CORRECTED & UPDATED Clothes + Equivocation = Romance:
The Husbands in 1793 (Part 2)
From Part 1:
Crowley and Aziraphale share clothes as a common interest. They don't have the same style, but they're both aware of current fashions, and Heaven and Hell aren't. You can't tell me Hastur or Uriel would recognize the significance of Crowley saying "Dressed like that, he's asking for trouble" about someone else while wearing black stockings and cravat and waistcoat himself. And that means Anything the husbands communicate to each other through clothing choices goes undetected by their masters.
SO. With all this in mind, let's go through the 1793 scene again and look at what the husbands communicate to each other without using words or actions to do it, and how their clothing choices help them do that.
Hello. I'm here and I know you're in a spot of trouble. I like you.
It's you! I'm so happy you're here!
Sheen's voice and face when Aziraphale says Crowley's name in this moment makes me think that Aziraphale is in love with Crowley--the demon Crowley, not the angel who became Crowley--long before he consciously realizes it in 1941. The way Sheen has Aziraphale say Crowley's name is so soft.
The way you're he way you're lounging there and what you're wearing are uncomfortably sexy and also incredibly inappropriate for the Bastille at this moment in history. I suppose this is very on-brand for you.
Crowley: I listen when you talk about your interests and goals and keep track of your general whereabouts and pursuits.
Either they've spoken with each other recently or Crowley has been keeping tabs on Aziraphale. Aziraphale isn't upset that Crowley knows what he's been up to, which suggests the former, which in turn suggests they're in semi-regular (every few years or decades) contact at this point.
Also we've now got a general idea for when Aziraphale opens his bookshop.
Okay, brief tangent while I point out two things here.
One, my favorite thing about Aziraphale is that he is a sensualist. This is libertine behavior, y'all. He 'popped across the Channel' during the Reign of Terror because he wanted a specific carnal experience of a specific really lovely food.
And two, even when Aziraphale does weird, frivolous, silly, ill-advised things like this, things that clearly baffle Crowley...Crowley never makes fun of him. He never laughs at him. He always has this look of disbelief on his face, like Am I hearing this?--
--but Crowley never, not once, shuts Aziraphale down.
Until Aziraphale asks him to go back to Heaven.
Anyway. Back to our scene.
Aziraphale: I am unwilling to abandon my sartorial sensibilities even when it threatens my corporation, and I am insane, so I think this is reasonable. At least I'm not wearing a Slutty Monarchist outfit.
You're happy to see me, aren't you. You're relieved to see a demon. Go on, say it.
Tennant's delivery of this line cracks me up. It is so gloating and flirtatious and smarmy and indulgent of Aziraphale.
I am very happy to see you and lucky you're here, and I am willing to say so sincerely even though you are gloating about it.
And then there's the exchange where Crowley very carefully doesn't answer Aziraphale's question about why Crowley's in the area but also reassures him that he didn't cause the French Revolution and Aziraphale can still like him.
We can't speak openly about this. It's dangerous for me.
Message received: I won't mention what you did again. But I want to show my gratitude and spend time with you; is it safe for us to get lunch together?
Yes, but one of us is going to have to change so we can walk the streets of Paris without getting arrested again, and I'm the one doing the rescuing here so it's not going to be me. Your 'standards' will have to take the hit.
Fine, you've got me over a barrel. But hey, if I have to wear the silly hat anyway I might as well go all the way and wear your colors. Except not monarchist. And not slutty.
Oh, I don't know, I thought you looked pretty slutty too. (Meaning 2) I'm having this guy killed for touching you, btw. I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you. Immediately. I see you are having the guy who assaulted you killed in a copy of the clothes he would have killed you for wearing. I wholeheartedly approve of this (Meaning 3), your sexiness in those clothes notwithstanding. The utter insouciance of Crowley's little sniff and the inquiry about what they'll have for lunch drive home hard that Crowley could not be more unbothered by Aziraphale having the man who tried to harm him beheaded.
