Three years.

Of blaming only Aziraphale for their separation.

And we never found out why Crowley didn't want to help him.

Was running off to die or worse really a better choice? For whom? Who would have tried to stop Second Coming? Whose problem would it have been?

Crowley even says it himself! "If heaven ends all life on earth, it'll be just as dead as if he'll ended it."

Crowley's romantic dream of running away together is very sweet and VERY short-sighted. If heaven truly wanted to destroy everything and create it anew, then it wouldn't matter how far they ran. They could never escape the total destruction of the universe.

Aziraphale is TRYING to fix things! He is trying to save Crowley's life! As misguided as it may have been to try and coax him back to heaven, I never doubted for a moment that his intention was merely to SAVE Crowley by at least getting him onto the "winning side."

Because if the scriptures are at all accurate, hell has no chance of actually prevailing if it actually comes to an all-out war. And what will become of its demons, when eternity comes? Eternal, endless punishment if not outright annihilation.

Aziraphale isn't going to just ALLOW that to happen to the person he loves most. Not our brave little Principality. He's a guardian and protector by nature. He can't just sit and do NOTHING.

So let's give Aziraphale credit for trying. He didn't just run away, didn't curl up into a ball of misery and give up all hope.

Not because he isn't scared, because he is terrified. Not because he doesn't know what an uphill battle it might be, not because he's naive.

No, Aziraphale is brave and keeps trying because he has no other choice. And I love him for that.

"I suppose-get off the road you clown-your people wouldn't consider--and the scooter you rode in on-giving me asylum?" "I was going to ask you the same thing- Watch out for that pedestrian!"

Yes. Everything would have ended up in a puddle of burning goo and Crowley would have been in it, with the other demons, for eternity.

And maybe Aziraphale would have been erased from the Book of Life as Michael threatened, maybe not. Which option would Crowley prefer?

Unlike some people claimed, Aziraphale didn't believe in Heaven or thought they were good or light or truth. He tried his best to delay and change the Second Coming. He seemed to have tried everything but violence by the point we meet him and he looks ready to break.

Did it surprise me when Aziraphale didn't single-handedly change Heaven? Fuck no. Because I thought Crowley will come to his senses and find a way to help him. And also that other angels will be interested in change.

Crowley can be sort of impulsive, in my opinion, so it didn't surprise me that he WANTED to run away together, to tell the authorities to fuck off and just say what was really on his mind, consequences be damned.

But that mindset is probably what caused him to Fall in the first place. Both Crowley and Aziraphale had doubts and questions almost from the beginning, but dealt with them in totally different ways.

Aziraphale, in some ways, is actually way more pragmatic and able to bottle his emotions better than Crowley. He's had to be the more brutally practical of the two because he KNOWS how unbeatable heaven's might is. He knows what open rebellion could mean for him and his beloved.

He's willing to put his own wants and needs aside, if it means saving their lives. I think Aziraphale could absolutely survive them not being together--could even survive it if Crowley hated and resented him--as long as he knows that somewhere out there in the world, Crowley is safe and well.

THAT is how he shows his love. It's not as loud and obvious as Crowley's gestures, but it still says absolutely everything to me.

Aziraphale definitely deserves respect, at the very least, for the simple fact that he didn't give up. He tried. He didn't throw in the towel or simply give up on everything. And, as my dear Meg said:

«"He's willing to put his own wants and needs aside, if it means saving their lives. I think Aziraphale could absolutely survive them not being together--could even survive it if Crowley hated and resented him--as long as he knows that somewhere out there in the world, Crowley is safe and well."»

He was trying to protect Crowley and at least attempt to stop the Second Coming. Throughout season 2, we can see him searching for something in one of his huge, decidedly unusual books - he remembers what Crowley said at the end of Season 1, that something big was coming, and he suspects that Gabriel's disappearance is far from a good sign. Perhaps he was looking into the Book of Revelation?

Overall, I can agree with absolutely everything that was said above. But I'd like to add one thing of my own.

It's not just about the Second Coming. Of course, it plays a huge role in Aziraphale's decision. But here's the main point:

Aziraphale realizes that the Metatron has something deeply sinister planned specifically for him and Crowley if he refuses. He's terrified not only by the prospect of the Second Coming and the threat of eternal torment for Crowley if it happens, but also because he has no idea what to expect, why the Metatron wants him specifically, what exactly he's planning, why on earth he needs Aziraphale back in Heaven, and why he chose to force him into going by offering him a promotion while subtly threatening Crowley's life.

