every means short of physical violence to prevent customers

Good Omens side blog. Constantly shipping the Ineffable Partners.

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Neil!

I convinced my friend to watch Good Omens, and now they're asking "HOW ARE ANGELS MADE?!?!?!"

so uh how are angels made,,,?

Well, when God loves themself they give themself a special kind of hug...

(Kidding).

The Good Omens God makes them out of nothing.

[fagziraphale]

"crowley is always doing little favors for aziraphale, when is aziraphale going to do something for him" oh dont worry, pouting and pleading looks and puppy dog eyes and an adoring smile afterward is definitely doing something for crowley. i can promise you that

[crowleyholmes]

omg yes. listen. listen to me. i am holding your face gently in my hands. listen to what i am saying to you. crowley wants to be loved for who he is. no look at me listen he has been cast out and left behind and abandoned first by heaven and then by hell. nobody, ever, on either side of this cosmic conflict, has appreciated him. aziraphale adores him. aziraphale trusts him. aziraphale understands him, likes him, wants to spend time with him, asks crowley for little favors and then looks at him with SO MUCH LOVE when crowley humors him. are you listening? aziraphale's gestures aren't as grand and loud as crowley's but they're there. does the holy water scene mean nothing to you? does the magic act that could have cost him his life mean nothing to you? remember he did that to get crowley out of trouble with Mrs. H? and everytime he tells him he's good, and kind? misguided, yes but his intention is never to annoy crowley or to get him in trouble - to aziraphale, being called good is just about the best thing in the world, it's all he strives to be. he's literally constantly telling crowley how wonderful he thinks he is. yes most of the time crowley doesn't want to hear it and aziraphale needs to learn that this is not the best way to show crowley how m- HEY no don't look away from me. aziraphale has a lot to learn but he's so READY to learn, look at him, he's been allowing this demon to argue with him and influence him and help him to change and grow at every corner because he has trusted him more than he has trusted heaven since even before the job act! are you still listening yes okay good because i'm almost done but listen the most important thing. they both do for each other. constantly. is giving each other trust and companionship and a place to belong unconditionally.

[clairedelune-13]

Dorks 😂

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

[thecassandraic]

Aziraphale's memory, Jimbriel, the Metatron, and forgiveness

There's a bit of fanon that goes like, Crowley can't believe Aziraphale loves him even were Aziraphale to say so, because Aziraphale is an angel and angels love everyone.

S2 kind of explodes that one. (Which, I mean, continue to use it if you like; fanon is fanon and getting jossed happens to the best of us.)

Not long after his arrival in the bookshop, Jimbriel says to Aziraphale, "You're funny. I love you."

"Oh. Thank you," says Aziraphale, with just a tiny bit of gratification even. And then he says "I..." and can't finish the sentence. He can't return the sentiment with I love you too. He remembers too much, and isn't ready to forgive or forget, much less love.

His reticence gets followed up on during the Job minisode. "You were awful once," he tells Jimbriel flatly. "Really, really awful." Notably, he's not saying this because of Gabriel's treatment of him -- but because of Gabriel's role in Job's story.

I don't think Aziraphale's opinion of Jimbriel -- a lorge nuisance who used to be a horrible clueless purveyor of cruelty -- shifts until the demon attack on the bookshop. Before Jimbriel goes out to Shax, Aziraphale doesn't protest that Jimbriel is too -- too anything, too valuable or too angelic or too important -- to save. He falls back on his own guardian role, telling Jimbriel that he said he would protect him (did he? did he, actually? I'm not sure he did) so he will.

Jimbriel tells him there's no need, he's going out -- and we get quite a long shot of Aziraphale's face, which reads to me as both surprised and somewhat unwillingly impressed. Aziraphale can respect self-sacrifice.

I think this is why he gives Gabriel and Beez their way, deferring to their wishes. He's learned that with a little Jim and a dash of love for seasoning, Gabriel won't be awful, and he's willing to trust that... and forgive what he can of Gabriel's derelictions.

Now then.

In season 1, a desperate Aziraphale approaches the Metatron to beg him to save the world. The Metatron brushes him off in the cruelest way possible. He's Gabriel -- but worse, because he's not clueless, he seems to know exactly what a nuclear exchange is and the devastation it will cause, he just doesn't care. We can see Aziraphale's heart breaking, right there onscreen.

I'm on record multiple times thinking that Aziraphale is not taken in by the Metatron, or the Metatron's coffee, or the Metatron's job offer, or the Metatron's offer of re-angeling Crowley, or any of it. This is another reason I think that. Aziraphale can hold a grudge, at least subliminally, and he's got one tall leftover grudge against the Metatron.

