Its just...maybe I was naive, maybe I should have known better, but I didn't know how much I needed the finale to be okay.
like, not even great, not even good, but just okay, just safe, sad that it was over but happy that it happened, a closed book with a happy if mediocre ending.
and then it wasn't, and it knocked me entirely off kilter, and the worst part was it completely blindsided me, it wasn't just mediocre, or rushed, or boring, or disappointing.
It was all of those things and also tragic. It made me sad.
and the thing is...before that, I never could have imagined that Good Omens would make me sad, would have me break down in tears inconsolable days afterwards, it never even occurred to me as a possibility.
It was one of the few things I had that kept me safe inside my own mind, it was a talisman against sadness, it was where I walked when I needed sanctuary, and now it feels like there is a giant pit in the middle of my former haven that I have to worry about falling into and being trapped.
because Good Omens made me a promise, as a viewer and a reader 7 years ago, that the world is saved because it is worth saving, that everybody lives, everybody, even telemarketers.
That Anti-Christ's grow up with their best friends in their Kingdom of Tadfield because that's enough of the world for them, that Witches fall in love with Witchfinders, that Prophetesses make their own destiny, that Death and all his friends will ride motorbikes to the end, but not today, no not today.
Due in very small part, really just moral support, of a Demon and an Angel who wanted to stay, just a little bit longer, maybe another 6000 years, go for a picnic, dine at the Ritz.
That promise was broken, if this is the legacy that they want to give Sir Terry Pratchett I would say its as bad as spitting on his grave.
And what if I never needed their souls to be 'intertwined by fate'? What if all that I needed is for them to love each other because they have known and understood and shaped each other for so long? And what if I never cared about them āfinding each other in every universe?ā What if all that I wanted is for them, in this universe where the odds were so stacked against them, to choose each other?
How could they fuck up absolutely everything?! The charactersā personalities, their motivations, the core themes that Good Omens is built on, the atmosphere, and even fan expectations (and they called this finale a āgift for fansā. I wouldnāt even bring up fan expectations if it hadnāt been promoted that way). They messed up absolutely everything. That genuinely takes talent, no other way to put it.
So just to recap: after MULTIPLE teasers emphasizing the romantic arc of Aziraphale and Crowley and a summary by Muriel showing The Kiss (tm), as well as Prime posting kissing art between the Ineffables, we got:
No second kiss
No I love you
No confession
No 1941 pt 3
No happy ending
No protective husbands
No wing shielding
No hug
No powerful shared miracles
No explanation for az's weird S2 F15 behavior
No acknowledgement of the kiss
No picnic
No Ritz
No surviving main characters
No CATHARSIS
Monkey's paw cottage
Did I miss anything?
There are two things I want to emphasize. 1) They KNEW what we wanted, because that's evident in how they advertised the show. 2) Not giving us ANY of it HAS to be intentional. They had to actually work to not allow the Aziraphale and Crowley arc to resolve satisfactorily. It would have been the most natural thing in the world, and it was actively prevented from happening.
Some people say the only way this could have ended was in tragedy and thatās just absurd. This is a comedy. The apocalypse is a backdrop for hijinks. Plenty of people have come up with their own happy endings without any issues.
I call bullshit that when given a room full of books to be used as the book of life that Aziraphaleās and Crowleyās first thought is to summon mommy when they could just write the world back in themselves.
I call bullshit that when given the opportunity to ask for any type of world they want that they lack the imagination to bring back the old one just without heaven, hell, and the apocalypse having power over humanity or celestial beings from that day forward.
I call bullshit that they would ever choose to destroy each other.
They had every option. The story felt rail roaded.
They should have solved this wholeĀ Armageddon 2 and heaven/hell storyline within the first 10 minutes (was anybody really interested in that plot?) and used the rest of the 90 minutes to reunite our favourite couple, let them talk about their feelings, make up, kiss and finally be happy.
AND THEN I WANTED A SPIN-OFF WITH AT LEAST AS MANY SEASONS AS SUPERNATURAL:
AZIRAPHALE AND CROWLEY IN THE SOUTH DOWNS.
