Unlike my previous pieces analysing individual cut scenes based on the available concept arts of never filmed historical minisodes, this post will delve deeper into the original structure of S2 — we’re going to see what other scenes were cut and which set elements were omitted or changed, and therefore what the overarching themes and potentially important parts of the story might be.
The following artworks were published by Louis Ralph, John McCarthy, and Good Omens X-Ray on Amazon Prime, and show early versions of the show’s environments and storylines.
Jon Coffee and Vinyl Fetish
The more detail-oriented viewers are already well aware of the changes in Aziraphale’s neighbourhood that took place between the first and second season of the show, but for the others’ sake, let’s review them again:
As Michael Ralph, production designer for the series, explained in his DVD commentary for episode 4:
“There was a beautiful coffee shop that we built across from the bookshop. We called it ‘Jon Coffee’ after [John Coffey in] The Green Mile ’cause I’ve always loved that. Don’t wanna get sued for that, but I spelled it with a J-O-N, not a J-O-H-N. ’Course, I don’t think anyone’ll ever see that or understand it either – but they might now!”
And according to the official Whickber Street lore:
“Give me Coffee bought Jon Coffee in 2019 and expanded into Honey Sweets in 2021.”
But, interestingly, this change hasn’t happened at the concept art stage yet, as we can see in Louis Ralph’s works below. On the other hand, apart from its name, the record shop hasn’t changed much — we can even see Maggie Service behind the counter.
Michael Ralph’s paraphrase of The Green Mile’s iconic character’s name took on a new, quite literal meaning after being implemented in the S2 iteration of the Soho set. Jon is, after all, a Scandinavian variant of the biblical name John — and based on the labels of various pastries on the counter, we can now additionally pinpoint the owner’s assumed country of origin to Sweden. This might or might not be a hint to one of the intended S3 locations, as the final version of the same coffee shop focuses on America (and New York in particular) instead.
The obvious reference to Saint John the Apostle was strengthened by the amount of notebooks and writing paraphernalia visible in the second picture. Looks like his modern iteration, possibly a prototype of Nina, was supposed to be a writer. Hopefully a bit more present than book Aziraphale’s recollection of the Apostle:
“St. John the Divine of Patmos, whose ‘Revelation’ had been the all-time best seller. Aziraphale had found him a nice chap, if a bit too fond of odd mushrooms.”
The “Give me coffee or give me death” motto might not have been there yet, but the exact same sentiment was already expressed through set design elements like the poster above — just like the clear view on both the record shop as well as the bookshop in each of the photobashes. If you had any doubts about Metatron’s ability to peek into the drama unfolding there during the Final Fifteen before, this should give you some food for thought.
Crowley’s home away from home
The Bentley’s parking spot was originally conceptualised as a sewer tunnel underneath the Westminster Bridge rather than a quaint London side street. It made Crowley’s homelessness more obvious and the unexpected appearances of Shax and Beelzebub much more sinister and invasive. The final in-universe location for these scenes suggested by the skyline superimposed on the Edinburgh set is still close to the river Thames, but on the other side of it — which means even closer to Soho and its resident principality.
Jim’s bedroom and its treasures
Originally seemed much more like Aziraphale’s territory — marked not only by the omnipresent books, but also multiple swords, canes, and other memorabilia scattered around the room, like an antique Chinese incense burner, a Moroccan brass serving dish, and a shell. There’s even a Victorian vanity cabinet with a traditional shaving set (probably another recommendation of Aziraphale’s barber). Since it was eventually filmed in the same part of the bookshop set as Aziraphale and Crowley’s private conversation before the Edinburgh trip, the amount of decorations had to be limited, even if for purely practical reasons.
Whickber Street’s history
The following piece, originally shared by Prime Video X-Ray as a part of the official S2 look book gallery, seems particularly mysterious, since its context hasn’t been revealed yet in any of the official or half-official communications. It’s an interior view of the Dirty Donkey pub from the Victorian times — something that visibly deviates from the already established storylines from this era (i.e., 1859 A Tale of Two Cities bookshop scene tragically cut from S1, the Holy Water Argument of 1862, and the late 1880s gavotte scene at the discreet gentlemen’s club in Portland Place). Needless to say, I’m gnawing at the bars of my enclosure at the very thought of the possibilities here.
