Speak, Friend, And Enter

I think my problem with the end of season 2 and season 3 of Good Omens is that Aziraphale learned his lesson and made his choice in season 1, but the writers keep making him backpedal.

When I first read the book in 2010, I very much related to Crowley. I had grown up in church, had been very dedicated to it, and was heavily involved in ministry. But I had questions. I didn’t understand why the church was so cruel to other people. I didn’t get why we cared so much about certain things, but I also knew questioning was just “a lack of faith”.

But Crowley also had questions. And he got punished for having them. But even though he was a demon, he was still loved by an angel, and still cared for humanity and he very much still believed that having questions was okay. And that brought me comfort.

And then the show came out and Aziraphale goes up the chain of command trying to suggest “there doesn’t have to be a war” until he gets to the number 2 person in all of heaven: the one who speaks FOR GOD. And he’s told the same thing. “The point is to win the war.” And I remember the look on Aziraphale’s face (kudos to Michael’s acting chops) because I KNEW that look. I’d worn that expression. That disappointment and resignation and discouragement at the supposed “morally good” side being cruel and uncaring. That moment made me break down.

Season 1 of Good Omens is what inspired me to finally leave the church after twenty years. Because I saw that choosing people, choosing humanity, didn’t make you a bad person. Sure heaven, or the church might look down upon you, but it was the morally right decision to choose to love people.

And Aziraphale learned that lesson. He stood up to the angels and to Satan and to Death and he defended Adam and humanity and he chose them and he chose Crowley. “We’re on our own side” Crowley said as they shared a bottle of wine while waiting for a bus to take them home. He went behind enemy lines for Crowley. He switched bodies to protect Crowley because he KNEW Hell would destroy him the same way Heaven would destroy Aziraphale.

And yet I’m supposed to believe that Aziraphale would willingly choose to go back to heaven? That, even to “stop the Second Coming” (which, well…) he’d leave Crowley behind FOR YEARS?! He’d cut Crowley off and abandon him for people who had actively tried to kill them both? He’d abandon all the things he defied heaven the first time for? He’d leave his bookshop and his neighbors his music and his food and wine and CROWLEY?!

It might have been believable if he and Crowley had worked out a plan together BEFORE he left. Maybe he does go back but Crowley is in on it and they’re working together and conspiring… that might have been fun.

I think the reason it feels so sour to me is that Aziraphale is WHY I escaped. He did it, therefore so could I. He truly was an inspiration to me, and was instrumental in my now deconstruction from religion.

So to see him go back, KNOWING what heaven tried to do to him, knowing what they did to Crowley, knowing what they wanted to do to the world he loved so much? It doesn’t feel fathomable. He learned that lesson at the end of season one. Why make him forget it over and over again, just for the sake of conflict?

You could probably make an argument for it being a metaphor for an abusive relationship or something, and the struggle of ever truly being free from something like that. But I honestly just blame lazy writing.

(I also have a lot of problems with Gabriel and Beezlebub getting the ending Crowley and Aziraphale deserved without any of the struggle or buildup. Like it was cute sure, but it wasn’t deserved, and considering the bittersweet end we did get (emphasis on bitter), it now leaves a very sour taste in my mouth.)