(With plenty of silliness, shenanigans, banter and love)
CW and TW: discussions and mentions of Neil Gaiman.
Ok, itās been a minute since my first post which basically gives a run down on my emotional state, my emotional reaction, and just a lot of deep seated feelings. I did promise I would talk a little bit more about contextual issues and todayās post is going to be devoted to the writing of the finale.
Again because this is going to be yet another critical take, I understand those of you out there who either enjoyed the finale and donāt want to see anything negative or even if you hated it but donāt want to be exposed to any further negativity may not want to read this. So I will put my thoughts under the cut.
Again, I ask that people do not argue or send hurtful or derogatory messages to each other or anyone involved in the cast and crew*
*Iād give a caveat to the writers but in the end, donāt even send them hate messages. Theyāre not worth your time or effort.
This is a bit of a long one, so buckle in!
Post 2. The writing
I know Iām probably not going to say anything that hasnāt already been said. There has been so many great takes about the incomprehensible writing and I donāt know if I will do them justice but I will give it my best go.
Firstly, weāre going to get the elephant in room out of the way first. Everything we saw on that screen was Neil Gaiman. Plain and simple. Perhaps I had been incredibly naive in thinking that when he was removed from production the new script writers brought in were going to use the skeleton of his story beats and re-write the finale from scratch. I mean, if thousands of fandom fic writers can do it, why canāt published authors? But when you look at the timeline of events, the decision to bring on new writers and the length of time before filming started (whilst pre production had already commenced), the only thing that could have happened was a gutting and condensing of the script.
This was made abundantly clear in the cryptic crossword scene when Aziraphale says the word pedometer, a moment that punched me in the gut, because NG had given that inclusion fact long ago. You can go to this previous post of mine for further context about that.
NG has always had a nihilistic structure to his stories. His charactersā āhappy endingsā come at great personal cost or sacrifice, or through incredible hardship or heartache. Read Neverwhere, read American God, read Ocean at the end of the Lane, or Sandman (or actually donāt, but you get my point). Protagonists who go through awful tumultuous times before coming out the other end, sometimes unscathed, sometimes worse for ware, sometimes dead. So the way the finale ended set my sights directly on NG to blame.
What is the most galling is, Iām convinced this was ALWAYS how he intended to end it. He spoke many times prior to the allegations coming out how he had completed episodes 3-4 was finishing drafting episode 5 and the end of episode 6 was written. You can clearly see the outlines of the episodes where the story was cut away for time, and then where the plot completely falls apart when everyone is erased which in my opinion, clearly shows where he stopped writing. Plot threads are woven and then completely dropped, and itās obvious to me how the writers just couldnāt be bother figuring out how to tie them off properly.
Jesus
What on earth was the point of Jesus, except to be a plot device? A reason to get Aziraphale out of Heaven and to work with Crowley. His actions and story arc went no where and affected nothing. Wouldnāt it have made more sense to have him appear in the bookshop in the end? Solve the problem of the destroyed universe? Face God himself? Bring the find the lady card game full circle? Be the literal counterpoint to Adam and his arc in S1? On the topic of Jesus, he mentions his disciples and his mother (Mary) and Aziraphale just sadly says itās been a long time. WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?! Theyāre in Heaven, WHERE ARE THE DEAD HUMANS?! Iāve pointed this out before about how Heaven looks suspiciously empty so where do all the humans go? Looks like weāll never know the answer.
Michael
Michaelās set up as the bad guy was obvious from the start, but why not include a set up to her feelings of being under appreciated? Actually give her motivation for feeling like she has to do everything and get no reward. Maybe a scene of Aziraphale telling her to do a bunch of stuff. Instead what we get is āOh those silly women and their emotions.ā Honestly, not surprising to have such a one dimensional character arc from the man who we now know has no respect for women.
