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fuckyeahgoodomens · 2 months

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Oooh! A great Gavin Finney (Good Omens Director of Photography) interview with Helen Parkinson for the British Cinematographer! :)

HEAVEN SENT

Gifted a vast creative landscape from two of fantasy’s foremost authors to play with, Gavin Finney BSC reveals how he crafted the otherworldly visuals for Good Omens 2.

It started with a letter from beyond the grave. Following fantasy maestro Sir Terry Pratchett’s untimely death in 2015, Neil Gaiman decided he wouldn’t adapt their co-authored 1990 novel, Good Omens, without his collaborator. That was, until he was presented with a posthumous missive from Pratchett asking him to do just that.

For Gaiman, it was a request that proved impossible to decline: he brought Good Omens season one to the screen in 2019, a careful homage to its source material. His writing, complemented by some inspired casting – David Tennant plays the irrepressible demon Crowley, alongside Michael Sheen as angel-slash-bookseller Aziraphale – and award-nominated visuals from Gavin Finney BSC, proved a potent combination for Prime Video viewers.

Aziraphale’s bookshop was a set design triumph.

Season two departs from the faithful literary adaptation of its predecessor, instead imagining what comes next for Crowley and Aziraphale. Its storyline is built off a conversation that Pratchett and Gaiman shared during a jetlagged stay in Seattle for the 1989 World Fantasy Convention. Gaiman remembers: “The idea was always that we would tell the story that Terry and I came up with in 1989 in Seattle, but that we would do that in our own time and in our own way. So, once Good Omens (S1) was done, all I knew was that I really, really wanted to tell the rest of the story.”

Telling that story visually may sound daunting, but cinematographer Finney is no stranger to the wonderfully idiosyncratic world of Pratchett and co. As well as lensing Good Omens’ first outing, he’s also shot three other Pratchett stories – TV mini series Hogfather (2006), and TV mini-series The Colour of Magic (2008) and Going Postal (2010).

He relishes how the authors provide a vast creative landscape for him to riff off. “The great thing about Pratchett and Gaiman is that there’s no limit to what you can do creatively – everything is up for grabs,” he muses. “When we did the first Pratchett films and the first Good Omens, you couldn’t start by saying, ‘Okay, what should this look like?’, because nothing looks like Pratchett’s world. So, you’re starting from scratch, with no references, and that starting point can be anything you want it to be.”

Season two saw the introduction of inside-outside sets for key locations including Aziraphale’s bookshop.

From start to finish

The sole DP on the six-episode season, Finney was pleased to team up again with returning director Douglas Mackinnon for the “immensely complicated” shoot, and the pair began eight weeks of prep in summer 2021. A big change was the production shifting the main soho set from Bovington airfield, near London, up to Edinburgh’s Pyramids Studio. Much of the action in Good Omens takes place on the Soho street that’s home to Aziraphale’s bookshop, which was built as an exterior set on the former airfield for season one. Season two, however, saw the introduction of inside-outside sets for key locations including the bookshop, record store and pub, to minimise reliance on green screen.

Finney brought over many elements of his season one lensing, especially Mackinnon’s emphasis on keeping the camera moving, which involved lots of prep and testing. “We had a full-time Scorpio 45’ for the whole shoot (run by key grip Tim Critchell and his team), two Steadicam operators (A camera – Ed Clark and B camera Martin Newstead) all the way through, and in any one day we’d often go from Steadicam, to crane, to dolly and back again,” he says. “The camera is moving all the time, but it’s always driven by the story.”

One key difference for season two, however, was the move to large-format visuals. Finney tested three large-format cameras and the winner was the Alexa LF (assisted by the Mini LF where conditions required), thanks to its look and flexibility.

The minisodes were shot on Cooke anamorphics, giving Finney the ideal balance of anamorphic-style glares and characteristics without too much veiling flare.

A more complex decision was finding the right lenses for the job. “You hear about all these whizzy new lenses that are re-barrelled ancient Russian glass, but I needed at least two full sets for the main unit, then another set for the second unit, then maybe another set again for the VFX unit,” Finney explains. “If you only have one set of this exotic glass, it’s no good for the show.”

He tested a vast array of lenses before settling on Zeiss Supremes, supplied by rental house Media Dog. These ticked all the boxes for the project: “They had a really nice look – they’re a modern design but not over sharp, which can look a bit electronic and a bit much, especially with faces. When you’re dealing with a lot of wigs and prosthetics, we didn’t want to go that sharp. The Supremes had a very nice colour palette and nice roll-off. They’re also much smaller than a lot of large-format glass, so that made it easy for Steadicam and remote cranes. They also provided additional metadata, which was very useful for the VFX department (VFX services were provided by Milk VFX).”

The Supremes were paired with a selection of filters to characterise the show’s varied locations and characters. For example, Tiffen Bronze Glimmerglass were paired with bookshop scenes; Black Pro-Mist was used for Hell; and Black Diffusion FX for Crowley’s present-day storyline.

Finney worked closely with the show’s DIT, Donald MacSween, and colourist, Gareth Spensley, to develop the look for the minisode.

Maximising minisodes

Episodes two, three and four of season two each contain a ‘minisode’ – an extended flashback set in Biblical times, 1820s Edinburgh and wartime London respectively. “Douglas wanted the minisodes to have very strong identities and look as different from the present day as possible, so we’d instantly know we were in a minisode and not the present day,” Finney explains.

One way to shape their distinctive look was through using Cooke anamorphic lenses. As Finney notes: “The Cookes had the right balance of controllable, anamorphic-style flares and characteristics without having so much veiling flare that they would be hard to use on green screens. They just struck the right balance of aesthetics, VFX requirements and availability.” The show adopted the anamorphic aspect ratio (2:39.1), an unusual move for a comedy, but one which offered them more interesting framing opportunities.

Good Omens 2 was shot on the Alexa LF, paired with Zeiss Supremes for the present-day scenes.

The minisodes were also given various levels of film grain to set them apart from the present-day scenes. Finney first experimented with this with the show’s DIT Donald MacSween using the DaVinci Resolve plugin FilmConvert. Taking that as a starting point, the show’s colourist, Company 3’s Gareth Spensley, then crafted his own film emulation inspired by two-strip Technicolor. “There was a lot of testing in the grade to find the look for these minisodes, with different amounts of grain and different types of either Technicolor three-strip or two-strip,” Finney recalls. “Then we’d add grain and film weave on that, then on top we added film flares. In the Biblical scenes we added more dust and motes in the air.”

Establishing the show’s lighting was a key part of Finney’s testing process, working closely with gaffer Scott Napier and drawing upon PKE Lighting’s inventory. Good Omens’ new Scottish location posed an initial challenge: as the studio was in an old warehouse rather than being purpose-built for filming, its ceilings weren’t as high as one would normally expect. This meant Finney and Napier had to work out a low-profile way of putting in a lot of fixtures.

Inside Crowley’s treasured Bentley.

Their first task was to test various textiles, LED wash lights and different weight loadings, to establish what they were working with for the street exteriors. “We worked out that what was needed were 12 SkyPanels per 20’x20’ silk, so each one was a block of 20’x20’, then we scaled that up,” Finney recalls. “I wanted a very seamless sky, so I used full grid cloth which made it very, very smooth. That was important because we’ve got lots of cars constantly driving around the set and the sloped windscreens reflect the ceiling. So we had to have seamless textiles – PKE had to source around 12,000 feet of textiles so that we could put them together, so the reflections in the windscreens of the cars just showed white gridcloth rather than lots of stage lights. We then drove the car around the set to test it from different angles.”

On the floor, they mostly worked with LEDs, providing huge energy and cost savings for the production. Astera’s Titan Tubes came in handy for a fun flashback scene with John Hamm’s character Gabriel. The DP remembers: “[Gabriel] was travelling down a 30-foot feather tunnel. We built a feather tunnel on the stage and wrapped it in a ring of Astera tubes, which were then programmed by dimmer op Jon Towler to animate, pulse and change different colours. Each part of Gabriel’s journey through his consciousness has a different colour to it.”

Among the rigs built was a 20-strong Creamsource Vortex setup for the graveyard scene in the “Body Snatchers” minisode, shot in Stirling. “We took all the yokes off each light then put them on a custom-made aluminium rig so we could have them very close. We put them up on a big telehandler on a hill that gave me a soft mood light, which was very adjustable, windproof and rainproof.”

Shooting on the VP stage for the birth of the universe scenes in episode one.

Sky’s the limit

A lot of weather effects were done in camera – including lightning effects pulsed in that allowed both direct fork lightning and sheet lightning to spread down the streets. In the grade, colourist Spensley was also able to work his creative magic on the show’s skies. “Gareth is a very artistic colourist – he’s a genius at changing skies,” Finney says. “Often in the UK you get these very boring, flat skies, but he’s got a library of dramatic skies that you can drop in. That would usually be done by VFX, but he’s got the ability to do it in Baselight, so a flat sky suddenly becomes a glorious sunset.”

Finney emphasises that the grade is a very involved process for a series like Good Omens, especially with its VFX-heavy nature. “This means VFX sequences often need extra work when it comes back into the timeline,” says the DP. “So, we often add camera movement or camera shake to crank the image up a bit. Having a colourist like Gareth is central to a big show like Good Omens, to bring all the different visual elements together and to make it seamless. It’s quite a long grade process but it’s worth its weight in gold.”

Shooting in the VR cube for the blitz scenes .

Finney took advantage of virtual production (VP) technology for the driving scenes in Crowley’s classic Bentley. The volume was built on their Scottish set: a 4x7m cube with a roof that could go up and down on motorised winches as needed. “We pulled the cars in and out on skates – they went up on little jacks, which you could then rotate and move the car around within the volume,” he explains. “We had two floating screens that we could move around to fill in and use as additional source lighting. Then we had generated plates – either CGI or real location plates –projected 360º around the car. Sometimes we used the volume in-camera but if we needed to do more work downstream; we’d use a green screen frustum.” Universal Pixels collaborated with Finney to supply in-camera VFX expertise, crew and technical equipment for the in-vehicle driving sequences and rear projection for the crucial car shots.

John Hamm was suspended in the middle of this lighting rig and superimposed into the feather tunnel.

