ethical commentary on this matter or whether they’re happier or not now, thinking about the (depending on how you look at it) replacement and/or reincarnation of Aziraphale and Crowley with the human versions, I feel that it really diminishes the appeal of their relationship from a narrative/viewership perspective.

To me, what was so beautiful about the relationship is that by any reasonable standard it should not have occurred. Heaven and Hell were diametrically opposed in the extreme, but through shared experiences, Aziraphale and Crowley built a deep love for each other and for humanity, growing past what was expected of them and building something truly unique all on their own. We never got to see that growth through to completion.

There were so much narrative potential there to explore: what it looks like for characters with this type of past living with this kind of expectation to come together and grieve together and grow together. I would think most of us expected that, and in my opinion, it was stolen from us.

These new versions don’t have the same history, they don’t have the same challenges and without wanting to diminish the human romance, it does make the story a lot more conventional and a lot less interesting. The romance side, in particular, becomes very predictable. They meet, they go on some dates, they get married, they retire. The complexity is gone, the depth feels gone. If there is depth for this other couple, we don’t really get to know about it. The reward for the lessons Aziraphale and Crowley, specifically, experienced doesn’t manifest.

[camelotsbi]

You’re totally right and I think that’s the point!

Aziraphale and Crowley feel like complex characters and they’re so interesting because of what the writers (the book authors, the fandom, even God) can do with them (corporation-wise, timeline-wise, plot-wise). They’re characters and they’re meant to entertain us! They’re meant to entertain God.

Asa and Anthony are not complex characters, not if you just take what canon offers. Their love story is predictable, not exciting. But that’s the point! Their story is theirs, their love is theirs. It’s not there for viewers pleasure but for them to experience, just as every real life love story.

I keep going back to what Rainbow Rowell said about the ending of Eleanor and Park, because I think this is a similar situation, where the narrator starts pulling back and describing less and less of what’s happening because the rest of the story is not meant for viewership, but for the characters themselves.

You can try to fill in the blanks but you can never know for sure. And I think there’s something charming in that.

[discipula20]

That’s fine and all, you’re probably right. But it’s also not what I signed up for. Hence why I was focusing this post solely on the viewership angle.

This was supposed to be a wacky comedy with a later addition of a romantic arc between two dearly beloved (for decades!) characters. I’m completely uninvested in this romance of two random humans without the dynamic I was watching for, who actively erased the characters I actually cared about.

As for the story itself, by the end it wasn’t a comedy and it definitely wasn’t wacky. And yeah, I kind of do expect a fictional story written for entertainment with the intention of being watched to be entertaining…

I’m not saying that this kind of approach to storytelling is necessarily a bad thing, depending on how the approach is done, but I don’t believe it belonged in Good Omens.

[discipula20]

Without wanting to jump too deep into, like, moral and ethical commentary on this matter or whether they’re happier or not now, thinking about the (depending on how you look at it) replacement and/or reincarnation of Aziraphale and Crowley with the human versions, I feel that it really diminishes the appeal of their relationship from a narrative/viewership perspective.

To me, what was so beautiful about the relationship is that by any reasonable standard it should not have occurred. Heaven and Hell were diametrically opposed in the extreme, but through shared experiences, Aziraphale and Crowley built a deep love for each other and for humanity, growing past what was expected of them and building something truly unique all on their own. We never got to see that growth through to completion.

There were so much narrative potential there to explore: what it looks like for characters with this type of past living with this kind of expectation to come together and grieve together and grow together. I would think most of us expected that, and in my opinion, it was stolen from us.

These new versions don’t have the same history, they don’t have the same challenges and without wanting to diminish the human romance, it does make the story a lot more conventional and a lot less interesting. The romance side, in particular, becomes very predictable. They meet, they go on some dates, they get married, they retire. The complexity is gone, the depth feels gone. If there is depth for this other couple, we don’t really get to know about it. The reward for the lessons Aziraphale and Crowley, specifically, experienced doesn’t manifest.

[discipula20]

Having had some time to process my initial very visceral negative emotions towards the finale in terms of its thematic trajectory and character choices, I’m now struck by just how dumb the plot is.

The Book of Life, which was just a “myth to scare cherubs ” (or whatever that line was) is suddenly something everyone knows about and knows has a prime place where it is kept under watch, now has reality bending powers to give the screenwriters the ability to do whatever the heck they want. It’s not really explained and has no real logic to it. The little logic they attempt to give it doesn’t make sense. Michael goes around murdering just about everyone except for Aziraphale who was supposedly their original/main target. What were they waiting for? They had no issue deleting the Metratron. Surely, Aziraphale should’ve been next.

So much screen time is dedicated to stuff that doesn’t matter. The Eternal Flame (stop introducing new stuff so late in your canon! You only have 90 minutes!) is another plot device that really just seems to be there to further the nonsensical Book of Life stuff and retcon A and C’s first meeting (again). Jesus is just there. You could’ve cut out the gambling plot and the trip to Hell, for that matter, too. So much more time was needed to actually address a lot of the hanging threads left over from season two.

In fact, the more I think about it, pretty much nothing of any relevance actually transferred over from season two. I don’t see how any of this was necessary. The plot is entirely artificially created and divorced from season two; the only real connections to the previous season are that they had to mention the Second Coming, had to get Aziraphale back down to earth and I guess the Book of Life was technically introduced in season two. They did not, in my mind, do a proper reconciliation between our main characters, which was arguably one of their more important jobs.

I’m not gonna even jump into the stuff with God and Satan and all that. I’m sure plenty of people have talked about it better than I could. Needless to say, none of that impressed me either. To top all this off, the dialogue also really took a hit compared to the earlier seasons, especially the first season. It’s not witty. It’s not particularly funny. A lot of it is just plain mean (poor Muriel). And it goes against previously established character traits, motivations, beliefs and series lore.

[discipula20]

Prior to GO3’s release, no one, as far as I am aware, was actively advocating for the destruction of the Good Omens universe, and much less that it was the only “true/fair” resolution, as several people now seem to be claiming.

The Book of Life was a lazy plot device with entirely too much power. It seems to exist for the sole purpose of giving the story the ability to erase the universe, contrary to any previously established internal logic or reason, the themes of the book, the series’ genre and tone, there because... I’ve got no clue. The writers really wanted to erase the franchise? They were totally out of ideas for how to write something more compelling?

[discipula20]

Poems- Freestyle

Loneliness

The feeling you have

Of standing in a room 

Surrounded by everyone 

And yet touched by no one

A pit in your stomach 

And in your heart

Which seems to say

“This is all you have left

Turn away from me

And be no more 

Human, but machine”

Joy

The grin spread across your face

The blood rushing through your veins

Associations of

Yellow and pink and blue and gold

Sunshine and roses, family and friends

May you always feel 

This exhilaration 

Sadness

The byproduct of love’s demise 

And loss’s presence. 

What brings meaning

Is not what we have today 

But the knowledge 

Of what we have lost

In the past

And what we will lose

In the future 

Resentment

The simmering hatred 

In your gut

Of those who achieved

Your dreams

And your hopes 

Before you could

Life

Life is a bitch 

Who never gave a thought

To those in its care

Charitable to some

Unbearably cruel 

To others