Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

18+

[arcticfoxbeyond]

Just so the fucking writers know,

Nobody wanted to see a pathetic, codependent Crowley.

Not the fandom who are heavily in favor of Crowley. Not in the book. Not in S1. Not in S2. Nobody wanted to see a pathetic Crowley who looked like he was begging his way to love in S3. Not even the Crowley criticals or Aziraphale lovers.

Why?

Because everyone sees them as equals. They wanted to see the both of them find ways to be able to manuever the 2nd Coming. Overcome their misconceptions. Find their way towards each other like they always do.

Nobody wanted a sad looking husk of a demon that couldn't even have the courage to stay at the bookshop nor understand why Aziraphale left. It is understandable for there to be anger, resentment, and even a bit of grudge. However, these are two beings who had been around each other's side for 6000 years.

How fucking dare you turn them into these puppets for your entertainment?

That abhorrent miscommunication and misunderstanding trope you abused too much was distasteful to his character. It did not serve a good plot device when Crowley was literally known to be an optimist and quite intelligent even if he and Aziraphale are stupid together?

Any being in love would be stupid with each other for the love of the game.

In the 4 fucking years that Aziraphale was gone, he'd have moved on within the first year and actually find a way to help Aziraphale because he undersrood. I can sure bet that Aziraphale would find a way to communicate Crowley, like idk, the rats perhaps?

So how fucking dare you make Crowley into this caricature of human depression that seems to be the stereotype of what people think depression looks like in general? You could've done better in representating it, instead, you are probably stigmatizing depression even more for other people.

I like him as any other character, but you cannot tell me that not all of you managed to think what message it would be to send a depressed, gambling addicted, homeless, codependent, suicidal person to kill themselves due to them thinking they have a flaw is?

This could've been any of your chance to show how to overcome misunderstandings and show how to actually stand against authority. You gave us nothing but drama until the very fucking end, and the message that authorities would always end up winning and that dying is the only way to "resolve" everything. Fuck that and fuck you. S3 will never be fucking canon to me, you fucking lobotomizers.

Not only did you motherfuckers hate Aziraphale, you're turning Crowley pathetic when he didn't have to be is a fucking fetish at some point. Tell me, did it somehow scratch an itch to read a character, that the fandom loves so much, say those dialogue to you?

Istg, there were many layers in S3, and those layers were full of fucking hatred for a character with hope and desparation and fetish for a known optimistic character to be codependent, pathetic, and angry.

Aziraphale deserved to be shown he is loved, just as Crowley deserved to be a stand-in-his-own-two-feet character.

[i-only-ever-asked-questions]

GO3: Breaking the author-reader(viewer) pact

I know the theme has been talked about at length but well, what's one more? I have thoughts that I have expressed here and there but have not put them all together, so here we are. (and yes, although I have tried to look for more of Terry's words, there will be references to NG's interviews or blogs because whether we like it or not, he made the TV show, that's just facts)

The book ending ruined the TV show

One of the first things I said after watching GO3 was "this is a Terry Pratchett" ending, the getting rid of the supernatural that is, taking down the oppressive institutions so humans could be humans. I still believe that. However, TV Good Omens was no longer a Terry Pratchett story. The ending was set in stone, we knew that, but the road to get there diverged so much from the original road that it no longer fit. The book is satire, it is comedy, it is social commentary. The book was never a romance. The show however, was purposedly written as a romance all the way back to Season 1.

GO TV companion book

It was going to take skill to bring it back to its roots, to solve the romance satisfactorily and then bring the social, supernatural and human themes of the book to the forefront again so the ending would feel natural, earned. Skill that evidently the writers didn't have.

In addition to the writing, we have the the added issue of the creator and the promotion fanning the flames of the fandom, encouraging and teasing that the romance would be solved the way the fandom has been expecting for years; the way a romantic comedy is expected to end, with Crowley and Aziraphale finally being together and living happily in the South Downs. Crowley and Aziraphale, the characters that went through the hurdles, the ones with the shared history, the ones that fought Heaven and Hell for humanity and their own freedom. Those characters are the ones that needed the resolution and the reward. The show did none of that. Ultimately GO3 broke the author-reader pact and delivered an ending that did not fit the story it was telling anymore. It forced a humanistic fantasy satire ending onto a fantasy romance. The noble sacrifice of a heroic epic instead of the happily ever after of a romance.

The change from satire to romance

Back in 1988 two guys wrote a book about the end of the world (published in 1990). In that book an angel and a demon formed one team in favor of averting said apocalypse. One team among three others; the witch/junior witchfinder, the jezebel/senior witchfinder and the children, all of them, human.

And that's the thing, Crowley and Aziraphale were never the main characters, this wasn't their story. Their only inadvertent real contribution was keeping the eyes of Heaven and Hell (including themselves) distracted for 11 years, because not even the mix-up at the birthing hospital was Crowley's doing.

Locus Magazine 1991

The cold open of Episode 3 of Season 1 exists because Crowley and Aziraphale are not in a good chunk of the book and that space had to be filled somehow. The body swap does not exist in the book, neither does the bandstand or the conversation outside the bookshop ("I forgive you"), and there aren't mentions of Alpha Centauri. All of that was added to their love story.