Interestingly, while shooting at a VP stage in Leith, the team also used the volume as a huge, animated light source in its own right – a new technique for Finney. “We had the camera pointing away from [the volume] so the screen provided this massive, IMAX-sized light effect for the actors. We had a simple animation of the expanding universe projected onto the screen so the actors could actually see it, and it gave me the animated light back on the actors.”

Bringing such esteemed authors’ imaginations to the screen is no small task, but Finney was proud to helped bring Crowley and Aziraphale’s adventures to life once again. He adds: “What’s nice about Good Omens, especially when there’s so much bad news in the world, is that it’s a good news show. It’s a very funny show. It’s also about good and evil, love and doing the right thing, people getting together irrespective of backgrounds. It’s a hopeful message, and I think that that’s what we all need.”

Finney is no stranger to the idiosyncratic world of Sir Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

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las-lus · 9 months

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Aziraphale lied Theory

First of all, this theory is not mine, its from @/doubleskk on Twitter and can be found HERE. Go show them some love! It's in Portuguese, so I'll do my best to translate it - blue texts are my personal additions!

This season, we have something very clear in Aziraphale's development arc: is his relationship with LIE. He lied to protect Job's children, and he lied he had performed a miracle to make Nina and Maggie fall in love. That's not counting other little lies, sprinkled throughout the season here and there.

We keep seeing Crowley say "I'm a demon, I lie", but in the big finale, we have Crowley saying the truth - the big truth, the one he has been avoiding for 6 thousand years.

All of this was to set the stage for the biggest lie of all: the lie he had to tell Crowley to fend him off and protect him.

When Metatron goes to buy the coffee, he asks Nina if people ask for death, as the name of her shop is "Give me a coffee, or give me death". What if that name is an allegory for the actual conversation between Metatron and Aziraphale?

Aziraphale may have been threatened. Either Azira goes back to heaven (coffee), or he and Crowley would have their existence erased from the Book of Life (death). So, to protect Crowley, Aziraphale had to invent a lie to make sure he got away. The Book of Life was namedropped a couple of times in the show, a Chekhov's gun that never went off - Neil is too good of a writer for that.

And Aziraphale knew that Crowley would be pissed if he agreed to go back to Heaven after everything that happened, and he knew that Crowley would never accept being an angel again. "But rescuing me makes him so happy" - Aziraphale had to make sure Crowley wouldn't realize he needed saving.

That's why he knew exactly what to say to mess with Crowley.

At 41:14 of episode 6, when Azira starts telling the (alleged) lie to Crowley, he becomes all flustered, moving his hands from side to side and stammering, SAME PATTERN as when he lies to the angels about having done the Nina and Maggie fall in love, in episode 2.

[This part really works better with 2 videos side by side, which you cannot do on tumblr, so if you want you can check them out here]

The sequence of him talking to Metatron at the table is nothing more than an enactment of his lie. The conversation didn't go like that, Aziraphale made everything up.

And when Crowley declares himself, Aziraphale starts shaking his head in despair: not now, don't tell me that now.

He also looks out the window as soon as the confession starts, as if he knows Metraton was watching him outside.

Then there's the kiss, Aziraphale falters for a moment, but he has to keep up with the lie and he knows he has to hurt Crowley on purpose. And after Crowley leaves, Aziraphale is MUST recover in seconds, because Metatron is coming back. Also notice that when Metatron comes back, he doesn't ask if Crowley agreed to go back to heaven or not. He just sends a "How did he take it?"

That is, there was never any choice, and for Metatron Aziraphale was only going to break the news that he was leaving. And Aziraphale had to invent a lie to the inmates to make sure Crowley stayed away from him.

#good omens #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers #good omens theory #LISTEN I AM FULL ON THIS THEORY. ITS LIVING IN MY HEAD RENT FREE

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vidavalor · 5 months

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Why do you think Crowley didn't just get another apartment?

Hi! Thanks for the ask. I have French buttercream chocolate cake tonight. I know, right? It's amazing. *cuts you a slice*

To answer your question, I think we have to look at the whole thing with where Crowley parks The Bentley and when (in both seasons) and, also, the scenes that emphasize Crowley and Aziraphale avoiding being seen together anywhere in the mornings and what all this has to do with what he says is his living situation in S2.

Meta on Crowley "living in his car" in S2 under the cut.

For Crowley and Aziraphale, what has always been what *absolutely cannot happen* is Heaven/Hell figuring out that Crowley will stay in the bookshop until very, very late into the evening, as that is the one thing they'd have trouble justifying. If Crowley parked The Bentley in front of the bookshop in the afternoon/evening and it was still there at 7am the next morning, it would send a message to anyone watching that their relationship isn't just intelligence business, it's not just friendship...and it's not even really just sex. If Heaven/Hell saw The Bentley outside the bookshop all night often enough, they would assume that Crowley and Aziraphale are in a romantic relationship and this is the one thing that Crowley and Aziraphale do not want them to figure out. They can hatch a wild plan if they get caught to justify any of the rest of it and maybe get away with it but there's no way out if they get caught out being in love when they're supposed to be sworn enemies... so, if they want to spend time alone together in the privacy of the bookshop, how do they work around the problem of potentially being noticed? The show actually showed us subtly in S1 before a little more overtly in S2.

When Crowley is going to come over for awhile-- and especially when it's going to mean that he's there into the evening-- he doesn't park The Bentley in front of the bookshop. He parks it in the vicinity but not too close-- around where it was when Aziraphale called him in 2.01. Two or so minutes' drive out, on a side street. (A two minute drive is a 15 or so minute walk so not that far but a bit away.) If he's coming to the shop alone, he'll probably use the side entrance to the bookshop but if he's been out with Aziraphale-- like he was in their 'fuck everything, the world is ending' lunch at The Ritz in 2008-- they'll walk back to the bookshop. If anyone notices Crowley entering it, it'll be during the day, right? While not ideal, it's innocuous enough. Aziraphale's bookshop is theoretically a business and is also an angelic embassy and Aziraphale could say that he's trying to turn Crowley to the light and make him into an informant if they were caught. Conversely, it couldn't hurt Crowley-- whose job, like Aziraphale's, is to spy on his counterpart-- to seem like he's gaming the corruptible angel and getting intel to further the demonic goals of Hell so he could say he's luring the angel to trusting him. Being in the bookshop during the day, during what are (for normal businesses lol) business hours, when the business is also an embassy, is one thing. It's the evening that's the problem for them. At that time of day, the bookshop is nothing but Aziraphale's residence and Crowley's presence during those hours becomes much riskier. So, how to get around that?

Here's them walking back to the bookshop from wherever Crowley's parked The Bentley on a side street after lunch in 2008/Eleven Years Ago in S1:

During lunch in 2008, they already planned for Crowley to come back to the bookshop with Aziraphale and since there's no plan for him to leave in any hurry, Crowley is already not parked in front of the bookshop so no one can recognize his car there late at night. This is practiced between them; they've been doing it for awhile by this point. They still are in S2, when we have several scenes of Crowley in The Bentley parked on a side street near the bookshop.

Since Crowley can't be seen then leaving the bookshop once the sun is up or it'd defeat the purpose of the car not being parked in front of it, whenever he comes over, he leaves the bookshop through the side door at some ungodly pre-dawn hour, walks to his car a few streets over (apparating into it would be suspicious to anyone who might have found it so he usually walks, looking like he was just out late causing demonic trouble), and then, in the past, would drive back to his apartment in Mayfair. That way, when the sun came up, anyone who might be watching his place would see The Bentley parked in front of it. Didn't see Crowley leave the bookshop from the afternoon? You must have missed him in a crowd on the sidewalk somewhere because there's his gorgeous, old, very recognizable car, parked in front of his place in Mayfair, gleaming in that early morning sun.

No one was ever the wiser to the fact that on some of these nights, Crowley was not home in his apartment or out raising hell all night but was actually in the bookshop nearly until dawn.

Is it kind of miserable for Crowley to have to leave every time in the middle of the night and for him and Aziraphale to never really know what it's like to wake up together? To never get to have breakfast and mornings together? Of course. But it keeps them safe so they deal with it. As a result, though, they have a thing about mornings.

In 1.01, when Crowley calls Aziraphale in the middle of the night and they both have separately learned of Armageddon, he tells Aziraphale that they "need to talk" and then they both, without further discussion, are at their bench in St. James' Park the next day. During their talk, they decide to go to lunch and go directly there, which means that they met up sometime around 11am-12pm. So even Crowley calling in the middle of the night and setting up the meeting in the park with their code phrase means that the time of the meeting is always predetermined to be at least 11am, no matter what they need to discuss. Even after learning of Armageddon beginning, they waited until almost lunch the next day to meet up and talk about it because they never want to be seen in public together in the earlier mornings. They're afraid of someone seeing them going for a walk or getting a coffee together before midday and thinking they spent the previous night together. Crowley is always gone from the bookshop before the sun starts to come up and they never meet before 11am in an effort to keep anyone from figuring out that they are often in the bookshop-- and Aziraphale's bed-- together through the early morning hours.

Which tends to make this, their first time getting breakfast even if Crowley knew it wasn't really that because Aziraphale's "problem voice" was on, even more hilarious...

Crowley's like I left you blissed out and half-asleep in your bed *four hours ago*, angel... how on Earth is there a 'naked man friend' in your bookshop right now? He knows that Shax told him there's something going on and that Aziraphale called with a problem but this is the only time of day they usually spend apart and they always do so if Aziraphale is going to cheat on him-- which he's not lol-- this is when he would and based on the fact that Aziraphale panics at Crowley thinking there's another guy in the bookshop and based on Crowley's wtf? face at hearing there is, these two aren't sleeping with anyone else anymore and have a monogamous thing, even if they probably sort of forgot to have a discussion about it. Crowley can tell from Aziraphale's reaction that there's some misunderstanding here and then just gets bemused about it but also about ready to kill whatever guy, naked or not, is causing Aziraphale problems, only to find out that it's, well, the guy who tried to kill them.

In 2.01, when Gabriel makes his rather noticeable arrival on Aziraphale's doorstep, it is the mid-part of the morning-- probably somewhere around 9am as Maggie was just getting ready to open her store for the day, Nina was still busy but her more immediate pre-work coffee rush seemed to be winding down, and Aziraphale was having his breakfast tea on yet another day that his shop was not opening lol. The most major character to miss Gabriel's arrival is, of course, Crowley. Crowley's meeting with Shax is just before/happening in tandem with Aziraphale at Maggie's shop and then Gabriel's arrival and actually opens the storyline in the present in S2. The point is that Crowley misses Gabriel's arrival because he is not in the bookshop in the early mornings, which is then something that is heavily emphasized through Crowley and Aziraphale's first scene of the season via Nina to not just be about this particular early morning but all mornings.