Let’s fast-forward a bit to the next ineffable meeting though. The existence of night and day scenes from the same locations might suggest that the original 1941 minisode had initially spanned over more than one day after all, even though the events shown on screen in S2 fit within one evening. This can be seen as a new source of hope for the Blitz (almost-)kiss truthers.
The 1941 concept arts showcase not only Will Goldstone’s Magic Shop, but also other parts of Aziraphale’s neighbourhood. If you look closely at the right side of this picture, you will notice a group of soldiers queuing up in the entryway leading to the exact location of Mrs Sandwich’s shop in the modern day Soho. Who knows, maybe Maggie is not the only one continuing an old family business tradition in the area?
Unlike the above mentioned establishments, the modern day locations of Chinatown’s Lucky Snake grocery shop, Phang’s buffet restaurant, as well as Bilton Scaggs Hats and Caps were out of luck (or, more probably, Aziraphale’s personal sphere of influence) and suffered great damage from the air raids. Protecting the bookshop and its contents must had taken quite a toll on the angel; can’t really imagine any other reason for him to allow this level of destruction and tragedy so close to his home.
True forms
Still on the topic of damage — this time of the emotional sort — let’s take a look at the contrast between Bildad and Aziraphale’s original depictions in ‘A Companion to Owls’ minisode. I have three questions: what in Mad Max AU even is this, what kind of unspeakable things must have happened to our Flood era princess, and why was this piece titled ‘Crowley BC 13’?
While answers to the above questions are still nowhere to be found — just like everyone’s favourite obstetrician slash cobbler — these original concept arts provide some comfort in a series of very biblical, very angelic depictions of Aziraphale. Fingers crossed for a similarly optimistic wing budget and the subsequently big amount of true form screen time in S3!
cannot wait for good omens the finale to air and aziraphale to accidentally radicalize the angels with kindness. Some lower angel brings him paperwork and he says "thank you :)" and theyre immediately ready to throw hands for him. He lends a panicking scrivener a pen and the scrivener is like "i would die for you". He tells a few of them theyre doing a good job and suddenly he has an army who are ready to overthrow Heaven and Hell if he says so.
he doesn't even realize until the metatron finds out about his plans to save the world but is unable to do anything about it, because the second he tries to stop Aziraphale, a horde of lower angels starts beating him up.
Of Snowglobes & Dual-Realities (Did we get TWO canon endings* to choose from?)
*The "Elsewhere" that could heal a divided fandom
Once again, the Good Omens fandom was given a divisive season ending, this one final. But this time, I think we've been shown an actual canon option out of this chaos, slipped in quietly for us. NOT by the authors in the script. It's in the snow globe and the end credit scenes.
I've been wondering about the final moments of this garden scene. It doesn't actually look very "real life" to me... (Yep. I'm back to analyzing again!)
Asa and Anthony were meant to be in "the real world" -- this actual world. But when the camara pulls back from their stargazing, we see an absurd and crowded display of (symbolic?) objects, including a snowglobe (right foreground). It's not a realistic garden scene. I love what the collection seems to represent, but it looks like a shadow box, or a book nook scene, or a room in a dollhouse, crafted with miniatures.
The objects are a little out of proportion with each other, just enough to look strange. (I brightened both light and color for visibility.) They make Asa and Anthony's matching chairs look unnaturally tiny. The effect is surreal. Why make it surreal, when it was emphasized that THIS is the "real world"? Because someone is telling us - maybe it's NOT.
The snow globe represents an "Elsewhere", originating from the 1988 finale for the television show St. Elsewhere. All 6 seasons turned out to be a child's imagination, looking at a snow globe. (Sir Terry Pratchett used the term as a location in Discworld, but I leave that analysis to the experts!) I've seen speculations about the GO snow globe, some good, some worried, some creating a fix-it alternative ending with Aziraphale and Crowley inside the snow globe bookshop completing their own Book of Life.