The Metatron and the FF
So, The Metatronās setup in S2 always seemed like there was something far more nefarious going on. The music queues, the menacing look he gives Crowley, the furtive and anxious looks Aziraphale has. Now, we just have to accept everything in that scene was at face value. He really was offering Aziraphale a job. He legitimately thought Aziraphale was the best. There was no secret threat to Crowley. And Aziraphale did just want to go back to Heaven to make a difference (remember it had nothing to do with the second coming because he finds that out in front of the elevator). There is also the small mention that The Metatron was tampering with the Book of Life. Again, probably something cut for time, but had the potential for something far more meaningful. His story arc instead is meaningless and becomes just part of the plot line to create a mystery. Also, when you think about it, nothing in S2 was necessary to get us to S3. Except maybe to explain why Gabriel wasnāt there, and to have a reason that Crowley is angry and Aziraphale is in heaven. So why on earth bother with S2? *cough NG cash grab cough*.
Crowley having no miracles
What was the point other than the side quest to get the Bentley back. Which frankly was fun and the best part of the finale in my opinion. But when it didnāt matter at all to the plot it could have just been cut and more spent given to Aziraphale and Crowley just reuniting in a better and more fulfilling way. Crowley without miracles doesnāt seem to matter or be resolved in the end, considering the Bentley still got to space and Crowley still got them to the bookshop using the burning book of life page.
Did the writers even watch S2? Or S1 for that matter? Or even read the book?
When I first heard who the writers were I did a bit of a deep dive into their writing credits and history. When fantasy horror was all that came up and no proof at all that they were a fan or even spoke of Pratchettās work, alarm bells started ringing. But I didnāt want to bring everyoneās moods down as a lot of angst around whether the finale would be any good was being thrown around at the time. So I kept my fears to myself.
But when the writers seemed to miss key elements of what made S1 and parts of S2 great and special (companion of owls and the resurrectionists specifically) it honestly felt like they didnāt bother to do any research at all. For example:
Adam is convinced in the end of S1 that the world is worth fighting for. That he doesnāt need to make it new even though the voices keep telling him. That itās up to the humans to make it right. So how can you reconcile that with Crowley saying we need to just start again? It makes no sense.
Crowley drunkenly berates Wee Morag for wanting to commit suicide āNo dying. No more dying. No trying to kill yourself, itās wrong!ā So why the FUCK does he decide complete annihilation is the answer?!
The entire Job minisode is devoted to explaining why Job and Sitis donāt want new children, they want their own children because they love them. Why on earth would the writers think Human Crowley and Aziraphale would be at all satisfying?
And for that matter, the entire S2 storyline with Jimbriel tells us that Jim is not Gabriel because he doesnāt have his memories and experiences. So how can you expect the fandom to accept Anthony and Asa are just a reincarnated versions of Crowley and Aziraphale when the lore you set up in your own show contradicts otherwise!
Plot lines that were added which makes no sense:
In the great war prologue Aziraphale is seen as this great general and leader. A master strategist. Why not have anything to do with him being a great strategist included in the rest of the plot then? Why do the angels later think him an incompetent idiot when they had so much praise for him (which has been established since S1)? Where did he lose their faith and gain such distain? Are we supposed to infer it is merely from being on earth?
Also was this Great War scene just a way to establish why Crowley doesnāt fear to approach Aziraphale on the Wall of Eden in S1? Because Aziraphale was kind to him and therefore he can trust him? You know we didnāt need that right?
Crowleyās knowledge of the book of life. How does Crowley go from āthat was just a story to scare the cherubsā to ātampering with it sends you crazyā and ācanāt be destroyed, itās too well madeā. How does KNOW all of this?
Why didnāt Michael just erase Aziraphale from the book of life to begin with? (Pitch Meeting Guy voice: so the movie can happen!)
Missed opportunities:
Aziraphale seemed to be in over his head in Heaven, it seemed like Sandalphon was about to start some kind of coup. So why did Michael not work with him? Why erase him? Did she just want to get the competition out of the way first? Why bring Sandalphon back at all when again he served no purpose to the story, except to be erased.
