#tealmeta

[naturallyteal]

The Smile

[Good Omens meta]

Content Warnings: mention of death and murder, depiction of funeral

GIFs by nearlymelodramatic

I think it is a reference to The Omen (1976), a very important source of Good Omens, not least because that is where the title comes from.

At the end of The Omen, Damien, the Antichrist, has killed his parents and is adopted by the US president and his wife. In the very last scene, he turns around to the camera and smiles exactly that smile, after a long serious look and a blink.

It means „I have achieved my goal, now I am in a position of power.“

I would love to know what you think of this, @kimberleyjean (thank you for nudging me to watch The Omen in the first place!!!) , @vidavalor , @ineffable-detective-agency ?

[naturallyteal]

Another little gemstone - about “being out”:

Every time I watch the show, I notice something new. Yesterday, it was this:

When I asked myself: “why did they film this scene?”, it cost money and time to do it, and it wasn’t really doing very much for the plot or the characters’ development, so what’s it here for? That’s the first time I saw the possibility of a double meaning in those words. As @kimberleyjean put it, who btw made the snippet for me (THANK YOU!) and who I discussed this with (shortly), the double meaning of “being out” does not refer to the Them. So maybe it’s just a little bow to times and places where it is true that you don’t go to prison for being openly queer? A celebration?

Or, indirectly, a nod to all those times/places where this wasn’t/isn’t the case, where it was/is illegal to be openly queer, where people actually went/go to prison for it. Thinking of Oscar Wilde here, who was ruined in prison in England ~ 130 years earlier, for “gross indecency”. Thinking of all the Good Omens fans who live in such places today.

I’m not a meta writer, so the questions are all I have, but if we’ve learned one thing from Good Omens, it’s that question are important, right?

[naturallyteal]

Anthropomorphic Personifications - a Prophecy (#1)

Prophecy #2

this is meta

“Look, that's why there's rules, understand? So that you think before you break 'em.” [Terry Pratchett: Thief of Time]

Just in case I’m right, I put my prophecy below the cut and give a mild spoiler warning: S3 spoilers? Possibly?

I prophesize that the ending of GO S3 will be humankind’s (possibly symbolic) taking to the stars and that Aziraphale and Crowley will be there with and for them.

Why? Good Omens has many levels, layers. On one of them, Aziraphale and Crowley are anthropomorphic personifications, much like Death and the other Horsepeople. It might be hard to see, because we love them so much as individuals, but look closely and you will find myriad examples for their areas of expertise; they are only more amorphous, not as narrowly and clearly defined as that of Death, Hunger, War and Pollution. Aziraphale and Crowley’s Job (<little joke there) description is longer than one word, and it’s always dichotomies. Here are some. This list is not complete:

Guardian/Tempter

Conservation/Exploration

Tradition/Change

Stillness/Movement

Obedience/Questioning

Believe/Science

Forgiveness/Anger

…

The culture I live in sympathises more with the second themes (Crowley’s), at first glance, but when I look at humanity’s history, what value does it have to acquire new knowledge if there isn’t an intelligence who guards and keeps it for the next generations? (For example in books, many many books?) So the species can learn and build upon the forefatherparents’ knowledge and not make all (only some) mistakes again? We would all be living in trees, still. Keeping knowledge and making rules is what makes the evolution of our species possible. Terry Pratchett calls this Extelligence [Pratchett, Stewart, Cohen: The Science of Discworld].

Looking at development on the individual level, children need to be allowed to explore and ask questions to unfold their potential, but only appropriate to their (inner) age. (The same goes for grownups … ) If they go exploring too early, they are in danger. Some rules make sense, some laws are needed. See quote at the top.

I feel that the story of Good Omens, on one of its many levels, says that humans as individuals, and humanity as a species, will always live in interplay between those opposites, and that being aware of that, and choosing a hundred times every day - not one side or the other, but balancing all those micro choices - , is what makes us humans, and what makes us humane. Defines us. Makes us Us. This is the human condition.

That story can only have one “ending”: As long as there are humans, there will be the Guardian and the Serpent. Always.

(Also, this would be a satisfying throwback to the “before the beginning” scene. And keep the promise of “it starts, as it will end, in a [metaphorical] garden”. In a sense, the universe is our garden.)

If I’m right, I can point to this later and say “told you so!”

If I’m wrong, everyone will have forgotten by then.😇😎

[naturallyteal]

The King goes among his Subjects in Disguise - another Prophecy (#2)

Prophecy #1

this is meta

I thought I had more time, but as the first content spoilers of S3 have started dropping, I need to hurry up with my prophecies. This is the second, I think there will be 3 or 4 in all.

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” [The Wizard of Oz, Movie 1939]

Just in case I’m right, I put my prophecy below the cut and give a mild spoiler warning: S3 spoilers? Possibly?

I prophesize that in S3 we learn that ✨God✨ was disguised as Metatron.

Why? A common theme in stories since the dawn of time is that of the King/God disguised as one of his own subjects spying out the lay of the land, so to speak.

Variations of this “story gene” range from the earliest sagas, through classic myths and renaissance plays (Shakespeare: Henry V) to modern times (Star Wars: Padmé).

As the King himself, he is unable to glean the truth of the goings-on in his kingdom, the mood of his people, the rumours, the people’s attitude towards himself. He cannot trust even his own spies and counsellors. Also, as in many an ancient Roman or Greek story, a King/God in disguise can take a break from responsibility and frolic in worldly pleasures for a bit. Imbibe things, just for instance.

The King disguising as his own highest officer or minister instead of just any peasant or foot soldier, especially, has the perk of him still being in a position of power. And what mask is more useful than that of his own ambassador cum presidential spokesman cum second in command?

The theories that Metatron in the final 15 is Satan because he is wearing black, don’t feel right to me. Much more important than his appearance, his colour, seems to me what Metatron answers to Muriel when they say they’re reading a book (a book = symbol of the balance of conserving knowledge and seeking knowledge = symbol for what Aziraphale and Crowley are together = symbol of Good Omens itself):

“What a perfectly splendid thing to do!”

Why have Metatron say that, if not to show that he is not (all) bad? I’m not saying that God is all good, mind you!

There’s one more good reason I believe God is disguised as Metatron, and that is the short story “Murder Mysteries” by Neil Gaiman, published 1992. All writers have recurring themes, story elements they reuse, they weave into different contexts, “story genes” their thoughts revolve around spanning decades. For me, having read this story, it is very likely that God has been taking on the guise of his own ambassador in Good Omens S2.

And one more thing: in The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum 1901, as in it’s more widely known 1939 movie adaptation, a common man hides behind the mask of a mighty sovereign, so it’s the king-disguised-as-a-commoner bit reversed in on itself. In Good Omens S1+S2, the hint at the Wizard of Oz movie is quite evident by how the Metatron is depicted.

The Wizard of Oz, 1939 <|> Good Omens S1+S2

If I’m right, I can point to this later and say “told you so!”

If I’m wrong, everyone will have forgotten by then.😇😎