Memento Vivere

"There's got to be another way."

i just. ugh. now i want to rewatch go2 and sift through what i wanna keep and discard, much like i did for go3. cause if go2 plot was always leading to go3.... its a bit of a bleak sentiment. i think the second coming is a neat idea though. and the ball, the job storyline, 1941 second minisode...

The post war scene: cut it out. Not needed, the rest of the episode would make complete sense without it and the eternal flame had no reason for an early introduction. It felt like a flashback for the sake of it when it didn't build their relationship in any new way like the others did

Going all the way back to s2: I think az should have discovered his love for food on his own and shared it with Crowley, not Crowley tempting him into it. They both love humanity for their own reasons and this feels imbalanced

Michael putting the book of life in the eternal flame: I like this! Poor execution, I wasn't drawn in or ever really worried about any high stakes. They didn't even threaten to erase a&c. There was very little chase.

The Bentley plotline: cut it. A poorly written way to make aziraphale redeem himself and it doesn't work

The street: I think it works thematically, but every character being gone doesn't. Sucks.

Jesus: I liked him! Hated his nonsense plot that ended up being meaningless. Either have him progress the plot or leave him out

Az asking forgiveness: I think the should have fought better in the Bentley. A little "we've gone hundreds of years without speaking and you're in an uproar about a couple years?!" And a "well never with that ending!" And a bit of "it was never meant to be an ending Crowley!" Do you feel, then maybe a mid episode kiss then "I'm sorry I hurt you." Followed by a reluctantly on board for plans Crowley, THEN I'll accept the asking forgiveness scene later on. Do u feel

Everything coming down to the bookshop: oh... Oh yeah I don't mind that... But imagine there were two pages left; humanity's salvation (Jesus himself, their one chance of redemption, of any divine reckoning) and the bookshop. And Crowley saves the bookshop.

The devil in the bookshop oh I hated it in a way I liked. Keep it

God: ...sorry no. Maybe when aziraphale writes it and the light glows we hear disembodied voices or a frequency or something to make it feel incomprehensible even to them. If we have to keep the personification, maybe when asked if she's god she has to say that God can't exist in one place at one time, hence she doesn't know what will happen next: the future lies in all the blank pages, the walls of the shop. Maybe she says she's as much god as the rest of them. Maybe she shows up in multiple facets and fragments and she changes and glows, maybe it's a bright light with an uncomfortable stare, maybe when asked if god she says "as much as I can be, when you put me inside myself" or something like that. It felt extremely anticlimactic and didn't really read as a "god" to me

When Crowley asks his question she laughs and says the humans trial is over, "That's been done already, at least six runs ago!" Listen this is MY REWRITE I WANT A TWIST

It turns out that while everyone has free will, god also knows everything about everyone and can harvest the exact outcome for a specific test: and this one was for the angels and demons, she can say "I took quite a liking to the pair of you, back when you were semisentient concepts of physics, you were quite taken with each other! Quite a few runs ago it seems no matter which way I spin it, fate finds you both happiest together! Countless times, an ineffable amount- always you two!"

When they're like what are you saying she laughs "this run was for the two of you!" And when aziraphale asks about doing the right this she says something something about aziraphale writing them into existence in that very moment, a let their be light situation, everything they know in that singular moment is the test and what they choose to write, and aziraphale is confused and she clarifies "god is everything that exists, and it's all within these walls" meaning all of them; omnipotence, evil, love, sin, purity, opportunity. She gives them the choice. God and the devil chat it up laughing while aziraphale asks Crowley what he thinks and he chooses to love humanity bc I liked that part and then az lets him write it, and he writes Angel-less and demon-less god-less world that just admires everything for what it is, and just as God is about to grant it az goes "WAIT" and scribbles something in, god and the devil share a knowing look yk

When God asks them to say goodbye they KISS JFC

Human au stays I loved it but now it ends with aziraphales scribbled words in Anthony's book under where he signed it before their first date and it's "aziraphale and Crowley live a happy life together" and people can guess it's how human au proposed but it's also clearly what az wrote into their new world that he let Crowley write like he did the stars which is the ASTROPHYSICS BOOK THE END.

So, this was written as a thread on Twitter and Bluesky first, but I thought I should maybe share it here, too, anyway, in case anyone here is interested in my thoughts as someone who didn't enjoy the finale at all. If you did enjoy it, good for you, I actually envy you. As for me, i feel gutted. But this is not just a lament for my favourite angel and demon who got obliterated instead of getting the happy ending they so desperately deserved. This is more about themes of the overall storyline. So, here it goes:

So, briefly: Good Omens s1: You can bend reality with enough imagination (flaming Bentley). Humans have free will (eve the right to murder), and they are fundamentally people, more evil AND better than Heaven or Hell could even influence them to be. The world, flawed as it is, is worth saving (the Them tell Adam so). And it is absolutely possible to stand up, make a change and fix it, not destroy it. Adam told Satan off and brought everything back that got lost in the crossfire of Armageddidn't. And Crowley and Aziraphale should be proof enough that angels and demons also have more agency than they believe. God tells the story with a twinkle, but remains distant, not really talking to anyone. Adam, too, proves how imagination forms reality.

