cyankelpie

cyankelpie's sideblog for fic and other fanworks. My Ao3 My Youtube channel (Banner by Federico Cimini)

[wordfather]

something strange going on with my wip where nothing is happening because im not writing. does anyone know how to fix this

[bidet-of-evil]

ooh i know this one!!

☝️ start a new wip

[momsspaghetti39]

I'm realizing that every time a book or season 1 thing was repeated later in the series it made it so much cheaper. not because if the repetition itself but because it gets used in the wrong context.

theres a lot of this in the finale obviously (the whole thing feels like the writers flashing familiar faces and phrases to the audience to try and trick them into believing its a coherent story..."tell us a story about gorillas. or dolphins"???), but honestly some of it starts in season 2. im not the only one to have talked about disliking the season 2 cold open before the beginning, because moving aziraphale and crowleys relationship off of earth just doesnt serve the story and starts the change of its focus onto celestial beings instead of humans. but the repetition of the wing sheltering makes the original one so much less special. instead of aziraphale sheltering an enemy he doesnt know because hes kind, now its two people who already know each other and hes just copying crowley.

(another thing about the cold open, I thought crowley using the same crank to start up the universe that he would later take from his bentley at the end of the world was odd. at the airbase in season 1, its supposed to be both a last piece of the bentely he takes as a memento ("souvenir") and then an improvised weapon against satan after aziraphale convinces him to fight to the end (and in the book the tire iron isnt even his, its from the military jeep he was attempting to steal) it didnt matter what it was, its just what was around. it just dont think it makes sense or adds anything to the story to make such a random item so important all of the sudden. it changes the meaning of its use at the airbase in season 1 from crowley and aziraphale being willing to fight and almost certainly lose for the sake of the humans to crowley holding on to a part of his past as an angel, i guess?)

the same goes for "should i say thank you?" "better not" in the finale cold open. again, it recontextualizes the original moment. in season 1, the 1967 scene is a really important moment in aziraphale and crowley's relationship. it shows how much aziraphale trusts crowley, both in giving him a dangerous thing and in aziraphale trying to communicate to crowley that he likes him and that hes scared of him dying - showing his growth from the initial holy water fight in st. james where aziraphale tells him he wont give him a "suicide pill," making it seem like just a tool for the job that aziraphale doesnt want to supply him with, and downplaying their relationship to professional "fraternizing". the scene in the finale has none of this meaningfulness. it scrambles the timeline of their relationship and makes it less impactful to look at the season 1 scene as aziraphale calling back to something he said thousands of years ago and not the start of a new stage of their relationship.

another thing was aziraphale saying "i forgive you" in the final 15, which confused a lot of fans including me. it was a callback to season 1, yes, but in season 1 it came with context. earlier, aziraphale tells crowley, "may god forgive you," to which crowley replies, "I wont be forgiven..." and "...unforgivable thats what i am" so that later, aziraphale's "i forgive you" means 'god won't forgive[accept] you, but i do.' I think that was a great moment showing aziraphale knowingly not aligning with god. in season 2, it doesnt really have a clear meaning. it doesnt make sense for it to mean the same thing again in this context and it cheapens the original moment by making it just a thing aziraphale says, apparently.

basically, these are all a result of pulling a finished story past its ending without having anything meaningful to add (or an understanding of why it was good in the first place, it seems). there are some great parts of the series that complement the book and its message (especially the historical flashbacks, those are some of my favorite scenes in the whole show) but as a whole, season 2 and 3 just derail it horribly and i would rather it have ended at season 1 than the whole series become muddy like it is now for the sake of more money in someones pockets.

[sparkkeyper]

I agree, except for the bit about "forgiveness", which I argue is actually worse. Because S2 *does* bring up Aziraphale forgiving earlier on.

When Maggie is in tears telling him that he can't just forgive thousands of pounds worth of back rent in exchange for a record, he tells her that of course he can: "I'm very good at forgiveness. It's one of my favorite things." And he does so very flippantly, distracted by his new record, and seems to care very little about Maggie actively sobbing out of stress. Indeed he seems to forgive the rent mostly because 1) he wants to go listen to his music and this tear fest is keeping him from currently doing that, 2) it would be inconvenient for him to bother evicting Maggie and 3) "where would I get my records?" No doubt he *does* care about Maggie to a degree, but in this moment of television he comes across as fairly self-focused. Plus, the Apology Dance, which is a way of assigning/admitting fault that doesn't *actually* address whatever the problem was. (I can't remember if he forgives anyone else before the final 15 - I want to say he does? but I'm not rewatching it right now to check.)

