"Good Omens 3" redux (review)
May. 16th, 2026 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivverOkay, we finally got a chance to rewatch Good Omens 3 and I've decided that I really like it.
I'm not sure it merits the adjective "amazing", and it's certainly not on the level of the first two seasons, but it is as close as you can get in a severely truncated 1.5-hour episode.
We were able to follow the main story, Aziraphale's attempt at the Second Coming and how and why it all fell apart, a lot better on rewatch. As an example, Crowley's explanation of why a person using the Book of Life to alter reality would go insane and start to make mistakes was almost incomprehensible the first time, but the second time, it all made perfect sense. (He also sounded so much like the Doctor explaining temporal paradoxes that I started giggling.)
Things were still a bit jerky due to so much story being cut, especially the scenes with Dagon and the Disposable Demon. Those scenes were essential, because they had to set up for Aziraphale's impersonation of the demon from All the Way Down so that he got the information he needed to figure out who had stolen the Book of Life, but every switch to Hell felt like whiplash. They might have been able to cut all of the Hell Going to War scenes without much effect, but then Dagon would not have arrived in the middle of the restaurant scene and added another bucketful of chaos to it. That was one of the most fun scenes in the show, so I guess they made the right decision to keep them in it.
As I said (or probably more like hinted) before, the storyline that suffered the most from the truncation was that of Jesus. You can really see how his progression and character development in the mortal realm was supposed to have threaded the entire run of six episodes, and I expect that he would have had more of an impact on the overall story than he did here. Though, on the other hand, having him come to understand his own power and start to do good with it, only to have events far beyond his control wipe it all out is exactly the kind of thing that GO would do, so perhaps this was exactly what the original intention was.
I found it very interesting that given command of Heaven, Aziraphale began acting much like Gabriel had. I suppose that's because they both thought they knew what they were doing but really didn't.
To me, the real meat of the show was the final scene in the bookshop, the bookshop that was also the universe. This is where Crowley and Aziraphale finally learn as much about God's Plan as they could understand, and you might notice that God never actually did answer Crowley's question. But to me, this is the core of the entire series: not only "Why did God make the universe like it is?" but also "Why were Crowley and Aziraphale so central to it?"
There was so much beauty in this scene that I may have to write out the transcript, so I can inspect the words at my leisure. Crowley's rage at his ineffable God. Aziraphale saying that he (himself) was the second-best angel and explaining who the best angel was. Crowley explaining his decision and his sacrifice -- this made me tear up this time. And God saying, "You always made me smile."
But I can really see why a lot of people didn't like this show, because the metaphysics was such a big part of it, and because Crowley and Aziraphale were neither romantic nor keeping each other at arm's length like we're used to from the previous series. In fact, because of the story compression, they didn't really get a reconciliation. They had one encounter where Crowley told Aziraphale to buzz off, and then later, after a brief chat, they were working together again to solve the mystery. That's probably the biggest thing we missed out on, having them actually work through their problem.
I will note that Aziraphale seemed rather off at times -- not Michael Sheen's performance (that was fine), but his characterization. When he talked to Crowley in the alley, he was officious and demanding (I can't remember the details), and then later, in the Bookshop-That-Is-the-Universe, he told Crowley to forgive him. He didn't ask for forgiveness. It just felt strange. Perhaps I could explain the first instance as being Supreme Archangel changed him, but there's no excuse for the second one; he should have recovered by then.
Then 13.8 billion years later. Asa's hair wasn't so bad the second time, but still not good. Then there was the panning through the restaurant to show how everyone turned out. I'd been very sad the first time that there were only characters from the current show in the restaurant, but I was wrong. We went through it slowly and here's what we saw:
So! We got two S1 characters in the scene, Adam, who's talking with Jesus, as is appropriate, and Death.
And then twenty years later, with Anthony and Asa, and another scene that made me tear up. (Mr. Tennant, I swear, stop making me cry all the time!) I just love the last line, "I have the universe out there, and I have you. I have everything I ever wanted." Which, of course, is truth for Crowley.
So, in short, the show gave Crowley the understanding he'd wanted all this time, however short-lived it was, and Crowley and Aziraphale showed their strength in making the right decision for themselves, even though (especially though!) it didn't benefit them at all. Is this the story I wanted? No, but then I can't say I had any concrete ideas of how it might have gone. Is this the story I want now? Yes. How this all turned out was perfect. Is the show amazing? Eh, unfortunately, no, because it really needed to be a lot more, but for what it is, it's great. I'm satisfied.
Oh, and DT looks great with gray hair. I mean, I already knew that from St. Trinian's but doubly so here.
I'm not sure it merits the adjective "amazing", and it's certainly not on the level of the first two seasons, but it is as close as you can get in a severely truncated 1.5-hour episode.