As much as I love Crowleyās heaven outfit (I will get down on my knees and worship that outfit), there was no reason for him to be dressed like that. He wasnāt in disguise, Saraqael saw him immediately and objected to his presence. Crowley also is still supposed to be without miracles at this point, so itās implied itās all Aziraphale. So damn well focus on that! Put some quick banter in there, maybe about how tight Crowleyās trousers are and Aziraphale just raises his eyebrows and turns away to smirk (perhaps it was lost to the cutting room floor, but I needed flirting and closeness between them, and these sacrificed moments were too much to lose).
Give us more of Asa and Anthony if you wanted us to care about them. A montage of dates, kissing in the rain, seeing one of them propose, sitting in a park having a picnic, a brief glimpse of their wedding day, dancing in the living room of their cottage, sweet soft moments of affection. Something! A 30 second montage would have been all that we needed. Instead weāre left with a semi platonic hand hold and some lovely music. I get that that is sweet and wonderful, but as I said in my previous post, the fandom has been fucking reeling for almost 3 years. We needed healing and proper visible on screen queer representation. This would have helped sway the anger and disappointment!
Character Assassinations:
Aziraphale. Just, everything. Leaving Crowley in the ally. Not actually apologising. That whole āyouāre the best angelā bit (god damn it accept him for the demon his is you maniac!) I rest my case. I donāt enjoy at all how he was written this season, and it just shows the writers had no clue how to fix that or understand who he was a character.
Circling back to NG
When he was on Tumblr, NG would try to convince us constantly that there was going to be a happy ending.
The post where someone asked why and he said the answer was Love. The post where he was asked what his favourite line from S2 was and he answered the invisible line that connects Crowley and Aziraphale. That the ending was set and was what Terry wanted. The years of speaking about a cottage where Crowley and Aziraphale were retired. Telling us to trust the process. He said this for a year after S2 before he abandoned social media. Rachel Talalay said it in her Blueksy post there was never any kiss scripted for the finale. NG always intended to never resolve the heartbreak of S2. For S3 he sets up Crowley as broken, depressed, sick of life, and then has Crowley suggest at the end to just accept the end of the universe. Start again, make it new, but not with him in it. And weāre meant to accept this as somehow noble? What kind of a fucking message is that?! NG always saw himself in Crowley and I think this incredibly broken man is frankly telling on himself here. And he used our comfort show to do it. I still canāt get over how incredibly angry I am with this man. For everything he did to those women and everything he did to this fandom.
This season was full of plotholes, contradictions, and non-sensical out of character actions, and they cannot all be blamed on the cutting down of 6 hours to 98 minutes, but can be laid at the feet of a broken man who sadistically took pleasure in the pain and suffering in others.
And the most upsetting thing of all is the inability of fandom to now continue writing in canon universe stories for Crowley and Aziraphale. They are dead and gone, unless we can think of a way to bring them back. What point is there to write of Asa and Anthony when there was already thousands of human AU stories out there. And also we know so little of their characters and how they lived in this world that itās hard to write anything for them (full props to all the fanfic writers out there who have managed it so far. Please donāt let me discourage you).
I think this is why Iāve struggled to continue writing my WIPs, even though I am getting there, but it worries me that people will see this end as a way to just stop participating in the fandom. And I canāt help but feel that maybe NG was playing a long game with us all along, that this was his endgame. He initially hated the shipping of Crowley and Aziraphale and then years later leaned into it when it meant financial gain. And now that he canāt have these characters anymore, neither can anyone else.
I realise that this is quite a dark and heartbreaking conclusion to end on. So I will say to everyone out there, keep creating, keep writing, keep making art, keep making friends in this wonderful fandom. You donāt need to take anything in S2 or S3 seriously if you donāt want to. You donāt need to accept it as canon if you donāt want to.
If you got this far, thank you for reading. My next post will be more positive about the things that I did like and love about the finale. So stay tuned.
Two weeks... It's been 2 fucking weeks and I'm still so pissed!
