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shivverThis is a full review of the second season of Good Omens. The first paragraphs are general and non-spoilerific, but the rest, under the cut, is fully spoilerific, so don't click if you don't want to know.
It's important to understand that season 2 is not season 1: it's not an adaptation of an existing story, it's not a parody of 1980s Armageddon/Antichrist movies, and it doesn't focus on the humor and absurdity of the end of the world and the people caught in it. Gaiman took season 2 in a totally different direction, and if you're not expecting that, you may not like what he came up with.
Season 2 is far more serious in intent, if not in execution. It opens with a puzzle - why is the archangel Gabriel in Aziraphale's bookshop? - and follows Aziraphale and Crowley through trying to solve it. It seems to capitalize on the popularity of the "A & C through history" sequence of the third episode of Season 1 by having a historical flashback in each episode, and while not as charming as the first time, they provide plenty of A & C goodness. Then in the sixth episode, when they finally do figure it all out, a more important story emerges. I'll admit that while watching the episodes for the first time, it felt a bit janky - some of the situations were a bit too absurd and implausible - but it comes together in the end and looking back, now I can see why things happened the way they did.
(Note: I read a few of the reviews that came out on the release day from critics who'd been given an advance viewing, and it was immediately obvious that they'd been allowed to see the first five episode but not the sixth. They all complained that "nothing makes sense" and "obviously Gaiman ran out of ideas". Sorry, guys, but episode six - like in the first season - is the one that made the story.)
The first episode opens with the first historical flashback: Crawly in the beforetimes, creating the Eagle Nebula (and coincidentally the cloud formation we've named the Pillars of Creation), which will cook and birth new stars in a few million years, and meeting Aziraphale, who questions why he's doing this because the Great Plan says that the universe will only last for six thousand years. I am mentioning this scene because it's my absolute favorite: the look of pure joy on Crawly's face as he's exercising his great power to create beauty and wonder. This is Crawly in a nutshell - always looking beyond what's in front of him, always asking questions. (I even wrote a story about this, a couple of years ago, and this was exactly what I was picturing.) Remember the shine in the Doctor's eyes when he was showing Donna the creation of the Earth? Multiply that a hundredfold and you have Crawly here.
After that, we get into the meat of the story. Gabriel appears on Aziraphale's doorstep, naked as a jaybird, carrying a box that's as empty as his memories, and asking for protection, though he doesn't know why. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Maggie, the proprietor of the record shop next door in a space that's leased from Aziraphale is interested in Nina, the proprietor of the cafe over the road, but Nina's already in a relationship with a control-freak partner. Meanwhile, Heaven is searching for their missing supreme commander and suspects that Aziraphale is hiding them, and Hell sees an opportunity to capture Heaven's supreme commander and calls Crowley back to tempt him into getting him, promising the return of his status in Hell and more, possibly even a promotion to duke.
The series throws in more complications as it progresses. Aziraphale wants to protect Gabriel (as is his nature) and A & C try to mask Gabriel's presence with a tiny miracle, only to unknowingly throw up a five-alarm signal that they're doing something. Michael and Uriel investigate, and while the miracle works and they can't actually see Gabriel standing in front of them, they ask about the miracle and Aziraphale, in a panic, explains he'd cast the miracle to get Nina and Maggie together... so now he has to actually get them together. He takes advantage of a shopowner's association meeting to come up with a zany Jane Austen-inspired plan to have them fall in love while dancing. Crowley wanders back and forth between wanting to help Aziraphale and wanting nothing to do with any of this, which, of course, causes trouble in its own way.
I can definitely state that by the time we got to the dancing scene, I was staring at the screen in disbelief - the whole idea of a Regency-style ball seemed very contrived, though it was made obvious that Aziraphale was actively influencing the guests to participate. That scene was probably the worst in this regard; other absurd situations felt better, either in context or out of it, and all of the historical flashbacks were excellent. The thing is, it all fell into place with the sixth episode.
Warning: Completely spoilerific plot explanation ahead.
In the sixth episode, we find out what happened to Gabriel: he fell in love with his demonic counterpart, Beelzebub. Because of this, he advised Heaven to abandon its quest to go to war with the demons, and Heaven - Michael, Uriel, the Metatron, and Seraqael - decide to demote him to the lowest rank. He fled, hiding his identity inside a gift from Beelzebub that's bigger on the inside, saving only the knowledge that Aziraphale is the one person who can and will help him. Heaven definitely wanted him back, to punish him, and Hell wanted him as a prisoner and bargaining chip, but Beelzebub wanted him so they could flee together.