I took this to mean that S2 Aziraphale tosses 'forgiveness' out like candy but doesn't really understand it. That he thinks just saying the words is enough to end an argument or erase negative feelings. "You said something mean to me? Well, I forgive you. Case closed! No reason to consider *why* you said the mean thing - whether you're having a bad day or you're mad at me for something or there's been a miscommunication, etc. No need to ask about or talk through any of that because I said the magic words so everything is fixed now!" It read to me that forgiveness is a thing he's doing for himself to smooth over any unpleasant feelings, not necessarily for the other person. I took this to mean it was a character flaw that he was going to learn about and grow from over the course of the story (even though it didn't seem to show up in s1, as like you said, the Bandstand line did seem to have deeper implications).

So when Aziraphale pulled out the angry "I forgive you" after the kiss, I took it as partly a parting stab ("You hurt me on purpose by doing that so I want to hurt you back"), and partly an attempt to clear his own conscience about the fight (because he said the magic words! He didn't actually solve anything, offer compromise, or attempt better communication with it, but he said the Good words so that means he has the moral high ground now, right??) Because he doesn't get how true forgiveness works and that's something that'll have to be addressed for character growth in S3, right?

Nope, not a bit. S3 Aziraphale even demands forgiveness to clear his own conscience when it's clear Crowley isn't ready to give it (as the argument hasn't been resolved at all), and he takes Crowley saying the words just to shut him up as Actual Genuine Forgiveness, when it's obvious to the audience that that has not happened. Then, when Michael is *actively erasing the universe* and it seems like Aziraphale is either going to 1) empathize with her for the first time and open a new, honest line of communication in the universe's most dire hour or 2) attempt to talk her down long enough to get the Book away from her, he does neither of those and says "I forgive you". Sir, that is *not* the topic under discussion at the moment! She wasn't asking for forgiveness or even expressing remorse for her actions - she was talking about the grievances that pushed her *to this point*. Aziraphale does not address any of these, and genuinely *what* did he expect the forgiveness line to accomplish?? Her to go "oh ok, I'll stop feeling disrespected and burnt out now, have the Book back"? The magic words have been said, so the Problem stops? It just reinforced my reading that Aziraphale thinks of forgiveness as a cure-all bandaid without actually understanding it at all.

Honestly, I was baffled that even if the writers weren't going to bother with a forgiveness growth arc, it *also* wasn't framed as a flaw either?? Crowley just forgives him eventually offscreen I guess, judging by their companionable interactions later. Giving it unasked for and unearned to Michael didn't seem to help *or* worsen the situation - it felt like Michael's kamikaze was the way that convo was going to go anyway - and the narrative didn't bother to condemn it either. Like, he's never called out on it and no negative consequences ever come of forgiveness not being earned or genuinely given (for anyone, not just Az). It seemed to me like such an obvious point the writers were working towards and then it wasn't just dropped in S3 it was doubled down on?? (And *then* dropped, like many other plot points.)

TL;DR- the return of the "I forgive you" line has vastly different implications in S2 and S3 than it does in S1, though the character thread ultimately goes nowhere. As OP said, if we apply the S2/S3 implications to S1 it makes the line feel cheap, like Aziraphale doesn't Understand what he's talking about. S3 as a whole felt like it was written with shallow callbacks and fandom tropes first in mind, without regard for how those things fit into an actual story.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

One of the central Religious concepts that Good Omens critiques is a minimization and a disregard for the material physical world we actually live in. Both in a sense of the concept of the Afterlife making people not think of the actual material consequences of their actions (“if you stopped tellin' people it's all sorted out after they're dead, they might try sorting it all out while they're alive.”), but especially in terms of, like, the current physical world being seen as mostly just a temporary preamble to the Eternal world that will come after Armageddon.

Heaven and Hell only seeing the Earth as the battleground on which they have to settle their score from Before the Beginning, all of their meddling in the affairs of men being ultimately for the goal of defeating the 'other side' and creating the ‘Eternal Heaven’ or ‘Eternal Hell’ they were striving for. Crowley and Aziraphale being the counterargument for that, showcasing that even the most plain mundane pleasures and experiences of living in this material world are worth giving up on an Eternal Heaven and facing down Hell’s Wrath for. And then all of the Human characters reminding us of the unreasonable price of casualties and general Beautiful Human Mundanity that will be lost in ‘the End of the World’…

And this isn’t just about taking down the Religious mindset that sees our world as an unimportant dress rehearsal to the Real Eternal Heaven on Earth (the same mindset that makes people dismiss long-term environmental concerns because the world would obviously already end by then, right?). The clear Cold War Metaphor layer of the book is drawing a comparison between that mindset and that era’s type of warmongering, as the secular variation of this same ‘we have to destroy the world to save it’ concept. It’s asking, is either Superpower’s idea of the ‘Better World’ they’ll totally have once they defeat their rival in an all-out war worth the messing about in other countries’ affairs and betraying their own supposed ideals and the devastation of such an all-out war?