As far back as Eden, the metaphorical butterfly started fluttering its wings (more like a metaphorical dragon). That first scene was changed from a random conversation between two onlookers to a meet-cute. From Aziraphale shading only himself to shading Crowley.

The sequel and the South Downs

Ok. Back to the novel. In Halloween of 1989, while promoting the book, they came up with the idea, the title, and the plot of a sequel. The Second Coming, Jesus on a plane, a road trip across the US, "668, the Neighbour of the Beast," all of that was imagined back then. But it never got written. And then in June of 2005 they met at the Audie awards and talked a little more about it. That's when the South Downs bit came about. That September at two different events -one Terry's, one Neil's- they talked about that meeting and the sequel and we learned about the cottage.

The authors, however, did not see them as a couple at the time. Good Omens still wasn't a love story, neither was the hypothetical "Good Omens 2".

Entries in NG's journal June 5th, 2005 and May 8th, 2006. The URL in the second one is a link to the first. And a summary of two events a fan (Irisbleufic) attended in 2005

Fandom's gotta fandom and fandom had been shipping these two for 15 years already. And whether you saw the book boys as a couple or not, this was still the end point the fandom looked forward to for 21 years. TWENTY ONE YEARS! Retiring together in a cottage in the South Downs was a glimpse into a happy ending nobody had expected, but now it was there, within reach. This didn't outright spell "romance" but it did spell "peaceful rest after everything is said and done"

Back to the ending

Yes, both book and show warn of "the big one" but in the book even the discussion about the big one was about humanity itself. The show mentioned it but it really didn't go into a discussion about it, instead it left us with a sense of peace and of triumph for our ineffables.

This is why I can see the seeds of a Terry Pratchett ending; still pursuing the meaning of humanity, of good and evil, and of Heaven and Hell as the oppressing institutions that represent it. And ultimately the abolishment of said institutions even if that means removing all the supernatural presence.

This is why I can see Aziraphale and Crowley walking away if that means humans get to be free of ineffable plans and tests, if that means they really get to walk their own path. I can see this making sense with a plot that, as the first book, focuses on humans and is not, you know, a love story.

On Terry's ideas about fiction and stories

In June of 1989, at Iconoclasm, a convention held in Leeds, Terry gave an interview to Octarine, Science Fiction & Fantasy Humour Appreciation Society where he talked a bit about his writing. This was barely four months before plotting the sequel in Seattle.

Have you always written humour? Not intentionally. It’s just a style that I tend to gravitate to. I tend to write in a fairly lightweight style, partly because I cannot handle the quantum’s and orbital mechanics and partly because fiction as a whole relies on the suspension of disbelief, that million-to-one chances can work. In an awful lot of writing you have to believe that there is a moral force on the side of your main protagonist which will see to it that he can win. There is a lot you have to take seriously but when you do you realise that it is actually quite funny, so you tend to subvert the thing. I find that whatever I start out by doing, it tends to wind back to humour in the end.

So maybe Terry did have Crowley and Aziraphale give up their ethereal/occult natures somehow, but if he did, he also would have given them and us something that made it worth it and fair. Even if that something was turning human and living their last years like that in their cottage in the South Downs, it would have felt fitting and fair.

Ok. I think that's it. If you got all the way to the end, I hope it made some sort of sense even if you don't agree with me :)

[bornonthesavage]

Can we all just appreciate that when Aziraphale was playing Crowley, he played him far cooler and sexier than Crowley had portrayed himself the entire show. Crowley is a dork, but that isn’t how Aziraphale sees him. He genuinely believes Crowley is the suavest and coolest being he knows.

And Crowley plays Aziraphale as incredibly brave, yet extremely forgiving and kind to the end. Someone who shows no weakness even when faced with destruction.

Just the fact that they each see the other as the best version of themself is so incredibly sweet and perfect to me.

[randi2204]

@quillaninc-blog - As you suggested a couple of weeks ago in chat? *bats eyelashes*

[shedawg64]

Season 1 was my happy place for three solid years. I watched it over 100 times. No I was not sitting in front of the TV for all 6 hours each time, but I would put it on and go about my day, puttering around my apartment, cleaning, reading, cooking, etc. It never failed to put a smile on my face and leave me with a warm glow. And I always made a point to listen to the final song and watch the credits all the way to the end and the dedication to Terry. Look, I'm a grown-ass woman in my 60s and sometimes the ending would bring me to tears because it touched something inside of me that I normally keep locked down. I had all the things, the books, cd, DVDs, Funko-Pops, t-shirts, etc. I LOVED IT!

So here's my question:

What the fuck is wrong with you as a human being that you could take something this magical and uplifting and filled with such love and turn it into such an absolutely dark, depressing, nihilistic shitshow???

Yeah, I'm still pissed.

