I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS SHOW
sorry, I really do. I love it, Iām in love with it, and I want to try and shine a light on where that love comes from. so, apologies, gonna ramble, block me if u donāt want none of that, itās cool.
so that up there is the first page of the book. whatās fun is to see what the show did with it.
for 1 thing, the show made it fuckton more queer (and btw if we could start saying that instead of describing the show asĀ āgayā that would be awesome, thx, ace pride, nb pride, etc.).Ā
in the book, we open on aziraphale and crowley mid-conversation. in the show, we see how they met.Ā
and itās CROWLEY (crawley but the book lets us know that he doesnāt like that name on the second page so iām sticking with crowley) who makes the first move.
in fact, through the entire opening scene itās crowley putting in the donkey work to get the conversation going. heās the one who approaches aziraphale, just slithers right up to his mortal enemy and starts talking like thatās a normal thing to do when, really, aziraphaleās reaction suggests that it isnāt
like. hereās ziraās face before he notices crowley, when heās still watching adam and eve walk awayĀ
*fret fret fret oh dear oh dear*
what. what is happening.Ā
heās clearly not sure how to deal with this; his opposite number sidling up all casual-like and providing commentary. should he attack? best not, he just gave away the flaming sword. stiff politeness, then.Ā
(btw in the book, crowleyās a snake for the entirety of this sequence, we wonāt meet human-shaped crowley until he picks up the antichrist. which is one of many many small ways in which the tv show works to make the subtextual romance significantly less so. bit difficult to have chemistry with a reptile. not impossible, god loves u monsterfuckers, but difficult)
oh but crowley plays it cool, he doesnāt treat this interaction like itās in any way weird or unprecedented.Ā āthat went over like a lead balloonā he opens with and then repeats it, in a lazy drawl, when ziraās like wtfĀ
itās crowley who keeps the conversation going, commenting about how kicking adam and eve out of eden seems unduly harsh, and whatās wrong about knowing the difference between good and evil, and why was the tree in the middle of the garden and not on the moon, questions questions questions. heās so curious and confused and he really wants someone to help him work all this out
hungry for knowledge, just like eve
and aziraphale has no clue what to do with any of this. this isnāt what he signed up for. he tries to stick to the party line, with all its circular logic and platitudes, āitās ineffableā, ābest not to speculateā, āitās not for us to knowā,Ā āyouāre a demon itās what you doā
heās doing his best to be a good soldier.
at this point crowleyās starting to tune him out, heās bored and a little depressed, heās had the party line recited at him before
and he just wanted someone to talk to and
crowley notices that the swordās missing
and he asks what happened to it and at first zira wonāt say and then finally zira admitsĀ āI GAVE IT AWAY!ā
itās the first really honest thing heās given crowley, that guilty wail
āā¦OH. oh. youāre special.ā
they both surprise one another; crowley surprises aziraphale when he slithers up and initiates the conversation for no apparent nefarious purpose; aziraphale surprises crowley when he reveals he disobeyed orders just to be kind.Ā
oh, also you know how thereās that parallel between crowley and eveās yearning for knowledge. thereās another parallel; while they talk, adamās protecting eve from the lion
a moment later, it starts to rain, and. guess who immediately, without stopping to think about it, protects crowley?
while adam and eve walk off hand in hand in the background, adam holding the flaming sword.Ā
read that opening extract again. having aziraphale shield crowley from the rain instead of himself was a deliberate choice the show made.
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