S2 continues: Without your memories, you really are quite a different person - Jim is very different from Gabriel. The Job episode tells us that people cannot just be replaced (He quite liked the old ones) - something that mirrors what the Them in s1 said to Adam about their parents. And Edinburgh tells us that suicide isn't a good option. Beelzebub and Gabriel also prove that yes, angels and demons ABSOLUTELY have free will as well, if they allow themselves to use it. So, will all these MAIN THEMES of s1, carried through into s2, let's take a look at the finale, shall we?

Now, s3 comes along and meets all that out the window. The universe gets destroyed, and instead of restoring and fixing it (they had ALL the options in the world - you can't tell me a writer cannot make something of such a carte blanche!), instead of fixing it, they decide, yes, let's leave all the people we've ever known, the entire universe, dead, scraped from existence, and commit double suicide, thus complying with the initial destruction plans and all that in exchange for a brand new universe they know nothing about, with new people, with all the magic and anything supernatural gone, a universe they, according to God, will never experience. And oh my, what a cruel b*tch that God is! I'm not even getting started on how ooc many of the scenes for several characters were, especially A&C, or how detrimental it was to change the tone from a warm comedy to utter tragedy, especially (again) in a queer story, and in this political climate. But s3 blatantly contradicts s1, the book and s2 in the major underlying themes. So, the old world is broken, so we just yeet it, choose to die, and if our clones get a happy ending in another world, that's a happy ending for us? How?

To sum it up, in more than just one way - in a literal way within the story, and on a meta level regarding the general themes - s3 utterly destroys s1, the book and s2. So no, I don't think I can accept s3 as it stands now as canon. That would destroy my canon.

And as an addendum: if that's our universe, humans STILL invented religion, only with nothing behind it now. And I highly doubt they have more free will now since apparently there's still fate putting the same souls together (former angels and demons). And it's definitely not better than the universe of s1, rather the contrary. Well. Not so briefly after all, I suppose. Sorry for the rant. If you enjoyed s3, good for you. I for one can appreciate the work that went into it, and I can still toss it.

Another addendum: I didn't even touch on the major plot holes, like the 25 lazarii miracle power never used again, the Metatron's glare at Crowley in s2, the Deus ex Machina Book of Life, Aziraphale's derringer…so many things. Okay, limited time, but still.

All in all, for the story as well as the fandom, in a way, I think Crowley put it best: "You're testing them, you said you'd be testing them. But not to destruction! Not to the end of the world!"

I have more thoughts I wish to share about Good Omens 3.

I think the ending is lying.

I noticed that the TV show took what I liked most about Book Crowley and removed it, in season 1. I liked that Book Crowley chose to drive to Tadfield on his own, and there was no talk or interaction in a pub scene with a discorporated Aziraphale. That showed a notable strength of his own character.

When watching the show, I figured the change does make for better television, and it does develop the bond and relationship better between the two characters of Crowley and Aziraphale. So, I might not have liked it but could see the value in the choice.

This change is one of the reasons why I wasn't as attached to Show Crowley as I would eventually be. I grew to love Crowley so much through the hidden games of Good Omens 2. At first, it felt like I just like the idea of David Tennant playing this kinda character.

But the games of Good Omens 2 show an amazing and powerful sneaky snake. He is astounding at how he plays. The games show someone who cares about his own self, about his love Aziraphale, and about humanity, all with the understanding that is for his universe. He was making extremely advanced moves to protect those things.

I'm not going to shift into seeing it differently and still loving him. That is not going to happen. My Crowley knows what he is doing, and I just can't keep up with him.

Good Omens 3 seems to throw all that away, but...things are not always what they seem.

I know that the story of Good Omens 2 lies. I have said so many times. I have referred to the games many times. I didn't think the lies and games would go this far for the show's ending, but it's what that makes the most sense, the more I think about it.

I can't perceive all the lies in Good Omens 3, but the "decision" scene with the tree visual is the most obvious one. Both Crowley and Aziraphale are way out of character in the writing. Everything else keeps going with trying to be taken seriously, but it just can't work with what I know of these two characters and their relationship.

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I think this post from Reddit is worth a look: GO3 finale ending is more than meets the eye: Masterlist of Clues.

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I don't think I can figure it out, but I hope other fans do. I think a lot of the audience rejects the ending at face value because we should.

I did find a way to play with at least some anagram searches.

After everything they'd gone through together, all their history, their love spanning 6000 years, they literally vanished into dust.

Their "human versions" are not them. They met each other in their 50s? 60s? and will get like 30 or so years together.

No sticking together for centuries despite being from opposite factions in an eternal conflict, no developing their rivalry, friendship, and eventually love throughout the ages, no having each other's back despite the dangers of doing so, no bickering, no rescuing each other, no "you go too fast for me, Crowley", no 'our' Bentley, no "angel" as a pet name, NO THEM. At all.