[stupidphototricks]

Ridcully 🏳️‍🌈

"A word to the wise, sir," said Ottomy with unwitting accuracy, "but you’d be wearing your guts for garters if you tried it with some of the types who play these days. They take it seriously.' "Mister Ottomy, I’m sure none of my blokes wear garters—" Ridcully stopped and listened to Ponder Stibbons’s whispered interjection and continued, "well, possibly one, two at most, and it would be a very dull world if we were all the same, that’s what I say." -- Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

"Oh, you mean he was like Professor Hayden. We used to have a name for him…" Ponder braced himself. "Snakes. Very keen on them, you know. Could talk for hours about snakes with a side order of lizards. Very keen." "I’m glad you feel like that, Archchancellor, because I know that a number of the students—" "And then there was old Postule, who was in the rowing team. Coxed us through two wonderful years." Ponder’s expression did not change, but for a few moments his face went pink and shiny. "A lot of that sort of thing about, apparently," said Ridcully. "People make such a fuss. Anyway, in my opinion there’s not enough love in the world. Besides, if you didn’t like the company of men you wouldn’t come here in the first place." -- Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

[emotional-support-demon-crowley]

On forgiveness or the lack thereof...

There's an element to the way season 3 treats forgiveness that makes my skin crawl.

In season 1 and 2, I had an impression that it was just a part of a character arc for Aziraphale and I was actually interested in watching it play out.

In season 3, forgiveness is far too reminiscent of how abusers use those words as a form of control. To be clear, my point here isn't that Aziraphale is using forgiveness in a deliberately abusive and controlling way. My point is that it feels more like the hand of the author to me and I get the distinct impression that author has no comprehension of how forgiveness works in a healthy relationship.

There's no acknowledgement of harm done. No discussion about what is actually being forgiven or how they will avoid repeating the same actions again in the future.

When Aziraphale offers forgiveness throughout the series, Crowley hasn't asked for it and, as we see time and time again, does NOT want it. Which means Aziraphale saying the words is only him doing it for himself and it's actually doing more harm than good to their relationship. And as we see in fandom discussions, what is being forgiven in the moment is completely up for interpretation.

Where the ick really hit me was the end of season 3 where Aziraphale demanded Crowley forgive him because he needs it. Again, no discussion about what he did and no admission that he's sorry, he's not asking for it, he's demanding it. The fact that Crowley obviously says the words just so Aziraphale will stop asking clearly indicates that forgiveness didn't actually happen here. But it's treated like the fact that the words were said is more than enough. The magic words were spoken so all that's a blanket permission to forget all about whatever Crowley was upset about in the first place and we don't have to deal with that unpleasantness any longer.

There's always the caveat that things had to be cut down to 90 minutes, so maybe there had been plans for more discussion at some point. All I can gauge by is what was put on the screen. There's just something so unpleasant about watching a conversation that boils down to 'I'm aware that I hurt you in some way, but we won't get into specifics, now you must forgive me because that's what I need to feel better. Ah, yes, now that I've forced you to spit the words at me with obvious animosity, the issue is resolved. I'm so glad that's fixed and we can move on. My emotional discomfort is alleviated. Thank you.'

I will show up all day every day for an Aziraphale who has a fundamental misunderstanding of how personal forgiveness works because religious forgiveness is something else entirely. That's interesting, that has potential. But the payoff for that setup is learning how to have a healthy conversation about what forgiveness between two individuals on a personal level actually entails.

I have no idea where I'm going with this, only that I hate hate hate this part of the third season and it will never feel anything but wrong and out of character to me.

It gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies if I think too long about the fact that there are people in the world who believe this is how forgiveness actually works.

[possibility-left]

PTerry and "humanism"

Terry Pratchett is very pro humanity but I feel like people may be putting more emphasis on that than is reasonable. He's also very pro troll, and pro dwarf, and eventually pretty much any kind of intelligent creature, including goblins, who put a lot of cultural significance into snot. Pratchett's non humans are not forced to become human to belong, and many retain their own languages and culture and ways of life, while others are free to find their own ways even if their people don't like it (see Cherry for example, the first openly female presenting dwarf in Ankh-Morpork).

If Crowley and Aziraphale showed up on the Discworld, they'd be welcomed as they were right up until Crowley started a massive traffic jam and then he'd find out why you shouldn't make Commander Vimes mad. But Vimes wouldn't yell at him for being a demon - he'd yell at him for being a little shit.

Just another little thought about themes and GO3.

[kamisden]

chat i finally made fanart for one of my favourite movies

[wolfythewitch]

Song of songs

[littleveronastar]

I love Aldo and Thomas so much. I really like their interaction in the movie and the book in general.

[enthusiasteditor]

Just a little thank you to every Good Omens fanfiction writer out there. Whether it’s for the laughs, the heartbreak, the comfort, the escapism, the smut, the softness, or the “just one more chapter at 2am” moments, you’ve done, you’re doing, and I’m sure you’ll keep doing an amazing job. This fandom wouldn’t feel like home without you ❤️

[converse-universe]

The amount of confirmation bias going around this place about Good Omens is really grating.

I love analysis and opinion but some people are commenting as though their interpretation is fact, or that what someone has said can only mean one thing…. No.

I’m not coming at this from the pro-ending or anti-ending stance. I’m coming at this from the perspective of someone who enjoys a debate with actual meat behind it.