I still can't believe what they did. What a load of bullshit!
I've resolved to take go3 as fanfic, a very bad fanfic. It's not canon for me. But when sometimes I remember that they just killed aziraphale and crowley, along with the whole universe I just get sick to my stomach. A physical reaction.
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WERE THEY THINKING?
It baffles me that there're people in the fandom who think it's a happy ending.
Itās been almost two weeks since I watched good omens 3 and my heart was shattered beyond repair. Now that everyone and their grandma have already written their own things itās my turn. I need to get it out of my chest.
I hate go3. I hate it with a passion. Iām utterly disappointed by this finale to the wonderful story that is good omens. There are so many things wrong with this film that Iām just scratching the surface. But letās start with the ending.
The thing that grates me the most is that supposedly they sacrificed themselves to get humanity free will, authentic free will, without heaven or hell to interfere. But here is the thing:Ā
Humans already had free will. Aziraphale even tells so to the ābad angelsā that went looking for him in s1.Ā
The influence hell and heaven had over the humans was very little, and Crowley knew that better than anyone. That was the reason behind the Arrangement, they were canceling each other out so their influence over humanity was more or less the same as if they did nothing. Crowley even stated that humans were way better than any demon at doing and thinking horrible things to do to one another.
So why, WHY in hell, heaven, earth or alpha centauri would Crowley want to erase himself from existence, even more, delete Aziraphale from ever having existed, for something humanity already had (free will) and something he knew was almost non-existent (hell and heavenās influence on humans)? The answer is I don't know. To spite us (the fandom)? To aling with the tragedy that must always taint queer love? To give the appeareance of having a deeper sense (without having any)? To make it as different as possible from the original ending that fucking NG couldn't sue for copyright (btw fuck NG)? I fucking don't know. It makes no sense.
You could argue that angels and demons had no free will, that they were absolutely subjugated by heaven or hell and Crowley was trying to spare them by sacrificing the whole universe (as if he would do anything for any of that lot). But that is not true either because angels and demons had free will. Aziraphale (angel) gave away the flaming sword and then lied to god about it. Crowley (demon) didnāt comply with his orders to kill Jobās goats and kids. They were, almost from the beginning, going along with heaven and hell as long as they could, but staying on their own side. That is free will, they made their own decisions despite possible consequences. Always. And youāll say ābut they are special. Thatās why they had free will, but not the other demons and angels.ā Ok, remember Gabriel and Beelzebub falling in love, agreeing to avoid any other Armageddons, and ultimately leaving together no one knows where? Free will. Remember Michael deciding that the universe needed ending, stealing the book of life, going on a rampage killing metatron, the archangels and finally the whole of creation? Free will.
So, sacrificing themselves was completely unnecessary, according to the reasons they gave. That was so OOC that I was feeling like I was watching other characters cosplaying Aziraphale and Crowley.
And now that weāre on about that free will business. Having a brand new, squicky clean universe without heaven or hell, angels or demons to influence it, so that humans can truly have free will is great on the surface*. But, BUT having those same humans obligated to find each other and fall in love time after time, in every time line, in every generation, in every universe, come what may, doesnāt sound very free-willy to me. It sounds like predestination, fate. And guess what: that is not free will, my friend.Ā
*not to say anything about needing god (GOD!!!) to start the whole thing again. Come on!
If you've gotten this far, here, have a bildad and smile!
Thereās so much more that I want to say. Iām doing this as therapy, to get it all out and start healing, so Iāll keep posting stuff.
The ending was complete shit- but even if you liked it, hereās the facts:
They had 90 minutes. NINETY. MINUTES.
Wasted 2/3rds of it playing the most obvious whodunnit of all time, watching Jesus meander around uselessly, and bringing in some mafia group. And Aziraphale and Crowley, who should be at the center, hardly get to actually communicate, and pretty much never actually talk about their relationship. It was an agregious waste of time.