But I have another idea... And it was given in the ending itself.
What if the snow globe was placed there to indicate that THIS particular world version -- the oh-so-different SoHo and world erasure, etc., of GO3 -- might actually be the "Elsewhere"? That this entire GO3 World and new universe is in its own snow globe. Meanwhile, the universe we see in the end credits, events and places and realities from S1 & S2, is still out there alive and well and REAL.
Remember, everything erased from the Book of Life is gone forever, as if it NEVER EXISTED AT ALL. So then, why does Gabriel's statue still exist in the Edinburgh churchyard, with crosses as religious symbols when there was never a Crucified Jesus-as-Savior? Plus, that "planet" in the upper right is the S2 credits scene with elevators going up and down from Heaven to Earth! (Hell and it's spiders exist, too, on the 1st "planet"!)
We race through the universe that's beyond Asa & Anthony's garden, with more impossible moments recalling the adventures of our own Aziraphale and Crowley, until finally It ends, as it began, in a Garden.
The Garden of Eden, in fact. The one from a universe that supposedly NEVER EXISTED, yet somehow still exists, with OUR Ineffables dining and toasting To the World!
Two endings. One in Asa & Anthony's garden, one with Our Ineffables at their Ritz table in Eden. Which means we actually have a choose-your-own-ending situation here...
Maybe this was part of the plan, a direct intention of the total storytelling. (Can you hear the doubt in my voice?) Or maybe someone added it there to give us another option. A choice, rather than a conflict. We don't need to be a split fandom, as if we're on opposite sides.
I believe we can heal. We're on the same side...
I think the dual-realities we're being shown can both be valid. If you loved the ending told in the story itself, with Asa and Anthony, please bear with me a moment as I (gently and calmly) explain why I think the second ending also exists.
The GO3 scriptwriting team, NG & company, went for a dark ending of a universe erased, with Crowley and Aziraphale themselves gone. But many experts on Sir Terry insist that it's not the ending he would have written. After all, in the Good Omens novel, Sir Terry made certain that no one stayed dead. The air base soldier, the delivery man, all are shown to return, alive and well. And everyone else (even Warlock and the forgotten 3rd baby, Greasy Johnson) gets some sort of happy ending that gives them more control of their life.
We learned a few things in this post (shared by @depraveddame, with a reblogged essay about Sir Terry's philosophies by @turquoisedata). Sir Terry Pratchett is listed in the GO3 credits as co-creating the original characters, but not for contributing to the GO3 story itself -- even though we were repeatedly told it was his idea. Someone posted that was odd, and Rob Wilkins gave that post a like. (If you check out that post, TW for language and anti-go3)
I think we were given Two Endings. A choice. (I don't credit the screenwriters with this!). I think the fix-it got squeezed in there for us, straight from Good Omens HQ, courtesy of Rob Wilkins and Peter Anderson Studios.
We get to choose our own destiny, without guilt or angst.
The script tells us that the Good Omens Universe was erased, and the world of Asa & Anthony remains. The snow globe and end credits imagery tell us that Our World -- the world of Aziraphale & Crowley, of hope and choice and magic and love-overcoming-trauma and of not-giving-up and of an Ineffable Bond -- still exists.
Maybe you'll think I'm trying too hard to resolve this. Maybe you've already decided. But i hope you'll consider the possibility.
Does the story end with love and happiness for Asa and Anthony? Are the end credits racing through space and time to show us forms of Asa and Anthony reborn throughout the multiverse, always finding each other again and again? Or is it showing us that Crowley and Aziraphale and everything they loved and endured was not dissolved into non-existance, that GO3 was an Elsewhere and that Our Ineffables and their peopled world, Our World, is still there, with its history and miracles and meaning and hope?
Two choices. One fandom. Everyone united in love for Our Ineffables.
To Our World! 🥂✨
*****
I wrote another alternative -- both ideas formed at the same time. This one helps justify the other. It's written in story form instead of my usual analysis format. It's called Crowley's Nightmare, on my AO3 and also here as a Tumblr post.
