Fuckin' uhhhhh

i’m not going to claim to be any sort of media studies expert bc i’m not, but i think it’s fair to say that while tv or movies or books etc are open to all interpretations, those conclusions still have to have a basis on what is actually on the screen or page. and so much of what i see from people who tout the beauty of go3 just does not line up with what i saw on screen (or in the book, if we want to look there too). it’s like someone having an opinion based on false information. if someone said they love the first jurassic park movie bc in the end the humans and the dinosaurs sort out their differences and stop hurting each other so everyone gets a happy ending, you would say “ok but that literally did not happen”.

i don’t know how to change that for myself. i’m trying to just view it as a difference in opinion, but instead i find myself continuously thinking “that’s nice, but that literally didn’t happen”. at the same time, i know i’m not going to change anyone’s mind even if i wanted to try. so like. what do i do, just ignore everyone who talks about how perfect the ending was and how much they love it? even people that i otherwise enjoy interacting with? that doesn’t feel fair either. it all makes me feel like i’m coming off as an elitist asshole who only values my own ‘correct’ opinions - which is the last thing i want!

I don't think being an English major makes me an expert on media analysis, by any means, but I"ll be doing a whole lot of it between now and graduation, and I've done a lot for it already. I don't want to tell you how to feel about the finale, because I do my best not to be an asshole, but here's my take:

First, I see the ending feels more bittersweet than pure sunshine and rainbows, but it didn't feel entirely doom-and-gloom either. The versions of Aziraphale and Crowley that we knew and loved had to give up what they wanted to fix a problem that was a lot bigger than the two of them, but somehow, in a universe governed by probability instead of destiny, a version of those characters were conceived, born, found each other again, and actively chose each other. And this time, it was possible for their happiness to last, and it did.

Though, I've also been a hobby writer for a long time, and love digging into how storytelling works, so it's worth mentioning that a "happy ending" isn't always the ending that makes the reader happy. It might, but the writers aren't mind readers, y'know? They can't really know how we'll respond until the story is out in the world. So a happy ending is either a) "All the characters' problems are solved forever and their crops are forever watered and the evil witch is miserable in her jail cell she can't magic herself out of" (which is the idealized fairytale version most people know), or b) Maybe the characters can't have what they really wanted, but they somehow find happiness wherever they end up.

You may notice that neither example of a happy ending is about the reader/viewer's reaction to it. Not that endings are never written for the readers, in fact, the romance genre is escapist by design, so the endings have to be happy for the reader and the characters they're meant to project onto. But even though Good Omens is a love story, any romance publisher/movie studio/etc. would want a lot of it to change before they'd sell it, because Aziraphale and Crowley have too much personality and backstory to work in escapism.

Some parts of the finale were really hard to watch, but the happy ending isn't the subjective bit. The subjective bit is whether the happy ending actually worked for the story, or whether it fell flat, or maybe a bit of both or neither and why it didn't work for you. Although, usually you also need to make an argument for what you think the writers were going for and why. Sometimes you could go the extra mile and figure out the actual context the thing was written in, but especially for stories set in the present (like Good Omens), a vague understanding of current events is enough. I need to refresh my memory when it comes to "Death of the Author", but I think that's just for cases where there's something worth talking about whether the writers meant for it to be there or not. I don't think we'd need it in this case.

Part of the joy of fandom is that we don't need to hold ourselves to the same standards as academics, but I hope some of this was useful anyway. I'm sorry the finale wasn't as satisfying for you as it was for me, though, and I understand why people wanted the fairytale ending for them. Before I saw it, I did too.

i think it can be argued whether or not the ending was bittersweet or a complete tragedy, but i would say that whichever degree of bitter you see it as, it wasn't appropriate for this story. the first type of happy ending you described - the fairytale ending - is actually pretty accurate to the ending of GO1/the book! sure, there's crowley's warning of "the big one", but overall the characters and the audience are all left with a feeling of accomplishment in averting armageddon and getting one over heaven/hell, joy at the shenanigans that got us here, and hope for a better future that they all fought for. i don't believe the ending of GO3 is in line with that message. that ending felt very hopeless, that crowley and aziraphale's "sacrifice" was really them backed into a corner with little other options, and that god still won (she's the one with the power to actually DO whatever they would end up deciding on).

