With this
miniseries, I ran afoul of the So Many Shows, So Little Time conundrum. I love
both David Tennant and Michael Sheen, I’ve enjoyed everything of Neil Gaiman’s
that I’ve read or seen (and while I don’t have much experience with Terry
Pratchett, he comes highly recommended from the nerdiest of my brothers,) and
the trailer looked super. Sadly, I just didn’t get around to it until now, a
circumstance that was most unfortunate but now rectified (premise spoilers.)
Aziraphale
and Crowley, angel and demon respectively, have been on Earth for thousands of
years at the behest of their respective “sides” – Aziraphale is there to
inspire humans toward goodness, Crowley to tempt them toward evil, that kind of
thing. However, the birth of the Antichrist and the impending apocalypse
promises a war between heaven and hell and the destruction of the Earth as we
know it. Crowley, having gone somewhat “native” over the years, proposes that he
and Aziraphale team up to stop the end of the world.
There’s a
particular type of humor that is just so delightfully, intrinsically British,
and this show taps a deep veins of that. The miniseries is fantastically funny
in the most conversational, quirky way. From the oddball characters to the sly
references to London traffic being the apparent work of hell itself, the series
hits all the right notes.
At the
same time, though, it has interesting points to make about heaven, hell, and
humanity. This isn’t the first story to take a lot of irreverent jabs at
Christianity, but I feel Good Omens
does it coming from a genuine place, even if I can’t quite say where that place
is exactly. For all that it makes obvious moves to irritate evangelicals (like
having God voiced by a woman – Frances McDormand, to be precise,) it also
examines questions of free will vs. fate, the nature of good and evil, and the
struggle of questioning one’s faith. At one point, Crowley, stressed out by
hell’s expectations of him, laments that he became a demon back when all you
had to do to be “fallen” was ask questions. That really stuck out to me. I
mean, yes, this is a miniseries with a crackpot modern-day witchfinder who’s
constantly asking how many nipples people have, but it’s also a miniseries with
lines like that, lines that demonstrate a real understanding and something to
say.
The
series is stylishly produced, whimsical with just the right dash of cool
(albeit with some hilariously-cheap-looking CGI.) And the cast? Where do I
begin? In roles of assorted size, we have Brian Cox, Anna Maxwell-Martin (who I
loved as Esther in Bleak House,) Jon
Hamm, the aforementioned voice of Frances McDormand, Benedict Cumberbatch,
Michael McKean, Miranda Richardson, and Bill Paterson. Everyone commits to the
wild goings-on and throws themselves wholeheartedly into the proceedings.
But at
the center of it all, of course, are Michael Sheen as Aziraphale and David
Tennant as Crowley. I’m well aware that the Internet has already said
everything there is to say about these two, but I’ll go ahead and add that both
are just wonderful. I especially love Sheen as the fussy, timidly-hopeful
angel, but Tennant is also aces as the cynical, Queen-loving demon. They’re by
far the heart and soul of the series, taking it to another level beyond how
preposterous and lovely it already is.
Warnings
Violence,
disturbing images, sexual content, language, drinking/smoking, and strong
thematic elements.
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