The most recent thing I have noticed is the quote by David Tennant going around. A fan asks him if Crowley got everything he wanted in the end. Tennant answers that he didn’t. He evaporated and then someone who looks a little like him meets someone who looks a little like Aziraphale, but that’s not the same thing.

People are using this quote as confirmation that Tennant did not like the ending. People are saying that this contradicts earlier statements he has made saying that the ending is perfect for the story.

Maybe Tennant did hate it. Maybe he really does think that it’s the perfect end to their story. This quote alone doesn’t actually prove either stance though and it ends up potentially putting a perspective on some of his work that he does not have.

The question was did Crowley get everything he wanted in the end? And Tennant was absolutely correct in answering that he didn’t. Crowley wanted humanity to have a shot at free will but of course he also wanted to be able to live and spend his life with Aziraphale - and he did not get to have both of those things. He didn’t get to live at all. Of course he didn’t get everything he wanted. His answer also differentiates that whatever your perspective on Anthony and Asa may be, they are not Crowley and Aziraphale as we knew them, and as they knew themselves and each other. It is not the same thing.

It is not a bad question and it is not a bad answer, but it also is not proof of what people are using it for.

Factually speaking, Crowley did not get everything he wanted in the end. Factually speaking, he doesn’t exist. Factually speaking, whatever your interpretation, Anthony and Asa aren’t the same thing.

I know people still have really high emotions when it comes to the finale - me too, friends, me too - and I suppose if reading this (or watching the video of it) in that light somehow makes you feel better then…I don’t know…I guess that’s okay?? It also means that you have to entertain the possibility that Tennant has lied in several interviews - print and on camera - about the finale, that there’s some serious PR stuff happening… and look - that is something that does sometimes happen, but generally speaking, Tennant tends to just be quieter and hold himself with a lot of integrity, rather than outright lie.

There is a lot of really wonderful analysis out there for why people feel the ending doesn’t work, that perfectly justifies how people are feeling. I don’t quite understand why people need the main actors to right at the end of it, to have hated a job they had for seven years, to validate those feelings. I’m sure having one of the creative minds behind it turning out to be fond of SA was terrible and jarring. I’m sure having the show cancelled and then returned but really, really shortened after having already read the original scripts was jarring. I’m sure the NDAs they definitely would have had to sign including not just plot points, but the conduct of one of the creators was not a great feeling. I think the end of this has likely been tainted enough. Does the hope that they also didn’t even like it actually help?

Sorry folks, I question the shit out of this stuff. Masters in Media Law - I can’t help it. I see how media gets misconstrued all the time and it’s just…I really am trying hard not to judge people when they feel highly emotional about this (I fully understand)…. But I just don’t think this quote is what people think it is… At least not singularly. He may very well not like the ending, but that isn’t actually the question he answered.

Please don’t rage at me.

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

I will very gently push back and say that I, personally, at least, have not seen anyone claim that this quote from David means he disliked the ending. What I HAVE seen is people who disliked the ending celebrating David's statement, verbatim as spoken, because it validates one of THEIR REASONS for not liking the ending- namely, that Aziraphale & Crowley no longer exist, and that Asa & Anthony are not them.

This is something the ending was ambiguous about, and, sadly, that room for interpretation is something that A Certain Sect Of People Who Liked The Ending have weaponized against people who disliked it, to claim that the ending was entirely "Happy", and to call people who disliked it bitter, impossible-to-satsify, sex-obsessed, ignorant of queer history, media illiterate, intellectually inferior, and (imho the worst one for how ironic and doubtlessly triggering it is) too narrow-minded and caught in their own willful anger to see the True Beauty, Love And Divinity Of The Ending, Of Immortal Souls And Divine Love And God's Kindness.

Now, my opinion of the ending is that this is a queer, often religious-trauma-survivor fan base who has already been through so much shit in this show while also living through a christofascist resurgence and rollback of queer human rights across several countries. Giving us an "ambiguous ending" where the difference between Yet More Buried Gays and Profound Eternal Love That Frees Us All depends on the viewer's own irl belief in things like souls, reincarnation, God as merciful and the role of religion and magic in human existence..... is deeply, unspeakably fucked up. Not even on behalf of the characters but on behalf of the fans. I'm coming at this as someone with a deep academic interest in folklore, but I'm sure you've also seen the uncanny and swift recreation of Christian/Nonchristian (or Heaven/Hell) dynamics of prejudice and conflict between ending-likers and ending-haters.

So I hope you can see why, in light of all this, David's answer is being celebrated by people who disliked the finale. We are not saying that we think he disliked it. We are celebrating the fact that the reason WE don't like it is being validated, because of the extent to which "but they're the same people!!!1!!" has been used to squash criticism, demonize(very intentional choice of word here btw) people who are angry or grieving about the ending, and overall (not to use a buzzword but) gaslight people into thinking that they only don't like the ending because we're making some sort of conscious, obstinate choice to see it in the worst possible light.

And it's nice to hear from Actual Lead Actor David Tennant that that is not the case. Whether or not he personally liked the ending isn't the point.