There's no reason at all for Aziraphale to think the Metatron has changed since Armageddon't. There's been no Jimbriel phase to change Aziraphale's mind. There is no apology from the Metatron. Coffee and job offers are no kind of atonement!

Crowley's memories may have been tampered with. Aziraphale's haven't. He knows what the Metatron is, and he knows perfectly well not to trust him. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[useralona]

Do you have a favorite episode from the new season, or moment/scene? Well I have a favorite line from season 2, it's in episode 2.

David Tennant, Michael Sheen & The Good Omens 2 Cast Answer Your Questions!

[ineffablepenguin]

My favorite genre of buddy comedy

[hollow-head]

Aziraphale at the Library of Alexandria, throwing scrolls into his purse

(i was going to draw this with the book character, but it's funny to me now and i didn't want to wait)

[hollow-head]

@yourcoldcocoa You're so right

[most-normal-eccles-cake-ignorer]

Good Omens: Lockdown and Crowley not mentioning his living situation in S2*

*till S2E6 when he asks if he can have his apartment back bc he's bored of living in his car but Aziraphale doesn’t hear bc mentally he’s in Alpha Centauri.

Having read the 'Crowley doesn't tell him' Neil Gaiman ask close to when I first listened to Lockdown (I lived under a rock until recently), my initial thought was HAS HE BEEN LIVING IN HIS CAR FOR YEARS?! but I think he was still in his apartment in 2020:

as far as Hell knows, Crowley just had a pool party in holy water (the holiest) so the higher-ups are probably willing to give him some space (plus Beelzebub is busy going on pub dates w Gabriel)

while there should be ~8 months between the end of Season 1 events (The Very First Day of the Rest of Their Lives on Sunday, Aug 25, 2019) and the Lockdown phonecall (on or near the 30 year anniversary on May 1, 2020), I can't imagine that's a very long time for Hell, especially if you're understaffed and busy dealing with fallout from Almostgeddon / going on pub dates

Shax dropping off mail and asking about the boiler seems like something one does in the first few months of living somewhere, not ~3 years in (if S2 is in 2023)

That said, I think the phone call underlines why Crowley never directly tells Aziraphale that he is living in the Bentley in S2, and it's just a great conversation (all hail Gaiman) sooo I wrote about it:

***Note: This post analyzes the Lockdown phonecall from Crowley's perspective only. Our heroine is feeling quite emotionally vulnerable at this point in time so things are going to hit him harder than they normally would.

I do not think Aziraphale meant to cause him pain (!!) but Crowley can't see that yet and I've written this post in a way that reflects that missing insight. (I explain in more detail in this reblog if you are interested) I am working on a companion post for Aziraphale's side of this conversation and how I think it affects his behavior in S2 because if we know anything about these two, it's that their exactlys are different exactlys.***

Crowley’s habit of sleeping to skip time like an RPG character by a campfire amuses me to no end, but in this context it feels heavy. Crowley already worries about losing time with what he loves and he probably hoped things would be different between him and Aziraphale after the events of S1. But things don’t change much. Then lockdowns start, and Crowley is trapped in his apartment alone, transcendentally bored, and unable to make his brain shut up. Sleeping a month away starts to sound less awful.

But Crowley hasn’t given up yet; he’s still awake when Aziraphale calls, and he’s even giving it two more days. Was he waiting for Aziraphale to call? Is it even possible not to at least kind of wait for someone’s call when you are cut off from everything and the caller has been your only friend and crush for millennia?

Aziraphale asks why Crowley isn't "out and about" tempting people or setting a bad example and he responds:

C: Everyone's so miserable and cooped up right now anyway, and I just… well… don't have the heart for it. A: *glowing audibly* I'm not miserable~ C: Really?

Crowley sounds genuinely surprised at Aziraphale's happiness and quickly assumes it's because the angel has been around people. He's so lonely/depressed/in his own head that he hadn't even considered someone enjoying being 'cooped up'. *sob*

Aziraphale goes No actually I put the closed sign up in the window and I'm having the Time of My Life, never had so few customers, not in 200 years!, etc. Although, he says:

A: …There were a few young lads a couple of nights ago who broke in through the back and tried to steal the cashbox! But they soon saw the error of their ways~ C: *clearly amused* Did you smite them with your wroth? A: Well I certainly gave them a good talking to, and I sent each of them home with cake~ C: *annoyed, swooning* Cake? A: Quite a lot of cake, actually. C: *physically ill from having such a giant crush on this dumbass baker/security guard* eeeekkkgghhh I'm gonna regret asking but.. ...rrgh.. *30 seconds of Aziraphale joyfully describing his baking while Crowley probably tries very hard not to imagine the angel eating each item in sensual slow motion* I stg you can hear him struggling in the background once or twice

A: …And once I've baked them, I have to eat them all myself, which was why I was so delighted— C: To send your burglars home laden with baked goods, yes, nnyeaayeah I follow…

Crowley interrupts, finishing Aziraphale's sentence in his nervous hurry to say the next bit:

C: *loud inhale* You know, I could.. hunker down at your place. … Slither over and watch you eat cake. I could bring a bottle--a case of… something… drinkable…?

