Why I Love Good Omens, part 1
This isn't anything new or groundbreaking, but I haven't seen it talked about as much as it deserves, so here's my two cents. There is a whole dictionary of reasons why I love this adaptation, and some of them are small little moments of appreciation for the craftsmanship, and some of them are big in the way that takes life inside of you and changes you in some way. This is one of the latter: the way it was written, shot, acted, scored, etc, Good Omens is so very kind.
There's this trend in TV and movies that I've observed steadily increasing for, oh, a decade or so now. I've been calling it "Everyone's an Asshole." It's where, in an attempt to make the characters more flawed or human or realistic, the showrunners go too far, the flaws stack up too high, and you have an entire cast of characters who are just plain unlikeable: everyone's an asshole. And when EAA strikes, there's no one to really root for, and the enjoyment of the show... evaporates. I've been really disappointed in the last few years especially with new shows I had high hopes for not delivering a single protagonist I could get behind.
Just to be clear, I'm not talking about wanting nothing but precious cinnamon rolls. I'm talking about nuance, and complex characters who nevertheless exhibit, at their heart, some goodness and compassion (and not just occasionally, when pressed, but regularly, as a defining trait).
Good Omens is different. Yes, some of the characters are assholes (you do need some), and yes, all of the characters have flaws, but there are reasons for those flaws, rooted in solid backstory (ie, they aren't arbitrary, assigned just to add a bit of edginess). Ultimately the message is one of love saving the world (literally, in Adam's case), and each of the protags embodies that in some way: Adam realises he'd rather save the world and keep his friends than end it; Aziraphale learns to trust his feelings for Crowley instead of fearing them; and so on. It's hopeful. It demonstrates the idea, again and again, that the world is worth saving, that people are deserving of love, that we can choose to make things better.
Right now, in the world, this is a message that we're not hearing from people in power, and that context is important. You get phenomena like EAA on TV because it's happening in real life -- art reflects society, and all that. To a lot of us these days, the world at large can feel awfully cold and hard and frankly terrifying. In the center of all that ugliness, Good Omens is like a beacon of warmth, saying, hey, actually, it doesn't have to be like that. Be kinder, show empathy, choose better. Honestly I believe this is the call to action of our times, and Good Omens conveys this message so softly, so lovingly, that I can feel my fear and anxiety being replaced by a kind of compassionate determination that I don't think I'd have arrived at by myself. I don't think I'm the only one.