(also not to put you on the spot but MY GODS would I love to hear more of your takes on this situation, especially how the fandom reacted to the ambiguous ending by recreating the exact heaven/hell dichotomy it meant to criticise, and also, semi-related, the ethics of a show pulling so heavily from fanfic tropes for an ending without official crediting or consultation of The Fanbase As An Entity(if such a thing can be quantified at all). I'd also love to hear your thoughts on NG's continued involvement, the parasocial horror of people claiming to know what Pratchett did or didn't write or want, etc. I imagine this all must be so interesting and infuriating from a media law perspective. It certainly is from a folklore one)

[roxannepolice]

If culture and religion studies faculty may chime in:

without in any way shape or form defending NG as a person, there's absolutely a medieval christianity God and Satan vibe going on with the authors rn, specifically the (now heretical I think) neo-platonic belief that where God created the ideal world, Satan is responsible for the physical world - and not in any dialectically compelling sense, only, well, that's why having sex (or, having a body in general for that matter) is sinful. I guess it is the question of evil, but with a "conveniently" dead (ie unable to respond) not morally compromised author and a living morally compromised one, the desire to assume that if the former had everything his way it would have been your way too, the other guy (now add the Legion of substitute writers) just screwed it all up, is overwhelming.

And not to hijack too much, but for anyone interested in how fandom tends to be christian (semi-derogatory) in its treatment of media texts, I really, really recommend William Proctor's article on canonicty. Basically, he points out how the very term "canon" is rooted in synods and popes picking and choosing which texts are divine epiphanies and which just apocrypha, and how this is not unlike mass media texts (he uses the example of Star Wars and how after the Disney takeover they relegated the Legends into indeed basically apocrypha).

[theniceandaccurategoodomensblog]

What a great discussion.

What’s fascinating to me is how, yes, the fandom is very much treating Terry as the benevolent Creator God (how ironic) and Neil as the evil Satan responsible for everything bad about the Good Omens World (sometimes via the other writers who’ve been shown to be his lackeys ie demons).

And the division of fandom itself into good guys and bad guys (Heaven and Hell). We are recreating Good Omens universe in fandom itself.

What a bizarre thing to do. But I suppose humans are gonna human.

[twilightcitysky]

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.

[twilightofthesandwiches]

Like, the thing is, the Third-Act Break Up isn’t part of the Romantic Comedy Formula just Because. It became a Genre Conversation for a reason. Third-Act Break Ups don’t just up the emotional stakes, they also help felicitate the couple’s individual character arcs - the breakup happened because something about the characters wasn’t fully compatible yet, and then it forces both of them to address and confront that something. And it also acts as a somewhat oversimplified dramatized way to ‘prove’ this relationship is strong enough to survive hardships.

I mean, obviously in Real Life, a relationship going through some of the melodramatic Third-Act Breakup bullshit that happens in certain Romantic Comedies would be seen as more of a red flag than anything. I’m hardly going to pretend that there aren’t badly-written Third Act Break Ups with bad resolutions that do not actually meaningfully address the underlying issues that led to the Break Up and/or are just too Extreme considering the circumstances, which therefore make the couple’s supposed ‘Happy Ending’ seems like a lowkey toxic relationship at 'best', a high-key toxic relationship just ready to explode again at worst.

But also, in Real Life, no relationship is truly without friction or problems or conflicts or bad days ever. Obviously there is a line beyond which the relationship is just Toxic and it's better to just Get the Hell Out of There. But still, being able to work through, and making sure your Love triumphs over misunderstandings and personality differences and differences of opinions and frustrations and things said in moments of high emotion is part of having a long-term Relationship.

The Third Act Break Up is just the Dramatized High-Tension version of what happens when the Honeymoon Phase (the Second Act) is over, and the friction in the relationship comes to the surface. For the sake of the narrative, an Extremely Exaggerated Example of Friction that we can feel that if their Love triumphed over that, we can safely assume it could triumph over any other more Normal problem in the relationship in a more Normal way.

And when Good Omens Season One pulled on this Trope for Crowley and Aziraphale’s new relationship arc, it worked perfectly. Their ‘Break-Up’ was bringing to the surface a lot of the underlying tensions that have been kinda always present in their dynamic, just in the most Extreme way due to the pressures of the upcoming Armageddon. But they pulled through, their Love pulled through. It showed us that no matter what, Crowley will never truly abandon Aziraphale. No matter how much he’ll insist that he’s totally leaving THIS time, he’ll come running as soon as it even seems like he's needed, and he's never going to abandon Aziraphale to the horrors of Armageddon.

And as soon as Aziraphale realizes his faith in Heaven was misplaced, he immediately goes to Crowley, immediately knows where his loyalty truly lies.

He defies Heaven publicly and proudly, so he could find Crowley again (which also acts as the ‘Third Act Break Up as a way to facilitate necessary character growth’ aspect).

And knowing Aziraphale is alive is what gives Crowley the necessary drive and optimism to perform some truly amazing feats to get himself back with Aziraphale and save the world (or, y’know, provide moral support and comic-relief while the actual protagonist saves the world, but that’s neither here nor there).