And then the first Red Flag that Adam’s Antichrist Instincts are coming to the surface, the first real Opening Shot of Armageddon, is another secular variation of that same mindset. What we might today recognize as environmental-anxiety fueled doomerism, kinda identifying that this will be the new manifestation of this mindset for future generations.

Feeling like all the environmental and political problems in the world make it irrevocably broken and the best thing you can hope for is for it to get entirely destroyed, and then you could build it back Perfect. It spirals into him just fully embracing his role as the Antichrist until the Them finally manage to snap him out of this completely, so the comparison between his mindset and Heaven & Hell’s ‘religious’ view of the Earth as disposable is clear.

So it’s basically like the whole book (and GO1 as a result) is taking down different manifestations of this sort of disregard for the world, connecting it all to this religious concept of looking at the life we have as nothing but a preamble setting up the real Abstract Perfect World that will come later, that is totally worth ignoring and undervaluing the simple joys of this imperfect and messy current reality, the lives and wellbeing of the people still living in it and the long-term consequences of our actions that will just be wiped by the cataclysm that will bring about that Better World, right?

And so the final punchline to deconstructing this whole mindset is that once Adam comes to his senses and claims his own destiny from Heaven and Hell, he decides that the world that shall come after Armageddon is… literally just the world we already had. That the prophesied eternal ‘World to Come’ after the End of the World is not Heaven’s idea of a Perfect World or Hell’s or even Adam’s, it’s just… more of the plain ol’ regular world that we already had.

This physical world is the one world we’ll ever have, forever. So we better both enjoy the good things that exist on it despite the imperfections, and treat the consequences of our actions seriously, and that’s the actual path to a real Better World.

And then, you have GO3…. Which, okay, if I am trying to take that thing in good faith, I can see what they were probably going for. Book Omens/GO1 was so set on ‘And Now Everything is Back to Normal’ and Adam not using his powers to fix the world, it could come off as maybe… complacent in a very 90’s Optimism sort of way that feels maybe ill-fitting with the current mood. Maybe it is important to emphasize the point about the importance of fixing the world, just in a more Humanistic way compared to the vision of Heaven/Hell/Antichrist Mode Adam had, and maybe it is also important to emphasize the point that Change will sometimes require Sacrifice.

So that ending was trying to work off from that angle while also being a logical continuation of that ‘after the End of the World there’s just more world’ punchline from the original narrative. What if the world does need to change… in order to become our real world we live in now? What if that idea of the world being destroyed and replaced with a ‘perfect’ version does happen… but the world that gets destroyed is this fictional Biblically Literalist World with Heaven and Hell and then it is replaced with our actual mundane physical reality? What if it was Heaven and Hell that were just the glorified set-up to the eternal (or near-eternal) existence of this world we live in now? What if this messy imperfect human life we live now is the true ‘eternal paradise’?

It’s just that the problem, or well, maybe more accurately the problems with this plot thread is… First of all, for two whole seasons, the world of Good Omens was presented as if it was our world (with the fantastical elements being hidden from everyday folks such as ourselves), with many of the same struggles and imperfections, and the fantastical problems felt like they were also analogous to problems that exist in the real world. So what that ending felt like is that it is our world (symbolically if not literally) that was being destroyed and replaced with a metaphysically ‘better’ version (espacially with how badly that whole 'Free Will' thing was explained in the text of the Show), much more than a fantastical metaphysical world being replaced with our reality.

But the even bigger problem is that even if was clear from the start (or at least since GO2) that this world only superficially resembles the real world and should be thought of as separate from it, the idea of having it destroyed and replaced with a different world built from scratch still feels so fundamentally discordant with the themes of GO1/Book Omens. Because more than then just, oh, well, it wasn’t our world that got destroyed, it feels like the point should be that it’s Wrong for any sort of world to get destroyed and get magically replaced with a “”Better”” version. That this is not something we should ever be remotely okay, or even ‘bittersweet’, about, even if it’s not ‘our’ world.

