Inspire

like, not even great, not even good, but just okay, just safe, sad that it was over but happy that it happened, a closed book with a happy if mediocre ending.

and then it wasn't, and it knocked me entirely off kilter, and the worst part was it completely blindsided me, it wasn't just mediocre, or rushed, or boring, or disappointing.

It was all of those things and also tragic. It made me sad.

and the thing is...before that, I never could have imagined that Good Omens would make me sad, would have me break down in tears inconsolable days afterwards, it never even occurred to me as a possibility.

It was one of the few things I had that kept me safe inside my own mind, it was a talisman against sadness, it was where I walked when I needed sanctuary, and now it feels like there is a giant pit in the middle of my former haven that I have to worry about falling into and being trapped.

because Good Omens made me a promise, as a viewer and a reader 7 years ago, that the world is saved because it is worth saving, that everybody lives, everybody, even telemarketers.

That Anti-Christ's grow up with their best friends in their Kingdom of Tadfield because that's enough of the world for them, that Witches fall in love with Witchfinders, that Prophetesses make their own destiny, that Death and all his friends will ride motorbikes to the end, but not today, no not today. Due in very small part, really just moral support, of a Demon and an Angel who wanted to stay, just a little bit longer, maybe another 6000 years, go for a picnic, dine at the Ritz. That promise was broken, if this is the legacy that they want to give Sir Terry Pratchett I would say its as bad as spitting on his grave.

Restaurants were not really a thing back then, not in the modern concept of fancy dining. The popular classes ate basic meals at noisy and crowded taverns, people rich enough to afford fine dining had it served by slaves at home. The neither the concept nor the word to name it wouldn't have existed in Latin.

Petronius is a) the signed name of the author of one of the first explicit gay eroticas of the western tradition b) through the Satyricon, openly mocking of the mores and values of his age's upper class and c) more than likely, a pseudonym, not a real person but a false name to protect the actual author from the rage of the system so brazenly criticised.

"[Petronius] does remarkable things to oysters" is, in no way, shape or form, something remotely normal to say about an eatery you are trying to persuade someone to dine at (and anybody daring to argue otherwise should try using it on a colleague or an in-law and report their results back). A sentence so preposterous should make jump every "secret code" alarm.

And I realized something else (yes, I’m very insightful today, ok?). They stole my fantasy.

I was happily hiding myself from the horrors of the world (very real horrible horrors we are currently living in this dystopian world) in my lovely fantasy world with angels and demons who could fall in love, with kids who could stop Armageddon, with witches who predicted the future and witchfinders who fell in love with them.

But they (those horrible cishet men) took that fantasy world and erased it and made it to never have existed at all. And replaced it with you know what? The horrible dystopian world of horrors we live in.

They (those horrible cishet men) must feel very smug thinking they are very clever, but if I wanted to see a story about the fucking real universe, the one where there’s no magic, I wouldn’t be watching and reading fucking fantasy, you know? They missed their target audience.

I know I like to put here some nice gif of the boys but... I just want to watch everything burn rn.

The idea of having a more Crowley tinted lenses on for S2 seemed like it should pay off in S3 when Aziraphale's hope and rationality and hard work will be rewarded and acknowledged in the end. Now it just looks sinister because the good and kind angel is just stupid and pointless isn't he. Everywhere I look, there are metas about how he's not learned anything and should have listened to Crowley. Cynicism won.

And yet, it was Aziraphale who saved them anyway. Yes, I expected Crowley and he will renew the Universe without Heaven and Hell, but dissolving into nothing is still a better fate (imo) than eternity apart - especially if God would be cruel enough to keep them separated and Crowley would suffer the demon's fate of the Second Coming.

My point is, Aziraphale's tenaciousness is what got them to the finish line. Everything was always stacked against them. And Aziraphale kept them safe. And alive.

I did enjoy these guys.

Available as a poster on my Storenvy!

to add to their earthly to-do list 📋

The results are here, whether you voted or not, it’s too late now (it's always too late).

Let’s analyze these numbers (I’ll try to be as objective as possible). There’s almost 1600 votes for the poll about the film as a whole and more than 1000 for the ending of the film, so there’s a wide sample of people in both polls. As a whole, we can say that these numbers are not good news for amazon & co. 

A staggering 50% of the voters didn’t like or even hated the finale as a whole, with quite a lot more hate (28,1%) than dislike (21,9%) (we are a passionate fandom). 

Almost a quarter (23%) of the fans are not sure yet what to think about it.

And, obviously (this is maths after all), the other quarter (25,9%) has positive reviews. Almost 1 out of 5 people liked it (19,6%) while only a few really loved it as a whole (6,3%).

Now, if we see the results for the ending of the finale, the numbers change a bit (thanks to @fellshish for the addition of this poll, which is quite interesting). 

Almost the same number of people who loved the film as a whole also loved its ending (6.9%). However there’s a big dip in people liking the ending (11,7%), which brings us to 18,6% of people having positive feelings about the ending of the finale. That’s 7,4% less people having positive feelings towards the ending than the film as a whole, and most of that descent comes out of the ones liking it, rather than the ones loving the film (who are almost the same number in both polls). 

About the voters with negative feelings towards the ending, we can see there’s an overwhelming 57,5%, with most of them hating that ending (43,4%) (what’s not to hate? Sorry, objectivity!) and just 14,1% who disliked it. Again, we are passionate people in this fandom. 

Finally there’s almost the same number of people in both polls who haven’t reached a decision over the ending yet (23,9%).

It’s very interesting that more than 7% of voters are positive towards the film as a whole but hate the ending (there is much more hate than dislike in the ending poll). There’s many people too who dislike the film but hate the ending.

Finally, the addition of @thebright1 had a little over 400 votes. Most of the voters (53,2%) found sense in s2e6 final 15 before season 3 aired. About 2 out of 5 voters (43%) haven’t understand the meaning yet, and an astonishing 3,9% have found its meaning after watching go3 (I’m astonished because s3 didn’t deal with any of the issues the F15 brought up, imho)

In conclusion we can say that only a quarter of voters are happy with the finale, and that is even less for the ending, with just 7,4% of voters who liked or loved it. That said, we could argue that the film is disliked in general and its ending in particular is hated by most of the people who voted on this poll. 

All in all, we could say the fandom is divided, yes, but we are not so far away and the edges of the division are a bit blurry.

Thanks for voting, reblogging, and commenting on this poll.

(it's Ukrainian, translation under cut) :PPPP

we anticipated closure from Good Omens 3, and a lot of that was contingent on the fact that NG would not be involved. this is how the finale was billed to fans, by production. instead, a lot of us got a bad shock from the opening credits, and a whole lot of bafflement for ninety minutes to follow.

I think what has me really heartsick--what made the spurious finale hurt so bad--is that it was imposed upon Michael and David. they illuminated Crowley and Aziraphale with every micro-expression through every minute of S1 and S2. seeing them mush through soulless writing hurt.