What really tickles me about this line is not only that Crowley's joke has three distinct meanings, but that Meaning 1 (the meaning that exists without reference to Crowley's clothes) is the opposite of Meaning 3--Anybody wearing clothes like that deserves what they get (Meaning 1) versus It rocks how you just killed someone who tried to kill you for wearing those clothes (Meaning 3)--and yet because of the clothes he's wearing, both meanings come through with perfect clarity, dependent only on whether the listener(s) can see his clothing and know its significance. Aziraphale can, and does, so he receives Crowley's real meaning. Hell/Heaven can't, and don't, so they just hear Meaning 1.
And then we get Aziraphale's pleased little smile and look of tranquil interest as he watches Jean-Claude dragged off to his death. Its such an interesting facial expression for an angel watching a demon have someone killed having someone killed, isn't it?
Crowley has just told him they're probably being listened to by Hell. That means Aziraphale, Crowley, and the audience all know this is the most Aziraphale can safely react. Aziraphale can't show any overt approval of anything an agent of Hell does, because by definition anything a demon does is demonic and angels must be against That Sort of Thing. In light of the fact that Aziraphale is the one who causes Jean-Claude's death, I now argue that this responsibility not to react too positively to something the other side has done falls on Crowley, and that the reason he makes this joke is primarily to tell Aziraphale I see what you've just done, and I like it without identifying aloud what exactly has just happened for their presumed eavesdroppers because an angel arranging a human's murder is the sort of thing in which head offices might take undue interest.
The awareness that their conversation is not private means the audience and Aziraphale know they need to be watching and listening for multiple meanings from Crowley, and it also means the audience and Crowley know we need to be watching Aziraphale's face closely right now. And that little smile shows us that Aziraphale has received Meanings 2 and 3 of "he was asking for trouble."
Or, at minimum, Meaning 3; even if Aziraphale picks up on Meaning 2--You looked really sexy in your vintage clothes, you crazy weirdo--that's not a message he can afford to react to at all. But he does react to the other coded communication Crowley is sending when he says "Dressed like that, he was asking for trouble" while dressed for trouble himself: I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you. Immediately. People who think your clothes give them the right to hurt you can go to Hell, and I am delighted you just sent one of them there.
You just had someone beheaded for assaulting me, I acknowledge and am pleased by your delight at my cleverness. and I could not be happier. Would you like to come enjoy one of my very favorite sensual pleasures with me?
***
EDIT: To be honest I like this reading better than my original, incorrect understanding of the story despite the fact that it is slightly less romantic, both because I love the idea of Crowley as a thirsty witness to Aziraphale quietly being a vengeful badass, because it gives us a glimpse of something important about Aziraphale's character that we don't get to see elsewhere: Aziraphale doesn't have a problem with killing per se.
We learn from the business with the Antichrist that, like Crowley, Az. can't bring himself to kill children. We learn from his perturbation at the Flood and the Crucifixion that he doesn't hold with killing innocents. He gave away his flaming sword. But this scene establishes that Aziraphale will actively cause someone's death if he feels they deserve it. That seems like an important character note for him that may become relevant in Season 3 (feathers crossed that it happens).
And I think there's something else in there too, something about how Aziraphale kills Jean-Claude, not with outright violence but with a trick. One party thinks he's in control of the situation; with a wave of his hand, suddenly a turnip has turned into an inkwell an executioner has turned into the condemned--or at least it seems that way long enough to get the job done. It's a bait-and-switch, like stage magic, and it slots right in to the motif in Good Omens of sleight-of-hand, of characters wearing other characters' appearances (for more on this, see fan theories re: Maggie is possessed), of supplying false meanings to an audience to disguise the true actions going on behind the scenes.
CORRECTED & UPDATED Clothes + Equivocation = Romance:
The Husbands in 1793 (Part 2)
From Part 1:
Crowley and Aziraphale share clothes as a common interest. They don't have the same style, but they're both aware of current fashions, and Heaven and Hell aren't. You can't tell me Hastur or Uriel would recognize the significance of Crowley saying "Dressed like that, he's asking for trouble" about someone else while wearing black stockings and cravat and waistcoat himself. And that means Anything the husbands communicate to each other through clothing choices goes undetected by their masters.
SO. With all this in mind, let's go through the 1793 scene again and look at what the husbands communicate to each other without using words or actions to do it, and how their clothing choices help them do that.
Hello. I'm here and I know you're in a spot of trouble. I like you.
It's you! I'm so happy you're here!