When Aziraphale calls Crowley and has him meet him in Give Me Coffee, Nina has never met Crowley before. Give Me Coffee is fifteen steps across the street from the bookshop and sells coffee, tea and baked goods and Nina doesn't know Crowley. Nina has been there running it since post-S1. She knows Aziraphale though and, until the morning of 2.01, she thought the old bookseller a confirmed bachelor. In the span of 20 minutes, he gets a naked man possible deliveroo strippergram on his doorstep in front of the whole neighborhood and then then this other hot-- and surprisingly clothed-- Ginger Goth guy shows up to meet him for coffee. Nina's best guess for why the bookseller and his Crowley have never come across the street to her shop before and seem like they've literally never gotten breakfast together while they also "go way back" and have chemistry and affection for one another for days is that they're having an affair. Nina correctly guesses that their relationship is a secret and applies the most logical presumption that a human without knowledge of Heaven/Hell could-- that it's infidelity, not that they could be murdered if they were found out-- because these two live in London Soho in the year 2023 but are still afraid of being found out.

So, all of this shows how there's no Crowley in the bookshop in the morning. Neither of them have ever slipped across the street to bring back coffee and croissants for two at 7am or gone over to Nina's together. Aziraphale has been to Give Me Coffee alone before. Crowley and The Bentley are always nowhere to be found near the bookshop at this hour, which is how Crowley missed Gabriel's arrival.

So what does this all have to do with why Crowley doesn't just get a new apartment ahead of S2?

When Hell showed up in the form of Shax to reclaim the place in Mayfair in which Crowley was living, it really left Crowley with two choices. He wasn't about to tell Aziraphale because Aziraphale would feel like he had to ask him to move in with him for real and it was too dangerous. They can't have that so why bring it up and hurt them more? The two choices Crowley felt he had were to either get a new apartment or to just keep on as he's been living because the truth is... he hadn't been home to Mayfair that much lately anyway.

Before, Crowley and Aziraphale would try to go some amount of time between seeing each other but after S1, maybe with some exceptions around the Covid lockdowns but definitely not since they were lifted, they just stopped bothering that much. They were already together on borrowed time with no idea how much time they had until Armageddon: Round Two would start and they just wanted to be together so they kept up their whole routine of Crowley out before dawn and no mornings but Crowley had been more or less living in the bookshop for awhile ahead of S2.

As Aziraphale says here:

Meaning: they live together. Crowley's there all the time. Aziraphale does not mind. It's been months of Crowley in the bookshop every night. Aziraphale loves it. He hates him having to leave in the middle of the night as he always does but they've settled into a little domestic thing the best they can with the situation they have. The line is also laden with innuendo, suggesting they're not always just up talking and listening to old records until 4am but are regularly, ya know, setting off some alarm bells in Heaven together. (Couple Aziraphale's innuendo in the "plenty of use" scene with why Crowley says Muriel needs to leave the bookshop when he says he wants to take Aziraphale to breakfast at The Ritz. "We need a little 'us time'" meant all amnesiac angels and assorted representatives of Heaven and Hell need to get the Someplace out of this bookshop right now so I can finally watch that angel eat some pancakes and then take him to bed in our bed without worrying about someone needing a hot chocolate in the middle of the night.)

Their level of domesticity is actually shown to be pretty cute with this bit:

This is the most living together thing ever because it's saying that Crowley is just frequently in the bookshop while Aziraphale is out now. He's not even just there to see him but he spends time there alone while Aziraphale goes to the bank for change for the four books he sells a month and to his appointment with his barber and all his other little errands. You know Crowley likes waiting inside because he likes having a little time alone in a place where he's safe and won't be disturbed but also really the whole little domestic bliss of Aziraphale coming back and being all "Crowley? There you are" and showing him what he got at the shops and such. It's the most normal married thing imaginable and feels like they really live together and Crowley loves every minute of it.

So Hell taking his place in Mayfair back leaves Crowley with two options because it's still too risky for him and Aziraphale to just full on live together entirely: he can get a new apartment or he can basically just keep living with Aziraphale for most of the day and then spend the mornings in The Bentley/out.

If he gets a new apartment, he'd have to actually go there sometimes. He'd have to be seen moving his stuff into it and he'd have to get a new bed and he'd have to spend nights there sometimes to prove he's living there. It couldn't be suspiciously close to Aziraphale's place, so now he's got to drive more in the early morning hours. He's been spending so much time with Aziraphale, the thought of sleeping alone and spending the evenings alone again, even for a few nights now and then, is depressing. It was miserable before and now he can't to back to it again and he doesn't think Aziraphale would want to, either. He also doesn't exactly know how to tell him he'd have to be away some nights again without hurting him. They've both been alone more often than not for most of their existences and Crowley can't do it anymore. There's also, though, that getting another apartment also doesn't do much to help keep Heaven & Hell from thinking he and Aziraphale are involved... but pretending he's living in his car just might.

The only being of Heaven or Hell still talking to either him or Aziraphale is Shax and Crowley has to keep meeting up with her to get information on what's going on there and try to get a sense of how much time he and Aziraphale might have before Round Two. If he tells Shax that he's living in his car, then it makes him look less close to Aziraphale. Everyone knows Aziraphale has a private residence upstairs in the bookshop and that, if he and Crowley were really close, he'd have offered for Crowley to stay with him if he lost his apartment... so what if Crowley can make Heaven & Hell think they aren't that close, they just teamed up to stop Armageddon? He's even homeless now and the angel won't give him a place to stay. He tells Shax to tell Hell's Finance Office to send his bills to his car and Shax actually bought it and said she tried. Shax has been reporting back to Hell that Crowley is living in his car, which is what Crowley wanted her to think was the case.

Let Hell think they've won over him and taken his place and left him living in his car on a side street, let Shax keep meeting him in the early morning hours in his car on that side street... so that none of them figure out that he's actually living in the bookshop with Aziraphale.

In the meantime, no new apartment means no more nights away from Aziraphale. No commute back to it after picking up The Bentley on the side street means more time he can be with Aziraphale before he has to slip away in the early morning. He can just keep going from the bookshop to his car a few streets away each morning like he has been and that's the funniest part of it to him. Hell thinks they left him homeless and abandoned him and, really, they just made it easier for him to hide from them the fact that he's living with the angel he loves. All he has to do is bullshit them and he's good at that.

Crowley talking about living in his car is basically this in attitude, on steroids:

His pre-S2 conversations with Shax were like... Fuck, Shax, the crick in my neck from *sleeping in my car*... if Hell's Finance Office wants to find me, they can send the bills *to my car*... Bastard angel owns half of Soho, probably why I can't find a place... tell Lord Beezlebub if they're looking for me, they can go fuck themselves but if they absolutely have to contact me, they can find me *in my car*...

...and three hours or so earlier from every one of those conversations, Crowley was actually curled up in bed with Aziraphale in the bookshop.

#ineffable husbands #good omens #good omens 2 #crowley #aziraphale #good omens meta #aziracrow #shax good omens #the bentley

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actual-changeling · 5 months

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I do wonder if Crowley's optimism is actually optimism. If it weren't 4 a.m., I'd do a philosophical deep dive, but since it is, I'll just try to string some thoughts together.

At the core of Crowley's questioning stands, "What is the point of it all?"—it's what he wonders as Starmaker and what he defeatedly asks Shax at the beginning of season 2. It strikes me as a very specific flavour of trauma-related existential dread reinforced by his fall and the concept of the ineffable plan.

The thing is that Crowley already knows the answer to that question; it's just not a satisfying one. Because what is the point of it all? of us? of our lives? of all the suffering and the good and the bad and, well, everything?

There is no point. It's a fact you need to come to terms with rather quickly if you grow up traumatized, otherwise, you will break. There was no point in Crowley falling, just as there's no point in anything he or Aziraphale did over the last few millennia—they just are.

It's why any meta questions focusing on God won't get anywhere, there is no answer God would ever offer us or them; there is no answer that matters, period. Maybe God has one, maybe they don't, but it has zero effect on the story or what happens to them. It's terrifying, in a way, to think about it like this, because if there's no point to any aspect of our lives, why bother? Why bother when there are so many horrible things that could happen?

And THAT is where we come all the way back around to Crowley's optimism. He has long accepted the lack of answers (though I can tell you from personal experience that you never really stop asking anyway), but he needs to find a way to live with the world as it is.

'Everything's going to be fine sooner or later' isn't optimism; it's what you need to tell yourself to not jump in front of the next train.

Crowley's optimism is dreams. Dreams of him and Aziraphale being happy and together, dreams of their cottage in the south downs, dreams of heaven and hell never touching them again.

Dreams of life turning out to be better than what he is currently living.

From the outside, it can certainly look like optimism, but I see him, I am him, and I can guarantee you that it's not. It's a tiny pinprick of light in an otherwise dark sky that may or may not be actually there, but if you stop telling yourself that it exists, there's nothing left but darkness. You're afraid of the dark and its teeth because you have been bitten by them before.

So you keep repeating it over and over and over, and maybe one day it will no longer be a lie or you will be the light, but for now this is what you got.

It is also the reason why Crowley is going to be a wreck in season 3. Finally, he thought, we can be together and happy, and in love without being afraid. He reached for the pinprick of light, thinking it to be a star, and got ripped apart by sharpened teeth instead. Crowley needs that lie, and he just got completely disillusioned.

What's the point when, after everything, Aziraphale still leaves him?

No matter how much they love each other, Crowley needs to find an answer to that question within himself, not in Aziraphale or anyone else.

#alex talks good omens #good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #good omens season 2 #go2 #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable divorce #the final fifteen #good omens meta

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crowleysgirl56 · 2 months

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Wildest dreams wishes for Good Omens Season 3 which will probably not come true but I can still hope hey!

Number 17.

Sex! That’s right we’re going there. Because my latest random post got a lot of differing opinions (which was really just for shits and giggles. Nothing I say should be taken seriously 😜) I thought I’d address what my actual prediction and also wildest hope for season 3 is.