Sure, it is technically Michael, a villain, who actually destroyed the world. But we are still supposed to be happy with Crowley’s decision to refuse God’s explicit suggestion to bring it back and to instead create a new world. Remember that Adam initially didn’t think he was destroying the world, but was just thinking it would be fine if world was destroyed because it couldn’t be fixed as anything but a blank slate. Because, symbolically, that sort of doomerism and disregard for the world is one of the ways Humanity might bring about an apocalypse.

Remember that during Good Omens’ Armageddon, it was technically primarily Hell that was bringing about the world’s destruction; the Antichrist and Satanists and the Four Horsemen. The fact it was technically a devilish scheme was how Crowley roped Aziraphale into helping him in the first place. But Heaven was still complicit, because they needed the destruction in order to build their ‘Heaven on Earth’ atop it.

And why should it be okay for any sort of world filled with so many living, thinking human beings (and occult/ethereal beings) to be treated as nothing but a prolonged set-up for another more ‘real’ world? Why should these beings’ ability to enjoy the positive sides of their world and experience the long-term consequences their actions be nullified by an arbitrary expiration date set up by God? Why should the unique quirky lives and experiences of these people be considered interchangeable with some other humans who might have their ‘Souls’? Why shouldn’t such an incomprehensible amount of innocent causalities be undone if literally offered the chance to do so by God?

The point that Book Omens/GO1 conveyed wasn’t just that it was wrong to treat our real physical world as an ephemeral prelude to eternity because our world is So Special and Unique, it conveyed the idea that it would be so so wrong to treat any sort of world, any sort of life, like that. And that’s why an ending that is maybe, one paper, just the ‘logical extreme’ of the original story’s conclusion, that feels like it’s trying to lean much harder into an Atheistic viewpoint, actually instead feels it’s actually just literally unironically doing the religious concept it was trying to satirize/critique in the first place but with just a few of the words swapped.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

[discipula20]

For me, so much of S2 depended upon S3 sticking the landing. I didn’t even realize just how shaky my regard for it was, I guess because I never doubted that S3 would make up for what I found to be S2’s faults. Instead, they were doubled down on. I NEVER saw that one coming, probably naïvely.

It turns out the Emperor had no clothes all along and I guess I was just seeing what I wanted to see. It just makes it sting all the more for the parts of S2 that I think really were wonderful (mainly the Job minisode).

There is a lot I found wrong with S3, some of it annoying, some of it heart-wrenchingly baffling and sickening, and more and more I find the seeds for it were laid out in S2. A and C’s distance, the sudden step back in their ability to communicate with each other, the removal of any of the human characters of S1 from the story (not bad on its own, but added up with all the other issues, becomes concerning) the retconning of the world being a battleground for Heaven and Hell, potentially against the will of God, turning into “God put the entire universe on a 6000 year timer”, the list goes on.

This story and these characters deserved so much better. All of them, not just Aziraphale and Crowley, but if you were to ask me, especially Adam Young, whose courage and love for the world in all its imperfections and his pure embrace of what it means to be human incarnate, (if you believe S3 canon) amounted to absolutely nothing in the end.

[itsineffhazbinle]

The more time passes, the more s2 also makes little sense as a continuation of s1. It's like 2 completely different stories. S2 is also a lot of filler and a very stretched thin story. I'd love to say I can clearly see the plan for s3 in the plot of s2, but it was so badly orchestrated that there's barely any depth or coherence to it.

[woman-becomer]

*kisses ur forehead*

*I absorb and consume one precious memory*

[donuteater13]

*forgets that you kissed my forehead*

[kekaow]

Not spoiling you anything guys but I love them so much it hurts

Not a joke I would respectfully live in a hole and die for them

[momsspaghetti39]

ive seen others post versions of the idea that the positive fandom reaction to the finale was so disappointing because we realised some people weren't in it for the same things and i just saw a post saying "we all have the same love for [the show]" and it for some reason it clicked with me more with that phrasing. We didnt have the same love for the show/story.

I loved a show about the absurdity in mundane human life, about humans being extraordinary and overcoming the odds. I loved a show where an angel and demon connected with each other and chose to be together as much as they could despite higher powers wanting them to be enemies. and then the finale came out and i learned that some people loved some version of the show where the individual humans dont matter and are interchangeable with the humans that might exist in another universe. Where the angel and demon were fated to be together in every universe, and nothing was their choice at all.

that version of the show is one i wouldnt love, and apparently thats what some people have been seeing it as all along. it feels like an insult to the show i do love.