If they wanted to pull some meta shit, they should have given us a season to do it well. They had the option of doing a full season and chose not to, and the consequence of that is that you donāt get to write all of the convoluted crap you want. 10 minutes before the end of an hour and a half movie that had essentially zero constructive narrative is not the time to be pulling out world upending, genre changing, fandom rending controversial choices out of your ass.
(Especially when a quick google search could have informed anyone that 98% of the fandom agreed beforehand that getting some Human AU when you signed up for immortal shenanigans SUCKS. And on top of that they actually destroyed the entire universe and the main couple.)
The point being- if you are going to just have 90 minutes then you donāt waste that time and then pull twists out of nowhere so you can pretend to be āprofoundā when neither the fans nor narrative demanded it up until they wrote some impulsive disaster at the very end.
You donāt start yanking on threads for fun, you wrap up the loose ends to make the fans happy and call it a day. 90 wasted minutes of answering none of the questions anyone had, not communicating, being overall rather out of character, and splitting screen time like they had time to give. You lost the chance to write story warping crap when you exchanged 6 hours for and a half.
All they had to do was sit them down at the ritz for dinner and everyone wouldāve walked away fine- especially since they didnāt even bother to answer the questions we had beforehand like why the hell Crowley is so goddamned overpowered and what happened in the fall.
It was just generally poorly written. They set the Metatron up as someone who seemed malicious and then killed him ten seconds in. They started the concept of the second coming and then ditched it halfway through to start tearing chunks out of the universe. We sat and watched Jesus dawdle around the entire time to culminate in handing out pizza, and the mafia come out of nowhere to swallow up the first half and then leave. They had Aziraphale show up and get reprimanded for leaving by Mrs.Sandwhich and Crowley, only for them to pretty much passively avoid talking about anything by demanding forgiveness and then brushing off all the emotional baggage they had up until there was no time left to deal with it. All those talks of āUsā and āto the Worldā in previous seasons, and thereās essentially Zero closure from the characters who have been slow burning since the dawn of creation.
Say all you want about their long life together being fun, and āwhat ifsā, and āthey find each other in every lifetimeā and blah blah- but sometimes people deserve to have the script actually address things and say them directly to each other and for the audience. It also sure as hell doesnāt help the transition that they had no clue they were gonna be reincarnated so they didnāt even get to toss out an āIāll find youā or something to soften the blow- they just DIED with zero resolution and we are expected to hinge our hopes and dreams on two strangers with bad haircuts that the audience has zero attachment to in a completely different universe. They didnāt consider how to even make this an effectively impactful ending, emotionally or logistically.
The first half reads like they were trying to obligatorily continue season 2, but the second half is disjointed and feels aimed at picking a new direction 180, and shutting everything down. HARD.
What I personally think the actual truth is, is that they intentionally wrote a way to end the universe (despite the fact that doing so contradicts pretty much every afore established ethical discussion driven by the series regarding the loss of life, replacing people, humans defying destiny, and free will, and is generally all around pretty out of character ), because they didnāt want to be bothered again. If you leave no open end, and a divisive fanbase, they donāt ask you for more. And thatās what I think this disaster really was: the response for having the audacity to ask for an answer to the cliff hanger they left us on in season 2, when all Amazon wants is to stop associating with Neil Gaimon.
I think itās a hack job, and itās a slap in the face to fans.
Most will actively hate it for upending all the world building and forcing them to suddenly grieve characters theyāve followed for decades at the last minute with absolutely Zero tact- but those that do enjoy the ending should be upset that it wasnāt written better. The set up could have been better, they didnāt make a choice to find each other, and They didnāt even do a montage of them finding each other in various lifetimes through history, people are just hinging their hopes and dreams on the song ātime after time.ā And the reasoning behind the whole thing was beyond contrived.
Also, why does starting a new universe without heaven and hell mean they canāt exist as themselves as the sole immortals or just have their memories up until that point- sheās GOD, she can do whatever the fuck she wants and the story uses that to make a ridiculous contingency instead. They also literally had the ability to rewrite life in their hands and didnāt make any use of it. Why not have God just show up if you arenāt gonna do anything with the books? Sheās God, sheās been watching, you didnāt need to manifest her, and I donāt know why you would want to.
