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Musings on Good Omens
Still obsessing about Good Omens (though slowly getting excited for the DW 60th!). Lots of blabber below, mostly on themes and purposes.
Good Omens (very spoilery!)
From what I'm seeing of the fanbase, people are quite upset about the ending, as well as the fact that Amazon has not yet renewed it for a third season. Neil Gaiman has promised that if the show is not renewed, he is going to reveal what happens and not leave it hanging on that cliff, which is very nice of him. One of my co-workers just finished watching the show and came over to gush - he kept going, "Oh my god, that KISS!" This is probably the first time that I've had a friend (other than my husband) as excited about a show as I am, and I have to say, it's awesome.
I am also in love with the very first scene of the show, which I mentioned in my last post about S2. Apparently, so is the fanbase, but for very different reasons. I read some posts about how "Crowley's a high-ranking angel, probably even an archangel" and "Crowley invented the universe" and "Obviously Aziraphale fell in love with him right at that point because he could see how different he was from all the other angels!" and all I can say is, wow, they totally missed every point that scene made. Crawly (yes, I will continue to use Crawly as his angel name until it is determined by the show itself) was only working on a small part of the universe, and said that other angels had done most of the design work - not the kind of thing an archangel would say. Aziraphale was confused by Crowley, possibly even scared of him, because Crowley crossing the line by daring to question God's plan (small p or big P) - he showed no understanding, and certainly no love or even friendship, during that scene. But... everyone's got their headcanon.
After S1, I posted that DT did a great job, but MS is the one that hit it out of the park. I think it's completelz opposite in S2, entirely for the first and last scene. Angel Crawly was optimistic, joyful, and inquisitive, a polar opposite for the the character for the rest of the show, giving you an acute sense of exactly how much he's lost. (Reminds me very much of the contrast between John Smith and the Doctor, to hit home just how alien the Doctor actually is.) Then, in the final scene, Crowley labors against his own nature to express his love for Aziraphale, in a last-ditch attempt to save both their relationship and his angel from what he believes is a bad decision. Though it's clearly the most difficult thing he's ever done, he actually does it right - he doesn't lash out with anger or sarcasm like he has done before ("How can someone so clever be so stupid?") and alienate where he'd meant to convince - and finally his only option is to throw the words out and demonstrate physically. Tennant was simply stunning.
Beyond that, the two things that I've been mulling over is 1) what exactly did that look that the Metatron threw Crowley as he went with Aziraphale to talk mean, and 2) why did Aziraphale start smiling during the elevator ride to Heaven?
There's really not much to explain the Metatron's glare directly. From a narrow perspective, it could just be that the Metatron knows exactly what he's about to do - he's "sacrificing" Crowley by using the idea of reinstating Crowley as an angel to tempt Aziraphale to take the job, and he's probably sure that Crowley would never accept it - so the expression is a furtive "I'm about to screw you over" look.
I'm thinking that it's hinting that Crowley and the Metatron have a history, possibly somewhat adversarial. I base this on the fact that no one recognized the Metatron as he walked into the bookshop - not even Michael, Uriel, and Seraqael who work with him directly, as seen in the trial scene - except Crowley. Why would the demon recognize him when the angels who know him well didn't? Crowley did recently see the Metatron in the trial recording, but was that really enough to recognize him when no one else could? I think there's a clue in Crowley's phrasing: "Last time I saw you, you were a big giant floating head." - "Last time I saw you", which means Crowley has encountered the Metatron in the past, which is at the very least unusual for the vast majority of angels. (This is also a bit weird because the only time we saw the Metatron as a giant floating head was in Aziraphale's discussion in S1, and Crowley wasn't there. The trial was more like separate video screens and less like floating heads. So, is Crowley (mistakenly) referring to Aziraphale's shop, or did they have a previous floating head encounter, implying there was another one even before that?)
Add to that the fact that I simply don't trust the Metatron. In S1, he was going right along with Armageddon (the reason why Aziraphale finally lost faith) - either he didn't know that the Great Plan was false, or he was lying (probably in order to keep the Ineffable Plan on track). What's he really doing now? Why would he appoint Aziraphale the supreme commander of the Heavenly Host? He said there's only one man for the job, but really, that's Aziraphale? Aziraphale has displayed some amount of cleverness, but otherwise has shown no leadership or organizational skills. Honestly, he's only demonstrated, time and time again, that he views the world in black and white and clings stubbornly to his naivete, which makes me think that the Metatron realized that he's easily manipulated... especially when separated from Crowley. The first indication of that is his deft handling of the offer itself, suggesting that Aziraphale reinstate Crowley while knowing full well that Crowley will reject it.