I think what we will get is an implied sex scene. For a number of reasons.

1. The tone of the show is not explicit. Even though you can definitely point to other Amazon Prime shows that will go there (exhibit A: American Gods), I don’t think we would get that for Good Omens.

2. It’s a comedy. So if anything we would get something that is almost silly. Probably to parallel the ridiculous and funny sex scene between Anathema and Newt in season 1 (think of them under the bed popping in and out of frame as papers fly everywhere). I don’t think the S3 scene would be specifically played for laughs, because this is the type of show that is very respectful of a same sex relationship. We’ve had way too many horrible experiences for decades of television programs playing up “men having sex = stupid/silly/funny/not serious/etc”. Neil would not let something like this happen (Exhibit B: American Gods, again). So I would suggest the situation leading up to the act would probably be ridiculous or something we can laugh at, but the act itself would not.

3. Neil reblogged a post a few months ago and annoyingly I can’t find it. But it had something to do with same sex coupling in media and how important it is, and he basically said something along the lines of “I don’t write these kinds of scenes but now I wish I did”. I think he was possible responding to someone saying “Neil wouldn’t do something like that”. That’s a pretty interesting thought and a very pointed comment to make at a time when he had either just started writing season 3, or right before it. Or at least that’s when I saw the post. This is Tumblr so for all I know it could have been posted 2 years ago (seriously, how does Tumblr work? I’ve only been here 6 months!).

So what do I think will ACTUALLY happen? I think we’ll get Crowley and Aziraphale passionately kiss, get to Aziraphale’s bedroom and then fall onto the bed out of shot. If we’re lucky we might get close up shots of hands intertwining, more kissing, some removal of clothing perhaps. Then the scene would shift outside to Whickber street. People will probably noticing a trembling in the ground. Maybe in Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death we see tea and coffee cups rattling on the table and Nina looking confused and concerned. Then a brilliant white light pours out of the upper floor window of the book shop. Cut back to Aziraphale and Crowley holding each other and panting, but it’s a tasteful shoulders up shot.

Subtle, implied, still pretty hot.

So in the mean time, if you want something explicit, to AO3 my fellow Smutgoblins!

#good omens #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #crowley #aziraphale #crowley x arizaphale #i can dream can’t i?#david tennant #michael sheen #good omens season 3 #wildest dreams #smutgoblins #good omens headcanons

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triflesandparsnips · 1 year

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I'm not seeing enough deep-dive nonsense about the new Good Omens season 2 poster drop on my dash, and by god that means I must be the one to deliver it.

For those who haven't seen it yet, behold:

...there's a lot in here to go a wee bit feral over, if one was so inclined, and lord knows I love an inclination.

The Obvious Stuff

1. There Was Only One Bed Chair

This is the bulk of the commentary I've seen, and tbh, it's pretty great. "I am bored/busy and ignoring you but also what is personal space, never heard of her, we will not be taking questions at this time."

Notably, however, this is the second time we've seen them back to back-- the majority of the poster art we saw for the first season had them side by side. In both cases they're in a position to face some third thing together-- the difference, perhaps, is that side by side might imply equality of situation, while back to back implies implicit trust that the other won't stab you there.

2. The bookshop

Aw, look at them. Look at it. What a glorious little mess. This is them in London. Arizaphale looks pleased with the situation; Crowley looks bored af but he's also squished up on that one dang chair, so there's a "cat sitting next to you because parallel play and mirroring are the Best Interactions" feel to it.

3. Tea and wine

Arizaphale's got a teacup, Crowley's got a wine glass, this is very Them and indicative of their Vibes. Tbh, I think this is just a nice bit of design work, but it's worth calling out.

4. The outside street

The shop across the way is using a Gothic and reads "GIVE ME" before being cut off. No clue what it means, but it probably means something.

5. The tagline

The previous tagline we got was "Something's going down in the Up" (with that grey feather falling between their black and white wings)-- this tagline reads "Everyday it's a-getting closer."

Easiest interpretation is, oho, we're getting closer to the second season, and gosh there will be some Plot in it. And sure, yes, it works for that too, huzzah. But leaving aside the "it" and what that may mean-- "a-getting" is a fascinating word choice. It evokes similar constructions like, say, the somewhat obscure "Sumer is icumen in" (a song about the changing of the seasons and also encouraging a cuckoo to go lay some eggs in other birds nests if u no wat im sayin eyyyyy)-- and the significantly less obscure protest song "The Times They Are A-Changin'", whose ending stanza is:

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is rapidly fadin'

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin'

Gosh.

Now the Real Fun Starts

This poster is a composite image (as so many ads are), composed of different bits and pieces to form a whole impression -- based on fun stuff like relative pixelation and whatnot, you can often tell what portions of an image were there to start with, and what were specifically added in after the fact. How packed this poster is in tiny details -- which is exactly where I would hide fun hints to things -- is generally a cue for me to take a closer look, and I have been, I think, rewarded.

1. The books with legible titles

Zoom in on Aziraphale's book-- he's reading Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. The "two cities" in play are Paris and London, and the book is set before and during the French Revolution.

It's the story of a man who had been previously imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years, and then was released to go live with his daughter -- who he has never met, what with the whole "imprisoned" thing -- in London.

The opening paragraph is:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

The pile of books in the foreground have two visible titles: the topmost one is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (a "novel of manners" that's considered a heavy-hitting romantic classic, and also yes the leads are both prideful and prejudiced and it takes an entire book for them to clear that up) and Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (a young adult coming-of-age adventure story about a kid who finds himself on an adventure with a bunch of pirates to discover buried treasure).

Of note: A Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island also all have note tabs sticking out of them, and are the only books that have them. This is reminiscent of how Arizaphale studied and referenced Agnes Nutter's prophecies.

Some of the books beneath the window technically have titles, but they appear to be about as pixelated as the rest of that section, and so I suspect they're just part of the scenery.

Similarly, most of the books on the background shelves are like that as well, except:

Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (A satirical novel set in World War II; Wikipedia briefly explains that "the novel examines the absurdity of war and military life through the experiences of Yossarian and his cohorts, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home." The book also coined the phrase "catch-22," which is a situation someone can't escape because of paradoxical rules-- in the case of the book, you can't ask to be evaluated for insanity so that you can be exempt from flying dangerous missions, because "anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy.")

Iain Banks's The Crow Road (and a first edition, perhaps? I haven't read it, but apparently it's a Scottish family drama about a perfect murder against the backdrop of the 1990s Gulf War. Its opening line is "It was the day my grandmother exploded." The phrase "the crow road" is a euphemism, in the book, for death.)

Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (Sparknotes says it's "the story of a man named Marlow's struggle to tell and to understand the life story of a man named Jim" -- a young man who goes to sea, makes a terrible and cowardly decision while following his leaders, and then spends the rest of his life haunted by it.)

There's at least one extra, partially obscured title:

It appears to read "THE BODY ------ and ------", which makes me wonder if it's an anthology of murder mystery short stories.

Leaving aside the uncertain book, commonalities between many of these books include:

soldiers, war, and the horrors/absurdities thereof

doubles and parallels

death and murder

a young/inexperienced protagonist thrown in with more experienced/weirder folk

fragmented and out of order narratives, sometimes having to be pieced together from multiple viewpoints

...pirates

2. The strange but noticeable inserts

There are several images that have been inserted into the poster that -- unlike the teacup and wine glass mentioned above -- don't seem to make a lot of contextual sense and are therefore, perhaps, extra information. These include:

a. the three lizard boys

b. the broken smartphone

c. the matchbox with the quote on the side

d. the camera

e. this statuette that seems suspicious

f. this record and scroll that seem out of place

g. the clockface with the missing hand (which may be just for the Aesthetic, but whatever, I'm including it)

What do they mean? No clue. I suspect it will become apparent as we get trailers and/or the actual show.

In Conclusion

Uh.

Look. Design teams can do all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons. All of this could mean absolutely nothing.

But.

Using my magical powers of bullshit deduction, I might look at all this, and that grey feather falling from the earlier poster, and say... well... the war's still ongoing, yeah? So maybe... maybe there needs to be a new angel keeping an eye on things on Earth. Or an eye specifically on Aziraphale and Crowley.

And that would look SUSPICIOUS, right? So this is an angel who's maybe... a little bit Fallen. For the sake of the Mission. Like, they've agreed to sin just a lil bit, just enough to justify being thrown out of Heaven, and they're not actively in Hell because they're, oh, just stopping off, or maybe just going really slowly, or maybe they were sent back up from Hell because they were still "too good" and all that Pureness of Spirit was stinking up the place--

Whatever. Point is, they're on Earth, they're very confused, it sure would be nice if these very Established metaphysical elders could give them a few hints about how to get on. We'd then get to enjoy a Guide to Living a Totally Normal Human Life given by these two disaster dorks, plus whatever nonsense is derived from, idk, various extraneous plot shenanigans, probably involving a Murder and maybe a MacGuffin Maltese Falcon.

And most importantly: this new angel? Wow no they couldn't possibly be a spy because again WOW, what kind of angel would deliberately Fall? Wouldn't that require doing the wrong thing to do a right thing? ...okay maybe, but can it really be wrong if it was done by command? ...well, wait, it surely must be wrong because otherwise the mechanism wouldn't have worked-- but then, wait, which thing was the wrong thing--

And Aziraphale and Crowley would watch this bouncing volley of cognitive dissonance with great interest, also possibly while holding hands.

#good omens #season 2 #good omens season 2 rampant speculation

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filmtv2022 · 7 months

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Every Part Of You

Pairing: Aziraphale x Reader (Female Reader)

Synopsis: Aziraphale struggles to understand why the reader would want to be with him. The reader takes it into her own hands, and does what she can to prove that he is more than worthy of her love.

Warnings: slight spice/suggestive behavior/kissing

A/N: I loved writing this shorter piece. Also, I know this is a story with a female reader, but I firmly believe that Crowley and Aziraphale are endgame for the actual course of the show. We need season 3 of Good Omens ASAP! Those two blundering idiots (with all the love and affection) love each other!

Warm light filled the room, though the sky outside the windows sat pitch black. Even the stars didn’t shine. Heavy rain beat on the glass, creating a steady calming rhythm. Snuggled into his side, her head rested on his chest, their legs tangled beneath the sheets. Strong hands held her as they traced patterns along their bare skin. A sleepy haze settled over her, but the same didn’t seem to be happening for him. His body remained tense as if he was ready to spring out of bed at any moment.