Sheen's voice and face when Aziraphale says Crowley's name in this moment makes me think that Aziraphale is in love with Crowley--the demon Crowley, not the angel who became Crowley--long before he consciously realizes it in 1941. The way Sheen has Aziraphale say Crowley's name is so soft.
The way you're he way you're lounging there and what you're wearing are uncomfortably sexy and also incredibly inappropriate for the Bastille at this moment in history. I suppose this is very on-brand for you.
Crowley: I listen when you talk about your interests and goals and keep track of your general whereabouts and pursuits.
Either they've spoken with each other recently or Crowley has been keeping tabs on Aziraphale. Aziraphale isn't upset that Crowley knows what he's been up to, which suggests the former, which in turn suggests they're in semi-regular (every few years or decades) contact at this point.
Also we've now got a general idea for when Aziraphale opens his bookshop.
Okay, brief tangent while I point out two things here.
One, my favorite thing about Aziraphale is that he is a sensualist. This is libertine behavior, y'all. He 'popped across the Channel' during the Reign of Terror because he wanted a specific carnal experience of a specific really lovely food.
And two, even when Aziraphale does weird, frivolous, silly, ill-advised things like this, things that clearly baffle Crowley...Crowley never makes fun of him. He never laughs at him. He always has this look of disbelief on his face, like Am I hearing this?--
--but Crowley never, not once, shuts Aziraphale down.
Until Aziraphale asks him to go back to Heaven.
Anyway. Back to our scene.
Aziraphale: I am unwilling to abandon my sartorial sensibilities even when it threatens my corporation, and I am insane, so I think this is reasonable. At least I'm not wearing a Slutty Monarchist outfit.
You're happy to see me, aren't you. You're relieved to see a demon. Go on, say it.
Tennant's delivery of this line cracks me up. It is so gloating and flirtatious and smarmy and indulgent of Aziraphale.
I am very happy to see you and lucky you're here, and I am willing to say so sincerely even though you are gloating about it.
And then there's the exchange where Crowley very carefully doesn't answer Aziraphale's question about why Crowley's in the area but also reassures him that he didn't cause the French Revolution and Aziraphale can still like him.
We can't speak openly about this. It's dangerous for me.
Message received: I won't mention what you did again. But I want to show my gratitude and spend time with you; is it safe for us to get lunch together?
Yes, but one of us is going to have to change so we can walk the streets of Paris without getting arrested again, and I'm the one doing the rescuing here so it's not going to be me. Your 'standards' will have to take the hit.
Fine, you've got me over a barrel. But hey, if I have to wear the silly hat anyway I might as well go all the way and wear your colors. Except not monarchist. And not slutty.
Oh, I don't know, I thought you looked pretty slutty too. (Meaning 2) I'm having this guy killed for touching you, btw. I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you. Immediately. I see you are having the guy who assaulted you killed in a copy of the clothes he would have killed you for wearing. I wholeheartedly approve of this (Meaning 3), your sexiness in those clothes notwithstanding. The utter insouciance of Crowley's little sniff and the inquiry about what they'll have for lunch drive home hard that Crowley could not be more unbothered by Aziraphale having the man who tried to harm him beheaded.
What really tickles me about this line is not only that Crowley's joke has three distinct meanings, but that Meaning 1 (the meaning that exists without reference to Crowley's clothes) is the opposite of Meaning 3--Anybody wearing clothes like that deserves what they get (Meaning 1) versus It rocks how you just killed someone who tried to kill you for wearing those clothes (Meaning 3)--and yet because of the clothes he's wearing, both meanings come through with perfect clarity, dependent only on whether the listener(s) can see his clothing and know its significance. Aziraphale can, and does, so he receives Crowley's real meaning. Hell/Heaven can't, and don't, so they just hear Meaning 1.
And then we get Aziraphale's pleased little smile and look of tranquil interest as he watches Jean-Claude dragged off to his death. Its such an interesting facial expression for an angel watching a demon have someone killed having someone killed, isn't it?
