:)

Imagine finding out you have 90 minutes to tie up a love story that's developed over thousands of years. You create something beautifully in character and completely on point for the plot. You pay homage to the original writer's legacy in a fitting and poetic way and create an ending that not only shows the depth of two people's love for each other but the wider love they have for the thing that brought them together in the first place.

And then you go online to find the loudest outcry is that everyone hates it and "THEY DIDN'T EVEN KISS!"

Aziraphale and Crowley, who spent over 6000 years learning to love each other and themselves and humanity, straight up don’t exist anymore. The people that exist in their place are barely even husks of who they were.

The writing was so horribly paced, because it’s clear that they smushed 6 episodes together instead of treating this like a feature film instead of a last-ditch effort to get a finale. Jesus was practically inconsequential to the plot. The resolution and debate about free will is harping on things that were wrapped up in previous seasons,. They had so many ideas that went nowhere (the card game and the new book of life that Aziraphale started writing). The lore was inconsistent (if everything was erased, why does the devil still exist?). There’s SO much to talk about

But focusing on the ineffable husbands of it all— the whole point of the characters is that they love humanity because of their centuries of living amongst them. The ‘choice’ they made was the worst possible option, there were a million other ways they could ask for things that actually made sense. The new versions of who they are don’t have the same appreciation for any of it— the food, the books, space, ANYTHING. They exist only as mortals, rendering EVERYTHING that happened in seasons 1 and 2 and outside of the show utterly pointless

It’s possible to tie up everything in 90 minutes. They almost did it. (Not very well, mind you, but it almost worked), and then they went and spoiled it all by doing that thing.

That thing, of course, being ending the series on a wish. Wish-granting is the laziest way to wrap up a story, second only to “and then they woke up.” I know it wasn’t really a wish, and that they were having a dialogue with god, but ultimately it came down to god granting them a request, and to wish for a world without heaven and hell shouldn’t be possible in that universe. It metatextually changes everything, and it’s too easy of a win. Essentially they asked “we wish everything ended happily,” and then didn’t have to solve anything themselves.

#OP talking about “paying homage to the original writer's legacy” made me laugh because like. that's the opposite of what S3 did#S1 already established humans have free will (see Adam picking humanity over fulfilling his destiny)#and I doubt Pratchett would like the idea of nuking the whole entire world because it's imperfect and we might as well start from scratch#the whole point is embracing humanity#“let's make every single person's life as they knew it end without a say in the matter” is not exactly a humanist message about free will

I think it's quite telling that criticism of the finale is often reduced to "just people being mad they didn't kiss"; because I truly believe the only way to enjoy this finale is to not care about Good Omen's narrative and themes beyond Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship.

Because on a surface level reading of the plot, if you're seeing Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship as the sole focus of the series, the finale is fine. They get to spend their life together in another universe, falling in love and growing old without having to hide their feelings for one another.

(And there is a point to be made—like prev does—about how those aren't the real Crowley and Aziraphale, because everything that made them who they were—their memories and their experiences—was lost. And I agree with that analysis, but it's beyond the point I'm trying to make here)

However, if you consider what it means for the broader Good Omens universe, the finale is straight up a betrayal of the ideas expressed by Pratchett in the original material. Good Omens has always been a story about larger than life supernatural beings falling in love with humanity, but one in which ordinary people are just as prominently featured as angels and demons. Crowley and Aziraphale are not the true protagonist of the story, humanity is. This is why the story culminates in Adam refusing to take part in the Divine Plan and choosing humanity instead. The S1 ending is both about how humanity is worth preserving and about human agency. No one, on either sides, expected Adam to oppose the divine plan. Because they didn't understand Adam would have agency over his life and what he wanted to do with it. They didn't even consider he could choose humanity.