Pushing herself up on an elbow, she scanned over his face. Deep lines of contemplation sat between his furrowed brows. Smoothing over the lines with the tips of her fingers, she watched as he turned his face to meet theirs.

“What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“It’s nothing, I promise,” his voice was steady but low.

“Don’t try to lie to me, I know you better than that,” she brushed an errant curl from his face as she whispered, “Talk to me, please.”

“I just… I don’t…” turning slightly, he wrapped her further in his arms, “I don’t understand how I got here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don’t understand how a woman like you could ever love a man like… well, like me.”

“What are you talking about? You can’t possibly be that daft.” She chuckled quietly, but the humor quickly faded when she clocked the look in his eyes. His question was no attempt at humor.

“You’re serious?” she waited for a response, but when none came she kept going, “Oh my god, did I do something to make you feel-”

“It’s not you, trust me.”

“Then what is it? Who is it?”

“It isn’t one person, it’s… I see the way people look at us when we walk down the street or sit down for a nice dinner out. Their eyes linger just a touch too long before they turn to whisper to their friends. Their attention never truly leaving us. Confusion, that’s what I see on their faces.”

“You’re wrong. If you think for a second that you’re not worthy of my love, then you’re wrong. I’m not sure you’ve ever been more wrong.”

“Sweetheart, please don’t try to make this better, I-”

“No, I’m not going to let you keep thinking this way. Just listen to me for a second, will you?”

“Okay, fine, I'm all yours.”

“Wonderful. Now… where should I start?” Roving over his face and body with her eyes, she contemplated where to begin, “Oh, I know, how ‘bout we start with this.”

Her slender hand came up to brush gently over his forehead, following the gentle curve of his hairline, “I love this mind. Your creativity, your intelligence. The way you are always thinking of me, looking for ways to care for me.” He smiled sweetly up at her, running her fingers along the fine lines of his forehead, but it didn’t reach his eyes. There sat a sadness and uncertainty in his gaze.

Sliding her fingers into the soft curls a low hum rumbled through her chest. She combed through his shocking white locks as she continued to speak, “And these curls, the way they feel between my fingertips it’s… it’s heaven.”

Tugging lightly at the roots, she watched in awe at how his eyes closed in reverence and his head fell further into the pillow, exposing his neck to her. A quiet noise fell from him and he focused on her touch. Her soft lips pressed into his temples, brushing a feather-light kiss to each.

Pulling back just enough to see his face again, she swept her thumb gently over his lips, the soft flesh moving delicately under her touch, his eyes fluttered open at the sound of her words, “And your voice, I love that too. The way you speak life back into me when I need it most.”

Bringing their lips together, she allowed the kiss to linger. His strong hands came to rest on her back, pressing her tenderly to him hoping beyond anything to hold onto this moment. Breaking the embrace, the warmth of her breath was hot on him as she spoke, “Your lips, the way they feel against my body… it’s intoxicating.”

Firmly held beneath her luscious weight, he lifted his head so that he could find her skin. Taking his time, he laid a line of fire along the column of her throat and along her chest. A sharp gasp tore through the air as he mouthed at the swell of her breast, his teeth raking lightly against the tender flesh.

“Don’t try to distract me, my love.”

He grumbled in amusement, “All right, as you were.”

“Thank you,” a bright smile painted her face.

Sliding down his body, her hands and lips trailed in the wake. His muscles twitched beneath her touch, the feeling of her sent electricity running over every inch of him, “You know what else I love, dear?”

Giving him no time to speak, the coarse hair on his chest tickled her nose as she nipped at the spot over his heart, “I love this heart and the way that it cares for others. You make people feel special ... like they matter.”

She soothed over her bite before moving to place a nearly imperceptible kiss on his sternum. Trailing down over his soft stomach, she listened to the way his breath hitched, his hands found purchase on whatever part of her they could. She reached the waistband of his boxers, toying with the smooth cotton. His hips jerked up to meet her touch, and a desperate whine fell from him as he begged for more. A sly grin twisted her lips at his neediness, “Hold on darling, I’m not quite done.”

Throwing a leg over his, she straddled his hips, the blankets that had covered her pooled around her waist leaving her entirely exposed to his gaze. One of his hands found the curve of his waist, holding her in place. While the other wandered higher, palming her breast. Leaning down. she pressed her chest into his, finding his lips again. It started slowly, languid, but grew heavier as the seconds passed. Her hips rolled against his, earning a heady groan from him. Matching her need, he threaded his thick fingers through her silky locks, gripping tightly to keep her close.

With her lungs heaving for air, she was forced to pull back, her forehead resting on his, “I love you. Every part of you. Please, don’t you ever doubt that again.”

“Never,” smiling against her lips, he held her more surely, closing the minuscule gap between them.

#aziraphale fanfiction #good omens aziraphale #aziraphale x reader #good omens #aziraphale

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courtneysartblog · 11 days

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The Places an Angel and Demon Inhabit Outside of Heaven and Hell:

I’ve seen a couple people talk about how Aziraphale’s bookshop is the anthesis to Heaven, cozy, warm, overcrowded with stuff, but I never see Crowley’s apartment in this discussion at all, so let’s do that!

In so many ways Aziraphale goes against the grain of what it probably means to be an angel. He has and cares for and loves his material objects. And once we go to Heaven, we see just how much in contrast Aziraphale’s home is. The bookshop is sometimes darkly lit yes, but it’s also warm, lived in, well loved, antiquated, messy and so full of material objects where heaven is stark, bright, empty. At the end of season two Aziraphale is willing to give it all up (you can’t leave this bookshop/nothing lasts forever), but this is a final solution to Aziraphale, he's putting everything he is aside to protect, to save, but it’s not who he is.

Because when Aziraphale’s in heaven, he stands out from the angels. He has color, he not as put together, he feels, almost human (I think that’s why he looks so off when he’s discorporate and put in the all-white suit).

Now in many ways Crowley is a foil to Aziraphale. He’s the grump to the sunshine, the dark to the light. And his space reflects that.

He’s neat as a pin, his flat is modern and spacious, and has much less stuff. And this is where my interest comes in, because, just like Aziraphale, Crowley’s place, the things he makes a home in, are the opposite of Hell. Hell is grungy, overly dark, messy, and kind of gross. Crowley’s home feels much less lived in than Aziraphale’s, but it’s obvious that Crowley has a style, that he’s a careful curator of things, and that his home is modern, stylish, and clean and full of modern luxury, a very different vibe than Hell.

(There are no good photos of Hell but if your reading this, I know you know what it looks like)

But if Heaven and Hell are opposites and Crowley and Aziraphale’s places are opposites, that would make the bookshop more aligned with Hell and Crowley’s flat more aligned with Heaven. I want to thank the amazing prop people and set dressers who make each Good Omens location different, because yes they do an amazing job, but also Hell never reminds me of the bookshop nor does Crowley's flat remind me exactly of Heaven, even though they are more stylistically aligned. Yes, Aziraphale’s shop can be messy and dark, but it’s too human and cared for to ever truly be like Hell, and Crowley’s place is too carefully curated and too moody to ever be like Heaven.

But there are similarities there, especially for Crowley. And as a former Angel, it’s just so interesting to me that Crowley’s home would ever be, even a little bit, like Heaven. The trial of Hell is the only time Crowley’s place looks even a little like Hell, with the moody lighting and use of modern concrete, but in most ways, Crowley’s home is much more aligned with the Heaven aesthetic: it’s clean, somewhat barren, modern, a more expensive look, and probably has great views overlooking the city, much like Heaven has that big room overlooking the buildings of Earth. But we know Crowley does not see himself aligned with Heaven, and the difference in his set dressing makes the same distinctions that Aziraphale’s makes from both Hell and Heaven. Crowley might be made from the same stuff as an angel, but he’s grown too dark, grown too human, grown too attached to material objects. (It's also interesting to think how different Crowley's style is from Aziraphale but how, even still, the bookshop is somewhere he feels so comfortable, his home.)

Aziraphale and Crowley have spent too long on Earth, gone native. Humans, material objects, and love, things they have collected through their years, are not just a part of their history, it's shaped who they are. There's a reason an angel like Muriel is so naive, almost a clean slate, why we see even Haster and Liger have such a hard time appearing human, they haven't spent enough time there, they haven't been shaped yet.

Something, something, shades of grey, Aziraphale and Crowley hold a bit of each other and bit of Heaven and Hell, a lot of Earth inside themselves.

For both Aziraphale and Crowley there are remnants of Heaven and Hell in their spaces, but the differences set them in such stark contrast from the entities they are supposed to represent. Heaven and Hell are both modeled to be a corporate office building after all, Heaven the top floor where the important workers are, Hell the basement were the low rung workers toil. Aziraphale and Crowley have set themselves outside this dynamic, instead they have created a home, spaces that show just how different they are to their respective offices. Places, it think, that show they have learned what love is, what to be human is.

Anyway, here’s another reason to think every person who worked on Good Omens is brilliant.

#good omens #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #crowly x aziraphale #good omens theory #aziracrow #crowley #aziraphale

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coldasicecream · 5 months

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i started reading the book for the first time recently and somehow it just really hit me how all Crowley and Aziraphale have is each other.

like, there’s LITERALLY no one else who genuinely understands them. i mean, think about it.

they can’t get attached to humans for very long. Crowley and Aziraphale are immortal and have lived thousands of years, the lifespan of one person is nothing compared to that. if they get attached to humans it will never end well.

and even if they do make friends on earth they can’t really go around telling them "oh by the way, i‘m actually not human but an angel/demon send here to watch over humanity". they can’t open up to humans or tell them who they really are.

but then, neither of them are really attached to heaven or hell anymore either.

even in season 1, when they are still officially working for their 'head offices', it’s obvious that earth is just so much more important to them. Crowley and Aziraphale have been on earth since the beginning and that puts such a big distance between them and the other angels/demons.

in heaven and in hell they constantly say how Aziraphale and Crowley have been on earth for too long or that they have 'gone native'.

the angels and demons don’t trust A&C and they also just don’t understand how much Azi and Crowley love earth. they just can’t understand how earth and humanity mean so much to them.

which means that A&C really don‘t have any meaningful connections outside of each other. imagine how lonely that must be. it makes so much sense for them to become friends, and eventually, fall in love. they are the only ones who get it.

they are completely on their own and they have been for 6000 years. they depend on each other and they need each other.

which makes it even more devastating that they will be separated in season 3.