Crowley has just told him they're probably being listened to by Hell. That means Aziraphale, Crowley, and the audience all know this is the most Aziraphale can safely react. Aziraphale can't show any overt approval of anything an agent of Hell does, because by definition anything a demon does is demonic and angels must be against That Sort of Thing. In light of the fact that Aziraphale is the one who causes Jean-Claude's death, I now argue that this responsibility not to react too positively to something the other side has done falls on Crowley, and that the reason he makes this joke is primarily to tell Aziraphale I see what you've just done, and I like it without identifying aloud what exactly has just happened for their presumed eavesdroppers because an angel arranging a human's murder is the sort of thing in which head offices might take undue interest.
The awareness that their conversation is not private means the audience and Aziraphale know they need to be watching and listening for multiple meanings from Crowley, and it also means the audience and Crowley know we need to be watching Aziraphale's face closely right now. And that little smile shows us that Aziraphale has received Meanings 2 and 3 of "he was asking for trouble."
Or, at minimum, Meaning 3; even if Aziraphale picks up on Meaning 2--You looked really sexy in your vintage clothes, you crazy weirdo--that's not a message he can afford to react to at all. But he does react to the other coded communication Crowley is sending when he says "Dressed like that, he was asking for trouble" while dressed for trouble himself: I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you. Immediately. People who think your clothes give them the right to hurt you can go to Hell, and I am delighted you just sent one of them there.
You just had someone beheaded for assaulting me, I acknowledge and am pleased by your delight at my cleverness. and I could not be happier. Would you like to come enjoy one of my very favorite sensual pleasures with me?
***
EDIT: To be honest I like this reading better than my original, incorrect understanding of the story despite the fact that it is slightly less romantic, both because I love the idea of Crowley as a thirsty witness to Aziraphale quietly being a vengeful badass, because it gives us a glimpse of something important about Aziraphale's character that we don't get to see elsewhere: Aziraphale doesn't have a problem with killing per se.
We learn from the business with the Antichrist that, like Crowley, Az. can't bring himself to kill children. We learn from his perturbation at the Flood and the Crucifixion that he doesn't hold with killing innocents. He gave away his flaming sword. But this scene establishes that Aziraphale will actively cause someone's death if he feels they deserve it. That seems like an important character note for him that may become relevant in Season 3 (feathers crossed that it happens).
And I think there's something else in there too, something about how Aziraphale kills Jean-Claude, not with outright violence but with a trick. One party thinks he's in control of the situation; with a wave of his hand, suddenly a turnip has turned into an inkwell an executioner has turned into the condemned--or at least it seems that way long enough to get the job done. It's a bait-and-switch, like stage magic, and it slots right in to the motif in Good Omens of sleight-of-hand, of characters wearing other characters' appearances (for more on this, see fan theories re: Maggie is possessed), of supplying false meanings to an audience to disguise the true actions going on behind the scenes.
Crowley is not tempting Aziraphale here. He's experimenting on him.
Getting Aziraphale to sin, or even getting him drunk, is not Crowley's intent in this scene. Eating food, taking pleasure in food, drinking alcohol, and even being drunk are not sins in most of Judaism or Christianity (and they're certainly not sins in British Christianity, regardless of any church's doctrine). When Aziraphale turns down alcohol, Crowley just suggests he try food instead; so it's not important to Crowley what Aziraphale tries, but it is important to him that he try something.
This scene is also the first time (chronologically) we see that Crowley likes to drink and likes to be drunk.
We know from
and from
as well as from Book Omens and Word of God that angels have no instinct beyond curiosity pulling them toward eating or toward gender. From this we can reasonably presume they have no instinct toward Beverages either.
That means that in this moment--
--Crowley is very likely the only metaphysical entity he knows on either side of the divide, or even knows of, who has ever experienced a physical pleasure.
And he probably has some Lingering Questions about it, like we all did the first time a physical pleasure blew our minds. Like,
Is it this strong for everyone?
Is there something wrong with me?
Am I going to hurt myself if I do this, like, a lot?
And it's not like the poor creature can ask anyone, because the answers for humans aren't necessarily going to apply to him.
So when he sees an opportunity, Crowley gets that one angel he knows who'll talk to him to try a human thing, and then he watches to see if physical pleasure hits the angel as hard as it hit him.
And that's why he looks so creepily pleased when it does.
Apparently it is this strong for everyone and there isn't anything wrong with him. Now he can relax and get sloshed without worrying, and he even has someone to talk to about how rad human stuff is.
