So many unanswered questions. Not only from S2, but from the finale.
S2 was liberally seasoned with oddities that kept us feasting on theories and fics and art for almost three years. Breadcrumbs were strewn about, with a plan to reveal the path they laid in S3.
Like, the whole "the Metatron was messing with details through time" thing. I fully believe that was an intentional setup for a major plot point in S3. Just to be reduced to two throwaway lines of script when Michael was destroying the universe for reasons still not fully explained. (Sure, she wanted to carry out the Great Plan, but the whole fucking universe including herself? Why not just rip out the Metatron and/ or Aziraphale's pages, take over as the Supreme Archangel and be done with it? Like, tf did Muriel and Saraqael and the literal Sweet Baby Jesus ever do to you, Michael? And why Sandalphon? He would have been right there with you, burning it all to the ground.)
As someone who takes too long to get a story on the page because I agonize over character motivations and plot holes, I find myself irritated over a lot of little things about the finale.
It seems to me the failures stem from having the show written by people who had either never seen the show before, or maybe had only watched it right before (or after) getting the job. I cannot imagine that any pre-existing fans of the show would choose *gestures vaguely* this.
Then again, their careers up to this point may not have been very conducive to telling this story the way it deserved to be told.
One writer has published about a dozen novels in the past 32 years, and an iMDB history that shows nine writing credits over ~25ish years. Nine—six of which are short films (30 min or less).
The other is a man whose first screenwriting credit is for Hellraiser II. Out of his 16 writing credits in damn near 40 years, most have been for horror... the only thing he'd written that received over 6.4 stars on iMDB was, ironically, this finale. Side note- he also wrote segments for Playboy softcore compilations, which probably contained more loving emotions than anything else we've seen from him.
These writers had no love for Crowley and Aziraphale. These characters were strangers to them. The nuance was lost. The tenderness and love were stripped—I have a strong feeling that the queer aspect of the show went completely over their heads.
Someone theorized that the kiss we did get was improvised by Michael, and you know what? I believe it. If you told me they were supposed to shake hands or do a bro side hug as they got Thanosed out of fucking existence, I wouldn't bat an eye.
The queerness of this story was the beating heart of the whole damn beast. It is a core essential aspect of this story and it was just. fucking. gone.
The canonically queer characters and representations are gone, with the exception of Mutt's (now Bereaved) Spouse (still not given the dignity of a name)(or even their husband for some unknown fucking reason). And even they were portrayed as downtrodden and rough—nothing like the lovely person we met at the ball.
I'm honestly surprised they didn't misgender Muriel (but I also wouldn't be surprised if the script said she/her, and David and Michael said 'yeah, fuck that.')
Yes, Asa and Anthony are there at the end. And they're sweet and precious and everything I adore in a tropey, meet-cute AU. (Granted, I didnt WANT a human AU, and I dont know one person who did, but I digress).
I love them for who they represent. I'm glad they found their love story, and I hope in my heart of hearts that they are just one of many lifetimes Aziraphale and Crowley live through together, finding each other for all eternity.
We don't get the comfort of seeing their many lifetimes, though, because they didnt feel it necessary to show us that. Because we had to spend 10-15% of our screen time to get caught up on the mob taking over Whickber St., because they were the important bit. We all stayed up to/woke up at ungodly hours to learn about Brian fucking Cameron, right? 🙄
And don't even get me started on how badly they botched Jesus and his whole story. Hasn't that man through enough?
I've meandered and rambled enough. To my point.
I know a lot of us in the fandom are happy with the story.
A great many of us (myself included) are still floating in the aether, still not sure how to feel about it, or feeling different ways about different things.
But... whether you liked the story (and the ending) or not, I think we can all admit that the writing was lacking. I think these guys were given 5+ hours of script material and told "just pick out the bits you can work with, and may God help you if it goes a minute over 90."
I saw elsewhere the opinion that the original scripts should have just been tossed and a whole new story created, and I understood their point, but with these writers? I think that would have been the opposite of helping.
It's clear to me that Amazon didn't give one single, lonely fuck about this show or the quality behind it. They would have been better off finding fans to write it, and I’m not even joking.
I had such faith. I was certain they'd be able to pull it off. I even went through all of S2 to time how long it took to tell Jim's story, just to prove it could be done—two hours and one minute, BTW.
They could have done it. They chose not to.
It makes me sad because it was so obvious for so long that David and Michael truly loved these roles and these characters. They love them as much as we do. They did their best with what they were given.
Same with Rachel. She could only do so much. She went to bat for us, and Amazon called three strikes against her on her first swing.
Hell, maybe even Marshall and Peter did their best, and they just weren't the right choice for this job.
All I know is that, regardless of how I feel about the finale—I have a lot of mixed thoughts about it, like many of us do—I know that literally everyone deserved better.