So yeah, the ending was crap, objectively, simply because it was handled with all the grace and care of a bull in a china shop.
The fact they blatantly disregarded what the obvious emotional outcome of its massive die hard queer fanbase would be is just the cherry on top. The fans are loud and post constant content, itās not hard to figure out most people just wanted them to wear silly outfits through time, TALK about their feelings, and play āa nightingale sang in Berkeley Squareā the end. There were six dozen ways they couldāve handled Heaven and Hell and leave the two alone on Earth, and they went with āletās not handle it at all, the only way to solve things is extinction.ā Nobody in their right mind would have wanted them to forget a millennia and over six thousand years of love for each other, that was on no oneās bucket list or radar going into this.
I think itās fucking intentional, and I think they were sneaky enough about it that instead of being collectively pissed they gave us half written slop we are arguing over whether or not the ending is satisfying- and the answer should be āNO!ā either way, because there was about 10% consideration put into it from the second they said they were giving us a pathetic 90 minutes instead of a whole season, and then they wasted the majority of that time doing nothing constructive.
Itās just so disrespectful to the fans, who supposedly this was supposed to be for, and the legacy of this series. And it sucks doubly because I know David Tennant and Michael Sheen really put their all into it- and really, I think they deserved better to work with and a resolution to the characters they brought to life. Love everything they did, but I just canāt be happy with the movie at all.
Despite the fact that Gaiman didn't write the final script, it was based on 6 finished scripts he wrote, so it feels safe to assume the core ending was his idea. Former fans of his writing said the ending's nihilism felt like something he'd do. Various facts such as director Rachel Talalay saying there was no kiss in the script and she was told she couldnāt add one, Gaiman basically saying post-s2 about the kiss that he wanted a way to give fans what they wanted without giving them what they wanted, and David Tennant telling fans at a convention back in 2024 that the ending might not be what fans wanted, indicate that Gaiman never intended to give Aziraphale and Crowley the happy, romantic ending he chose to set up.Ā
The question is: why would a writer do this? In response to shippers back with the first season in 2019, Gaiman couldāve simply said, āI understand fans feel very passionately about their relationship, but Terry and I didnāt write it that way and I donāt want to rewrite their dynamic without him here.ā But he didnāt do that. He played a fool by twisting himself into knots to say he wrote them secretly holding hands and would comment on fan posts āconfirmingā their headcanons, and then went out of his way to textually change the dynamic with an explicitly romantic kiss at the end of s2, but evidently, had zero intention to make them do it again, perhaps not despite fans wanting it, but due to fans clammoring for it. But let's emphasize this: no one made him do this! He could have capitalized on fan excitement and shipper feels, written two more seasons full of subtext, and never changed the nature of their relationship. The finaleās human marriage is cute, but he must have known it was not what fans wanted with the cottage. The lack of kiss and verbal love confession, along with him killing the audience's version of the characters, feel deliberate. You have to go out of your way to squander the s2 cliffhanger and not make them kiss again, kill the version of the characters everyone loved, and screw with the cottage ending
I saw great tags about this on a post that had reblogs disabled, so I assume the OP doesn't want attention and I won't mention their url here. But they were right: Neil Gaiman simply lied to the fandom. He lied about Good Omens always having been a love story, he lied about bringing Aziraphale and Crowley together romantically being Terry Pratchett's dying wish, and he lied about fans' headcanons being true. Obligatory disclaimer: what he did in real life to women is on a different level and cannot be compared to writing choices, but this lying is not unrelated to his sinister side. He was manipulative and calculated towards his fan base (and the tumblr fan base primarily consisted of women), and knew exactly what he was doing. He got off on fans worshipping him and seeking his validation, but had enough disdain for them to openly say he didn't want to give them what they wanted even though he knew how much it meant to them. Writers aren't obligated to give fans what they want, but again: he went out of his way to pander to fans at the end of s2. You can't do that, hang around fans on tumblr to drink up their praise, and turn around and say "nah, fuck the fans" after that, unless you're actually an asshole who enjoys toying with people. I don't believe he intentionally made the ending badāI think he's enough of a hack that he thought the retcon would be a good plot twistābut I do think he intentionally fucked with fans when he rewrote the premise of the cottage and didnāt make them kiss. Canāt you picture a real-life abuser wanting to mindfuck a bunch of women, especially when he did literally abuse some fans? Keep in mind this is the same guy who wrote a gomens movie script in the 90s out of spite, too
