Exactly this! I especially see the imbalance in their characters in how the narrative (and the fandom by proxy) treats their choices.
After S2, there was so much anti-Aziraphale rhetoric, so much black-and-white thinking, for such a "shades of gray" situation. Crowley wanted to prioritize them over humanity, whereas Aziraphale was the opposite, believing that things could be changed for the better (that he can make a difference!) when Crowley thinks they can't. (Which, if you think about it, also goes against the book and Crowley's eternal optimism, but that's a whole different conversation).
And then, rather than have the two of them have an actual conversation about all of that, the finale just has Crowley do a sudden 180 and put humanity first despite having no real development whatsoever, and meanwhile, Aziraphale is entirely villainized by GOD HERSELF and is consistently portrayed throughout the whole finale as being wrong for going to Heaven, when he had only been trying to make the right choice for ALL of the world.
Aziraphale went to Heaven not to spite Crowley, not because he was in the wrong, but because he was trying to do THE RIGHT THING. He set aside everything he wanted for the sake of humanity, and tried so hard only to be treated like shit. And yes, he made mistakes along the way, but he is not the bad guy that it all seems to make him out to be. And where Aziraphale and Crowley are supposed to be equally flawed individuals, there is a massive imbalance in the writing that should not be present. Like OP said, this IS prevalent throughout the series as a whole, but especially in the finale and ESPECIALLY when it comes to who was shown to be "wrong" and who was shown to be "right".
One of the most disappointing parts of all of this is that S3 comes so close to Aziraphale and Crowley actually talking about this, like in the Bentley and in the bookshop at the edge of the universe, but they never do, and everything remains unresolved while Aziraphale is painted out to be the bad guy and Crowley as the tragic romantic with no flaws except for a newfound gambling problem, apparently. Even in the scene in the Bentley when Aziraphale starts saying why he had gone to Heaven, and that he had gone for Crowley and for everyone, and Crowley interrupts him to lament about Alpha Centauri. It's unbelievably poor writing and honestly just makes Crowley look like an asshole. It is so painfully obvious in everything that Aziraphale does that he wants to help people, that he wants to help the world, and not only does Crowley not acknowledge that, NO ONE does.
The absolute annihilation of both of their characters in the finale is astounding, and truly makes me want to believe the conspiracy theory that NG wrote it this way to spite us all.
titsay
stormborns
gummygunk