i just think that the conclusion of GO1/book with adam deciding that this world is worth fighting for even though it is flawed and the conclusion of GO3 with the ineffables deciding that everything is fucked and they need to just start over do not line up. i think the trajectory of the plot in go3 (maybe even from go2) brought the story to this impossible hurdle of "defeating god" and so such a drastic tonal shift was forced. that's why i see a lot of "this is the only way it could've ended" and i understand what people mean. i would argue that the story never had to be written with the stakes so high.

That's a good point about how sudden the shift in tone was. Most stories, unless they get really experimental about structure, would drop hints about something that big a lot sooner. At least, they do in the west. I think it's pretty common in parts of Asia to have a big twist show up pretty late that wasn't telegraphed at all, and then the point of the story is to see how the characters deal with the fallout.

But I digress. The original writers were both British, and S1 was written using a fancier version of Freytag's Pyramid, like most Western stories are.. Following that structure, the first 3 episodes of S2 would've gotten progressively bleaker, or they would've hinted that a more sudden twist was coming... which would've shown up in episode 3 or 4. Instead we got an even sillier version of S1 where everything seemed less apocalyptic until the last second.

I rewatched S1 and S2 before the finale dropped, and having seen them all more than once, I think of S2 as the odd one out. There's still a lot to like about it, don't get me wrong, but all of the S1 weirdness was explained as Adam's interests mixing with new fears about the state of the world (brought to you by our resident conspiracy theorist Anathema), and all that was seeping out of his mind and warping reality. So the aliens were set up, but the zombies in S2? Since when were those a thing?

Now you've intrigued me. My blorbo brain is in the background, and my hobby writer/storytelling nerd brain is dissecting everything. Part of the trouble with S2 for me is that it felt too slice-of-life to build suspense or anticipation or what have you. So now I can't decide if the finale was the problem, or the whole second season that was supposed to set it up.

Thank you for giving my analysis and editor brain something to chew on :3

I can't listen to 'Time After Time' anymore (obvious reasons).

Can't listen to 'The Winner Takes It All', 'The One That Got Away' (too many edits and the lyrics work too well), or 'Glimpse of Us' (lyrics fit too well). Do not even try to play 'Purple Rain' around me (edits, plus I AM A STRANGER THINGS FAN TOO).

I'm still angry and disappointed. I counted on this finale to give me comfort and peace during a pretty messed up time in my life, and it only made it worse. I can barely watch a single edit without tearing up. I read fics, but they're only a temporary fix, because try as I might, I can't make my brain forget what happened on my screen on May 13th 2026.

People who like the finale keep saying "their love created our universe", but the thing is, THEIR universe already felt like OUR universe. Besides the Bible bits made real, it had all important historical events of our timeline included. The World Wars, the pandemic, the French Revolution. It used OUR locations - France, London, St. James' Park, Edinburgh. That's why they felt so close to us. Because we could imagine them everywhere at any time. We could imagine them being in South Downs right now, looking over us. We could visit their bench and feel like they sit there when we're not watching. It was easy to create when any setting could work. We could see a minor inconvenience and casually say that Crowley made that happen. We could see something nice and smile, thinking that Aziraphale did something good again. We were comfortable with angst because we knew that they would always be fine at the end of the day.

All of that was taken from us. The world feels empty now, because we still have the history of both World Wars, the pandemic, the French Revolution; we still have France, London, St. James' Park, Edinburgh and even South Downs. But we don't have THEM. We've never had them. Everything's exactly as it was but without the comfort of our guardians looking out for us.

All of that makes their 'sacrifice' worthless. Because we don't see ANY difference between both universes. There's never been one. Except that now the magic is gone.

I can imagine and fool myself as much as I want to, but my brain, my subconscious, KNOWS. And it hurts more than anything ever has.