As has already been mentioned, Aziraphale isn't an idiot, he's not naive. He understands perfectly well that everything the Metatron says about him - that he's a leader, that he's honest, that he isn't the sort of person who simply tells people what they want to hear - is false. Aziraphale is probably the last angel in the universe anyone would genuinely entrust with such a position. At first, he tries to refuse: "But I-I don't want to go back to Heaven... Where would I get my coffee?" (He awkwardly tries to joke about his well-known attachment to earthly things, something the Metatron clearly seems to know about). But then the Metatron lays his trump card on the table in the form of a subtle threat against Crowley's life - someone infinitely more precious to Aziraphale than the earthly comforts he had just tried to hide behind with an awkward joke - and hints that he knows things he shouldn't know.

My point is this: Aziraphale is in absolute terror at the realization that the Metatron has made it very clear that he has no choice but to go with him. If he refuses again, the Metatron may decide to play that trump card (perhaps he knows about the body swap, and that Crowley isn't immune to holy water, while Aziraphale isn't immune to Hellfire?), and Aziraphale has no idea what that could lead to. And if he truly has no other choice, then he's terrified of being there alone. He's being pressured into returning to his toxic, abusive "family" - the very one he had only recently managed to escape. Of course he's horrified by the thought of being left alone with them, because who knows what those bastards are planning.

Together, they might at least have been able to come up with something. Together, it wouldn't have been so frightening.

Although I do like the theory that Aziraphale wasn't asking Crowley to come with him to Heaven at all, but rather asking him to stay at the bookshop. Both interpretations have valid arguments to support them, so yeah

And as for Crowley... if we don't try to analyze it too deeply or assume that he understood something after all, then what happened to "I won't leave you on your own"?

And also...

We love Aziraphale. He's cultured. He's refined. He has standards. Per book canon, his vibes are: English, intelligent, and gay. And he's just so charming.

So I thought, let's celebrate that!

And then I thought, what if we picked the most inappropriate, unsuitable, incongruous soundtrack possible? Something that clashes horribly with the angel's prim and proper Southern Pansy energy? Would it be FUNNY? Or would it be CRINGE? You decide!

More after the cut, but first: yes Crowley will be making his appearance here- he's just waiting for the perfect moment, lyrics-wise.

(If hell has that ability all along. If miracles are actually doled out by Head Office instead of just, in innate ability that supernatural entities have. Then WHY THE FUCK didn't hell do that in S2 after Crowley defected the first time?? It makes no sense)

--but i am not done complaining about this. If your plot required Crowley to be without his powers for a period of time, ALL you had to do to explain it was emotional turmoil. Like in Spiderman 2, when his heartbreak and self-doubt makes him temporarily lose his spidey-powers.

It's a familiar story beat, but it WORKS, and most importantly, the characters can solve the problem by overcoming their emotional struggle in some way. The "external" plot is just a mirror image of the "internal" one (e.g., the emotional journey of the characters).

Then Crowley reuniting with Aziraphale, reconciling with him, would solve this plot point AND provide some catharsis. A visible, tangible way of showing what the characters are dealing with internally.

It's like...it would have been such an easy writing hack to make the story a little more satisfying. And it seems so fucking obvious??? Right?

But nah. We don't have to explain, resolve, or think too hard about the implications of the story.

Make it make sense.

Aziraphale didn't want to go back to Heaven, argue about his motivations all you like but leaving the Earth and his Bookshop and his Crowley was a sacrifice and I was willing to die on that hill 3 years ago and I'm willing to die on that hill today and forever.

Aziraphale did make mistakes in what he said to Crowley in the last 15, but none of that justifies the shitty way he was treated by an extremely OOC Crowley in the finale, or God or Mrs. Sandwhich (of all people ??!?! bitch you don't him?!!?!? the fuck???)

After the finale, I realized what this face really meant. “To be, I mean not to be! Come on, Hamlet, buck up!” This is what Aziraphale says when Shakespeare tells him that audience ‘interaction’ can be helpful, but in the modern sense, “I need to go. I mean, I want to go. Come on, Aziraphale, smile and get on with it!”

For as long as I live, I will NEVER BELIEVE this is the face of someone who is okay with this bullshitttttttt