A Dip Into Speculation
We know because we're shown this isn't the first time Crowley has gotten drunk that, watching Aziraphale, Crowley understands what he's seeing. I think it's really interesting that Crowley doesn't laugh at Aziraphale at any point during this scene, and he doesn't correct the way he's eating, either.
Maybe it's because this is what it was like for Crowley the first time. Maybe he got so drunk he passed out and woke up in a puddle of his own sick. Maybe he got so drunk he passed out and didn't wake up at all, and there was Paperwork and he had to get used to a whole new corporation just when he'd got the hang of having legs in the old one. Maybe somebody had to show him how to use a fork or whatever they had going on for eating utensils in Ancient Mesopotamia. I distinctly remember having to learn as a small child to chew with my mouth closed. There is every possibility Crowley doesn't consider the way Aziraphale is eating to be worthy of ridicule because whatever Crowley did the first time was worse.
Maybe he wants to leave Aziraphale set up for later embarrassment over his table manners. Aziraphale was a judgy bitch about the wine.
Or maybe it's something like Let him have this one. There can be rules to it later; let him just enjoy it, once, like a little kid with both fists in their birthday cake.
Maybe it's desire. There is some textual evidence for this. Once Aziraphale learns to eat properly, the way he does it is very attractive, and we know Crowley loves watching him do it.
I don't think it's overreaching even to interpret David Tennant's physical performance of Crowley watching Aziraphale eat as one of sensual or erotic pleasure. I mean--
I'm not saying it absolutely has to be erotic, but it's not a reach, or even a full extension of the elbow, to read it that way.
There's another meta somewhere [I'll link it when I find it again; if you know this meta, please drop it in comments!] that discusses how this exchange in Job's basement is filmed like an erotic scene.
Like Crowley, we all want to kiss this face.
Aziraphale isn't eating prettily, but he's eating lewdly, ravenously, desirously, and it's lit like romantic sex, not like gluttony. Whether that's funny or poignant or hot may depend on the viewer. Here's how Crowley's handling it:
Srs tho, any frame of this scene could have been painted by Artemisia Gentileschi.
Or maybe--and this is my favorite of the available interpretations--maybe this is what it was like for Crowley the first time and he doesn't interfere because he wants Aziraphale to come out of this as someone who's had the same experience Crowley's had so Crowley won't be so totally alone in having had it.
"when aziraphale asks for help in s3 crowley will refuse him" have you SEEN the show?? have you ever in your life watched good omens?? that mf will JUMP on any opportunity even the smallest one to be close to aziraphale again he would drink gallons of holy water if aziraphale asked him to!! that bitch will be up there in heaven THE MILLISECOND he even think something is wrong don't be ridiculous
it's so funny to me that aziraphale asked crowley if he had been selling any books like my brother in christ he answered the phone saying "we probably don't have what you are looking for and we wouldn't sell it to you if we did". husband is well trained don't worry
This scene proves, doesnât it, that living in the car is Crowleyâs choice. When Aziraphale comes back from Scotland, Crowley shoves the box at him before he gets to the threshold. He gives Aziraphale no option to even say, âwonât it be easier to leave the plants hereâ let alone to propose anything else. Was Crowley, by any chance, actively avoiding a conversation about him living in his car this whole time?
Crowley is absolutely not okay, we know, we know. He is frustrated, he is struggling; he is asking what the point of it all is. Yes, he is fiercely protective of his independence when he says âmy carâ, âthe precious, peaceful, fragile existence I have carved out for myselfââand the same time, he is still not willing to talk. He probably does not even see a way to have important conversations safely; the fear of rejection might still be too much. His instinct remains to run away from trouble. With something as terrifying as vulnerability and openness, he needs Nina and Maggie to tip the scales.
He has the swagger. He acts like he knows whatâs happening, like he has things figured out.
I think weâre just starting to see how much that has not been true.
I think the car thing goes one step deeper than just not being open to a conversation, which is that Crowley living in the car is a symptom of lingering fear.
Itâs a getaway car.
This is established in s1 when Crowley literally tries to load Aziraphale up and, apparently, drive the Bentley to Alpha Centauri. Itâs a very strong symbol of safety for Crowley - he survives the wall of fire on the M25 because he believes the Bentley will carry him through, and he drives it all the way to Tadfield on fire believing beyond the shadow of a doubt that the car will deliver him safely.
