Hmmm. HMMMMMM. Hm.
Despite having gone through a very thorough Pratchett phase in my early twenties, I did not get around to Good Omens at the time. Well, that is not correct. I started the book at one point, but didn’t finish it. I just wasn’t in the mood at the time, it happens. When the TV show was announced, I gave it another go and finally finished the book. I found it … OK. Sorry? Then I watched the TV show – the first season, when we did not think there would be a second – and found it also OK. A perfectly appropriate adaptation that had the same strengths and weaknesses as the book, for better or for worse. The dynamic between Aziraphale and Crowley is the story’s main attraction, the other plotlines fail to feel as inspired, the characters aren’t as memorable and no other relationship is something anyone would care about. I’d have considered Good Omens a masterpiece if every plotline was on the same level. But as it stands, this is just one of those stories where you really, really cannot blame the fans for focusing on shipping the two main guys. It’s not only that they are shippable, but that there’s not really anything better in the story than their dynamic. Are there Good Omens fans who aren’t Aziraphale/Crowley shippers? This is hard to imagine.
Spoilers after this point.
So it makes perfect sense that Season 2 would go all in on the pair. It also makes sense that the story is, on every level and in every direction, about love. It’s a triple love story. And full of fan service. Unashamedly sentimental, utterly self-indulgent. The mystery is thin, but that’s OK because it merely exists as a rough framework for the story of a relationship. It also doesn’t help that the season is only six episodes long, and extended scenes are dedicated to fleshing out Aziraphale and Crowley’s past. Not that I think this adds anything new – see: self-indulgence – but it does very strongly help to cast doubt on the … goodness of heaven. It’s why you instinctively know Aziraphale’s decision in the end is wrong (what a dumbass!) and cannot be the final ending. It’s the setup for a third season! Oh God!
It’s a shame that I don’t care much for the portrayal of Heaven and Hell. The visuals are very one-note and the basic concept of the great beyond as a bureaucracy has long since become a cliché. If the story is going to spend more time in these environments, they better find a way not to bore me to death! At least the set designs for Heaven should be budget-friendly? TV shows don’t have unlimited money, after all. You could definitely see this with some sets, but I think the neighbourhood in particular was done very prettily and felt alive and fun. So they put the money where it mattered. The bookshop also feels very homely and lovingly designed. It’s all very cosy and a wonderful place to spend eternity, Aziraphale.
OK, OK. Let’s be fair towards him. Even though it is transparently the wrong move, Aziraphale’s decision makes perfect sense for him. I don’t think it would have been in-character for him to turn down this opportunity, not for purely selfish reasons, not at this point in the story. Of course it’s frustrating, even more so because it dooms us to waiting for a third season, one with a foregone conclusion: these two must end up together now. Anything less would be rude at this point, after making the shippers the main target audience of the entire show, making them wait for years, messing with a happy ending they’ve had since 1990. The inevitability of this makes me a little unenthused at the prospect of Season 3. It will need a strong B plot, take the focus off Crowley and Aziraphale, trick us into forgetting this whole series is ultimately about them. I suppose there is a lot of dramatic and comedic potential in the Second Coming, so … it might all turn out neat and satisfying in the end. But my immediate reaction when the show ended was to be annoyed at Aziraphale for making Good Omens Season 3 a necessity. We didn’t even need Season 2, and now this!
And … a long wait it would be, since we’re currently in the middle of a Hollywood strike, and Neil Gaiman, David Tennant et al. are busy people with other projects. We’ll see. They can do this any time they feel like it, or never. I’ll watch it. It’s cute. But I am not going to cry myself to sleep should they never get around to it. I don’t consider myself a fan, you know? There is something about the story that doesn’t fully land for me, and it is hard to put my finger on it. I find the original Good Omens novel flawed, I think it’s a mild shame that the TV show (first season) didn’t overcome these flaws. The second season isn’t doing anything to change that, but it’s focusing on the things that worked best, and I appreciate this.
Random notes:
- It just occured to me that this is already the second TV show where Derek Jacobi comes in to fuck things up for David Tennant. Hehehe.
- The joke was a little played out by the end, but I still enjoyed how clueless both angels and demons are about humans and life on Earth.
- Once more, I feel sad because this whole thing would have made an excellent point & click adventure game. It reminded me a lot of Sam & Max (the Telltale series), especially since it took place in a neighbourhood with small shops, featured Hell, zombies, all the good stuff.
Anna having fun 