Okay, after all this, the more interesting bit (to me), which is Aziraphale's smile.
In case you didn't watch through the credit roll, this is what happened. Crowley drove off while Aziraphale joined the Metatron in the elevator and lifted off toward Heaven. The screen turned into two boxes, one with Crowley scowling as he drove, and Aziraphale standing in the elevator looking entirely disturbed and unhappy. This continued until well into the credits, then Aziraphale begins to smile, broadly, almost excitedly, and definitely genuinely. (omg adverbs) But why? Going off to take over Heaven couldn't possibly make him happier than leaving Crowley made him sad, could it?
I've been thinking about this for a while now, and this is my theory, which starts with the Kiss. Or actually, the aftermath. Crowley, in his Hail Mary (haha religious imagery for a demon!) to save everything, grabbed Aziraphale and kissed him, long and hard. He let Aziraphale go, and after regaining his composure, Aziraphale said, "I forgive you," and Crowley stormed off. This called back to a couple of scenes from S1 where Crowley had been mean or offensive and Aziraphale forgave him, but in this case, it's devastating, that Aziraphale responded to Crowley's declaration like that. (My husband and I were talking about the Kiss and he grabbed me by the bathrobe lapels and kissed me in the same way, and when he was done, I said, "I forgive you," and he just stood there stunned. Then he said, "Wow. That's actually awful.") But why did he say that? What was he forgiving Crowley for? For grabbing him and kissing him against his will? For expressing his love in the first place? The phrase seemed wrong for the situation, though still within character for Aziraphale.
I believe that Aziraphale said that as his parting gift to Crowley. At that point in time, Aziraphale had already accepted the Metatron's offer and was the Supreme Commander of Heaven, and, as the Metatron said, the Supreme Commander has the power to reinstate an angel. Thus, the Supreme Commander just forgave a demon. This doesn't make Crowley an angel - he's still a demon - but it does mean he's no longer damned. However, Aziraphale, first, was dazed by the Kiss, and second, he didn't want to let Crowley know he'd done that, possibly because he felt Crowley would reject the gift. I think this is going to come up in the next season storyline, maybe a scene in which something bad happens to "all the damned" and Crowley isn't affected.
There's one other circumstantial (actually, more "meta" than "circumstantial") piece of evidence for this, and that is, what in the world was the purpose of the whole Nazi zombie substory (other than having a story about bumbling Nazi zombies, which you have to admit, is pretty cool)? All of the other substories had points, mostly trying to teach Aziraphale that good and evil are not absolutes, that you can't look at a person's life and decide that it's either all good or all bad, and that Heaven does some pretty terrible things and calls them "good". The Nazi zombie story doesn't have a point like this - it just seems to be Aziraphale getting the two of them in a ridiculous spot of trouble while the the League of Gentlemen are being generally incompetent at evil. (Though the double-gag about the lip-reading was hilarious.)
Well, in my opinion, the point of the story, why it was there in the first place, was the very last bit - Aziraphale saves them by doing a little sleight-of-hand, slipping the flyer, instead of the photograph, into the envelope. He says afterwards (not quite exact) "I got it right when it mattered." They'd been cornered and he figured out the one way to get them out, and did it correctly. If you believe that Aziraphale actually forgave Crowley, then this substory makes sense: it foreshadows Aziraphale, locked into a decision that will destroy his relationship with Crowley, figuring out the one last, substantial thing he can do for Crowley and getting it right - not clueing Crowley in, just like in the envelope incident - when it mattered.
And thus, after he's mulled over what just happened and decided he'd done a good thing for his demon - and done it right - even though no one will know, possibly ever, Aziraphale smiled.
I suggested this whole theory to my husband, who said, in a nutshell, that it's plausible, but he doesn't think so, because he doesn't think that Gaiman would set this up now in order to have it pay off (with Crowley escaping from something because he's no longer damned, or something similar) in the next season. To which I'm thinking, "Where have you been?" (That's a S1 reference, if you don't remember.) This is a Gaiman staple. He's read a lot of Gaiman, including all of Sandman countless times, and knows full well that he puts in tons of details that don't resolve for a long time (in the case of Sandman, multiple years). I'm fully cognisant that my theory may be completely wrong, but not for that reason.