After Aziraphale finally convinces everyone to let them leave, Nina and Maggie - who have been at the center of this maelstrom and finally understand what A & C are - talk to Crowley, scolding him for trying to manipulate them and then telling him that if he really wants his angel, they need to allow themselves to talk and admit it to each other. Crowley approaches Aziraphale, but Aziraphale has his own good news: the Metatron has offered him Gabriel's abandoned position as the supreme commander of Heaven, to lead Heaven into the future and bring it back where the Almighty wants it to be, and as Supreme Archangel, Aziraphale would have the power to forgive Crowley and reinstate him as an angel. Aziraphale wants to do good and, of course, is convinced that Crowley wants to return to Heaven so he accepted the position immediately. But he's wrong. Crowley refuses to go with him, and the show ends with Crowley standing by his Bentley, watching as Aziraphale ascends.
That was an amazing scene, ranking at the top of the "heartwrenching tragedy" scale along with Thanos' snap and Donna's mindwipe.
So, how did this episode tie the rest of the episodes together? It's only at the end that you realize that everything was leading to this conclusion. Every historical scene highlighted how Aziraphale and Crowley think and how they try to change but never actually do. Crowley began as the angel who creates, searches for meaning, and asks why; Aziraphale began as the angel who sees what the Almighty says as pure white good and everything else as solid black evil. In Job's story, Aziraphale is happy to help the Almighty win her bet with Satan by punishing Job for no reason, though he's unhappy about having to kill Job's children, and Crowley shows Aziraphale how to skirt around the Almighty's command to save them; in the Resurrectionist story, Crowley tries to teach Aziraphale that good and evil isn't so cut and dried; in the Nazi zombie story... I think this one reinforces the magic scene in the first season, that Aziraphale's success with the bullet trick made him think he was actually good at magic. Layer in the scenes from Season 1 and you see that through all of it, both A & C have many chances to learn and change, but the current story (and Season 1's story as well) shows that neither have, really, and both still have little understanding of the world they live in (though more than their compatriots do). Everything was leading to this: each of them making assumptions based on what they wanted to see in the other.
And this all goes back to Jane Austen: I really think that this story was meant to be the antithesis of Pride and Prejudice, to show what happens when the characters don't learn and grow. P&P was about two people who make bad decisions based on their own pride (Darcy) and prejudice (Elizabeth) but recognize this in themselves individually and are only able to come together after they fix their problems and make amends. A & C don't do this. Despite everything that's happened, Aziraphale still can't see that good and evil aren't absolute and thinks that Crowley is just like himself, unfortunately cast out of Heaven but eager to come back and do good given the chance - thus he makes the worst decision (especially after all that's happened over two seasons), thinking that running Heaven will be his dream job and that Crowley will come with him. Crowley's individualism makes him put walls up around himself, keeping his angel at more than arms' length - when he's told he needs to tear down those walls (notice, he's told this, he doesn't learn it himself), it's already too late.
There are plenty of parallels to P&P in the story, including Gabriel reading aloud the first line of the novel, but I won't go through it all. (I do believe that the final kiss was meant to mirror Darcy and Elizabeth's kiss in the 1995 version. In that adaptation, Andrew Davies specifically kept Darcy and Elizabeth from kissing until the final scene, where it sealed their relationship and was the payoff for the show. Here, Aziraphale and Crowley spent six thousand years (and more) building this relationhip and the kiss seals its end and signifies all that could have been.) Was Good Omens Season 2 good? I enjoyed it a lot, but I will admit that it's really all over the place until the sixth episode brings it together, and if you don't get it (or don't like how it ended, as I expect many people won't), it probably will continue to be all over the place for you. If you're really not into the story, then you can still get a lot of enjoyment from the individual historical episodes.
One thing that really brings the story down, is that Gaiman did not make the relationship between Nina and Maggie interesting - to the end, I just didn't care what happened to them and they felt like a distraction. Maybe it was a mistake in character design? Maggie is shy and awkward and definitely interested in Nina, but Nina is involved in a relationship, and frankly, she's rather mean, so she shuts down Maggie's inquiries rudely and continues to do so through much of the season, despite her doubts about her abusive partner. There was nothing to root for here, no subtle chemistry between the characters. I think that it was set up this way so that Aziraphale, who was fond of Maggie, would have a lot of work to do to change Nina's mind, but in my opinion, it would have worked a lot better if Nina had been less abrasive and had shown some interest but didn't respond favorably because she was already committed elsewhere.
I don't want to end this review on a downer, so let me just mention Gabriel. The proud, self-assured, boss-of-your-nightmares archangel in the first season, was brilliant, and the totally innocent, mind-wiped and eager about everything human in this season was brilliant. I like to think that Jon Hamm had a ball playing two completely different and fun versions of the same character. From enjoying his first-ever cup of cocoa to alphabetizing the bookshop by first letter of the first word to standing in the background marveling at everything he saw, he added a spark to every scene he was in.