The S3 finale expresses the exact opposite message. The fate of humanity is not dictated by humanity itself, but rather sealed by a handful of divine beings that treat their lives as an afterthought. Crowley and Aziraphale are incredibly OoC throughout the whole fianle, but their final wish to god is particularly aggravating. The original material expressed several times that the idea of giving up on people and create "new ones" is not an option, so the idea of the two of them suddenly deciding it's the right thing to do is extremely poor writing. It's justified as a way to give humans "free will", but it was already established in S1 that they did, so that doesn't even hold up. And I know that them asking to just bring everyone back would have been (rightfully) criticized as bad writing, but the solution here would have been to just.. not write themselves into a corner in the first place.

And even then it couldn't deliver, unless you're in denial, or squinting really hard at it.

But it's more then that… in Book Omens, Aziraphale is the one who first decides to try to sacrifice himself by fighting Literal Satan and talks Crowley into helping him, yeah, but it is an incredibly important moment for Crowley as well. It's a culmination for both of their individual arcs about their relationship with Humanity and their jobs. It's just a beautiful moment of resolve from Aziraphale, showing that despite his hedonism and selfishness and hypocrisy, he does have a moral code that's flat-out better than what we see come from Heaven, especially now that he's become disillusioned with his higher-ups and doesn't even try to put himself on a Moral High-Ground compared to Crowley.

And it's also such a great moment for Crowley's character, after a whole arc of being forced to confront all of his fears about Hell, to realize that as self-serving as he is, when he's got nothing more to lose, he wants to do this brave and selfless thing. As a huge Book Crowley fan this line of internal monologue always makes me feral. He's been trapped by his fears of 'getting in troubles' with Hell for 6000 years, and now he's finally free and he knows that what he wants to do is beat his shitty boss in the face with a tire iron and save the Humans!!

And it's, y'know, kinda important that if you have one character talk their friend/partner into doing a Heroic Sacrifice with them, to see that the friend comes to actually understand why they should risk their life like that, that it means something to them as just an individual person.

Because the problem with the GO3 'Sacrifice' isn't really that it 'gives' Crowley a moment that Aziraphale 'lost'. It's the way that it goes out of it's way to make this moment all about Crowley to such an absolute degree. It's the culmination of his relationship with Humanity and his arc about being free from Heaven and Hell and his arc about challenging God, and the narrative seems to go out of its way to emphasize that Aziraphale only goes along with it as a demonstration of his love and trust of Crowley, his relationship arc with Crowley, how he's trying to make up for not listening to Crowley and being a ""Taker"".

This has been bugging me for months now. I don't like the use of the word "anti" to call GO3 critical fans or GO3 grievers. "Anti" has always been used for puritants who attack anyone with, in their opinion, problematic ship/fanwork. So now we have people running around saying, "The antis said this and that." Out of context, it sounds like we are all a bunch of puritants lmao.

I suggest we call ourselves the Demons. (This is a joke, unless...?)

Because how dare we ask questions, right? How dare we not just eat the terrible sandwich given to us. How dare we not be grateful to the lazy chef who put that sandwich together. How dare we be expressive of our hate for the sandwich.

We are doomed for eternity, cursed by the knowledge of watching GO3. Everything we loved before GO3 now has been tainted. We can try to ignore it, but it's always there in our heads.

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Regarding someone saying they are scared of interacting on Finale hater posts. Whoever you are, I assure you this about my blog:

If you love the Finale and have something to say against my posts, you are welcome to leave a reply as long as you are polite and don't try to put words in my mouth. I will gladly engage with everyone. I treat you all the same on my blog if you aren't being rude.

Some of us couldn't handle it and lashed out, which wasn't a good thing, of course. I do not support harrassing and insulting GO3 positive fans or Asanthony fanarts. That said, I don't think sharing our thoughts on a post about GO3 is harrassment if it's not the aforementioned things. If someone is being polite, then it's best to not assume ill intention when you read a post. I think.

This goes to both sides. I make this mistake sometimes when I read something and reply too fast to it. I'm not clean.

