I wasn't necessarily planning on posting anything about the Good Omens finale because I haven't been interested in the show or engaged with the fandom for about two years; however, as you many be able to tell from my username GO was my first real fandom and so I feel I should just jot down my thoughts now that I've gathered them. I've been seeing a lot of people who either enjoyed or hated the finale ripping into each other over on Twitter, and I thought I'd try and break down why this finale has been so polarising. (Note: I'm almost inactive here so I'm not sure what the situation is on Tumblr; I'm choosing to post this here because I hate the Twitter word cap and also because my posts there rarely get more than about three likes).
Personally, I see the divide as a philosophical one. I think in large part it comes down to how people think about the nature of personhood; in particular, whether someone without their memories is still the person they were with them. (This may also relate to people’s beliefs regarding the existence of the human soul, whether within the show or in general). I don’t think there is a clear right answer to this question. My opinion, and the reason I was disappointed by the finale, is that a person who has lost all of their memories is not the same as they once were, as consciousness and thought is shaped so significantly by our experiences and memories. This means that I see the original mind as being functionally ‘dead’ (or, in the case of this show, literally dead). For example, if a person suffered total amnesia, I believe that the individual who existed before said accident would no longer exist (although this situation is a little more complicated given the extent of the connections to the ‘past life’ and the possibility of memories returning). As I previously stated, I don’t think that either interpretation of this is wrong. I think a lot of the way people engage with the finale is based on their own views and how they imagine consciousness, and whether they do or don’t view Asa and Anthony as Aziraphale and Crowley depends strongly on this. I’ve seen the words ‘stupid,’ and ‘media illiterate,’ thrown around a lot regarding this (perhaps just how the fandom works on Twitter), and I don’t think either applies here. I think both sides have very valid points.
Another point I’ve been seeing around is that the ending works well because it serves as a love letter to humanity and allows A + C to exist without the pressures of Heaven and Hell. I don’t think that these two points are mutually exclusive; in fact, it adds to the bittersweetness of the ending that many people (myself included) see these happier versions as being entirely different people to the characters we knew and loved. I do think that Aziraphale and Crowley being able to become a part of the human world which they had always loved is, to a great degree, a beautiful thing; I also understand that many people are upset by this because it means that they lose their 6,000 year friendship and only get the span of a short human lifetime to love each other. Again, both perspectives are valid.
The one thing I would say seems to be fairly universally agreed on is that the pacing of the finale was not very good. I think perhaps the ending would have gone down better had there been more time to develop the characters’ perspectives (particularly Crowley’s decision to choose a Godless world over running away as he has previously preferred); however, for obvious reasons this was always what we expected to happen, and I don’t think, being around four times shorter than it should have been, it would ever have been possible to make this finale well paced. I commend the team for doing what they could and allowing us to have a finale at all, though of course it did make the experience of watching the movie a little disorienting.
I think maybe there’s a point to be made here (although this is not really the main drive of this post and has been discussed to death elsewhere) that the reason a lot of finales of popular TV shows have gone down badly is because of the longer wait times in between seasons, and therefore the heightened expectations that the fandom has about what will happen to the characters and what they’ll get to see on screen. I think this effect was made worse in the case of Good Omens by the fact that people have long been worried about the ‘human ending,’ and so this ending confirmed their worst fears. A lot of people are also angry about the fact that they didn’t kiss; I’m frustrated too, and I don’t agree with the director that a second kiss would have cheapened the first, although I do think that their marriage was genuinely a beautiful way to close the show (again, whether you agree with this or not probably depends on whether you see Asa and Anthony as Aziraphale and Crowley).
Anyway, I feel like I should find some sort of way to conclude this so I’m going to cap it off by saying that I don’t think there needs to be a consensus on whether the finale was any good. I think it’s lovely that so many people care enough about the show to be so upset about how it ended, and I also think that one of the best things about television is that people can have different interpretations of it and can love or hate it freely based on their own hopes and experiences. It’s perfectly justified to be angry and hurt by the way these characters went out and not to want to engage with the show anymore; it’s equally valid to have enjoyed the ending and felt that it was the perfect conclusion to the show. Obviously it’s cathartic to fight it out, and there are a lot of other points from both sides that I didn’t mention here and that may push someone’s opinion one way or another, but I think ultimately the takeaway is that both factions make good points and we should all be nice to each other (I know that this makes me sound like a primary school teacher and that this is an uphill battle but I might as well say it just in case).
Please feel free to use this post as a space to discuss your own thoughts about the finale!