And lastly, four overt Doctor Who references (including Crowley telling the resurrectionist to call him Doctor), and who knows how many hidden ones.
It's important to understand that season 2 is not season 1: it's not an adaptation of an existing story, it's not a parody of 1980s Armageddon/Antichrist movies, and it doesn't focus on the humor and absurdity of the end of the world and the people caught in it. Gaiman took season 2 in a totally different direction, and if you're not expecting that, you may not like what he came up with.
Season 2 is far more serious in intent, if not in execution. It opens with a puzzle - why is the archangel Gabriel in Aziraphale's bookshop? - and follows Aziraphale and Crowley through trying to solve it. It seems to capitalize on the popularity of the "A & C through history" sequence of the third episode of Season 1 by having a historical flashback in each episode, and while not as charming as the first time, they provide plenty of A & C goodness. Then in the sixth episode, when they finally do figure it all out, a more important story emerges. I'll admit that while watching the episodes for the first time, it felt a bit janky - some of the situations were a bit too absurd and implausible - but it comes together in the end and looking back, now I can see why things happened the way they did.
(Note: I read a few of the reviews that came out on the release day from critics who'd been given an advance viewing, and it was immediately obvious that they'd been allowed to see the first five episode but not the sixth. They all complained that "nothing makes sense" and "obviously Gaiman ran out of ideas". Sorry, guys, but episode six - like in the first season - is the one that made the story.)
The first episode opens with the first historical flashback: Crawly in the beforetimes, creating the Eagle Nebula (and coincidentally the cloud formation we've named the Pillars of Creation), which will cook and birth new stars in a few million years, and meeting Aziraphale, who questions why he's doing this because the Great Plan says that the universe will only last for six thousand years. I am mentioning this scene because it's my absolute favorite: the look of pure joy on Crawly's face as he's exercising his great power to create beauty and wonder. This is Crawly in a nutshell - always looking beyond what's in front of him, always asking questions. (I even wrote a story about this, a couple of years ago, and this was exactly what I was picturing.) Remember the shine in the Doctor's eyes when he was showing Donna the creation of the Earth? Multiply that a hundredfold and you have Crawly here.
After that, we get into the meat of the story. Gabriel appears on Aziraphale's doorstep, naked as a jaybird, carrying a box that's as empty as his memories, and asking for protection, though he doesn't know why. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Maggie, the proprietor of the record shop next door in a space that's leased from Aziraphale is interested in Nina, the proprietor of the cafe over the road, but Nina's already in a relationship with a control-freak partner. Meanwhile, Heaven is searching for their missing supreme commander and suspects that Aziraphale is hiding them, and Hell sees an opportunity to capture Heaven's supreme commander and calls Crowley back to tempt him into getting him, promising the return of his status in Hell and more, possibly even a promotion to duke.
The series throws in more complications as it progresses. Aziraphale wants to protect Gabriel (as is his nature) and A & C try to mask Gabriel's presence with a tiny miracle, only to unknowingly throw up a five-alarm signal that they're doing something. Michael and Uriel investigate, and while the miracle works and they can't actually see Gabriel standing in front of them, they ask about the miracle and Aziraphale, in a panic, explains he'd cast the miracle to get Nina and Maggie together... so now he has to actually get them together. He takes advantage of a shopowner's association meeting to come up with a zany Jane Austen-inspired plan to have them fall in love while dancing. Crowley wanders back and forth between wanting to help Aziraphale and wanting nothing to do with any of this, which, of course, causes trouble in its own way.
I can definitely state that by the time we got to the dancing scene, I was staring at the screen in disbelief - the whole idea of a Regency-style ball seemed very contrived, though it was made obvious that Aziraphale was actively influencing the guests to participate. That scene was probably the worst in this regard; other absurd situations felt better, either in context or out of it, and all of the historical flashbacks were excellent. The thing is, it all fell into place with the sixth episode.
Warning: Completely spoilerific plot explanation ahead.
In the sixth episode, we find out what happened to Gabriel: he fell in love with his demonic counterpart, Beelzebub. Because of this, he advised Heaven to abandon its quest to go to war with the demons, and Heaven - Michael, Uriel, the Metatron, and Seraqael - decide to demote him to the lowest rank. He fled, hiding his identity inside a gift from Beelzebub that's bigger on the inside, saving only the knowledge that Aziraphale is the one person who can and will help him. Heaven definitely wanted him back, to punish him, and Hell wanted him as a prisoner and bargaining chip, but Beelzebub wanted him so they could flee together.