#sorry i know i‘m rambling and this isn’t really anything knew #but this just really hit me #they are all alone #and they need each other #i don’t know how to cope with the idea of them being separated #good omens #good omens rant #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #aziraphale #crowley #6000 years of pining #vi reads good omens #saying good omens stuff

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ghostofchaos-past · 9 months

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okay, I'm finally posting my good omens fic masterlist. then I'm going to bed i promise

this list will probably be added onto as i discover more fics, but here is what i have so far

also keep in mind i have no clue if I'm doing this right

- Since Eden (Till Armageddon) by ikarakie

the british museum needs to take their nose out of crowley's damn business. OR, a 200 year old journal full of crowley's pining and confessions ends up on display.

literally the first good omens fanfic i ever read, and it is heartbreaking and fluffy and amazing and so well worded oh my god nothing but praise for this thing

- Against the Bitter Cold by EdosianOrchids901

A pointless temptation assignment leaves Crowley stranded in the middle of a snowstorm. By the time he stumbles back to the inn, he’s so cold and disoriented that he can’t even remember why he was outside. Aziraphale is ready to lend a helping hand.

pre any relationship, sick hurt/comfort, absolutely beautiful and adorable

- love is not a sin by planetunderseige

Heaven gives him the ultimatum. Never see Crowley again, or get cast away. The choice is easy. Aziraphale falls.

ohmygod so heartbreaking, short and sad and beautifully written.

- Falling Slowly by ShesAKillerQueen98

Three months of peace after the failed apocalypse ends in tragedy as Heaven finds a new way to punish Aziraphale, one that's much more permanent. Will he and Crowley be able to pick up the pieces?

the description undersells it. normally when i say a fic broke me, I'm exaggerating. I'M NOT FUCKING EXAGGERATING THIS TIME. this is my all time favorite fic, pure angst and sadness with a slight bit of fluff at the end, absolutely beautiful and it left me sobbing. wahoo <3

- get religion quick (cause you're looking divine) by brinnanza

So it was fine. Even if Crowley couldn’t love him, he clearly liked him well enough, and that was almost the same thing. It no doubt would have continued to be fine, or at least fine-adjacent, were it not for a narrowly averted apocalypse and several bottles of a really quite nice Riesling Aziraphale had found in the back room of his newly restored bookshop.

oh poor oblivious aziraphale. i love this fic so much, the most plausible, in my opinion, to how their love confession probably would go.

- Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark yet again by EdosianOrchid901

Aziraphale is attacked by a group of humans who want to control his powers. He’s incapacitated by magic and unable to defend himself, totally helpless. But something dark and powerful bursts out of the shadows to rescue him.

angry crowley. scared crowley. its what i live for. cw for violence in this one obvs, but wow its sweet

- darling, let me hold you by @goomens

There’s no use thinking about it, ruminating over it. The bitter disappointment and crippling shame of it all. Crowley sniffs harshly, blinking the wet from his eyes and takes a deep, shaking inhale. He slowly steers the Bentley away from the pavement and drives. He doesn’t know where he’s going, but it hardly matters now.

a band-aid in these trying times. post the end of season two.

#not much of a masterlist #but i tried #i only have a few i really like tbh #i love angst can you tell #good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens fanfiction #ineffable husbands fanfiction #here have some angst #aziraphale #crowley #fallen aziraphale #good omens fluff #good omens angst #fanfiction #ao3

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sherlock-is-ace · 3 months

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I have been thinking a lot about Aziraphale and the whole divorce thing, and every day that passes I get more convinced he did nothing wrong.

So, ok y'all, get ready for the meta post nobody asked for and nobody wants! Under the cut tho cause it's long af kdfjhgdfg

*EDIT: There's an edit in the body of this whole post btw (i marked it in red)

Let me preface this by saying I haven't watched the show in a bit, so idk how correct I'm being, but also... this is my own opinion and interpretation so there isn't really an objective way of seeing it... It's ok if you disagree, we're allowed to have different views, it's a show, it doesn't matter.

Now, the divorce. A painful plot point that left us all hurting, including Aziraphale and Crowley themselves. A clear case of miscommunication and misunderstanding, season 2 was honestly all about that. Crowley's "we're on our own side" argument, full of raw feeling and love was really framed to be like the correct option, but I genuinely don't think Aziraphale's side is the wrong one. There are no wrong sides, just two solutions to the same problem (and in my opinion, a more useful solution).

Throughout season 1, both Heaven and Hell shared a common goal: make Armageddon happen, have a war and win it. Other than the outcome of the war, the goal was the exact same. To be fair, most of season two Heaven and Hell also share a common goal: find Gabriel, and honestly... still fight and win the war. And as it was evident by their continue work towards that goal, they're not going to stop. And that's the problem that presents itself: how to stop the world from ending... again.

Here's where Crowley and Aziraphale have different views.

Crowley would rather leave. In season 1 he offeres to literally leave, abandon Earth and just hang with Aziraphale somewhere far away (sweet and romantic, and honestly a valid solution). In season 2 I'm not fully sure he meant leave leave, maybe fight but on their own together (as I said, I haven't rewatched the show recently, I won't claim I know what he meant). But still, leave their respective sides completely and stand outside them.

Aziraphale would rather fight. In season 1 he was still convinced Heaven's side in the whole Armageddon thing was the correct option. In season 2 I'm not so sure. Aziraphale wants to change Heaven. He has learned from Crowley's suggestion box idea and wants to fight to change Heaven itself. He will stop them from within.

They're both very valid solutions to the same problem. But neither of them can compromise. Crowley would simply not accept going to Heaven and change it from within, and Aziraphale simply cannot accept leaving this whole thing alone and maybe get the whole world exploded in the process. And both their points of view make perfect sense with their characters and their histories. Crowley can't trust Heaven's ability to change cause he tried this before, he suggested a suggestion box and that cost him his entire life, he fell because of it. Of course he can't see the point in Aziraphale's plan. And Aziraphale's connection to Earth and to its humans is deeper than Crowley's, in my opinion. EDIT* He can't sit and do nothing, or not do enough. Not to mention his devotion to Heaven still, be it because of trauma or actual faith, he can't sit quietly while Heaven behaves like that. He can't believe Heaven could behave like that, it shouldn't! Remember his shock in season 1 when he tried to convince Gabriel that there was no need for a war, and found out that the war was the plan. Heaven wanted the war. And now he has the perfect opportunity to put a stop to that, Heaven offered to have him back.

EDIT: actually, no, I don't think Aziraphale's connection to humanity is deeper. I think Aziraphale's personal benefit on Earth amongst humanity is greater than Crowley's.

So the divorce to me is just a simple plain old break up. They couldn't sacrifice their beliefs for each other, and they couldn't find a compromise. Which is valid. Sad, but valid. They also couldn't fully explain themselves and their positions on this. Maybe because there was no time, maybe because they both had already made the decision by the time they had their conversation. That's what makes it the most painful to me, they're both following the same goal: be together. Aziraphale just added an extra step: stop Heaven. Which in my opinion, it's a necessary step.

Which brings us to my second point. Some people have compared Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship to Gabriel and Beelzebub, but I don't think they are even remotely comparable, other than beign a demon-angel couple.

Some people argue that Aziraphale and Crowley could have gone off into the sunset together because neither Heaven or Hell really did much to the other traitors. (Shax threatened to send demons after Beelzebub but Hell is understaffed and she got bribed with being the next Duke of Hell). But I don't think Aziraphale and Crowley would be met with the same kindness.

Up until the point Gabriel said "nah" to Armageddon: The Sequel, he was still very much the same in Heaven, he was still the Archangel Gabriel. And up until the very end, when they ride off into the sunset, Beelzebub was very much The Duke of Hell. They kept following their duty. They were not a threat in the slightest. And even after Gabriel escaped and became Jim, and even after he found Beelzebub and chose them openly, he wasn't a threat. He doesn't care if Armageddon happens or not, he only wanted to stop it so he would be cast down to Hell and reunite with his love. That was his plan (it failed cause Heaven chose to demote him and wipe his mind but he didn't know that would happen).

Now, Aziraphale and Crowley on the other hand, are very much a threat to both Heaven and Hell. They don't want to just chill together, they want to stop Armageddon from happening because they love Earth. They have done it before. And it wasn't just a simple "stumbled through it all and kinda stopped Satan at the end". They planned it and fought Armageddon for years! (granted, they got the wrong child, so they didn't do much, but my point still stands lol). I don't think Heaven or Hell really care they want to be together, their problem is what they do when they're together... Not only are they incredibly powerful (namely when they perform miracles together), but they want to use their power, to thwart their plans, like they did before. Not only that, Aziraphle had done miracles for Hell, and Crowley has done miracles for Heaven. They're not just traitors because they're friends with the enemy, they're traitors because they keep doing the opposite of what they should (according to their respective head offices of course).

So I very much doubt they would have been left alone to do whatever they wanted. That's why I think Aziraphale's "let's go to Heaven and change it from within" is a more useful plan. It would assure that they could be together free of threat, free of persecution. They could stay together in the planet they love so much, and Earth would be safe as well.

That said, there are words that were said in that divorce that I'm not a fan of. So I'm not saying everything was perfect and they shouldn't have gotten upset. That's a ridiculous thing to say. I do know that Aziraphale's state of mind is still very "Heaven = Good Hell = Bad". Specially compared to Crowley's lived history, experiencing Heaven's wrath and even seeing what they were gonna do to Gabriel, Aziraphale doesn't know that, he didn't see it, he has more kind memories of Heaven than Crowley does. In fact, Crowley doesn't have any memories of Heaven at all I don't think. He supposedly knows Saraquel and Furfur when he was still an angel, but both times it was shown that Crowley doesn't remember them (he remembers his password tho, that's weird lol). So perhaps, Aziraphale has more memories of Crowley as an angel which made sense in his offer to go back to Heaven with him.