There are some bits I like about the finale. I'm forever grateful that Rachel agreed to direct it, that the cast came back and got involved again. But looking at the mess the writing has created, I can't help but wish it never aired.

Personally, I liked the finale, but some parts were hard to watch. It sounds like you're still processing and grieving a lot, so I'll try to avoid specifics. But please, if watching edits and reading fanfic is bringing back that grief, then you're only hurting yourself more by trying to engage with them. Take a break from that side of fandom to collect yourself, and it'll all be here when you're ready to come back. I'm pretty sure that trying to force it is emotional self-harm.

Still with me? Good. Before we move on, let me repeat that whether you like the finale or not isn't up to me. I'm just a guy on the internet with a different take. But I'm also an English major, and a hobby writer besides, so maybe I have enough street cred to not get blocked.

(Everything else is under the cut. I accidentally wrote enough to make my own post, which I'm sure I'll do at some point.)

(Funny how because of some not nice comments from both sides of the split we all feel the need to basically give our credentials before voicing an opinion)

Watching edits and reading fanfic is as much grief-inducing as it is comforting. Especially with fanfics, it's a way to keep my brain from spiraling, because I can't get them out of my head anyway (they've been my hyperfixation for a few years now). It's also my way of convincing myself that they're alive and well. It helps more and more every day.

It's not as much story-turned-lifeline thing as it is the simple comfort of a silly comedy show helping me relax after a long, hard week of work. A story in which the Apocalypse was stopped because an eleven-year-old said 'I don't wanna', because a group of humans just like us grouped together in their clumsy way to save their flawed lives just as they were. A story in which an angel and a demon work together and love each other even though everyone tells them they're not supposed to (perfect metaphor for a queer relationship). A story in which two supernatural entities learn what it means to be human, learn to enjoy simple pleasures of Earth, discuss morality and the grey areas of life. A story that tells us that no matter how broken things are, they're still worth saving and preserving just as they are. That everyone can make their own choice.

Adam was destined to end the Earth. And he decided he wouldn't.

Anathema was supposed to be a professional descendant her whole life. And she burned the prophecies, choosing the unknown, but her unknown.

Aziraphale and Crowley were supposed to be enemies. And they chose to work together instead.

Everything is ineffable, because no one knows where the next choice will take them, what it will cause, but we have a freedom to make that choice, for better or for worse.

And the parallels between those two worlds being so close made it so much more impactful, because the events mostly matched, because it rang true that it's basically the same universe — the universe where everything is possible, where we can defy the system and choose our fate for ourselves. It gives us hope. And it gives us a comforting image of two entities, completely useless at their jobs, looking out for us. I don't have the same feeling with for example Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Stranger Things, etc. Because it's a clear fiction. Good Omens feels real in a way no other show does because of the parallels, because of humanity and the discussions taken through the story. We could put them here in the real world and feel that it's right, that it fits, because it's hopeful.

I can see Crowley's words at the tree scene being angry on our behalf. And that anger is as in-character as it can get. But why is the solution coming down to forgetting what had existed before and starting new? Why did they have to abandon their own world, their own potential happiness, to create something new? In a story where the main message was that it can be fixed, and even if it can't, it's still worth fighting for?

It didn't feel like fighting for the world to be saved. It felt like there was no hope left and it was better to just start fresh and hope for the best. It feels like they were taken from us because with the parallel of events between the worlds, it basically drew an uncrossable line between them.

I feel betrayed because it's pretty dark for a silly comedy show. I feel betrayed because it was promoted differently. I feel betrayed because whenever South Downs came up, it had always been framed as a future for Aziraphale and Crowley, a future in which they go against the system and win against all odds. In which their struggles pay off in giving them healing and happiness, showing us that we too can achieve that, no matter how long it takes. In which their retirement means that humanity won against the system. I don't see their evaporation as escaping the system, because if I die out of my own free will, I do not escape my troubles, I let them win. I struggle with the finale because the humanity they supposedly were saving had no say in any of this.

