the thing that makes a good tragedy is that despite the events of the story being preventable, there is a sense that this is the only way it could have gone with the characters the story creates.
this is something that Good Omens 3 completely fails at. Its so annoying to me when people say things along the lines of "this is the only way it could have ended" about the finale because even as a tragedy (which it was not intended to be and is not listed as one if its generas), it is written so poorly that this is not the case. The characters from the book would never have acted the way the characters in the finale did. Crowley is supposed to be an optimist, Aziraphale is supposed to be smart. The choice these characters made in the end is nihilistic and depressing, and doesnt even make sense in the context of the story. There were so many other ways to end things presented in the finale, some of them introduced in the same movie just to be ignored in the end. Jesus could have played a part in the decision, being half god (the one offering the decision) and part human (the ones affected by the decision). Turning a bookshop full of books into hundreds of books of life provides infinite ways for the story to end; the characters can literally choose to write whatever they want into reality. God was apparently willing to do whatever Aziraphale and Crowley wanted, including bringing all the dead humans back to life, so why didnt they ask for anything other than the worst possible option? Especially when the characters are based on thousands of years of tricking people and coming up with creative solutions to get what they want, it makes no sense for them to ignore all their other options and give up. Theres just so many ways the story could have ended, so it makes it cheap and confusing when the characters choose the most tragic ending for no in universe reason, just because the author wanted a sad/bittersweet (theres no sweet in this bitter though) ending.
Neil Gaiman wasn’t looking for a bittersweet ending to this story. He was looking to hurt and destroy as many hearts, minds and souls as he could.
That is his MO in all his stories, and with the allegations against him, he decided to make this one REALLY HURT.
Don’t for one second think we would have gotten the “beautiful ending” we (the fans) wanted so badly for our Ineffables.
We may have been taken on a longer ride to get there (6 episodes) and perhaps even a S4. 💰 💰 💰 But the ending would have been the same.
There is a reason that Neil said to Sir Terry all those years ago, “why are your fans so happy and smiling and mine look like they want to commit suicide?”
You see how much Crowley changed from an optimist to a pessimist, how his snarky remarks weren’t done as ribbing to Aziraphale but instead as mean, almost hateful comments. How he was drowning in pity.
That isn’t the Crowley STP created, or the one we came to trust and love. The same with Aziraphale.
Aziraphale would NEVER have left Crowley on the ground, in a filthy alleyway so despondent that he didn’t care if he lived or died. He would have fought to his death to protect him, to show him how sorry he was, how he wished he’d never left him, and that he loved him.
“If I knew where Jesus was I wouldn’t need you.” WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?
“Wouldn’t need me, right, gotcha.” 💔
Thanks for the knife in the back Gaiman. We all forgot who you really were.
Or maybe we were optimistic when we should have been pessimistic.