And with how in-sync they are through most of this ending and then the absolute beauty that is the Body Swap, all of this creates the sense that their relationship has come back from both interpersonal crisis and Armageddon stronger than ever. That if they went through all of this and still chose each other, they can get through anything and they will always choose each other.

…When GO2 decided to essentially walk back this very satisfying conclusion to do what seems like a second, bigger, badder this-time-for-all-the-marbles Third Act Break Up… and I will argue and emphasize that the way GO2 in general and the Final Fifteen in specific is structured and framed is absolutely meant to invoke the structure and convention of Romantic Comedies and the Third Act Break Up... At the time, I was intrigued and optimistic of where this through-line was going.

Like, the idea that GO1 didn’t actually fully resolve Crowley and Aziraphale’s personal and interpersonal issues because progress isn’t linear, especially when it comes to healing from trauma and unlearning indoctrination, especially when it comes to two beings as old and set in their ways as Crowley and Aziraphale, felt intriguingly realistic. And then making the conflict not Aziraphale choosing Heaven over Crowley, but thinking he could have both Crowley and Heaven felt like a good way to raise the stakes. As well as the other little problems in the relationship highlighted and showcased throughout S2, all made me feel emotionally invested.

It felt like this new Third-Act Break Up is going to set up, much like the first one, much like the Trope Convention it is clearly invoking, something triumphant and heartwarming. Something that will showcase to us how these two can work through the problems in their relationship, and even if they can't address every single little flaw, it will be something that will make the audience feel like whatever problems remain or will appear afterwards, they could now actually handle them like Grown Up Celestial/Occult Beings.

The Cliffhanger was very much "oh no! How could Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship get salvaged after all of this!" with an insinuation that once we tune in to the next episode, we'll find out!

But what we actually got was... This Break Up did not facilitate Crowley and Aziraphale's character growth into people who could have a better relationship, during the Time Skip, they basically regressed into having the most extreme and most unhealthy versions of all of the character flaws that led us to the Final Fifteen in the first place.

And then they died, with so few of their relationship problems getting a meaningful culmination or resolution this time. "Aziraphale takes Crowley for granted and doesn't sacrifice enough in the relationship" is basically the only problem that really got enough narrative attention to say that it was 'resolved', and the resolution was Aziraphale agreeing to the Singular Grand Gesture of going along with Crowley's sacrifice out of love. When GO2 was all about how the grand gestures of GO1 weren't enough to solve their relationship problems in the long term so who knows if this development would've stuck if it didn't matter because they Literally Died Moments Afterwards. With so much time spent bickering at talking at each other, it's hard to get a sense that their love could survive the Final Fifteen the way it triumphed over Armageddon.

And then Asa and Anthony, if they really are Aziraphale and Crowley reborn and given their 'Happy Ending' as Humans, only reinforce this idea. If the only way they could have their Happily Ever After is not by triumphing over the external and internal struggles, not by proving their love is stronger than their anger or frustration or doubts , not by being able to heal and move past what happened in the Final Fifteen. Their Happily Ever After only comes by putting them into a world where these problems just never existed and starting over fresh without all the "baggage" from before.

And, I mean, I went over many times before how the limited runtime Asa and Anthony inevitably have in this story means them and their relationship just doesn't have time to establish all the beautiful human messiness that Aziraphale and Crowley have, so they come off as kinda Inhumanly Perfect (…in this ending supposedly about the beauty in imperfect human life…). But it's also notable just how much of the limited screentime we have with them is seemingly dedicated to establishing that the internal and external friction that Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship struggled with just does not exist for them. Not that they're doing a better job of handling it, that it just doesn't exist.

Logically, we might know that relationships with literally no problems or disagreements just don't exist, but.. I mean, with the information the show has given us, it won't be out of the question to assume Asa and Anthony only stayed content and happy together because by some quirk of the universe they literally faced no problem or difficulty as a couple ever.

There's nothing inherently wrong, storytelling-wise, with invoking Tropes such as the Third-Act Break Up in order to subvert or change them, but these kind of subversions and changes have to be done with intent and skill. You have to know what sort of story you're telling through this subversion, and I don't think this was the story that was intended at all. For this story to work, we are supposed to see Aziraphale and Crowley's love as Powerfully Beautiful, at least so it would be oh-so-tragic that it must be sacrificed for the Greater Good, and Asa and Anthony's love as, at the very least, some sort of reflection of this powerful beauty. But the set up and failure to deliver on the concept of the Third Act Break Up just makes both of those relationships feel much weaker than they should be. Much weaker than Aziraphale and Crowley used to be.

[sunrisesinthesuburbs]

How Good Omens lost its heart (and didn’t even fight to get it back)

I distanced myself from the Good Omens fandom lately, and i’m sure this is not a surprise to many of you reading this post. i want to be very clear: neil gaiman had a lot to do with it. I didn’t want to show my support for a show made by an abuser. And yes, i see and hear people claiming Good Omens belonged to the people and the fans, but realistically the rights and royalties belong to ng, and participating in the promotion of it all just felt wrong to me. So, my choice was to love my favorite characters of all time from afar, and for free: reading and writing and engaging with fanworks.

