I keep thinking about this little detail in a footnote in the book
and how it seems like a quirky line to add to the comedy - and don't get me wrong, it absolutely does serve that purpose in isolation - but then, in season 2, we get this line
and the first time I saw it, and every subsequent rewatch, the way Crowley says it really struck me. I wrote a rambling post after season 2 about it and how it feels quite personal to Crowley, like he somehow feels a weight of responsibility when he says that line.
Which leads me to wonder - did Crowley know all along that no matter what they did, it was futile? Or perhaps at times he remembered?
We know now that the Book of Life was being tampered with, first by the Metatron and then, of course, Michael, and I believe we got glimpses of some of those past/present/future timelines being affected in season 2, particularly with Crowley being unable to recall Furfur and Saraqael, and of course this moment moment of apparent understanding that also tells us something is not right:
But we also know that Crowley is an optimist and that he has an imagination, two things that have allowed him to defy a number of rules and conventions and, perhaps, that even extends to the way the Book of Life impacts him? Another line that always struck me as a little odd in its choice of phrasing was this one (though that could just be me, I would just expect him to say "do you know who I am?" typically):
And it makes me wonder, now knowing that the Metatron was having a little tinker here and there, if he expected Crowley wouldn't or shouldn't remember him? Had we had the six episodes, perhaps we would've had some more insight into this - I mean, we'll never know, but it's fun to ponder.
But back to the idea of it always being too late. I find it interesting too that in the novel, Too Late is displayed on Crowley's watch, something designed for the sole purpose of keeping time. I also find it interesting that we know Crowley can stop time, even if only temporarily - I always liked to think (and still do) it's because he is powerful but also, that he understands the very mechanics of it in a way others don't because he was a creator of time when he helped start the universe.
But I also think that perhaps he has this ability because he also knows that time was yet another part of God's game, something that could be played with but that ultimately, She has control over.
And that was even more solidified for me with God's statement in the bookshop towards the end - "Time is over". At the end of the day (or the universe, as it turns out), She is the one who determines it with a snap of her fingers.
I think that Crowley is aware the entire time that the 6000 years really is a hard deadline. I mean, he fell for questioning it and throughout the series, we see his growing distress and him trying desperately to convince Aziraphale that attempting to change heaven or hell was pointless (and we saw it reflected in the breaking down of things on Earth as time was running out and the BoL was being destroyed- Whickber street with all it's closed shops, patrons disillusioned and characters we've known and loved shells of themselves in many ways).
And if we follow the idea of an Ineffable Plan, established in the novel and in season 1, then it seems that Michael being the one to bring about the end of Earth and the rest of the universe is a part of it, as is Aziraphale and Crowley finding themselves in the bookshop and God turning up at precisely the same time (literally to the minute) that the Earth was created (9.13am, the time displayed on the clock at the end there, as was pointed out by someone on social media and I'm sorry I can't remember where or who - please let me know so I can include a link!).
I also think that just as Crowley's imagination has allowed him to will his Bentley into driving through fire and through space to get to the centre of the universe, it is also what led him to being able to get him and Aziraphale to the bookshop at the end there and manifest a new Book of Life. But once again, he was aware that it was borrowed time and one of the things I love in the bookshop is that we see Aziraphale embrace having an imagination too, as he begins to write in the book and summon God.
So what I keep wondering is this: if Crowley already knew that no matter what they did, it was always going to end up at the same point - Too Late - then doesn't his refusal to accept that God is the one who gets to make all the decisions place him in a very similar position to Adam at the end of season 1?
Adam got to change his reality because he was neither heaven or hell incarnate, he was human incarnate - he knew real, deep, human love for his parents and friends - and while we know that he was still simply a part of God's plan and was always ultimately destined to be part of the end that She decided, it was almost like an Earth bound example of what was possible. Crowley knew it was possible.
Crowley telling God he doesn't accept that She can just declare everything over and it's done and Aziraphale standing by him and declaring the same, is them declaring they won't accept the reality on a cosmic level that far surpasses the bounds of a single planet.
This (now rather long) ramble isn't about trying to posit what the ending is or isn't, I'm really just throwing my thoughts down onto a page to sort through them all. And I could (and probably will) spew some more words into a post about my interpretations of it all at some stage, but it is really about the idea that time is something I think Crowley is bound to and aware of in a way others aren't, he's always known or felt it is Too Late, and that's why his decision - their decision - is what it is.
