The last time I talked about Good Omens’s
central relationship, I discussed Aziraphale and Crowley’s unlikely dynamic as
an angel and demon who, over the millennia, have ultimately become very close
and team up to save the world from Armageddon. I’m circling back around to
them, though, because I want to talk a little about shipping (spoilers.)
I’ve
brought up slash ships on this blog before, and I’ve written about plenty of
male-male relationships on shows and in movies that are very popularly shipped
but non-canonical. But for me, watching Good
Omens, I didn’t see a non-canon ship. I instead saw a relationship that,
while it remains unexplicit, is pretty definite. I would be very hard-pressed
to believe that Sheen and Tennant weren’t
playing it like their characters are in love with each other (come on, I’m
pretty sure I’ve seen the Tenth Doctor give that exact dreamy smile to Rose,)
and the dialogue and story aren’t far behind. When they argue to the point of
hurting one another, it’s with the intensity of a breakup, and when they’re at
their best with each other, they have such a surprisingly-tender way about
them.
I know
that they don’t say the words “I love you” or “you’re my boyfriend,” and I know
that they don’t kiss or hookup, but it still feels different to than something
like Steve & Bucky or Sherlock & John. It’s hard to articulate what it
is about them exactly, but I know it when I see it. It’s in the way Crowley
cries when he thinks Aziraphale is dead, in the way Aziraphale knows that vowing never to talk to him
again is the way to spur Crowley to a world-saving idea. It’s in how Aziraphale
keeps seeking Crowley out even as he frets about Heaven finding out about his
“fraternization” with a demon, in how Crowley insists one moment that he isn’t
“nice” and in the next does something nice for Aziraphale just because.
That
said, just like I don’t see it as ship-teasing or queer-baiting, I also don’t
really see it as a “make it gay, you cowards!” situation, a la the “subtle”
(read: barely-existent) approach taken with Dumbledore. Part of it, maybe, is
just the fact that they are an angel
and a demon, so I don’t necessarily need to apply human labels or expectations
to their relationship. But for whatever reason, it’s plain of day to me that
Crowley and Aziraphale love each other, and good luck convincing me that the
production didn’t want us to believe that.
I’ve seen
some online who champion the idea of them as asexuals, either as romantics or
as aros in a platonic partnership. I could totally get behind one of those
interpretations, leaning more toward romantic aces for me (I wouldn't go as far as to write an Asexual Sighting about either of them, but I can definitely picture them that way.) Because, even
without the usual physical signs of affection, the love between them just
doesn’t seem like something that’s supposed to be up for debate. There’s no
nervous backpedaling when someone insinuates that they’re a couple, no women
shoehorned in toward the end to provide a convenient proof of heteronormativity
for one or both of them. What we have instead are the way they look at each
other, the way they bicker like two celestial beings who’ve literally known
each other since the the world began, the way they argue like the world’s ending
(even when the world really is ending!), and the way they keep coming back to
each other, no matter what happens between them. It’s so lovely, and I’m
thoroughly glad that this relationship exists on my TV.
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