*Premise spoilers, which include spoilers from the season 2 finale*
Here it is: the finale of Good Omens.
Obviously, getting here was a rocky road. The horrific abuse allegations against Neil Gaiman prompted a very necessary retooling of the final season. First and foremost, the survivors of his abuse deserve to have their voices heard, and they deserve justice for what was done to them. Full stop. The fates of the adaptations based on his work are trivial matters compared to all that.
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt when good works of art are tainted or disrupted by predators who are involved with them. There are shows and films I loved once that I can’t bring myself to watch anymore. There are those I choose not to watch anymore. There are those that were canceled or cut short so as to stop associations with those predators. In the case of Good Omens, pre-production on season 3 halted and Neil Gaiman was removed from the show going forward. When the dust settled from that much-needed removal, we were left, not with a full final season, but with a single 90-minute finale, and stewards of the series (including Terry Pratchett’s daughter) had to fight to get that much.
So while it’s not the final season that fans were hoping for, 1) we very easily could’ve gotten nothing at all, ending on Crowley in the Bentley and Aziraphale in the lift, and 2) there are much more important considerations here than just the ending of a TV show. Gaiman’s been poking his head out again recently, creating more harm even as he tries to reclaim his reputation, and we can’t lose sight of the terrible pain he caused.
Okay, let’s talk about the actual episode. It’s been years since Aziraphale and Crowley’s heartbreaking separation—the Metatron urged Aziraphale to replace Gabriel as Supreme Archangel, sweetening the pot with a promise that he could restore Crowley’s angel status. But Crowley wanted nothing to do with Heaven and begged Aziraphale not to go. A plea, a desperate kiss, a fracture. Since then, Aziraphale has been busy in Heaven, organizing the Second Coming of Christ, while Crowley wallows in a drunken depression back on Earth. Right on the heels of the Second Coming, the newly made-flesh Jesus disappears from Heaven and the Book of Life is stolen, which leads pieces of reality to start being unmade. Frantic to fix everything and bring about “universal happiness,” Aziraphale returns to Earth to ask Crowley for help.
Right out of the gate, there’s not enough time. We pretty much knew that was going to be the case going in—how could it not be?—but it still hurts a little to watch the characters hurry through trying to wrap everything up while simultaneously introducing the biggest crisis Aziraphale and Crowley have ever faced. There are dangling threads, the conversations we’ve been waiting for happen in truncated versions between the larger action, and it’s just not enough. That said, the pacing is less of a fault than I might have expected. Although critical moments obviously get shortchanged, it doesn’t feel like the finale is just racing through a series of plot points to check off a list. There are scenes that get space to breathe.
Because the big headline here is what happens to Aziraphale and Crowley, it’s easy to feel dismissive of the apocalyptic goings-on. Something like that needed to be happening, of course—for one, it takes something big to put them in the same room again, and for another, part of what we love about these two is watching how they work together against the forces of both Heaven and Hell. But there are points where the whole Book of Life calamity feels less suspenseful and more of a “we have to up the ante to make this The Biggest Deal of All Deals!!!!” situation that just takes away from what we really want to see.
None of this, however, applies to Jesus, who is just wonderful. Both the writing and Bilal Hasna’s earnest performance create something really beautiful here. Jesus has just become corporeal again and His memories are a little hazy—He longs to speak with one of the humans He cherished the last time He was on Earth, but of course, everyone He knew is long gone. I just love that, when He wonders why He doesn’t have scars, He doesn’t mean scars from the crucifixion. “I had good carpenter’s hands,” He says. Throughout the finale, He radiates goodness and an honest desire to connect with people, regardless of what bigger plans Heaven has for Him.
And there’s Aziraphale and Crowley. I’ll save my more detailed thoughts for a spoilery post, and by then, I might have sorted out how I feel about it a little better. These are my first impressions: some scenes feel like too little, others too much, and others just right. On the whole, there’s a lot of Crowley expressing his hurt at Aziraphale and Aziraphale offering explanations for his actions without showing much acknowledgement of Crowley’s pain. Crowley goes along with helping Aziraphale even as he argues that he won’t, and Aziraphale proves more than once that he wouldn’t get very far without Crowley. As for the very end, all I’ll say is that I’m still thinking about it.
The thing is, though, amid all the busy rushing around and the lack of time, they’re still Aziraphale and Crowley. We get another very early flashback for them, showing a period the show had never depicted between them before. We get Aziraphale being a bit bowled over all over again by the depth of Crowley’s care. We get the Bentley in a ridiculous disguise. We get ice cream and dim sum and costume changes. We get heartbreak and anger, bickering and protectiveness, jokes and quiet overtures. I would’ve wanted a lot more, but I am grateful for what we got.
Over and over, Michael Sheen and David Tennant demonstrate just how excellent they are in these roles, not to mention how splendidly they play off one another. As Aziraphale, Sheen is repressed yet hopeful, avoidant yet longing. When he finally expresses what he hasn’t been saying, it’s a long time coming.
Meanwhile, Tennant is as fantastic as ever as Crowley. In the early scenes, he manages to be numb and a raw nerve at the same time, which is an impressive feat. And once Aziraphale arrives on the scene, his pain sharpens into a focused point. Crowley is both transparently upset and badly trying not to show the extent of his grief, but the latter keeps spilling out into the former. And despite how angry he is with Aziraphale, Crowley still keeps looking out for him and helping him.
Just a few snippets, some of my favorite non-spoilery bits from Tennant here. Crowley leaves a plant of his with Mrs. Sandwich while he goes out for a while, and when he comes back, he croons to it, “Were you good?” One of Crowley’s biggest weaknesses continues to be the way he cares about people and things—Aziraphale knows this about him and uses it to draw him out. Tennant has such a distinctive smitten smile. As I’ve said before, he uses the exact same one for the Tenth Doctor looking at Rose and Crowley looking at Aziraphale. Crowley is still a little shit when it comes to dealing with both Heaven and Hell. This is a great exchange:
CROWLEY: “I quit, Dagon. Did you get the memo?”
DAGON: “You didn’t send a memo!”
CROWLEY: “Well, that’s because I quit.”
Even though I’m still deciding how I feel about the finale, I am glad we got to see these performances one more time.
Accent Watch
Not heavy RP, but a bit posh.
Recommend?
In General – Yes (although if people don’t want to watch a show where Gaiman was involved in the first two seasons, I totally get it.) This was a special series, and it meant a lot to me.
David Tennant – Absolutely! This is the performance that “unlocked” Tennant for me as an actor. He’s so superb in this role!
Warnings
Thematic elements, irreverent humor towards religion, violence, sexual references, language, and drinking.
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