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SPOILERS!!!!

What a beautiful, heartbreaking, and wonderful ending. Man. I’ve adored these characters since the show first came out in 2019. I have so many versions of the book, I have the first season’s DVD. I remember when we didn’t think there’d be a second season at all, or a third. I remember everyone rewatching the second season just to give Amazon an incentive to finish out this beautiful story, the worry about it being canceled, and all the work those involved and in the fanbase had done to ensure it got the conclusion it deserved. Up until a few hours ago, I’d been on a countdown with so many other fans for this finale to drop. And by god, everyone involved did such a purely fantastic job. The final kiss at the end makes so much sense. They already knew how much love they had for each other…what can even be said at the very end? What would anybody say, or do, at the very end? Everything is known now, and perhaps always was known, and now it’s the very end…what can really be done in the end? The last thing they saw as they met oblivion, was each other. It’s so very, very human. And that’s not even mentioning the symbolism of that kiss; the hurt, pain and complicated emotions lingering after Season 2’s finale had become so very simple now. It was given back, not after Aziraphale had “forgiven” Crowley, but the other way around. One thing I found so interesting was how you can tell that Aziraphale was, for a moment, “let down” when Crowley didn’t say something along the lines of “I want you and that is it.” Phenomenal acting on Michael Sheen’s part, he’s able to express so much with just his face in that scene. But he then realizes that it’s what’s right; ironically, it’s the very thing Aziraphale had placed between them for so long, whether or not his actions or association with Crowley were “right” or “good.” And Crowley, the one who he’d labeled as a “demon” up to no good at all, had made that final call to do what was absolutely best for humanity, regardless of the huge personal cost, and the angel followed. At the end of the day, it’s so fitting for them. Saving humanity in Season 1 was the entire reason they were able to begin exploring the depths of their feelings towards one another. Sure, it’s more “cinematic” to have a big, sweeping “final kiss,” but it isn’t them. It never was. Between them was always quiet, tucked away moments of ups and downs, with something inexplicable (or maybe ineffable?) always bringing them into each other’s orbit. I feel like Aziraphale wanted something cinematic like that, between the Jane Austen ball and the desire to just abandon the rest of the universe to spend it with Crowley. But life isn’t like that. Love doesn’t really happen like that. And yet, to abandon the world and go off with Aziraphale was what Crowley had initially wanted. It could almost feel like they’d “missed” that mutual goal with each other, and the tragedy was how they never wanted the same thing at the same time. However…

I think Crowley gained a lot of insight into the pure desperation of the human experience by being left on his own with no miracles or Aziraphale. He drinks, gambles, borrows money, and for the first time experienced how people end up in the places they end up. He experienced the desperation that every person on Earth has and ever will feel, and he fully grasps how unfair the expectations for the human soul are. It’s one thing to know the concept, like in the grave robbing episode, but a whole other beast to live it yourself. Crowley was indeed the best angel in the end, because even after everything in Hell and on Earth, he believed in the good in humanity. Aziraphale loves him for that and more, and to love really is to surrender, and he did. He went by Crowley’s wishes this time. He didn’t try to “pilot” the direction of the world or of each other anymore. He’d tried to fix the system before, only to realize that the entire system could never be fixed as it was. They wanted humanity to experience themselves as they’d experienced them; with pure fascination, curiosity, and opportunity to love and be loved. So to sacrifice a future they’d both longed for over the course of 6000 years to save humanity one last time, to break a system that had broken the world, feels so incredibly right for them, even if it’s so heartbreaking.

Again, a truly beautiful job on closing out a story so very dear to me. They found each other in the end, in a way that only people can. And for every person to have that chance, Crowley and Aziraphale found that to be worth their sacrifice in the end. I think it’s hopeful, that we can all find and hold onto a love like that. We don’t have to know each other for 6000 years to feel a love like that so deeply, especially in a world that truly has chances for every person on the planet. And even if the world isn’t like that here and now, there’s still so much love to hold onto. We just have to “be” to give and receive it. And that’s the point. Thank you, to everyone in the cast and crew, and to this fanbase for everything you’ve all contributed to making this story the way it is. It’s been a wild, wonderful ride, and it’s genuinely changed my life for the better.