You know what? For me, watching s3 is like reading only the tags instead of reading the fic.
S3 is just packed full of common fandom topics, (crowley is a mess, aziraphale moans while eating, Muriel and Eric...) or repetitions of former themes warmed over (yellow bentley, eating ice cream, crowley disguised in heaven, card tricks...)
Lots of unconnected, unhinged scenes thrown together, but the plot, the arc, the heart of the story is unfortunately completely missing, nothing is really fleshed out.
While watching s3 (the first and definitely only time) I was constantly wondering where this was leading an when the actual PLOT would finally begin (spoiler: it didn't.).
The Well Paid Author of this masterpiece always stated that he never reads fanfiction well, he better had, it might have improved his writing skills, but he obviously studied the tags quite thoroughly...
But hey, we should'nt judge too harshly, selling a bunch of random ao3 tags as a 90 minute film to Amazon is quite an achievement in itself, isn't it?
A character trait/dynamic that I'm endlessly compelled by is someone dealing with (or, like, failing to) being the child of people who were too busy being good people to have the time and attention to be good parents. This can be anywhere from 'was a public defender who gave a shit working 60 hour weeks with basically no vacations' to 'left their family behind to join the revolution/war effort and is now a universally beloved martyr-hero who saved/remade the world with their final breath' on the groundedness spectrum. The important thing is a viscerally felt but confused and ugly mess of longing, resentment, and guilt about feeling the resentment.
#the idea that someone can simultaneously be a bad parent and a good person is one that seems to escape a LOT of people#I see far too many people who insist that if someone is a bad parent they're also a bad person#because being a bad parent MAKES them a bad person#“well they never should have had kids if they were going to be bad at it!” cool cool so I don't know if you know this but#not everyone is able to see how things will play out before they happen#also someone may be a GREAT parent for one kid but a mediocre one for another kid#because (and I know this is another pretty alien idea to a lot of tumblr) everyone is different#what one child needs is not necessarily the same as what another child needs#anyway#it's much more fun to explore this concept in fiction than in reality#when it happens IRL at least one real person gets screwed over; in fiction it's an interesting story to explore
So fucking true
I know people who are great as friends for example, but they shouldn't be parents.
You know, I genuinely love almost all of Season 2 (with the exception of the pre-Fall flashback), especially the historical flashbacks.
But if that ending was always meant to be the price... I would have been perfectly happy with just Season 1.
As much as I love season 2, the price of its existence turned out to be far too high. Not only did we get a terrible ending, but the fandom ended up permanently divided because of it.
*grumbling* Would you rather work for Lex Luthor or the Joker- *shouting* Lex Luthor, by like, a fucking mile!
Yes, yes, working for Lex Luthor is basically like being an Amazon employee that makes weapons of mass destruction, which is bad. Lex is like Donald Trump mixed with Mark Zuckerberg mixed with Jeffrey fucking Bezos, it’s not a great mix. He does not treat his henchmen well. Their lives still suck, and they are probably monitored on how long they take piss breaks for.
But let’s analyze what working for Lex Luthor is like versus the fucking Joker. With Lex you probably get a dental plan, a health plan, a paycheck, and the guy that you’re fighting really cares about human life. Superman will hit you just long enough to knock you out, so you’re not a treat, so he can stop the problem.
If you work for the Joker, your payment is you’re not fucking dead. You say one wrong thing? Bang. You don’t laugh at his jokes? Bang! You do laugh at his jokes? Bang! You think Joker gives a fuck about a henchman?
Who’s Lex Luthor’s right-hand-man? It’s a woman, you sexist, her name is Mercy, she’s awesome. Who’s Joker’s right-hand-man? Bob? Nah, he’s dead. Harley? Tried to kill her multiple times. Slappy? Who the fuck is Slappy?
The best case scenario of working for the Joker is that you fight the fucking Batman! And that presents its own fucking list of problems. If you stop Superman as a Lex Luthor henchman, Lex’ll be pissed, but he’ll be at least happy that Superman was caught. If you stop Batman as a Joker henchman, you better have a fucking coffin picked out yesterday.