That being said: I really fucking hated the fuckass movie. I wish i didn’t see it, i wish the show stopped at season 1, and if you liked it, good for you. I did not, and I want to tell you why. Feel free to ignore me.

Is that a hole in your plot?

The writing was bad. Content aside, what I wanted for this characters aside, my feelings on ng and the other writers begrudgingly aside, it was a badly written piece of television. I counted too many plot holes in the first thirty minutes aside, but i will point out what felt the biggest to me.

The opening flashback: it was hot, and that was it. Where does it fit in the timeline we already know about? It doesn’t fit with their first meeting as angels, nor with their first meeting on the wall. Why keep rewriting the first time they met? We already know how they met, twice, and besides the sexual tension, what did this new flashback bring to the story? Arguably, nothing; another case of bad wigs, maybe, nothing more. Perhaps, another instance of contradicting the book and the first ever episode: “it starts, as it will end, with a garden.” Well, apparently not.

Skipping all that nonsense in the middle (Aziraphale leaving crowley in the alley? Jesus having two lines after being promoted as the main focus of the season? The book of life burning not immediately snapping aziraphale and crowley away? Crowley having no reaction to Aziraphale confessing undying devotion to him?) let’s get to the very end. The decision the main characters come to is to erase themselves and all traces of their universe to create a new, fresh universe where angels and demons do not exist, and free will reigns above all. Two minutes after, the movie presents us two human versions of said characters meeting again, 13 something billion of years later, falling in love and all that good stuff. What we are supposed to take away from this is: they were destined to meet and fall in love in every universe, no matter the circumstances. Where is the free will in a soulmate trope? Where is the free will in this condoning of predeterminism? If they were meant to be, then free will isn’t ruling this universe. Fate is. Was it all for nothing then?

Who are these characters?

The characters fell flat. The side characters were useless at best, annoying at worst. Michael going rogue was predictable, Jesus was a nothingburger, the entire Whickber Street ensemble was just… not relevant. And the main characters were subjected to the worst character assasination my eyes have ever seen. The worst of it? That entire scene with God and Satan: Crowley never once looking at Aziraphale, not even at the most heartwrenching confession; Aziraphale talking about Crowley being amazing in the past tense; Crowley choosing something that’s not Aziraphale, after his whole entire monologue and character arc in season 2; Aziraphale accepting complete erasure after fighting 3 years in heaven against it, just because lobotomized Crowley wanted it. What the fuck?

Also, Asa and Anthony. They were cute. Adorable, really. Two cute old men (with bad hair, but i’m willing to move past this) falling in love and getting married. Cute cute cute. Who the fuck were they? They were not Aziraphale and Crowley: they were an English librarian and a Scottish professor, not the angel and demon I loved and yearned and was obsessed with for years. And again, if it were them, why weren’t they recognizable at all? In all the human AUs i enjoyed the characters were perfectly recognizable: Crowley was still moody and a bit rough around the edges, yet soft and almost overwhelming in his loveliness; Aziraphale was still witty and smart and a bit (or a lot) of a snob, yet kind and warm and loving to a fault. These two human beings were cute, but they weren’t them. Who are these characters?

The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall

The loser, in this case, being queer people everywhere. Put your daggers down and let me tell you this: it is not acephobic to think a kiss was needed in this finale.

You’re right when you say that physicality is not needed to show love and connection; in this case, however, physicality between them was already a given – they already kissed. Out of desperation, out of despair, out of sadness, but they kissed. They crossed that bridge and their relationship jumped to the other side of strictly platonic and now, for a simple rule of balance and equity in pieces of media, the ‘ugly kiss’ desperately (pardon the repetition) needed a ‘good kiss’. The finger thing could have been cute, but it lacked the depth and emotional weight to carry the conclusion of a third act.

If that was all the goobye we are going to get, it is simply not enough: they wrapped up 6000 years of history (a history they previously spend two seasons fighting tooth and nail to not erase, mind you) with a finger kiss and an awkward smile. Am i supposed to say it was good?

Also, implying that people wanted some physical intimacy between two queer characters (after it was already established) just to satisfy some sort of fetish is too disrespectful to even comment about.

A straight couple would have gotten a teary goodbye, an explicit I love you and a kiss before turning to dust. The gays get buried — or erased from existence, in this case.

Human incarnate, or the lack of it

All in all, the finale felt cheap, flat, soulless. A comedy desperately grasping onto the physycality of it but not really committing to the bit, a love story relying on the chemistry between the mains without letting them have a single meaningful conversation, a show about humanity reducing human beings to comedic reliefs, over-the-top antagonists and afterthoughts easy to erase with a snap of two fingers.

And no, no one got a second chance: Adam rewrote the universe for nothing, Aziraphale tried to fix Heaven for nothing, Crowley asked questions for nothing. It was all erased anyway, and the ones who get to live simply aren’t them. Some version of them that was paradoxically destined to meet, going against the free will they gave up everything for.