There were other, more fitting ways to convey a message of choice and freedom. Our future is changeable — and theirs was too. And they felt like a representation of us in a way. So seeing them get erased didn't resonate too well with me.

The thing is, I don't want to have to write them back to me. I don't want to create theories and try to guess. Good Omens became my comfort show because I never once had to read a fix-it fic for it before. Because I understood and agreed with everything I saw. I needed to see them defy the system one more time and then learn how to heal and be happy together. I needed to see that world go on and be flawed and that being okay.

Also, I feel like you might have misinterpreted a bit in my post about wanting to have it over and done with, but that's on me, I didn't specify. I did not mean cast and crew. I know they loved that world, I know they did everything they could to give us the finale. I meant Amazon and the writers of the finale. Never the crew or the cast. Sorry that it came out wrong.

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to argue in any way. Thank you for reaching out and being kind and understanding. I kind of ranted while trying to explain what I feel, I tend to do that. It just hurts so much that they fought so hard for so long and never got what they truly deserved. It just sours some things for me, because their story, and all the other little stories in Good Omens, were proof that no matter how much you struggle and how hard things get, there will come a day in your life when it's all worth it and you'll grab a chance to be happy, despite the fight, despite the traumas, both despite and thanks to your past. Them deciding to start a new universe and erasing themselves in the process felt like the opposite of that.

I hear you about the mean comments, too. I made the mistake of checking the fandom tag a lot sooner after S3 dropped and decided pretty quickly to try again another day, LOL.

The finale was painful for me to watch, too, but I guess it didn't negate the happy ending, for me.

Not that it's the ending I would've written for them, though. I also wanted our versions of them to be okay after all this, because we all care about them. That's only natural, being the weird, sentimental apes we are.

I get what you mean about it not lining up with the message of S1. It probably would've been foreshadowed earlier if the book and season one were already written with the sequel in mind, but that was outlined later, as we know, and even S2 ended on a somewhat optimistic note with Gabriel and Beelzebub getting their fairytale ending, not that they deserved it.

And yeah, Amazon absolutely wanted to end this thing as soon as possible. My bad for assuming you meant the cast and crew. The execs seem to have pretty selective morals, if they're still willing to work with Mr. Beast, but we all know money talks the loudest for them.

I also thought some of the character choices for human!Aziraphale & Crowley were kinda odd--Aziraphale said himself that Crowley was the artist, so I think he should've had a bunch of models or artwork of the stars that he made himself, regardless of what he does for a living. It also would've felt more like them if their human counterparts had dealt with similar hardships in similar ways, just on a more human scale, but we would've needed at least an entire normal-length episode to set that up, and then I think some fans would've also rioted if their lives as human beings weren't a literal utopia. It's hard to please everyone.

i’m not going to claim to be any sort of media studies expert bc i’m not, but i think it’s fair to say that while tv or movies or books etc are open to all interpretations, those conclusions still have to have a basis on what is actually on the screen or page. and so much of what i see from people who tout the beauty of go3 just does not line up with what i saw on screen (or in the book, if we want to look there too). it’s like someone having an opinion based on false information. if someone said they love the first jurassic park movie bc in the end the humans and the dinosaurs sort out their differences and stop hurting each other so everyone gets a happy ending, you would say “ok but that literally did not happen”.

i don’t know how to change that for myself. i’m trying to just view it as a difference in opinion, but instead i find myself continuously thinking “that’s nice, but that literally didn’t happen”. at the same time, i know i’m not going to change anyone’s mind even if i wanted to try. so like. what do i do, just ignore everyone who talks about how perfect the ending was and how much they love it? even people that i otherwise enjoy interacting with? that doesn’t feel fair either. it all makes me feel like i’m coming off as an elitist asshole who only values my own ‘correct’ opinions - which is the last thing i want!