[yoites-blog]

Yes, that is exactly the problem. Even assuming the most charitable and optimistic interpretation of the finale - it still has nothing to do with the Good Omens I fell in love with.

The most charitable and optimistic interpretation (completely disregarding all plot holes, bad writing etc.) would be something like: Aziraphale and Crowley love humanity, and so they choose humanity over their respective sides, and sacrifice themselves for its sake. And out of their love and sacrifice emerges a much better universe where humans don't have to fear being messed with by higher powers. And in that better world, Aziraphale and Crowley keep finding each other again and again as eternal soulmates, and they live countless happy lives together, finally free to show their love and live their truth.

I mean. That even sounds kind of nice on paper, and could make a good (even if pretty conventional) story in its own right. But does this in any way relate to what makes Good Omens (the book/S1) so special and compelling? Absolutely not.

[ezra-didntreallyfall]

Another thing the finale gets wrong is the exaggeration of how much Crowley and Aziraphale want to save humanity. They want to save the world. They want to save the things humans have made more than they want to save humans themselves. Restaurants, fruity little cocktails, museums, books, all of that. Saving humanity is just a bonus that comes with it. They do love humans, and are fascinated by them, but they wouldn't sacrifice themselves for the species while erasing what they previously fought for, all their inventions, and habits that built up over time. The finale ties those 2 ideas of humanity and the world too closely, as if they're the same thing, but in Good Omens, they're much more separate ideas.

[dragon-png]

nodding my head to show that i approve of all the shitty things this character has done because i'm a bad person

[letmetemptyou19]

I think one of the things I most disliked about the Good Omens finale was how they made God both tangible and undeniably sadistic.

First of all, I never wanted to see God. I think God has to be an offscreen character for Her to work at all because the whole POINT of God in Good Omens is that NO ONE actually knows who She is or what She wants. It’s INEFFABLE. But what makes me even more upset is that they took away the mystery behind her motivations and just made her cruel.

In S1 and the book, you get the sense that God is well-meaning, but perhaps got a bit carried away as time went on. She’s a workaholic parent that might have started off with good intentions, but is ultimately an absent parent, and her children all suffer for it. Heaven and Hell don’t actually KNOW what God wants, they’re just doing what they think God wants because she’s left them all alone at home with no instructions and no babysitter.

God is a CEO with too many projects on their plate and doesn’t check their email, and Heaven and Hell are middle managers doing their best not to become the reason she starts checking it again.

And so in S1 and the book, it’s easy to see God as more indifferent than cruel- in fact, I’d argue that’s one of the main themes of the book, that indifference is often just as harmful (or even more so) than “pure evil,” if that even exists. The whole POINT of Good Omens originally was that there’s no such thing as “pure good” or “pure evil.”

But God in the finale is undeniably cruel, because she is fully aware of what she’s been doing and what’s been going on. She’s been watching gleefully through it all. She’s not the absent parent with good intentions anymore, she’s the parent manipulating and encouraging her children to fight and hurt each other for her own amusement. It’s sick, it’s evil. It’s cartoonishly evil. There is no way to argue that it was all “ineffable,” because she explains it quite clearly: she wanted to watch them suffer.

It’s like the CEO has gone from not knowing what happens in the office when they’re gone, to a CEO purposefully hiring terrible managers and underpaying staff so they can LAUGH ABOUT IT.

Now, of course, you could have interpreted God that way all along. But the point was that you had a choice- you, the reader/viewer, got to decide if God was aware of what was going on, or fully “checked out.” You were able to argue that God isn’t fully good or bad, She just is. But a God who sits there and knowingly, gleefully watches her Creation play out just for pure entertainment? That’s intent. She did this to keep herself amused when She got bored.

They tried to give God fangs, and in doing so, took away her claws. The whole reason God is so scary and wonderful in S1 is because you don’t actually know if She’s paying attention. You don’t know if She is listening or not, just like real life. You talk to Her anyway. And now we know that She was taking notes so She could use pain points against her children at a later date to see how they’d respond. God’s no longer scary or mysterious or anything like that, she’s just cruel, and that is the most boring interpretation I can think of.

[theslowesthnery]

when someone is completely fucking wrong about your blorbo but you don't want to argue about what basically boils down to opinions about shit that doesn't matter so you just sit there like

"that guy's wrong tho"

[theslowesthnery]

you get it

[caspianthegeek]

Queer people don't actually owe anyone their joy and encouragement: including queer media. Queer joy is powerful and rebellious. It is anti-establishment (and becoming more so). It is not something that anyone gets to demand. If a piece of media wants that queer joy, maybe they should earn it and not cause widespread depression and struggle within the queer community. Because regardless of how you feel about GO3 that's what happened (and is still happening). I'd also argue that continuing harmful tropes like bury your gays (Mutt, if no one else) and writing out gay couples (Nina and Maggie) also means you don't get my queer support. Do better. I want good queer media, not this.