So there you have it, my current ruminations on S2. I'm about to start another rewatch. Or maybe I'll just watch the first ten minutes and the last thirty over and over again.
Good Omens (very spoilery!)
From what I'm seeing of the fanbase, people are quite upset about the ending, as well as the fact that Amazon has not yet renewed it for a third season. Neil Gaiman has promised that if the show is not renewed, he is going to reveal what happens and not leave it hanging on that cliff, which is very nice of him. One of my co-workers just finished watching the show and came over to gush - he kept going, "Oh my god, that KISS!" This is probably the first time that I've had a friend (other than my husband) as excited about a show as I am, and I have to say, it's awesome.
I am also in love with the very first scene of the show, which I mentioned in my last post about S2. Apparently, so is the fanbase, but for very different reasons. I read some posts about how "Crowley's a high-ranking angel, probably even an archangel" and "Crowley invented the universe" and "Obviously Aziraphale fell in love with him right at that point because he could see how different he was from all the other angels!" and all I can say is, wow, they totally missed every point that scene made. Crawly (yes, I will continue to use Crawly as his angel name until it is determined by the show itself) was only working on a small part of the universe, and said that other angels had done most of the design work - not the kind of thing an archangel would say. Aziraphale was confused by Crowley, possibly even scared of him, because Crowley crossing the line by daring to question God's plan (small p or big P) - he showed no understanding, and certainly no love or even friendship, during that scene. But... everyone's got their headcanon.
After S1, I posted that DT did a great job, but MS is the one that hit it out of the park. I think it's completelz opposite in S2, entirely for the first and last scene. Angel Crawly was optimistic, joyful, and inquisitive, a polar opposite for the the character for the rest of the show, giving you an acute sense of exactly how much he's lost. (Reminds me very much of the contrast between John Smith and the Doctor, to hit home just how alien the Doctor actually is.) Then, in the final scene, Crowley labors against his own nature to express his love for Aziraphale, in a last-ditch attempt to save both their relationship and his angel from what he believes is a bad decision. Though it's clearly the most difficult thing he's ever done, he actually does it right - he doesn't lash out with anger or sarcasm like he has done before ("How can someone so clever be so stupid?") and alienate where he'd meant to convince - and finally his only option is to throw the words out and demonstrate physically. Tennant was simply stunning.
Beyond that, the two things that I've been mulling over is 1) what exactly did that look that the Metatron threw Crowley as he went with Aziraphale to talk mean, and 2) why did Aziraphale start smiling during the elevator ride to Heaven?
There's really not much to explain the Metatron's glare directly. From a narrow perspective, it could just be that the Metatron knows exactly what he's about to do - he's "sacrificing" Crowley by using the idea of reinstating Crowley as an angel to tempt Aziraphale to take the job, and he's probably sure that Crowley would never accept it - so the expression is a furtive "I'm about to screw you over" look.
I'm thinking that it's hinting that Crowley and the Metatron have a history, possibly somewhat adversarial. I base this on the fact that no one recognized the Metatron as he walked into the bookshop - not even Michael, Uriel, and Seraqael who work with him directly, as seen in the trial scene - except Crowley. Why would the demon recognize him when the angels who know him well didn't? Crowley did recently see the Metatron in the trial recording, but was that really enough to recognize him when no one else could? I think there's a clue in Crowley's phrasing: "Last time I saw you, you were a big giant floating head." - "Last time I saw you", which means Crowley has encountered the Metatron in the past, which is at the very least unusual for the vast majority of angels. (This is also a bit weird because the only time we saw the Metatron as a giant floating head was in Aziraphale's discussion in S1, and Crowley wasn't there. The trial was more like separate video screens and less like floating heads. So, is Crowley (mistakenly) referring to Aziraphale's shop, or did they have a previous floating head encounter, implying there was another one even before that?)
Add to that the fact that I simply don't trust the Metatron. In S1, he was going right along with Armageddon (the reason why Aziraphale finally lost faith) - either he didn't know that the Great Plan was false, or he was lying (probably in order to keep the Ineffable Plan on track). What's he really doing now? Why would he appoint Aziraphale the supreme commander of the Heavenly Host? He said there's only one man for the job, but really, that's Aziraphale? Aziraphale has displayed some amount of cleverness, but otherwise has shown no leadership or organizational skills. Honestly, he's only demonstrated, time and time again, that he views the world in black and white and clings stubbornly to his naivete, which makes me think that the Metatron realized that he's easily manipulated... especially when separated from Crowley. The first indication of that is his deft handling of the offer itself, suggesting that Aziraphale reinstate Crowley while knowing full well that Crowley will reject it.
