Can we, can we talk about this for a moment? I need to talk about this for a moment.
This, the boredom, the apathy, the thinly veiled disdain, this is Hell happy with Crowley. This is what they look like when theyโre about to give him a commendation. He gets a commendation for this project. Itโs so popular that Satan mentions it decades later (instead of mentioning something else Crowley has supposedly done, like the Spanish Inquisition or World War II). Like, look at the senior demons. These are their happy faces.
I mean, the book and script book arenโt even very subtle on their hints that his superiors will be happy to torture Crowley if he does something to displease them (and it sounds like this wouldnโt be a first time). Even the things that stayed in the final version of the show make it obvious that Hell is happy to dole out violence not even only as punishment, but as a daily regular occurrence. Their paperwork burns your fingers when you sign it, you might find yourself thrown into a Hellhound cage as a snack because you happened to walk byโฆ Hell is cruel, and itโs open about it, and I think this is the form of Hellโs violence we see more easily and focus on. We see Hellโs physical violence, and Heavenโs gaslighting and cold indifference.
But Heaven and Hell are the same. Sandalphon is as happy to punch Aziraphale as Hastur would be to punch Crowley. โWeโre angels, we do Goodโ is exactly the same empty doctrine as โwe are the Fallen, never forget thatโ.
We see Aziraphale reporting to Heaven only about the Antichrist thing, but we hear him say what other instances were like: he isnโt consulted on policy decisions. Heaven doesnโt care one bit for Aziraphaleโs work and effort, and this being completely ignored is one of the ways they hurt him.
Itโs easier to assume Hell is more active in their hurting Crowley, but this, up there? Thatโs the same thing. Itโs so easy to swap the colour scheme of the room and imagine itโs Aziraphale giving a presentation on something he is doing, and the reactions will be the same. Bored, detached, uncaring, apathic. Heaven might add fake enthusiastic clapping, but thatโll be it.
And, again, this is a scene of Crowley giving a presentation that will be favourably conceived! This is a good reaction! Probably the best he can hope for! Especially for a personal project he actually did, and not some human atrocity he just took credit for. Crowley has fun doing his own brand of mischievous temptations. Like the telephone stuff, he is proud of the M25. And the best thing he can hope to get is this.
The best you can achieve in Hell (and in Heaven, I think, because theyโre the same) is indifference (and absence of punishment).
Thank Someone Aziraphale and Crowley have each other to be enthusiastic about anything they do with, even if itโs little things.
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