S2 shows that Crowleyâs flat is owned by or paid for by Hell and thus heâs had to move out. Fine. Thereâs a suggestion that Crowley is or has been submitting expenses for reimbursement anyway, and Crowley is still capable of doing miracles. Thereâs no real reason at all for him to be living in his car.
But heâs always ready to move. Heâs always ready to go to Aziraphale. When Aziraphale rings him up and says, come here, heâs two minutes away. By living in the Bentley, Crowley is always, always ready to run away.
Presumably the only reason he hasnât yet is because he canât ask Aziraphale to leave the bookshop - both because Aziraphale loves the shop but also because doing so would require the same bravery he finally pulls together in ep6. But heâs ready on a momentâs notice.
In s2e1, Crowley is tense, struggling with what heâs supposed to do now, anxious about what will happen next. Heâs doing regular check-ins with Shax, keeping tabs on what Hell is up to despite his fear of being found out (asking Shax if she thinks Hell knows, Shax responding that Hell wouldnât care anyway). Heâs lingering within a 5 minute radius of the shop. When Aziraphale leaves with the car, he monitors them - he can tell that Aziraphale is going too slow (urging Aziraphale to be faster about going and coming back). And Crowley doesnât officially give in to Aziraphaleâs request to use the car until Muriel arrives - until Heavenâs representative shows up to monitor Aziraphale.
Then Crowley immediately capitulates. Tosses over the keys. Literally minds how they go.
Because Crowley trusts that Aziraphale will be safe in the Bentley. Because Crowley thinks of the Bentley in terms of protection and escape. He grounds himself with Gabriel and Muriel to allow Aziraphale to leave in the safest way possible, away from prying eyes.
Heâs living in the car so he can leave on a momentâs notice. So he can get to Aziraphale on a momentâs notice. He knows theyâre not safe.
Which means that his âofferâ in the Final Fifteenâąïž to stay and just keep on together is just as much of a fantasy as Aziraphaleâs plan to fix Heaven, and they both know it.
Crowley, vulnerability and the fear of being unloveable.
I'm surprised I haven't seen more comments about this scene. Crowley has just dramatically left the bookshop, had a fit of rage that knocked out the electricity in the all neighborhood, and drove away: I fully expected to see him angry and instead heâs tired, sad, vulnerable. I don't see a demon here, or a former angel, or a possible duke of hell, I see someone so desperately human in letting, just for a moment, all defenses down. Maybe itâs because of Jimbriel, as if Aziraphale has put the need of helping his former boss above the two of them. Imagine being in love with someone for so long, being willing to do anything to protect them, and then being told âYouâre at liberty to goâ. Yes, you have the liberty to go and being alone.
As if you were worthless.
This is not what Aziraphale meant, but itâs what Crowley heard.
And all of this come back to haunt Crowley in the last 15 minutes of the show: âcome with me to heavenâ, âYOU are the bad guysâ, but âwe can be together, ANGELSâ. Again, as if Crowley now is worth nothing. âUnloved, and unlovableâ, as Shax said to Maggie, to play on her fears, which can be also Crowleyâs fears. Crowley desperately confesses his feelings to Aziraphale with the heart on his sleeve, but ânothing lasts foreverâ. Of course he has to put the glasses back on, as a defense, as a shield in a moment so devastating. Because itâs the moment when everything collapses, the moment when six thousand years of loneliness start to weigh on all at once. Aziraphale, in Crowleyâs mind at least, rejects the idea of ââbeing just the two of them, and Crowley finds out whatâs mean to be alone, truly alone, after a very long time. As if he was all wrong the whole time, as if Aziraphale wasn't actually the other half of their "us", as if Crowley really was nothing more than "a demon who goes along with hell as far as he can". Which as we well know is just some kind of loneliness.
While crowley was minding the bookshop aziraphale shouldâve entered the store in full disguise to be the worldâs most endearingly obvious mystery shopper testing whether crowley would definitely not sell him any books
@willgrahamscock ohhhh this is how these two idiots flirt isnât it? behind a mask, a ruse. itâd become the most elaborate game of gay chicken and iâm here for it
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