As an aside, S3 isn't the first "gay" season. We had two on screen queer couples in S2. And yes, it is very possible to do better. TLOU somehow manages to have more queer joy despite being a zombie show.

[trashboatprince]

They are teeny tiny and they like holding hands

[arcticfoxbeyond]

If the first universe did not have free will for all beings in the first place then that means...

Crowley's choice of extinction of him, Aziraphale, and the universe wasn't even his to make.

Only God and Satan could actually make those choices. Which makes the essence of "Ineffable" as the overall theme in what God's involvement truly is so utterly shallow and humanly perceivable.

A tyrant only interested in destroying her "flawed" subjects.

Now, where had we heard those kinds of stories from before? Right. Human history.

Also, same question Aziraphale.

Why did God gave you to us in the first universe? Why did God made you the way you are? Have us adore you only for you to be utterly villainized, insulted, and taken away forever? What was her fucking point?

What was her point in making you the angel you were if she did not approve of it in the long fucking run?

[flameraven]

Exactly this. Either free will is real in the original universe (as S1/2 made abundently clear it did) and so the request for "free will to be a real thing" is complete nonsense, OR free will doesn't really exist and so Aziraphale and Crowley's choice is just an illusion because their "decision" is God's decision and she's just puppeting them.

Both options are terrible writing!

[a-zira-ziraphale-fell]

Can we take the time to pour one out for the angel Muriel, who deserved SO much better?

They began their story as a wide-eyed innocent. Trampled on and forgotten by their superiors, literally at the bottom of the heavenly hierarchy, but SO eager to do the best they could at the role that was assigned to them.

Their innocence sometimes shows as ignorance (not knowing anything about how the human world works, not knowing how to lie or deceive).

But they are so earnest in their intentions that it's hard not to like them. Even Crowley seems fond of them, despite their seeming lack of intelligence.

I wanted to see Muriel come into their own in GO3.

I felt like they were set up for a character arc of discovery--that, assigned to guard Aziraphale's bookshop in his absence, Muriel would have the opportunity to truly connect with humanity on a personal level, learn about the nuances and shades of gray inherent to life on earth. Things that they could never know if, like many angels, they were forever trapped in the sterile white landscape of heaven forever.

But no. Instead the finale made jokes at Muriel's expense, called them stupid and dense, and then killed them without a resolution to their journey.

We don't even get to see them running Aziraphale's bookshop, because apparently Aziraphale immediately recalls them to work with him in heaven??

It's a small detail in a sea of bad writing choices. But it feels indicative to me of a problem that PERVADES GO3: not only does it fail to deliver a satisfying payoff to most or all of the plot threads set up in S2, it actively backtracks on many of them. Writes them out of existence with barely a word.

(The erasure of Nina and Maggie also come to mind here. They made a meaningful impact on Crowley and Aziraphale's lives, however brief their role in it was, so it's extremely odd to have them written out with no explanation from the characters.)

So when I say GO3 feels like bad fanfic, THIS is the kind of shit I'm talking about. It's badly written because the character arcs that S2 set in motion are never followed through...in favor of completely new, unrelated plot threads such as the gangster subplot.

It's not just about whether i liked the ending (for the record, I didn't). The problems with the writing are pervasive through the finale, start to finish. A happy, soft ending could have saved it. It could have made me forgive its other faults. But we didn't get that either.

So let's remember Muriel for a moment. A kind, happy, sweet angel doing their best. They deserved the chance to break free of heaven's influence and discover who they really are, what they really want to be.

But they never got to find out.

[belleyells]

Comment ideas for ppl who have trouble of thinking what to say (some are more unhinged than others) (yes you can use these)

Kudos!!

Reread and still loved!

This was my bedtime story tonight! <3

CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING

Cryin in the club rn

I love how you write [CHARACTER]!

PTERODACTYL SCREECHING

This was great! My fav line was [insert line here] <3

😎🤏 😮🕶️🤏 holy shit

Can you hear that? It’s the sound of my heart shattering into a thousand tiny pieces

Kudos, bookmarked, printed and framed and hung on my wall

This was so fluffy I’m gonna need a dentist