We were able to follow the main story, Aziraphale's attempt at the Second Coming and how and why it all fell apart, a lot better on rewatch. As an example, Crowley's explanation of why a person using the Book of Life to alter reality would go insane and start to make mistakes was almost incomprehensible the first time, but the second time, it all made perfect sense. (He also sounded so much like the Doctor explaining temporal paradoxes that I started giggling.)
Things were still a bit jerky due to so much story being cut, especially the scenes with Dagon and the Disposable Demon. Those scenes were essential, because they had to set up for Aziraphale's impersonation of the demon from All the Way Down so that he got the information he needed to figure out who had stolen the Book of Life, but every switch to Hell felt like whiplash. They might have been able to cut all of the Hell Going to War scenes without much effect, but then Dagon would not have arrived in the middle of the restaurant scene and added another bucketful of chaos to it. That was one of the most fun scenes in the show, so I guess they made the right decision to keep them in it.
As I said (or probably more like hinted) before, the storyline that suffered the most from the truncation was that of Jesus. You can really see how his progression and character development in the mortal realm was supposed to have threaded the entire run of six episodes, and I expect that he would have had more of an impact on the overall story than he did here. Though, on the other hand, having him come to understand his own power and start to do good with it, only to have events far beyond his control wipe it all out is exactly the kind of thing that GO would do, so perhaps this was exactly what the original intention was.
I found it very interesting that given command of Heaven, Aziraphale began acting much like Gabriel had. I suppose that's because they both thought they knew what they were doing but really didn't.
To me, the real meat of the show was the final scene in the bookshop, the bookshop that was also the universe. This is where Crowley and Aziraphale finally learn as much about God's Plan as they could understand, and you might notice that God never actually did answer Crowley's question. But to me, this is the core of the entire series: not only "Why did God make the universe like it is?" but also "Why were Crowley and Aziraphale so central to it?"
There was so much beauty in this scene that I may have to write out the transcript, so I can inspect the words at my leisure. Crowley's rage at his ineffable God. Aziraphale saying that he (himself) was the second-best angel and explaining who the best angel was. Crowley explaining his decision and his sacrifice -- this made me tear up this time. And God saying, "You always made me smile."
But I can really see why a lot of people didn't like this show, because the metaphysics was such a big part of it, and because Crowley and Aziraphale were neither romantic nor keeping each other at arm's length like we're used to from the previous series. In fact, because of the story compression, they didn't really get a reconciliation. They had one encounter where Crowley told Aziraphale to buzz off, and then later, after a brief chat, they were working together again to solve the mystery. That's probably the biggest thing we missed out on, having them actually work through their problem.
I will note that Aziraphale seemed rather off at times -- not Michael Sheen's performance (that was fine), but his characterization. When he talked to Crowley in the alley, he was officious and demanding (I can't remember the details), and then later, in the Bookshop-That-Is-the-Universe, he told Crowley to forgive him. He didn't ask for forgiveness. It just felt strange. Perhaps I could explain the first instance as being Supreme Archangel changed him, but there's no excuse for the second one; he should have recovered by then.
Then 13.8 billion years later. Asa's hair wasn't so bad the second time, but still not good. Then there was the panning through the restaurant to show how everyone turned out. I'd been very sad the first time that there were only characters from the current show in the restaurant, but I was wrong. We went through it slowly and here's what we saw:
- Michael the bartender pours drinks.
- Uriel picks up the drinks and sits down with the widow of the magician from S2 (don't know what their name was),
- next to the table with Muriel and the Disposable Demon.
- The French cafe woman (another name I don't know), a waitress, returns glasses to Dagon the bartender.
- Dagon hands newly drafted beers to Jesus and Adam (Yes! S1!), who says, "Thank you."
- Music store guy and the madam (two more names I don't know) are chatting at a table.
- The French cafe woman goes to Crowley and Aziraphale's table to ask how they're doing, and the scene focuses on them and their conversation.
- The camera then focuses on a painting on the wall, which is Brian Cox (who played Death in S1) as some kind of religious figure (possibly a witchfinder) holding up a brandy snifter in which the house in the next scene is reflected.
So! We got two S1 characters in the scene, Adam, who's talking with Jesus, as is appropriate, and Death.
And then twenty years later, with Anthony and Asa, and another scene that made me tear up. (Mr. Tennant, I swear, stop making me cry all the time!) I just love the last line, "I have the universe out there, and I have you. I have everything I ever wanted." Which, of course, is truth for Crowley.
So, in short, the show gave Crowley the understanding he'd wanted all this time, however short-lived it was, and Crowley and Aziraphale showed their strength in making the right decision for themselves, even though (especially though!) it didn't benefit them at all. Is this the story I wanted? No, but then I can't say I had any concrete ideas of how it might have gone. Is this the story I want now? Yes. How this all turned out was perfect. Is the show amazing? Eh, unfortunately, no, because it really needed to be a lot more, but for what it is, it's great. I'm satisfied.
Oh, and DT looks great with gray hair. I mean, I already knew that from St. Trinian's but doubly so here.