After Aziraphale finally convinces everyone to let them leave, Nina and Maggie - who have been at the center of this maelstrom and finally understand what A & C are - talk to Crowley, scolding him for trying to manipulate them and then telling him that if he really wants his angel, they need to allow themselves to talk and admit it to each other. Crowley approaches Aziraphale, but Aziraphale has his own good news: the Metatron has offered him Gabriel's abandoned position as the supreme commander of Heaven, to lead Heaven into the future and bring it back where the Almighty wants it to be, and as Supreme Archangel, Aziraphale would have the power to forgive Crowley and reinstate him as an angel. Aziraphale wants to do good and, of course, is convinced that Crowley wants to return to Heaven so he accepted the position immediately. But he's wrong. Crowley refuses to go with him, and the show ends with Crowley standing by his Bentley, watching as Aziraphale ascends.
That was an amazing scene, ranking at the top of the "heartwrenching tragedy" scale along with Thanos' snap and Donna's mindwipe.
So, how did this episode tie the rest of the episodes together? It's only at the end that you realize that everything was leading to this conclusion. Every historical scene highlighted how Aziraphale and Crowley think and how they try to change but never actually do. Crowley began as the angel who creates, searches for meaning, and asks why; Aziraphale began as the angel who sees what the Almighty says as pure white good and everything else as solid black evil. In Job's story, Aziraphale is happy to help the Almighty win her bet with Satan by punishing Job for no reason, though he's unhappy about having to kill Job's children, and Crowley shows Aziraphale how to skirt around the Almighty's command to save them; in the Resurrectionist story, Crowley tries to teach Aziraphale that good and evil isn't so cut and dried; in the Nazi zombie story... I think this one reinforces the magic scene in the first season, that Aziraphale's success with the bullet trick made him think he was actually good at magic. Layer in the scenes from Season 1 and you see that through all of it, both A & C have many chances to learn and change, but the current story (and Season 1's story as well) shows that neither have, really, and both still have little understanding of the world they live in (though more than their compatriots do). Everything was leading to this: each of them making assumptions based on what they wanted to see in the other.
And this all goes back to Jane Austen: I really think that this story was meant to be the antithesis of Pride and Prejudice, to show what happens when the characters don't learn and grow. P&P was about two people who make bad decisions based on their own pride (Darcy) and prejudice (Elizabeth) but recognize this in themselves individually and are only able to come together after they fix their problems and make amends. A & C don't do this. Despite everything that's happened, Aziraphale still can't see that good and evil aren't absolute and thinks that Crowley is just like himself, unfortunately cast out of Heaven but eager to come back and do good given the chance - thus he makes the worst decision (especially after all that's happened over two seasons), thinking that running Heaven will be his dream job and that Crowley will come with him. Crowley's individualism makes him put walls up around himself, keeping his angel at more than arms' length - when he's told he needs to tear down those walls (notice, he's told this, he doesn't learn it himself), it's already too late.
There are plenty of parallels to P&P in the story, including Gabriel reading aloud the first line of the novel, but I won't go through it all. (I do believe that the final kiss was meant to mirror Darcy and Elizabeth's kiss in the 1995 version. In that adaptation, Andrew Davies specifically kept Darcy and Elizabeth from kissing until the final scene, where it sealed their relationship and was the payoff for the show. Here, Aziraphale and Crowley spent six thousand years (and more) building this relationhip and the kiss seals its end and signifies all that could have been.) Was Good Omens Season 2 good? I enjoyed it a lot, but I will admit that it's really all over the place until the sixth episode brings it together, and if you don't get it (or don't like how it ended, as I expect many people won't), it probably will continue to be all over the place for you. If you're really not into the story, then you can still get a lot of enjoyment from the individual historical episodes.
One thing that really brings the story down, is that Gaiman did not make the relationship between Nina and Maggie interesting - to the end, I just didn't care what happened to them and they felt like a distraction. Maybe it was a mistake in character design? Maggie is shy and awkward and definitely interested in Nina, but Nina is involved in a relationship, and frankly, she's rather mean, so she shuts down Maggie's inquiries rudely and continues to do so through much of the season, despite her doubts about her abusive partner. There was nothing to root for here, no subtle chemistry between the characters. I think that it was set up this way so that Aziraphale, who was fond of Maggie, would have a lot of work to do to change Nina's mind, but in my opinion, it would have worked a lot better if Nina had been less abrasive and had shown some interest but didn't respond favorably because she was already committed elsewhere.
I don't want to end this review on a downer, so let me just mention Gabriel. The proud, self-assured, boss-of-your-nightmares archangel in the first season, was brilliant, and the totally innocent, mind-wiped and eager about everything human in this season was brilliant. I like to think that Jon Hamm had a ball playing two completely different and fun versions of the same character. From enjoying his first-ever cup of cocoa to alphabetizing the bookshop by first letter of the first word to standing in the background marveling at everything he saw, he added a spark to every scene he was in.
And lastly, four overt Doctor Who references (including Crowley telling the resurrectionist to call him Doctor), and who knows how many hidden ones.