I don't think being an English major makes me an expert on media analysis, by any means, but I"ll be doing a whole lot of it between now and graduation, and I've done a lot for it already. I don't want to tell you how to feel about the finale, because I do my best not to be an asshole, but here's my take:

First, I see the ending feels more bittersweet than pure sunshine and rainbows, but it didn't feel entirely doom-and-gloom either. The versions of Aziraphale and Crowley that we knew and loved had to give up what they wanted to fix a problem that was a lot bigger than the two of them, but somehow, in a universe governed by probability instead of destiny, a version of those characters were conceived, born, found each other again, and actively chose each other. And this time, it was possible for their happiness to last, and it did.

Though, I've also been a hobby writer for a long time, and love digging into how storytelling works, so it's worth mentioning that a "happy ending" isn't always the ending that makes the reader happy. It might, but the writers aren't mind readers, y'know? They can't really know how we'll respond until the story is out in the world. So a happy ending is either a) "All the characters' problems are solved forever and their crops are forever watered and the evil witch is miserable in her jail cell she can't magic herself out of" (which is the idealized fairytale version most people know), or b) Maybe the characters can't have what they really wanted, but they somehow find happiness wherever they end up.

You may notice that neither example of a happy ending is about the reader/viewer's reaction to it. Not that endings are never written for the readers, in fact, the romance genre is escapist by design, so the endings have to be happy for the reader and the characters they're meant to project onto. But even though Good Omens is a love story, any romance publisher/movie studio/etc. would want a lot of it to change before they'd sell it, because Aziraphale and Crowley have too much personality and backstory to work in escapism.

Some parts of the finale were really hard to watch, but the happy ending isn't the subjective bit. The subjective bit is whether the happy ending actually worked for the story, or whether it fell flat, or maybe a bit of both or neither and why it didn't work for you. Although, usually you also need to make an argument for what you think the writers were going for and why. Sometimes you could go the extra mile and figure out the actual context the thing was written in, but especially for stories set in the present (like Good Omens), a vague understanding of current events is enough. I need to refresh my memory when it comes to "Death of the Author", but I think that's just for cases where there's something worth talking about whether the writers meant for it to be there or not. I don't think we'd need it in this case.

Part of the joy of fandom is that we don't need to hold ourselves to the same standards as academics, but I hope some of this was useful anyway. I'm sorry the finale wasn't as satisfying for you as it was for me, though, and I understand why people wanted the fairytale ending for them. Before I saw it, I did too.

I can't listen to 'Time After Time' anymore (obvious reasons).

Can't listen to 'The Winner Takes It All', 'The One That Got Away' (too many edits and the lyrics work too well), or 'Glimpse of Us' (lyrics fit too well). Do not even try to play 'Purple Rain' around me (edits, plus I AM A STRANGER THINGS FAN TOO).

I'm still angry and disappointed. I counted on this finale to give me comfort and peace during a pretty messed up time in my life, and it only made it worse. I can barely watch a single edit without tearing up. I read fics, but they're only a temporary fix, because try as I might, I can't make my brain forget what happened on my screen on May 13th 2026.

People who like the finale keep saying "their love created our universe", but the thing is, THEIR universe already felt like OUR universe. Besides the Bible bits made real, it had all important historical events of our timeline included. The World Wars, the pandemic, the French Revolution. It used OUR locations - France, London, St. James' Park, Edinburgh. That's why they felt so close to us. Because we could imagine them everywhere at any time. We could imagine them being in South Downs right now, looking over us. We could visit their bench and feel like they sit there when we're not watching. It was easy to create when any setting could work. We could see a minor inconvenience and casually say that Crowley made that happen. We could see something nice and smile, thinking that Aziraphale did something good again. We were comfortable with angst because we knew that they would always be fine at the end of the day.

All of that was taken from us. The world feels empty now, because we still have the history of both World Wars, the pandemic, the French Revolution; we still have France, London, St. James' Park, Edinburgh and even South Downs. But we don't have THEM. We've never had them. Everything's exactly as it was but without the comfort of our guardians looking out for us.

All of that makes their 'sacrifice' worthless. Because we don't see ANY difference between both universes. There's never been one. Except that now the magic is gone.

I can imagine and fool myself as much as I want to, but my brain, my subconscious, KNOWS. And it hurts more than anything ever has.