Good Omens was always about knowing your fate, and choosing your own anyway. Loving despite, loving because of, loving even if. The love between to immortal beings being what kept everything together. The characters I knew and loved would have kept choosing each other and their world, not another new one, despite everything, because of history, and even if it was the hardest thing.

They loved their world, their Earth, and deserved to live in it. On their own side. Just the two of them.

So I really didn’t like the movie, and the message it sent. I did not find it bittersweet, just bleak. And this is why.

Going forward, I’ll finish every fic I started. After, I don’t know. It may take me a while.

Thanks for reading. Fuck Neil Gaiman and all abusers. Protect and believe victims.

[varnenka]

Truth!

Justice!

Freedom!

Reasonably Priced Love!

And a Hard-Boiled Egg!

how do they rise up

[can-you-stomach-it]

The longer I think about the finale, the more it confuses me. The new thought I have is: S2 was conceived as a bridge between S1 and the "real" sequel. However, nothing in S2 ended up being important.

More below the cut:

The kiss. Crowley finally allowed himself to express his feelings and kissed Aziraphale. But they do not talk about it in the finale. They do not really address what this means for their relationship. Actually, right before dissapearing, Aziraphale does the weird kiss with his fingers that to me reads as giving Crowley his kiss back. Which is like. Undoing S2's finale.

The main characters' conflicting views. Aziraphale and Crowley's argument and separation comes from the fact that they have different views on Heaven. Aziraphale chooses to try and work within that system to help humanity, believing that being in charge means he can make a difference. Crowley believes that Heaven is irredeemable: that the only way for him and Aziraphale to live truthfully is being their own side. In the finale, they do have this argument again, but it is not meaningfully explored. Aziraphale never has this moment of being overwhelmed by how evil Heaven is. Crowley never gets to dwell on how "running away together" is not a choice that would make them happy, because of how deep their love for humanity runs.

Crowley's character development. S2's ending allowed Crowley to finally say no to Aziraphale's "I need you." He refused to go to Heaven with him even when his angel begged him for help. In the finale, he falls back on the same old dynamic almost immediately. It is even explicitly recognized in the text that yes, Aziraphale came back because he needed something. But it wasn't really explored as a problem that needed some kind of resolution.

This is related to the last point but. Aziraphale never accepts Crowley as Crowley. S2's ending was painful because Aziraphale asked Crowley to be an angel again, thus making him feel like he could never be worthy of love as he was. In the finale, Aziraphale calls Crowley "the best angel" and that really shows how this very important conflict was never solved.

Aziraphale being the Supreme Archangel. He sacrificed so much last season to have this role. However, we do not really get to see the challenges he faced (we are just told in passing about them) nor the choices he made. We do not even get to hear the speech he wrote for Jesus to read. Having him being the top angel actually substracts credibility from the plot: why wouldn't Michael delete him from the Book of Life much earlier? If we had this finale right after S1, Gabriel could have been murdered this way. Michael not targeting Aziraphale would make more sense, as he would no longer be in Heaven's radar (in S2 they only go to him because of his and Crowley's miracle to hide Gabriel).

The Second Coming. During S2, the big mistery uncovered by Gabriel that led to him deleting his own memories was the Second Coming. We do have some of that in the finale, but it goes nowhere. Jesus barely manages to give everyone pizza before dissapearing.

Job's minisode. Its existence really makes it impossible to accept the finale as a happy ending. Like. If you make a new universe instead of asking the current one to be saved, then it is as if Aziraphale and Crowley had let Hell kill Job's children.

Not to mention all the S2 characters that we do not see in the finale. Gabriel, Beelzebub, Nina, Maggie and so on. The Metraton is killed almost immediately. What purpose did introducing him even had?

I can perfectly picture how this finale could fit right after S1 with no need of S2 in between. In fact, it would be a bit less jarring, as we would not have all the unadressed baggage from S2's kiss.

[ineffable-effability]

small rant, fully personal opinion, not even an analysis of theme or plot, grievances and mourning, you've been warned!

another thing that bothers me besides the 'they're not them' issue with asa and anthony is that the south downs cottage was a promised place of REST for Aziraphale and Crowley after all they'd been through

like michael says in the bts interview, good omens became throughout the years a place where anyone who felt odd, or alone, or hopeless, could find a place to rest and find community, to feel at peace even when the real world or our personal life were at their worst

and part of that comfort came from the assurance that this particular story could avoid total tragedy through perseverance, imagination and unbounded hope that there would always be another way, even at the face of the unimaginable horror of total annihilation

that whatever happens, for good or evil, someone will be beside you to face it and for once everyone will get their miraculous escapes, when in reality we know more than well that that rarely happens

and that didn't mean creating a false illusion that tells you everything will be okay no matter what, don't get me wrong, i don't think good omens' message was that reductive in the slightest. but it did take a look at the absurdity of being alive and experiencing all sorts of pain and living and loving even through moments of complete uncertainty

i don't know, i just think we deserved a kind goodbye, like a forehead kiss, instead of a nihilistic, almost horror-like un-existence to part with this story. i wished for once we didn't need to grieve a sacrifice, that for once we just won and could enjoy a nice eternal toast to the world