One of the most interesting phenomena coming out of the finale (to me) is that so many people are lumping s2 in with s3, or saying they never liked it to begin with, or have decided that only s1 is canon to them.
Obviously we all have different opinions/tastes/attitudes, but I am also a finale hater, and s2 is far superior to s1 for me.
1) it’s not enough of an adaptation
I love the book, it’s been one of my favourites since I was a teen and I’ve read it probably 20 times. But it is a book. TV is a different medium and more changes were needed to make it work well in that format.
2) some modernisation was needed. The Them end up feeling really silly and artificial at times, because whilst it was believable that a very sheltered British child might scoff at 39 flavours of ice cream in the 80s or even the 90s, that just seems ridiculous now, when Ben and jerrys is in every supermarket. Yes the village was supposed to be held in some perfect ideal of childhood but there were a few bits that truly stretched believability.
3) some modern sensibilities were needed. The treatment of Miss Tracy, and Shadwell’s entire character, really do not age well. Their romance ends up feeling quite tragic. Newt comes off as a mild-mannered incel in our current cultural context. More thought was needed to go into all these characters to make them work for a 2019 audience.
4) there are too many characters that are not Aziraphale and Crowley. Now this one is not really a quality thing, it’s just that i fundamentally don’t care about the other characters as much as I do about a&c. When my wife and I rewatched in anticipation of the finale (🤮), we ended up fast forwarding all the sections with newt, and many of the Shadwell bits, because we were struggling to get though it otherwise.
Whereas, season 2 for me was a joy. I loved the humour, I loved the build up of their romance. Plus, the introduction of Whickber street and especially Maggie and Nina, meant a lot to me. It was so fun and interesting to see our angel and demon interacting with and engaging with normal, every day humans.
But most of all I loved the flashbacks! Job and Edinburgh in particular are some of my favourite moments in all of good omens. They deepened our understanding of our characters, and raised philosophical and theological questions that challenge the whole celestial system.
Yes, the shit kiss was shit and the finale fifteen were very painful. But as I was watching it, I expected/understood that to be a third act break up in a romance. The point where the fundamental conflict between the characters is finally articulated in full, so that it can subsequently be resolved satisfactorily. Narratively and pacing wise, that is honestly what it should have been. The fact we were left with the rubbishness of the finale is a failure to properly resolve that conflict - not a failure of the original conflict.
Listen, I am biased. I would never have gotten into the good omens fandom without s2. I would never have gotten back into writing without s2. And I am privileged in that I have written my own s3, and so I have a satisfying resolution to the conflicts of s2 in my heart. But I do find it so strange to see so many people dismissing or dissing s2, in the wake of a shite s3.