There are some bits I like about the finale. I'm forever grateful that Rachel agreed to direct it, that the cast came back and got involved again. But looking at the mess the writing has created, I can't help but wish it never aired.

Personally, I liked the finale, but some parts were hard to watch. It sounds like you're still processing and grieving a lot, so I'll try to avoid specifics. But please, if watching edits and reading fanfic is bringing back that grief, then you're only hurting yourself more by trying to engage with them. Take a break from that side of fandom to collect yourself, and it'll all be here when you're ready to come back. I'm pretty sure that trying to force it is emotional self-harm.

Still with me? Good. Before we move on, let me repeat that whether you like the finale or not isn't up to me. I'm just a guy on the internet with a different take. But I'm also an English major, and a hobby writer besides, so maybe I have enough street cred to not get blocked.

(Everything else is under the cut. I accidentally wrote enough to make my own post, which I'm sure I'll do at some point.)

women are constantly pressured to dissociate from the way our circumstances negatively impact us, and we are straight up not permitted more emotional expression in any meaningful way that is received well in patriarchal relations. in reality, we are marked as "more emotional" and therefore taken less seriously than men.

1) I Didn’t Know My Cat Had PTSD and Has Gone Blind.

2) Your Cats Fight Because One of Them Doesn’t Know How to Speak Cat, and They’re Both Kinda Mad/Confused About It. 

3) Your Cat Sprays Everywhere? Get Them Fixed. Surprise Twist: They Were Fixed But It Was a Botched Operation.

4) We’re Going to Rescue 50+ Kittens, Take Them to Vegas, and Adopt Them All To Loving Homes.

Below is a link. You can give your zip code and it will send your your rep's and your senators' phone numbers and a script to call them

it's a major honour just to be on this list - MICHAEL ROSEN???! HELL YEAH??!

it's public vote, you can vote from anywhere, and ngl winning it would really help with some future projects I've got going on. BUT there are some very deserving names on the list so, I guess vote your conscience?

do vote though, it takes 10 seconds on the link below

A pun post crossed my dash, and I reblogged it with an equally bad pun in return. A couple of my followers find it funny, it's a good day for everyone.

That was on July 7th.

Virality on Reddit was entirely algorithmic. You could garner a couple crossposts, but the success of a post was entirely dependent on whether or not it hit r/all--the main page of Reddit. If your post does that, it's immediately exposed to 10x the number of people and immediately gets upvoted.

On my pun post, I get a couple reblogs. And those reblogs get a couple reblogs--nobody really adds any content to the post, it just gets a couple reblogs here and there.

There's a specific chain of reblogs that I'd like to focus on. The most popular post on this chain has about 25 reblogs on it. Half the posts have three reblogs or fewer. Five posts in this chain have just one reblog total.

But the reblog chain keeps going. And going. It breaches containment many times over. And finally, after a chain THIRTY SIX posts long, at 9:30 AM, July 22nd this morning, it hits a popular account.

99% percent of the people who have seen the post--virtually unchanged from how it left my dash--have seen it because it was curated by 36 different people. That's insane to me.

None of those 36 people know that they're part of this chain. They saw a post, reblogged it, and moved on. If any one of these people had not reblogged, the post would have a fraction of the impact it has.

And yet, after two weeks, the post has effectively hit the main page of tumblr. It was picked up, only because people liked it enough to show it to their followers. There were no algorithms necessary.

"Copy. Moon joy."

"I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those are working."

"Houston, if you could give me about 20 new superlatives in the mission summary for tomorrow that will help out my vocabulary a little bit, that would be great. Thank you."

“If you’ve ever seen the top of the spotlight of the top of the Luxor at night in Vegas, this looks like what it wants to be when it grows up.”

"To all of you down there on Earth... we love you, from the moon."

"We just went sci fi."

"It is so great to see Earth again. To Asia, Africa, and Oceania: we are looking back at you. We hear you can look up and see the moon right now. We see you too."

"We will always choose Earth. We will always choose each other."