I'm very excited for season 3. I'm very excited to see if Aziraphale's plans work out or not. I'm very excited for Aziraphale to gain full awareness to what Heaven is now, to understand Crowley's point of view. And I'm very excited to see if Crowley's memories are as important a plot point as I think they're gonna be, and perhaps he gets a glimpse into Aziraphale's side of the story as well, and sees Heaven's potential (if it even has any). These are only speculations of course, because I don't know how season 3 is gonna go, and I don't know if changing Heaven for the better was actually Aziraphale's plan. He could just kill God and take over Heaven and destroy Earth for all I know lol But this is my interpretation, and how I see his intentions. It's easy to get caught in the love confession, and in David Tennant's incredible performance of it, voice crack and all. But I do think Aziraphale is onto something, and I know his choices have hurt him as much as Crowley. And I know Crowley's choices have also hurt both of them. Why can't they find a compromise, why do they have such fundamentally different ideas? It's painful, it truly is!

🙏🏻please ignore all gramar and orthography errors🙏🏻

#i'm scared to put opinions into fandom spaces now... since nobody can read and everyone is so trigger happy with hate and shit...#but i've been thinking about this a lot lately and i wanted to put it into words #not very eloquent words but words at last #dkjfhgdkfg #good omens #good omens meta #ineffable divorce #ineffable husbands #angel talks

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ineffablegoblin · 8 months

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Good Omens Season 2 | Aziraphale's Actions on the Gameboard

This has definitely been discussed in great detail, but it keeps playing in my mind every night, so I'd like to add to the discourse.

@inhonoredglory did a great job at characterizing Aziraphale, showing the Job connection, and connecting his decisions to Michael Sheen's emotive and powerful beliefs. It has put into words a lot of the feelings and thoughts I'd been having since I first saw the show (and I have been watching it every night on repeat like its a song). The different theories about Metatron, the book of life, and coffee are interesting and great coping mechanisms to manage that intense final scene, and who knows what Neil will reveal in Season 3, but they don't consider the bigger picture outside of Aziraphale and Crowley.

Good Omens is fundamentally about the ineffable game of life that God plays. It is unknowable and unpredictable. Season 2 is supposed to be a bridge between two very intense life-shattering events. Season 1, and the novel, focus on preventing the end of the world. Season 3 (unwritten novel 2) must be equally big, if not bigger. There has to be more to it than just a relationship at stake.

We can't simply forget the Heaven and Hell still WANT the end of the world. They still want a big war. They are willing to go to extreme lengths to do so, and they're exceptionally eager to bury their 'institutional problems'. Metatron himself says that he needs an angel to lead 'the second coming'. He definitely is being some sort of manipulative, but the trap of heaven is also an opportunity to make a real difference.

When we look at Aziraphale in Episode 6's ending, he is very clearly reluctant and torn. He shows as much in his facial expressions, his tone, his mannerisms, and even his words. He mimics the conflicted hand movements and behaviors that he uses when lying as he addresses Crowley. He is very capable of trying to hide things from everyone he deems dangerous or at risk. He does this with Crowley (when he discovers who the antichrist is) and with God (when She asks about his sword). He also says that he does not want to go back to heaven when he speaks to Metatron about the offer. He says, pained, 'I think I-" before agreeing that he does not need anything and leaving with Metatron. He is in tears at the decision he has to make. He takes an emotional look at his bookshop and the windows and all the memories he has made of himself and his books and his drinks and his Crowley.

He very clearly KNOWS that "the something big and horrible" is coming. His decision is him choosing Crowley and his bookshop and earth because 'nothing lasts forever' and it won't last at all if he does not do something about it. Minutes before this he was under threat of being completely erased from the Book Of Life by the Archangels. Who's to say they won't erase him if he runs away with Crowley? Give him coffee (agreeing to Metatron's offer) or give him death (the destruction of earth and everything he loves and Crowley and himself).

It is true that Aziraphale would NEVER willingly give up his books and precious words. He would never abandon Crowley. It is emphasized until the end of the show. But if his books and his stories and diaries are about to be lost in some big horrible event, shouldn't he try to save it? Is his bookshop not worth giving up momentary comfort for? Is his life with Crowley not worth that sacrifice?

It's all part of the game. I think Aziraphale understands that to beat the game, he has to play it by the rules and beat it from the inside. He thinks in a fairly black-and-white way (or light-grey and dark-grey way) and he clearly knows Crowley will not agree with him. His "I need you" is as powerful as Crowley's kiss.

Think about it. If he just abandons the game, he loses by default. He has no control over what the other players do. We like having representatives in policy making when we vote, right? We have legal LGBTQ+ rights in some countries because someone went into the room of decision makers and fought for it. He knows has to be in that room to make a difference, or else he risks losing everything. And it's not as if he and Crowley haven't been separated before.

I mean, let's say you have a partner you love and you both run a business you love and have friends you love, but it's illegal to be gay, and you're both very gay. Your partner says you both should just run away and move to a cottage and live and be gay together in peace somewhere remote because the government would arrest you or your neighbors might stone you if they found out. But you know that no matter where you go, they might always find you and kill you both. You like the business and friends and little apartment in the city that you share. Now, say you suddenly get an offer from a colleague, who you may or may not trust, to be involved in the law-making, and you know the bill on Gay Rights is being re-written and evaluated. As much as I personally prefer living in quiet cottage, I could very well see myself choosing to take that seat and try to make a change. It would let me keep everything I love. It would keep me and my partner safe. It would let me keep other people like me safe (ineffable bureaucracy). It would be the right thing to do; the good thing.

He and Crowley must both know that they love each other. They have loved each other in their own way forever, and have spent years apart and been just as strong at their next meeting. Aziraphale had heart eyes from the moment they met in heaven. They play a very intentional game of rescue and meet-up. Aziraphale is very capable of taking care of himself, and Crowley does not need to rush to his aid when he senses something is wrong, but they both do that whole dance anyway because it's their version of showing their love with the human expressions that they have comfortably tempted themselves to enjoy (food, alcohol, collections, plants, books, cars, etc.). But they can literally have forever together. Aziraphale believes that they can survive this separation, especially if it means saving earth and their relationship in the long-run. His face says that it was a hard decision to make. Why would they want to save the humans in the bookshop, and save Job's children, and save Elspeth, and then suddenly not care about all the people on earth? Aziraphale has gone along with death and loss when it was part of the rules given by god in the past, but he did not like it. He cares about the rules. Playing the game by the rules can let him make a change in a very controlled and safe way.

Aziraphale is complex and not perfect. He is a person with strengths and weaknesses. He may be influenced by trauma or manipulation or something else, but people often make big decisions for multiple reasons. Aziraphale picked his character and is rolling the dice. He has to play this game by the rules. Neil is (hopefully but also not hopefully) setting up the board for something far bigger than Season 1 and I am so excited (but not) to know what it is.

#in this essay i will #good omens #good omens season 1 #good omens season 2 #go1 #go2 #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #ineffable bureaucracy #metatron #neil #neil gaiman #something is wrong with me this has consumed my whole life and brain #thoughts #good omens series 2 #good omens s2 #anthony j crowley #good omens spoilers

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actual-changeling · 7 months

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okay genuine question: why do so many people think the metatron was standing right outside the window listening to/watching aziraphale and crowley?

i cannot help but feel like it is nothing but another way of looking for an excuse for aziraphale's shitty behaviour during the final fifteen. every single thing he said was entirely in character. it was EXACTLY how that situation was gonna go, metatron outside or not.

and i want to add two arguments against this theory.

crowley can canonically sense when he is being watched, no matter who is doing the watching

crowley looks out the window several times and yet nothing changes - if the metatron were there, he'd react. he doesn't.

please, it's been two months. can we start accepting that aziraphale is also a deeply flawed character who fucked up and that there is nothing redeeming about the way he treated crowley this season and during their final argument? yes? because it doesn't mean that he is evil or bad or irredeemable. he is traumatized and acting out of a trauma response and is stuck in century old patterns and an abusive relationship. he is still responsible for his actions. those things can and do co exist so. can we please stop looking for excusing theories without evidence now that would undermine the entire story neil is telling? yes? good.

and yes, before anyone comments, we see him talk to muriel right before, and there is a chance he is indeed watching them - but at that distance he cannot see or hear anything. the way people are talking about it you'd think he'd be pressed against the glass and reading their lips.

#alex talks good omens #good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #good omens season 2 #go2 #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable divorce #good omens meta #im so tired of coffee and bodyswap and metatron turned him into a puppet or whatever other bullshit theories there are

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thedreammweaver · 6 months

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This is gonna be like controversial probably but people comparing Good Omens season 2 ending to OFMD season 2 like- one of these is not like the other.

Good Omens finale was upsetting, it was sad, it was intense but it made sense. It wasn’t rushed or paced weirdly. Like it’s sad but it makes sense that these two repressed weirdos aren’t gonna be able to jump into a relationship together immediately. It makes sense with their characters and also there is nothing to suggest (unless the show got cancelled but that’s not in the canon you know) that Crowley and Aziraphale are permanently separated. Like it can be feasibly fixed. And everything felt like Good Omens. I doubt that Neil secretly hates all of us and is gonna turn Aziraphale straight next season or something so GO 2 was sad but you know, didn’t kill my interest in the show or my enjoyment, still excited for next season because there’s hope and a lot of potential for these characters that we love.

MEANWHILE

Izzy’s death… the pacing was so weird. I don’t think it should’ve happened at all. But especially not like that and shoved in between a bunch of other things. I couldn’t even feel happy for Black Pete and Lucius cause the show was just stampeding over Izzy’s still warm body, you know what I mean. If I were to describe OFMD before this I would say it felt like a warm kind of sweaty hug. Like it’s a little intense and uncomfortable sometimes but at the end of the day it’s soft and loving and warm- now I don’t know what I would say because killing Izzy felt so unlike the show. So much of the first season and parts of this one were like, loving the unlovable, embracing the outsiders and weirdos and downtrodden. And so this show suddenly takes this newly disabled older queer man who is only now getting some sort of healing and relative safety and a loving community and then they kill him…

I know OFMD is a violent show so there’s gonna be death but it’s also a comedy and to me this feels like if in an episode of Parks and Rec Ron Swanson got shot and he just doesn’t come back, he’s real dead forever. Like that doesn’t feel like it’s part of the same show to me!