Okay, after all this, the more interesting bit (to me), which is Aziraphale's smile.
In case you didn't watch through the credit roll, this is what happened. Crowley drove off while Aziraphale joined the Metatron in the elevator and lifted off toward Heaven. The screen turned into two boxes, one with Crowley scowling as he drove, and Aziraphale standing in the elevator looking entirely disturbed and unhappy. This continued until well into the credits, then Aziraphale begins to smile, broadly, almost excitedly, and definitely genuinely. (omg adverbs) But why? Going off to take over Heaven couldn't possibly make him happier than leaving Crowley made him sad, could it?
I've been thinking about this for a while now, and this is my theory, which starts with the Kiss. Or actually, the aftermath. Crowley, in his Hail Mary (haha religious imagery for a demon!) to save everything, grabbed Aziraphale and kissed him, long and hard. He let Aziraphale go, and after regaining his composure, Aziraphale said, "I forgive you," and Crowley stormed off. This called back to a couple of scenes from S1 where Crowley had been mean or offensive and Aziraphale forgave him, but in this case, it's devastating, that Aziraphale responded to Crowley's declaration like that. (My husband and I were talking about the Kiss and he grabbed me by the bathrobe lapels and kissed me in the same way, and when he was done, I said, "I forgive you," and he just stood there stunned. Then he said, "Wow. That's actually awful.") But why did he say that? What was he forgiving Crowley for? For grabbing him and kissing him against his will? For expressing his love in the first place? The phrase seemed wrong for the situation, though still within character for Aziraphale.
I believe that Aziraphale said that as his parting gift to Crowley. At that point in time, Aziraphale had already accepted the Metatron's offer and was the Supreme Commander of Heaven, and, as the Metatron said, the Supreme Commander has the power to reinstate an angel. Thus, the Supreme Commander just forgave a demon. This doesn't make Crowley an angel - he's still a demon - but it does mean he's no longer damned. However, Aziraphale, first, was dazed by the Kiss, and second, he didn't want to let Crowley know he'd done that, possibly because he felt Crowley would reject the gift. I think this is going to come up in the next season storyline, maybe a scene in which something bad happens to "all the damned" and Crowley isn't affected.
There's one other circumstantial (actually, more "meta" than "circumstantial") piece of evidence for this, and that is, what in the world was the purpose of the whole Nazi zombie substory (other than having a story about bumbling Nazi zombies, which you have to admit, is pretty cool)? All of the other substories had points, mostly trying to teach Aziraphale that good and evil are not absolutes, that you can't look at a person's life and decide that it's either all good or all bad, and that Heaven does some pretty terrible things and calls them "good". The Nazi zombie story doesn't have a point like this - it just seems to be Aziraphale getting the two of them in a ridiculous spot of trouble while the the League of Gentlemen are being generally incompetent at evil. (Though the double-gag about the lip-reading was hilarious.)
Well, in my opinion, the point of the story, why it was there in the first place, was the very last bit - Aziraphale saves them by doing a little sleight-of-hand, slipping the flyer, instead of the photograph, into the envelope. He says afterwards (not quite exact) "I got it right when it mattered." They'd been cornered and he figured out the one way to get them out, and did it correctly. If you believe that Aziraphale actually forgave Crowley, then this substory makes sense: it foreshadows Aziraphale, locked into a decision that will destroy his relationship with Crowley, figuring out the one last, substantial thing he can do for Crowley and getting it right - not clueing Crowley in, just like in the envelope incident - when it mattered.
And thus, after he's mulled over what just happened and decided he'd done a good thing for his demon - and done it right - even though no one will know, possibly ever, Aziraphale smiled.
I suggested this whole theory to my husband, who said, in a nutshell, that it's plausible, but he doesn't think so, because he doesn't think that Gaiman would set this up now in order to have it pay off (with Crowley escaping from something because he's no longer damned, or something similar) in the next season. To which I'm thinking, "Where have you been?" (That's a S1 reference, if you don't remember.) This is a Gaiman staple. He's read a lot of Gaiman, including all of Sandman countless times, and knows full well that he puts in tons of details that don't resolve for a long time (in the case of Sandman, multiple years). I'm fully cognisant that my theory may be completely wrong, but not for that reason.
So there you have it, my current ruminations on S2. I'm about to start another rewatch. Or maybe I'll just watch the first ten minutes and the last thirty over and over again.