Dogpilling is also being used to call the instances of several people disagreeing with a post. It's the internet. People see and decide what they want to do with a post. Throwing the term around just because you or someone said a thing that other people disagree with? Are you sure it's a bunch of people organizing an attack, or idk? Maybe your post is just controversial? It happens. We can't make perfect posts or have perfect takes. That's impossible.

I believe a bunch of people commenting on your take with opposite ideas (politely) isn't dogpiling or bullying. People need to differenciate these things and stop using words like "harrass", "attack" or "dogpile" to villainize those with opposite opinion from them.

Foreword : I am used to do movies analysis in french. I did a 24 pages analysis of the first season and a 32 pages of the second. I really didn't think I'd write anything on the finale. But we have to talk about it, and I wanted to try for the first time in english, because I think it's important.

We have to talk about the best way to mess up an ending.

Personally, because of all the problems that happened, I didn't want to see it, I wasn't expecting it anything.

I was waiting for the book adaptation with such enthusiasm that I was sure I was gonna be disappointed : I was wrong. It was more than perfect to me. Season 2 was an emotional rollercoaster that ended with a heartbreaking finale I'm not about to forget. But I didn't look forward to this Finale, as they call it, with the same enthusiasm. I wasn't expecting anything at all. Well, they managed to disgust me anyways.

I don't hold it against the film crew, those who did everything they could to give fans an ending and bring our story an ending. For that, I can thank them. You can tell that some things were cut, you can tell it moves too fast, but the sets, the costumes, the actors' performances... all of that is still executed brilliantly.

On the other hand, I'm not going to praise the writing, which, judging by the numerous tweets and other bits and pieces here and there, wasn't done with love. Or at least, not until the last 20 minutes, because let's be honest: I enjoyed the rest, despite the fact that a lot of things seemed strange, or that the characters didn't seem like themselves at all. But the fact that the series completely misses the book's message still sticks in my throat. So, those are my issues with this finale.

1) Being human and having free will

"It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people." Here's a line taken from both the book and the series. Being human isn't about being good or bad; it's just ... about making choices. That's what Aziraphale and Crowley do: they choose. They choose to raise the Antichrist; they choose to meet, to have dinner together... In short, just like humanity, they have free will.

So ... Where, but where does this idea of Crowley wanting a world without God, angels, or demons, without hell or heaven, with true free will comes from ? Crowley has ALWAYS been the one who could make his own choices, and who helped Aziraphale finally break free from Heaven. Crowley's problem is that, for him, it is sometimes not fair (refering to Edimburg minisode) because everything depends on one's birth. That's the only real problem. As for the rest, we've always seen that Angels and Demons were the ones with the least choice, and that humans, on the contrary, had their free will. Anathema decides to burn the second Book of Agnes Nutter. Adam chooses not to destroy the world. Nina and Maggie decide they don't want to start a relationship right away. Crowley doesn't want to go back to Hell. Aziraphale decides to help Crowley raise what they believed to be the Antichrist. God never interfered in any of this.

So, yes, sometimes God wiped out people, like during the Flood and Noah's Ark, or Sodom and Gomorrah, or when God wanted to teach Job a lesson by taking everything away from him only to give him back twice as much later : but that's it. It was never stated in the series that God actually interfered in the world. In fact, God's "ineffable" plan was precisely that : ineffable. We didn't know when God was rolling the dices with the universe or not. Maybe the whole thing with the card game and "finding the lady" was a message about that, but honestly, I don't want to think about it because it's been proven since the first season that everyone is free to make their own choices. So, in short, what makes humans human are their choices. I remember the little surprise at the end of the first season: Aziraphale and Crowley each taking the other's body in order to survive. Before I understood that, I thought nothing could hurt them because they became human. And in a way, they did become human psychologically : at that moment, they no longer had sides and were part of humanity. It was even stated in both the book and the series : "In the end, it will be us, humanity, against Hell and Heaven." Where did that great war go? No, because in Season 2, when Aziraphale and Crowley performed a tiny miracle together, it was the first time an angel and a demon had performed a miracle together, and it was an extremely powerful miracle. Season 3 should have built on this idea of humanity versus the celestial beings, not, um ... the vague storyline we got.

