A Few Thoughts on Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death

*Spoilers for the season 1 finale of Our Flag Means Death and the season 2 finale of Good Omens.*

It’s not especially new or insightful to say that Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death have a lot in common. Yes, one is about angels and demons while the other is about pirates, but both are significant in the way that they subvert expectations of queerbaiting, instead “going there” with their main ship in a pretty remarkable, lovely way. And not for nothing, in both cases, that ship features a fussy naïve blond one and a spiky yet vulnerable one who mostly wears all black. It’s not an exaggeration to say that they could almost be AU fanfics of one another.

Today, I want to look at one similarity that many fans do not love, the most recent finale for each show. Last year, fans rejoiced to get unambiguous onscreen confirmation that Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach (a.k.a. Blackbeard) were in love. After Ed saves Stede from a British naval firing squad, they share a tender conversation and a kiss on the beach, then make plans to run away to China together. But Stede doesn’t make the rendezvous; he’s convinced by one of his enemies that he “[defiles] beautiful things,” ruining everything he touches. He decides to leave, both to protect Ed from him (because this kind of “for their own good” move always works out well) and to face up to his wife and kids after running off to become a pirate. His return home is short-lived, and he quickly comes to the realization, with his ex-wife Mary’s help, that he needs to be with Ed. But the damage has already been done. Heartbroken at having been left by Stede, Ed returns to Stede’s ship and crew, where he begins to lick his wounds. But his grieving process is cut short by his repressed first mate Izzy, and Ed transforms himself into the hardest, cruelest version of himself to guard against judgment and future heartbreak. Oof!

Cut to a couple months ago. Lots of fans hoped season 2 of Good Omens would help them cope with Our Flag Means Death’s sad finale, only to find their central ship’s happiness similarly snatched away. Aziraphale and Crowley have been dancing ever closer to each other over the course of the show, literally in the case of the season’s pentultimate episode, where they share a dance during Aziraphale’s Jane Austen-inspired ball. In the calm after the season’s main crisis is solved, Crowley is prepared to finally declare his feelings to his old friend, but he’s tragically preempted by the Metatron, who gives Aziraphale an offer he can’t refuse: the position as the new Supreme Archangel of Heaven, with an invitation to restore Crowley to his old angel status. Before Crowley can open up as he planned, Aziraphale bursts into the bookshop in a flurry of excitement, telling him all about his new job offer. But Crowley, who’s painfully aware of how toxic both Heaven and Hell are, wants nothing to do with it. He veers between trying to talk Aziraphale out of it, berating him for doing something so ill-advised, and stumbling through his declaration of love anyway, now a last-ditch effort to get him to stay. When they kiss, it’s an act of desperation, and Aziraphale barely knows what to do with himself. “I forgive you,” he stammers, the absolute worst thing he could say in that moment. The season ends with Crowley driving off alone in his Bentley and Aziraphale ascending the elevator back to Heaven, his face telling the story of an angel who’s trying to convince himself he’s done the right thing.

In other words, heartbreak all around! We’ve got sad pirates, sad angels, and sad demons, and no one knows what’s going to happen next. Fans are at least reassured by the coming approach of Our Flag Means Death’s second season—and I know the promotional materials have been helping me on that front—but we won’t even know if Good Omens is getting renewed for a third season until sometime after the writer’s strike is revolved.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I definitely want Stede/Ed and Aziraphale/Crowley together. Their relationships are the best parts of their respective shows (which are both pretty awesome besides!), and in my opinion, they’re some of the best canon queer ships on TV. But as I’ve said before, I also love complexity and drama, and provided both couples do get back together, I’m prepared for the delicious angstiness as we watch their stories unfold.

After all, tragic breakups and/or forced separations are a hallmark of any OTP. Many a straight power couple has gone through similar heartbreak over the years, so Stede/Ed and Aziraphale/Crowley are in good company. I do understand the fan worries, especially since we don’t know yet if Good Omens is going to be renewed. And it’s valid to point out that there are far fewer canon queer ships in the TV landscape, which heightens the importance of each one—seeing these couples’ happiness threatened has more at stake than, say, Ross and Rachel or Buffy and Angel. Not to mention, fans have been burned many times before by queerbaiting ships that are never validated or “bury your gays” endings. It makes sense that people would be wary of these developments.

But again, if we ultimately do get to see our ships get back together, then I’m all right with the drama and heartbreak in order to get the great emotional payoff of them reconciling. And honestly, if both shows were going to break our hearts like this, they both did it well. As I said, OTP breakups are a staple of television, and so many of them are built on the flimsiest of catalysts. Dumb miscommunications, arguments that come out of nowhere, unexpected job opportunities in different countries (yes, Aziraphale gets a new job as Supreme Archangel, but I’d argue that it doesn’t follow this trope,) and the classic “I didn’t know I had feelings for them until they started dating someone else!” Nearly every TV couple has been on at least one iteration of this merry-go-round.

The Stede/Ed and Aziraphale/Crowley breakups, though, aren’t flimsy. They hurt so much because they really matter. The situations are deeply grounded in who all four are as characters, and that makes their pain feel horrible yet inevitable. On Our Flag Means Death, Stede has never been able to fully escape his guilt over leaving Mary and the kids—put that together with his fragile self-esteem, and it’s easy to believe he could be talked into believing that Ed would be better off without him. In turn, Ed has only just started to shed the persona he’s worn for years, allowing himself to be open and vulnerable with Stede. When Stede apparently leaves him, it makes sense that he’d 1) fall apart because he’s dropped all his defenses and 2) harden to protect himself, especially after Izzy berates him for his emotions. Likewise, all through Good Omens, we’ve seen that Aziraphale is never able to fully quit Heaven, still thinking of them as “the good guys” despite all that they’ve done. Of course he’d want to go back, and of course he’d think Crowley would leap at the chance to be an angel again. But we also know that Crowley would never do that. When Aziraphale explains the job offer, it’s clear Crowley doesn’t see it as a gift Aziraphale wants to give him but a way that Aziraphale wants to make him “good enough” for them to be together. Both situations couldn’t have gone any other way, and even as we as fans yell at our screens, entreating the characters to “just do XYZ,” we know that they won’t. Because that’s not who they are.

Because the breakups really mean something, the reconciliations will be that much more meaningful, beyond that of a boilerplate will-they-won’t-they. But as a final note, I desperately hope that these reconciliations aren’t merely “happy endings”—in other words, I don’t want “back together, loving kiss, fade to black.” Another advantage both these couples have over many OTPs is that their shows demonstrate how they don’t just love each other, they also like each other. It’s often said that happy couples are narratively boring, but that doesn’t have to be true when the characters and relationships are done well. Stede/Ed and Aziraphale/Crowley were hugely compelling to watch when they weren’t “officially” together, and I see no reason why they can’t be just as entertaining, humorous, and heartfelt once they reconcile. I want to see my favorite fictional angel and demon saving the world as a couple, and I want to see my two favorite fictional pirates getting into trouble on the high seas and being in love as they do it. After getting through all the heartbreak, they’re going to deserve some time to just be magnificent together, and goodness knows how badly fans want to see it.