This isn’t a fun hypothetical question, this is a screening technique that the doctors at Arkham use to determine your mental health! There is a right and a wrong answer to this question, and the correct one is Lex fucking Luthor. Thank you for coming to my fucking Ted Talk, have a nice day.
TL;DR: Thank you, tumblr and AO3 people for keeping the charm and fun of Good Omens alive despite... ~waves hands about~ everything.
It's been two months since Good Omens "season" 3 aired and I still feel sick to my stomach when I think about it.
My first experience was reading the book in the very late 90s. I thought it a charming story, but the only thing that really stuck with me over the years was the gag about all cassettes left in one's car turn into the "Best of Queen".
Twenty years later, I saw an advertisement for a television adaptation staring David Tennant (*heart eyes*) and Michael Sheen ("ooh. he's great"). I watched the first episode, got distracted by a shiny object, and forgot to go back. Season two dropped. I realized I hadn't watched all of season 1, got distracted by another shiny object, and forgot to go back.
The teaser for season three appeared in my YouTube suggestions page in early May and it captured my attention. I decided to give the show another shot because third time's the charm, right? I burned through season 1 and cheerfully started up season 2. S2 felt... weird. I couldn't quite put my finger on it until about midway through when I realized that it was, at its heart, fan-fiction. Sheen and Tennant were still acting their faces off, but I simply didn't care about the modern-day plot. The flashbacks, though, made the series worthwhile.
And then I got to the Final 15. Crowley's anguished groan after "And I would like to spend..." broke the handle on my waterworks and I was a snotty, teary mess who cried so hard I gave myself a headache. That was May 10.
Honest to goodness, I don't know how the fandom made it through the break. Y'all had three years to stew. I had only three days. Oof. As broken-hearted as I was, I didn't know if I could handle the 90 minute finale, BUT the trailer looked like a fun romp and I dove straight in.
It was not a fun romp. The waterworks started in the garden and didn't let up. I didn't sleep that night. I discussed it with a Brit friend who tried cheering me up with "but they had dinner together!" It still didn't sit right. I spent the next week and a half in a daze, trying to figure out why I couldn't let go of the terrible, awful, soul-crushing feeling.
Exactly two weeks after the finale, my husband and I were in London and one of my must-see spots was AziraCrow's bench in St. James's Park (it wasn't a must-see but when we passed the stairs and terrace where Crowley still owes Aziraphale lunch, I got giggly). Seeing and sitting upon the bench made me so happy because it was a S1 location. Deep down, though, was a puddle of sadness that I still couldn't name.
I floundered a bit longer and then I remembered one of the main homes of fandom: tumblr. I dusted off my old account and looked up everything with a Good Omens tag. There it was! A shared dissatisfaction. And grief. I finally had a name for that gnawing pain. And pointers to fix-it fics! It was time to dust off my AO3 account and dive into *good* fanfiction which made silk purses out of the canonical turd.
It's two months since GO3 aired and the pain is lessening every day. The 14th century is in the rearview and I have you marvelous bloggers and writers and artists and fanvid-producers and creatives of all kinds to thank for healing my heart. Thank you.
The last thing Thorin sees before he loses consciousness is Bilbo, desperately pressing on his wounds and begging him to hold on just a little longer.
The first thing Thorin sees after he gains consciousness is Bilbo with rumpled face and dark circles under his eyes, sitting next to his sickbed, smiling in relief because Thorin did as he was told.
aziraphale: wow can’t believe i’m going to get discorporated by the french revolution because i can’t miracle myself out of here…sure wish SOMEBODY would come and SAVE ME because i can’t do it BY MYSELF…sure wish SOMEBODY with MAGIC POWERS could come GET ME OUT OF THIS MESS
crowley: angel, what the fuck
aziraphale, miracling himself into a new outfit immediately: good you’re here let’s get crepes
germansingergirl
andulkaphoto
blakekathryn
vaporwave
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
jacobvanloon