So it’s like.. I can’t be that excited for season 3 because I don’t know what OFMD is anymore.. like there was never any doubt in my mind that they were totally setting Izzy up for a happy ending/new beginning. Maybe my that’s my fault like I didn’t watch the show right but like, I can’t trust it anymore, I can’t feel safe and comfortable with it anymore.

Also this is gonna suck because it’s gonna cause big divides in the fandom, people are gonna take it too far and attack writers or actors or eachother, I feel like it could get really bad. Possibly being a downer I’m just anxious. This is such a good show for representation and I’m just worried it’s shot itself in the foot.

#take me back to the night we met please #vent #rant #i wanna go back to season 1 #our flag means death spoilers #ofmd spoilers #Izzy hands

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phantomram-b00 · 8 months

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You know, as much as I would love to talk more about ineffable husband/wives/partner/idiots or aziraphale and Crowley. I do want to talk about something that involves God for once. (While stilllll giving me an excuse to talk more about Aziraphale and Crowley 🤭🤭) so spoiler warning ahead:

So, we know God. she’s kinda the focal point of the story, the footprint that everyone goes back to if you will even though we don’t really see what they look like. Sure you can say Metatron is the voice for God as stated in episode 4, season 1 “Saturday Morning Funtime”. So him plus the archangel in a sense speak for God and do whatever bidding she gives them without question, well exactly for Aziraphale and a Crowley; and everyone is quite ready to just shun them just for not complying with the norm. well I saw a post where it said that God isn’t cruel or unjust but rather put all including her most trusted archangels on a test. So I want to add on to their post as I do agree with their statement; it is evident all the way back in episode 1 where she described the whole baby swapping in the metaphor of cards; so I feel the statement is not far off. What I want to add on is, “what if, God intended Aziraphale and Crowley to be nonconformist the true champions that can truly save the world and are soulmates.”

Now, I’ve made a hefty post about Aziraphale as how he’s an outsider to his own side despite his effort is masking his true identity and beliefs. Though I didn’t touch on Crowley, so let’s change that: Crowley was a follower before he became his own leader. What do I mean? Well when we see Season 2, Episode 1, we are confirmed that Aziraphale and Crowley did met way before the Garden of Eden; and one of the first thing we do see if just how joyous Crowley is at his work with the stars. He’s cutely proud of his work that is until Aziraphale breaks the news to him and you see his walks breaking, he is absolutely devastated that his work is basically for nothing and while Aziraphale try to cheer him up, you can also tell this was the start of Crowley’s conscience that would lead to him falling. Now granted, we don’t exactly know why he fell, we going for implications which would most likely be him asking question. And one thing I did mention when talking about Aziraphale is that Heaven think any question regarding the almighty’s plan is treasonous, making you in their word a “traitor”. But what we can get from the implication of the fall is that if it wasn’t for Aziraphale, his conscience wouldn’t have even invented which is a parallel with the garden of eden as Crowley was the reason for Aziraphale’s conscience to be formed as when we get to after that he lied about the sword. I do think this can’t be coincidental, seem like it was dated all along me thinks 🤔

Now, I bring this up, because since we talking about the almighty themself, it could possible be that she wanted this to happen. I mean, if we look at all from season 1 as a whole; we see that all the angels and demons are quiet literally ready to destroy what they created. Eagerly reading to draw their swords or magic to fight; which is really bizarre how after all those years they’re blasé about the apocalypse. Now I’m sure everyone know the ending that the world got saved and they got punished for it; but not by God or even Satan. They’re punished by people of their own side. Which got me analyzing this show for the billion time: don’t you think that God would’ve punish them themself if she was truly serious about this plan to end the world? Or really, since the angels will do it no question asked wouldn’t she have made the ineffable husband/wives/spouse/partner/morons duo more compliant rather than having consciences? Now granted, it can very well be that she did authorize the punishment, I really won’t be surprised as this is the same heaven that gamble Job’s kids just to see if he still righteous. However, my point still stands, if they really wanted to kill earth or even her own creation she could’ve but she didn’t, she wanted this outcome to happen, she wanted to see how this will play out, this is her playing cards and seeing what strategy they’ll use and she got her answer.

Which let me mention when Aziraphale lied really quickly before I get to Job; now, Aziraphale’s lies is an equivalent of glass, you can see right through that he was lying to God and she most likely knows it too. Now I’m not going to say they would’ve smite Aziraphale for it no, that would’ve been over the top, but I felt she couldn’t scolded him like any archangels would’ve but she just did this:

Now, one thing about the almighty is that, they’re all knowing. So her just accepting that; is a bit fishy innit of itself. Especially when it come to a flaming sword at that, which is her taking an interest in Aziraphale’s story, as He’s the only who isn’t rigid or compliant no matter how much he tried to hide it. It only the archangels and Metatron who are judging and ridiculing him for it. Hell Metatron calls Muriel Dim, (which me and Metatron are gonna fight, no one called them dim, they’re angelic), the angels/Metatron are using their status and the fact they work closely with God to “regulate” the things. But the one thing that if you will, raise my eyebrows is that; we never hear what the Almighty have to say about this, even within her narration in season one, not once she would say anything regarding with Aziraphale and/or Crowley’s decision with apocalypse. This is all in a sense her writing their story and see whatever material Azirphale, Crowley and all her angels can handle; just so happen the way Crowley and Aziraphale are handling their material is what capture God’s eye.

Now to talk about the Job episode, yes. The almighty did make a bet with Satan to see if Job is as righteous as he is, by slaughtering everything and everyone but his wife. Because I guess just giving him a task to prove it was a snooze feast. Now, we did see Crowley killing the goat; until they were just birds. Same with the fact that Crowley turn the Kid into geckos instead of killing them. Now, we did see God talk to Job about whales and ostriches (which if that isn’t every single Bible story ever, I don’t know what is) but I feel given that at the end of the story of job, we see the kids come right back again…wouldn’t you think she would’ve intervened? Considering the kids aren’t dead, even the archangels have suspicions if it wasn’t for Aziraphale lying. Not to mention that, wouldn’t she have intervened when Crowley tempted Aziraphale to eat and they talk about the sides? Oh and let me remind y’all from the post when Aziraphale had a breakdown about falling, wouldn’t she had made Aziraphale become a fallen Angel for trying to save children? But she didn’t, she didn’t make aziraphale fall, she didn’t do anything regarding with the change they both did. While sure, the Almighty does win the bet since Job’s still righteous. But she also got to see the ineffable duo developing as they got their heart to heart with each other.

Which going into season 2, we got to the aftermath of season 1, we see that they relatively left the duo “alone” (by alone I mean they straight up abandoned Aziraphale while Shax actually check in on Crowley to exchanged what going on and beelzebub asked for Crowley help when it came to Gabriel). So it kinda hard to speak as this is now just the duos story with no narration, so, I like to think that just maybe, this is God’s taking a backseat and watching the show with us. She is watching the aftermath from season 1; maybe to see how their doing perhaps? Or to see what they’ll do now as there is going to be a sequel to armageddon, which mean we might see Jesus and most likely we going to see God/Satan make their grand appearance and I can’t wait to see that, it going to be insane. But let talk about that sequel.

So I mentioned about the ineffable plan that seem to be a niche to the story, it the one thing people bring up when talking about armageddon and it’s sequel. But, what if I tell you guys that the ineffable plans wasn’t armageddon? And that, the true ineffable plan is for Aziraphale/Crowley to save Heaven, Earth, and Hell?

“But Phantom don’t be silly, how can it be if the world almost ended in season 1?” And you’re right, she did almost let the world to die but Aziraphale,Crowley and Adam stop that from happening as Adam call out his deadbeat ex-dad. But, also as I mention, don’t you think she would’ve intervene and not let their lot speak for her? She could’ve easily visited Aziraphale like she did back at the garden of Eden to tell him to stop his shit or visited Crowley to stop his shit, but again she didn’t, and as the post say the almighty want to see justice to be done, she want to see who would protect the sacred creations she work so hard for for her people. She want to see what just who would “dare” to save everything even if it mean to doubt her plan, so maybe she calls armageddon the ineffable plan to cover up what the true ineffable plan is: to save all in the name of justice. And while the archangel listen and is willing to go through the “ineffable plan”; Aziraphale and Crowley are indirectly completing the true ineffable plan, her two creation whom are the only one with conscience are doing what a true angels/hero should do: protect and defend. And they are definitely going to be rewarded and recognize for saving humanity and listening to their heart rather than complying just because “it is what it is”.

Now the soulmates part, look I know season 2 had us all in tears. Trust me. I’ve been crying since the beginning of august because of it. I’ve been reading fanfic to cope. But I’m telling you, it not a divorce, because you know what, I have a feeling the almighty ships these two morons as much as the next person. Because, she had plenty of times to smite them or if you will, punish them. She have that power to do so, she did it with Adam and Eve; she has it in them, but she didn’t. And I think, this was what is meant to be, Aziraphale was meant to meet Crowley (or whatever his angelic name was suppose to be), he was meant to meet him again in garden of Eden, he was meant to befriend Crowley, to spend six thousand years with him and fall in love with him just as it was meant for Crowley to protect, to talk to him and love him in return. While yes, they would be considered star-crossed lovers but I don’t think it doomed, she the biggest shipper since they never try stopping it, she never tried to break them apart, and above all never disapproves of them. It just that archangels/metatron are so corrupted with their self righteousness that they misconstrue anything in the name of the lord which you can say is a great way to depict toxicity with religious as we see that Aziraphale truly suffered in the hand of the side that is suppose to true all equally but excludes him for being different, so having Crowley be the only person that never judge Aziraphale but instead indulge and supports it with him mean that these two were created with the image of them fitting with each other like a puzzle pieces. She have plans for them for sure, this isn’t over for them; it might ended on a painful note as metatron got what he wanted, Aziraphale’s masking again and Crowley lost the one thing that light up the dark by the end of the tunnel. But I’m sure, she will give them an happily ever after and that there not star-crossed, they’re not doomed, they never had and never will.

I guess thank for coming to my tedtalk? Sorry for my rambling, I just realize not a lot talk about the almighty. I get why as she a footprint to the story and that the true starts are the ineffable lovers. This show have me in a choke hold, and this is just my excuse to talk about this. You are more than welcome to disagree or agree with me, all opinions are valid 💜. Hope you guys are having a fun day, and hope you’re feeling good after good omens. Because I’m still going through it lmao.

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