He's trying to sound so casual about it but this is someone who was rejected/abandoned by actual literal God after asking what he thought were welcome, uncontroversial questions. Asking makes him vulnerable. He's supposed to be the rescuer, not a demon in distress. He does not feel casual about asking.

Crowley knows it's unlikely but he's so miserable and desperate for company that he can't help but ask, just in case. Even the smallest chance of spending time trapped indoors with Aziraphale—with nothing to do but drink, watch him eat, and talk about things they'd normally avoid—is too tempting.

A: *panicking* Oh I— I— I— I— I'm afraid that would be Breaking All The Rules! *nervous breathing* Out of the question! I'll see you… when this is over. C: Right. gnnehh. I'm setting the alarm clock for July. Good night, angel. *dial tone*

And just like that, Crowley doesn't need two days to decide. The depression nap doubles in length. He doesn't hear how badly Aziraphale wants to say yes behind the fear, or maybe he does and it hurts worse because why isn't Crowley enough for him? You can almost hear the spiralling:

SHOCKING, asking made it worse. It always does doesn’t it? Why even bother? you just embarrass yourself.. SLITHER over? why did I say that *grumble grumble* of COURSE His Holy Holiness, your only friend in the universe, would rather eat cake by himself while everything goes to shit than ~deign~ to have you in his presence. "AsK aND yE sHaLl ReCeIvE" bugger this for a lark im going to bed

(a bit dramatic but we've all been there)

I imagine sleep doesn't come right away. Maybe his thoughts drift to when he sat beside the angel at a dark Tadfield bus stop after a rather eventful Saturday. Crowley must've felt a tiny bit hopeful when he invited Aziraphale to stay with him: Heaven had withdrawn its favor and the bookshop was gone; Aziraphale was like him now. Didn't that mean things would change?

"I don't think my side would like that." Apparently not.

In the end, Aziraphale did ride the bus back to Crowley's apartment and stayed till the next morning when he caught a cab, but only to sell the illusion. Crowley understood that as far as sides went, the angel was still on Heaven's, even if Heaven wasn't on his.

And now this: the entire world is shut down; there is nothing for Aziraphale to do but stay in and read and bake in his magically reconstituted bookshop and he still won't invite Crowley in. Burglars and un-fallen angels only—nobody who asks questions.

So... of course Crowley doesn't tell Aziraphale when he loses his apartment. He already knows what answer he would get; the angel has told him so many times. Aziraphale is a company man first, a companion to one very sad owl when convenient.

If Crowley works up the courage to say 'please take me in, I have nowhere else to go' and Aziraphale goes 'sorry, no, far too political, but I WILL risk being erased from the Book of Life to protect this nude amnesiac former coworker who always hated me,' it's going to be too much. You can't sleep long enough for that type of hurt to go away. Better not to say anything.

"Then nothing has to change, does it?"

[dr-whitaker]

how to ask the demon you've been smitten over for 6000 years to dance: an angel's guide

bonus:

[huffle-ego]

Aziraphale: *very seriously* You need to stop doing weird things to cope with the stress. Going outside might help.

Crowley: I went to the park today.

Aziraphale: There you go! I hope you got something from that.

Crowley: *opening his coat* This duck.

[servantserah]

Tag yourself, I'm Crowley

[bananamosity]

So we know now that aziraphale can just doodle up someone's likeness with surprising accuracy.... how many times do you think he drew crowley?

[katestewartt]

Crowley's signature swagger walk

[moriarty-sisters]

The last thing Aziraphale tasted on Earth was Crowley

[green-grin]

How insanely wicked, how utterly beautiful, how terribly ironic is that just as he tastes the forbidden red lips of the Serpent, he then knows in the very flesh of his fragile corporation what he has to leave behind to change the Heavens : his bookshop, his earth, his lover.

His own Eden.

I am extremely unwell.

[ddesole]

We've known each other a long time. We've been on this planet for a long time. I mean, you and me. I could always rely on you. You could always rely on me. We're a team, a group. Group of the two of us. And we've spent our existence pretending that we aren't...

[starry-eyed-psychopomp]

Obsessed with the fact that Crowley is always careful to say “for Satan’s sake” or “where the Heaven” or “for Hell’s sake” rather than anything that might show deference to Heaven, BUT when Aziraphale starts to reject him at the end of episode 6, he’s so distraught that he slips up and says “oh God.”

And by “obsessed,” I mean I’m going to jump out a window