*Mild spoilers from episode 1.*
Even though I haven’t read the novel that the first season is based on, it’s still an interesting experience to watch the second knowing that it doesn’t have an established story to adapt—while Neil Gaiman has said that he and Terry Pratchett had written an outline for a sequel they never had a chance to write, it’s my understanding that that outline will be used for a hypothetical season 3, with this one serving as a bridge in the middle. I’m certainly enjoying it, because it centers around two marvelous characters impeccably played by David Tennant and Michael Sheen, but it does feel different from season 1.
After Aziraphale and Crowley worked together at the end of last episode to create a tiny half miracle to conceal Gabriel’s presence from both angelic and demonic forces, their handiwork was a little too good. The miracle is successful, but its power sets off alarm bells in heaven, sending a trio of angels down to the Earth to investigate and leaving Aziraphale scrambling for an explanation. Alongside the main narrative, we look in on a couple extended flashbacks from a particular time in Crowley and Aziraphale’s history: the wager God places with Satan over the faithfulness of Job. In the flashbacks, Aziraphale struggles to believe God could do such a thing, and as Crowley is dealt some of the chief smiting duties, the angel tries to dissuade the demon from these terrible acts.
There’s some fun stuff in the present. More of amnesiac Gabriel being clueless—much to Aziraphale’s dismay, he decides to organize everything in the bookshop in the least helpful way possible—and we’re introduced to an intriguing mystery involving Buddy Holly’s “Everyday.” And thanks to the excuse Aziraphale dreams up for the angels, he and Crowley are forced to brainstorm how to make two humans fall in love. Rather delightfully, Crowley’s idea comes from a Richard Curtis film while Aziraphale’s comes from Jane Austen.
But the real meat of the episode comes in the Job flashbacks. It’s reminiscent of the series of flashbacks in episode 3 of season 1, showing Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship alongside their differing ideas about good, evil, Heaven, and Hell. Aziraphale is positively flummoxed when he learns that Crowley has a “permit” to smite all of Job’s goats, and he’s horrified at the nonchalant reaction in Heaven over the prospect of Job’s children being killed as well. But as much as he’s in denial about God approving all this suffering, he’s even more determined to believe Crowley couldn’t possibly carry it out.
(Side note: this section also features Aziraphale trying human food for the first time, and honestly, we just don’t deserve Michael Sheen.)
It’s a great episode for Crowley. He gets to be a blasé smartass with Shax, he and Aziraphale come to a minor standoff over his Bentley, and he has plenty of fun watching Aziraphale trying to get by in a pub, the opposite of his natural habit. We learn that he has very fixed ideas about falling in love after standing under an awning in the rain—“Get humans wet and staring into each other’s eyes, va-voom! Sorted”—and that he has no idea that Jane Austen wrote novels.
In the flashbacks, Crowley is alternately menacing, conversational, ridiculous, and lovely. I won’t spoil too many of the particulars, but Tennant dines out on this episode. There are scenes where he stays just on the right side of going too over-the-top comical, and there are scenes where he breathes a lot of nuance into subtle moments (which is extra impressive, considering that his eyes are always obscured by sunglasses and/or snake-eyed contacts.) He’s really good at taking a seemingly throwaway line and making it memorable, like the singsong way in which he taunts Aziraphale, “Seems legit to me!” over his permit. And he doesn’t waste an inch of his biggest moments in the script: as Crowley and Aziraphale watch God and Job talking, I love his slight awe and wistfulness when Aziraphale comments that God probably isn’t giving Job any answers and Crowley replies, “No. But just to be able to ask the question….”
As you can see from the pictures above, this episode is an Other Doctor Lives twofer! I love it when that happens, and I love it even more when it happens unexpectedly. Fifth Doctor Peter Davison—also, Tennant’s father-in-law!—plays Job. Davison nails Job’s purity of heart, still faithful and unwaveringly polite even as his world is crumbling around him. “Sorry, you’ve come at rather a bad time,” he apologizes to Crowley as he sits in the rubble of his destroyed barn. As with other “purer” characters on the show, like Aziraphale and Muriel, Job’s goodness can extend to naivete, and in his case, being rather slow on the uptake. The flashbacks are dominated by Tennant and Sheen’s splendid performances, but Davison does really well capturing this interpretation of Job.
Quick Other Doctor Lives rundown for Davison:
Accent Watch
RP-ish, his usual.
Recommend?
In General – As I said after my season 1 reviews, absolutely. Great show with excellent characters and wonderful acting!
Peter Davison – Yes. Even though it’s not a huge role, Davison commits fully and adds a lot to the flashbacks with his performance.
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