Last episode! I can say it’s been a genuine pleasure watching season 1 again. So creative, so fun, and such exquisite performances from David Tennant and Michael Sheen. As befits the story, this final episode is both heavenly and a little sinful.
Time for the ultimate showdown. Can Aziraphale and Crowley face up against the Four Horsemen and avert the end of the world? I’m guessing you already know the answer to that question, but that’s all right. The real question to ask is not “can they?” but rather “how will they?” The many threads of the story come together in this climactic finale.
I like how things shake out here. I won’t get into spoilers, but as is very suitable for this series, it requires the combined powers of Heaven, Hell, and humanity to bring everything to a close. I really appreciate that the climax kicks off at the start of the episode. With so many characters involved, it’s good to get a nice long denouement to wrap things off after the world-hangs-in-the-balance portion of the episode. Good Omens offers delightful casting surprises until the very end, with Benedict Cumberbatch popping up here in a small but significant role.
And that’s all I’m going to say about anything that isn’t Crowley and Aziraphale, because that’s what it’s really about. That’s what it’s always been about. From the Garden of Eden to what might be Earth’s last day, it’s those two standing together, sometimes arguing, sometimes sparking ideas off of one another, sometimes pretending not to care about each other as much as they obviously do, sometimes plainly not caring about anything except each other.
Now, on the doorstep of actual Armageddon, they bring a real Frodo Baggins “I’m glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things” energy. I love that they can bicker at the end of the world, and I love that each is the only one the other would want to face the end with. Sheen and Tennant bring matters beautifully to a close, delighting in the comedy and showing real tenderness in the quieter scenes.
There are certain developments in the finale that had me playing closer attention to the central performances at key moments this time around. For the sake of spoilers, I won’t get into the specifics of it, but both Tennant and Sheen display deft hands in crucial scenes, subtly modifying their performances just enough to get us where we need to be in the resolution.
In my review of episode 1, I said that Good Omens/Crowley is what really made David Tennant click for me, and I want to emphasize that again. In fact, I’m glad that I watched it for the first time before starting Other Doctor Lives, because seeing what he’s capable of here made me more eager to pay attention to his performances in other roles. Since then, I’ve seen him in new-to-me performances as well as revisited old ones, and I’ve really been enjoying him. One thing I haven’t done since watching Good Omens, though, is rewatch some Tenth Doctor episodes. That will be especially interesting, I think, so see how my impressions of Tennant as the Doctor himself might have changed in retrospect.
Final thoughts!
Accent Watch
English, mostly RP with hints of something London-y around the edges.
Recommend?
In General – Definitely. Wild and wonderful and inventive, this story is something else, and it offers up a superb pair of odd-couple protagonists in Aziraphale and Crowley.
David Tennant – But of course! Tennant is utterly fantastic here and plays off of Sheen like a dream.
Warnings
Violence, language, drinking, blasphemy, sexual content/innuendo, gross-out images, and strong thematic elements.
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