In fact, what made everyone human with free will was that everyone had a choice DESPITE God's plans except for the Angels and Demons. They were the ones without free will. They were the ones who needed to be saved. Humans were doing just fine. In fact, in that « new world with free will », I don't see any changes at all from the one we knew.

Several times in the series or the book, we're told very clearly : Angels and Demons have nothing to do with human affairs. The French Revolution, World War II, the Spanish Inquisition... all of that is the fault of humans and their free will : God NEVER interfered in any of those stuff. So it's rather counterproductive to see two humans-supposedly representing our favorite characters meet because it seems their fate is that they would always have met, wheareas Aziraphale and Crowley chose to meet and love each other. They've always had their free will.

2) Don't replace: fix

Now, I don't know how they managed to miss this one. Maybe they did not read the book or watch Season 1 ? In any case, back to the series, here's what was said: "You're going to burn [the Earth] away ? Why ? Because some adults mucked things up ? That's a reason to fix it, not destroy it."

The book and the first season show us all the defaults of humanity, which is destroying everything, and yet the children (I repeat, CHILDREN) quickly realize that if something is broken, that doesn't mean you have to throw It away and replace It. If you love something, you love it with its flaws, and you don't abandon it because of that. In fact, the ones who need to be replaced, educated, and changed from the start are Heaven and Hell ! Adam says it himself: "You want to destroy the world to find out which side is better ?" The problem isn't God, it isn't that the world is doomed, it's that the Angels and Demons are too busy fighting each other to realize that humanity is beautiful. In Season 2, when Muriel discovers Earth, they're amazed, and that was the first step toward what should have concluded the series : that the Entities who think they're better than humans discover they're just as valuable as them, just as Aziraphale and Crowley discovered.

And it kills me to see that instead, we have a God who shows up and tells Aziraphale he was gluttonous, vain, or I don't know what other sins, Yes, we knew that, I even wrote it seven years ago, and that's what made Aziraphale a unique angel. Yet it's portrayed in such a cold way, with a God who looks down on Aziraphale, just as he judges his love for Crowley ... As if the angels and demons were the ones who were right. It's always difficult to have God appear in a piece of media, and it's always best not to do it, or to keep him as a voice-over, like in the series. That way, everyone's happy : atheists, religious folks, etc. But above all, God is an entity we're not supposed to understand. So, seeing him appear and spout all that nonsense to Aziraphale, just like the angels and demons did before, made me uncomfortable. Because Aziraphale's journey in the series is about learning to stop listening to others and just be himself. But then, God-this powerful entity-shows up, tells him all that, and Aziraphale ... doesn't react ? Well, honestly, he didn't have time. But the idea remains : God is right, like everyone else, and we the viewers are the one who are in the wrong.

Anyway, that brings me to the next point: the episode with Job. The episode with Job that showed him losing everything, but regaining it all away in double.. Except that Aziraphale is surprised that the ancient children aren't being brought back. "Of course not. But we're giving them new ones." Fortunately, Aziraphale and Crowley fight tooth and nail to save the children, much to Job's delight. So, what were Aziraphale and Crowley thinking when they asked for a new world Where did their reasoning go ? No, because excuse me, but that makes no sense. At the end of the first season, they cheers to the World. And now, here we are, with every character our duo has known over the years who is DEAD, The good ones and the bad ones, Beelzebub, Gabriel, Shax, Furfur, Muriel, Uriel, Michael, Sandalphon, Saraquael, Jesus, Nina, Maggie, Adam, Wensley, Pepper, Bryan, Shadwell, Mrs. Tracy, Anathema, Newt, Dog, Job and his whole family, Satan, Metatron, Hastur, Ligur, Agnes Nutter, all of humanity, Crowley, and Aziraphale. The people we see at the end in the bar aren't the same: Adam isn't Satan's son and may never have been switched at birth; Anathema and Newt probably never met; Job's children ultimately died because they never existed; as for all those who weren't human, I don't even want to talk about them, cause they're just look alike. We find ourselves like Job, like idiots : we didn't want the new human versions that vaguely resemble our characters; we wanted the old ones. Anthony and Asa are NOT Crowley and Aziraphale: they don't have their backstories, they grew up in unknown families, they might have siblings, abusive parents or not. we don't know and frankly, I couldn't care less about seeing these two copies that look like nothing get married and live in South Down.