You know, there are some YouTube video essays talking about other showrunners being shitty towards their fan base, and a lot of those have little actual evidence. This, however, should be a case study in a creator who hung around tumblr way too much to soak in fan worship turning around to spite them. I donāt think people who never saw his weird behavior on tumblr truly get it. I did not know Gaiman was secretly a violent man, of course, but I did see him as a liar who had a big ego and loved attention from fans to a creepy degree way back in 2019; when he made them kiss in 2023, I thought his desire for fan worship outweighed his obvious discomfort with fans reading Aziraphale and Crowley as gay, but it really should not be surprising that he did not intend to give these characters the kind of happy ending the fans wanted, because he never wanted it and he clearly resented fans who said the "representation" in s1 wasn't enough. But like I said: no one forced him to write the characters kissing! This was so deliberate and feels so malicious.
This is exactly what I wanted to see in the finale. The film was completely devoid of any emotion. They deserved at least an embrace. A desperate, long-awaited one, full of love, the desire to protect, and to love foreverā¦ Perhaps with tears, but tears of relief, as well as the longing from a long separation...
Okay, I tried. I tried to look at it positively. Yes, the last scene was beautiful. Hearing Crowley say that he has everything he ever wanted and that he is finally happy and content. Seeing them married and in the South Downs.
But then I remember that this isnāt the Crowley or the Aziraphale Iāve come to love over the past few years. The ones I love are gone.
Under the circumstances, I had expected plot holes, a rushed storyline, and unanswered questions (e.g., why it suddenly no longer mattered that they could perform super power miracles together, why the Metatron was so relieved that Aziraphale went with him, why they, of all people, survived Michaelās act of destructionā¦). But I had hoped for something wittier, more interesting, FUNNIER, and cleverer, just like in Seasons 1 and 2. Not a boring story involving the Book of Life. And not a complete departure from the message of the first season (as others here have already explained). Instead, they wiped out my favorite characters in a plot that is so unnecessary and unimaginative. I can live without a kiss, but not with the fact that theyāve basically disappeared and been replaced by a human copy who will only live for a few years. (One of the charms of this love storyāat least for meāwas its supernatural nature. There are enough human love stories.)
The plot of Season 3 isn't going to win the Nobel Prize in Literature anywayāso why not give us a truly happy and satisfying ending (just like so many fanfiction writers have done)? Is there some law that forbids making longtime fans happy in the series finale?
Yes, I see. Theyāve tried to give the fans somethingāa few familiar tropes, like the story of them finding each other in every universe, getting married, the South Downs, and the creation of our universe out of loveāand I envy those of you who find that comforting, because to me it still feels superficial. Theyāre only allowed to live together for a few years and donāt remember a thing.
The worst part is: Every time I see pictures of them now, read something about them (even fanfiction), or rewatch something from Season 1 or Season 2, I canāt help but think of the scene where they say goodbye and fade away. It breaks my heart. I donāt know if Iāll ever be able to rewatch GO again, because Iāll be thinking the whole time: everything here will be erased, every character I love will be gone. I feel kind of empty right now, like Iāve lost someone dear to me. My go-to comfort zone, my safe space, has vanished. Well, but Iām an adult with a life, and nobody around me will understand that Iām heartbroken over the loss of two fictional characters. Iāll feel betterāit helps to read that others here feel the sameābut my joy for this series is gone.
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