I've seen people say that maybe it's a metaphor suggesting they'd end up in any universe. I feel like saying, people are clinging to whatever they can, because God makes it clear. "none of you would exist in such a universe." There are no other universes, or at least, the series doesn't show us any, and I don't want to make up something that isn't shown anywhere. (So there is, of course, that snow globe with the bookstore and the Bentley, and if you've read other works by Gaiman, you know he likes pocket universes. But I don't want to imagine things for him.)

3) Aziraphale and Crowley

"Forever." Those are the ending words of the books. That's what we fans, whenever we became fans, after the book was published or after the series, wanted for our favorite duo. A beautiful story that never ends. Hope. The book and the first season are filled with messages of hope. Aziraphale is the one who breaks free, who manages to leave the family that traumatized him to fully live the life he wanted. Crowley Is the one who is wounded, who was rejected by his family and who finds comfort mainly through Aziraphale, "Us," "We." They are a duo, inseparable from the very beginning, since they were a single character at the very beggining, split in two to create what I consider the most beautiful duo ever seen on screen, They are adorable, funny, touching, and endearing, and it's easy to see ourselves in them because of the trials they endure.

So first of all, how did we go from a Crowley who says "We can run away together," "We're our own team," "I'd like to go ... , " "You and me, what do you say?," "no demons, no angels, just us," "it'll be all of us against all of them", in short, from a Crowley who spends two seasons drooling over Aziraphale to end up with a Crowley who ... wants to kill everyone including Aziraphale ? It makes absolutely no sense.

Anyway, I didn't want kisses or sex scenes like some fans. I was just looking for an "I love you," and a "happily ever after" ending. Instead, I got the death of my characters. I watched them disappear forever. It doesn't work because they were completely out of character : there they were, Aziraphale saying nothing, Crowley asking for things he didn't care about a minute ago ...

But above all, the film's message is this : if you have the misfortune of living in a world where the system is corrupted, and where you are the embodiment of others' rejection, and resentment, the only solution is suicide, because you'll never find peace, love, and joy. We might as well live in a supposedly better world with a normal versions of ourselves. It disgusts me to write something so awful. The book and the first season are so full of hope that I literally wanted to vomit watching what was happening before my eyes. Because I saw so much of myself in Azriaphale and Crowley-they were the embodiment of eternal love despite their psychological issues that it broke my heart to see such crap on screen.

Conclusion:

While the books, Season 1, and Season 2 were heading toward a celestial battle, toward an Aziraphale who was going to fix the broken system to make it better and a Crowley who was finally going to find peace and love, while our characters could have finally lived their lives... everyone dies. Aziraphale does nothing to stop the Second Coming, Crowley decides to annihilate Earth, and both disappear. Everyone disappears after Jesus gave them hope.

Not every story can have a happy ending. But for that to work, it has to make sense, and here, it doesn't. The series completely forgets its themes, its message of hope, and we're left having to celebrate two completely unknown characters falling in love, while our favorite characters vanish. It is, I think, the worst ending that could ever have happened. In short, when you write things, never forget what came before.

And that’s exactly his language of support, which we see later in the Job episode as well. He jokes first, uses harmless sarcasm, and so on. But in the end, he just... stays by his side, letting Aziraphale know that he’s not alone.

❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･