Literate Misfit

Did I like GO3?

Did I enjoy watching the finale for the first time? Absolutely. Did I laugh, and fawn over sad wet cat DT, and feel moved? Yes. Did I also think to myself "oh god they're killing them off and making the human theory canon this is awful" also yes lol.

Look, I'm just clearly not as invested in the GO fandom as many people seem to be, and so even though it wasn't satisfying I'm just not invested enough to care? It was fine. It was silly and dumb and something new to watch. My long-term excitement for and enjoyment of it is miles below the excitement I have for Rivals or Time or pretty much anything David is doing right now. He looked good, he made faces, good enough.

As far as I'm concerned, my love for the show (anywhere above casual enjoyment) died when the n* g* shit came up, which made it really difficult for me to enjoy it, and be present in it, bc it was tainted by a really awful person who hurt a lot of people, including David. I truly don't think people have to let go of a fandom they love when this happens (and anyone who says otherwise is pushing their own feelings onto other people and policing a fandom they have no right to control: fans are absolutely allowed to love whatever it is they love), but I do think I have to be honest with myself about how I feel about it, so I do have to do some pretty significant mental gymnastics if I want to actually go back and watch it now.

GO was also tainted for me by some toxic parts of the fandom, and tbh, when I see Aziraphale and Crowley on film now, especially if they're being romantic or affectionate, I'm just thinking about how some people justify harassing their family members in order for their fantasies to make sense. It's just not fun anymore. Selfishly, (or perhaps bitterly) I didn't want a GO3 kiss. I'm glad there wasn't one. And while we'll never know why they decided not to include one (other than the fact that no kiss existed in the script), I would absolutely support their desire to put distance between themselves and the conspiracy that they're fucking in real life, or part of a polycule, or whatever it is people have decided for them. I'm glad the show's over. I'm glad they can walk away and leave it behind.

Anyway back to the actual finale.

As a more casual viewer, how did I feel about GO3?

PROs:

1. The War in Heaven

I think the flashback to the war in heaven was one of my favourite parts, it was such an epic way to start the episode (movie?) off and even though it does feel cheesy on rewatch, I do enjoy seeing a new side of A and C. I wish we could have had more here (the fighting, the outfits, the victory of the angels, Crowley's fall and pain and terror at finding himself in Hell) but I'm glad that we at least got to see more of their slowburn friendship develop before they even knew they were going to be friends. You can see their true natures here, two angels on opposite sides of a war neither of them asked for, but both of them too good and too kind to harm the other.

2. Rock Bottom Crowley

I loved that homeless!Crowley was canon, I loved that he had no miracles (they could have done so much more here! Think of the angst! Of the danger he could have been in!) and that he lost the Bentley by getting swindled by a simple card game. So dumb. I think if the Bentley had gotten taken by force and Crowley was powerless to stop it, it would have given the plot point more weight, but ofc GO tends to toe the line between ridiculous and cheesy quite liberally.

3. A World Without God

Points 3 and 4 are gonna be controversial, I know. Hear me out. While I don't agree with how they did it (see: CONs), I do think that the only way either Crowley or Aziraphale (or humanity) can ever have true peace is for Heaven, Hell, God, and Satan to cease existing. There will always be more shit thrown at them, more cooky apocalyptic plans concocted, and unless their face-swap ruse from s1 had held long enough for Heaven and Hell to truly believe they were invincible and therefore not to be trifled with, they would have to get rid of the system altogether. And unfortunately, they are a part of that system.

I loved that A and C sacrificed themselves for humanity. I think it speaks to their character and to the extent of their love for humanity above everything else, which is what we've seen from the beginning. We have to remember that they are not human, they do not have sex drives, they don't want the things we want (sex, marriage, each other) because as higher beings they also have a higher calling: following a path that leads to True Good, which exists outside of the Heaven/Hell binary.

Humans are often selfish and very few of them would sacrifice themselves for other people, but A and C are always risking themselves for us, episode after episode, season after season, using themselves as shields to protect humanity from their head offices. I think that in making that one final sacrifice - which is ironically rather Christlike - they make the world truly safe for us, forever.

Because if it meant that humanity would finally be at peace, could you ever expect A and C to choose the selfish option? I couldn't.

4. Human Aziracrow

I love Scottish Professor Anthony Crowley. I love him so much. We almost never get to see David play such a soft-spoken, shy, gentle man (and he's so sweet and wee lookathim!!!) and in making him so starkly different from Crowley, they don't feel like the same person which I prefer. It really feels like Crowley's soul has been kept safe and reborn in a human body molded by human life experience rather than by Hell. There is something liberating, and unburdening about Crowley being spared the weight of his suffering and of his deeply-rooted self-hatred to just get to be, and to be truly loved.

Even though we only got a few minutes with them, they feel so incredibly human and grounded, and the characters (I'd say, esp Crowley) feel so well-rounded and real, and like you know exactly who they are as human beings. I've already seen it appearing in fanfiction, I think we all know exactly who Professor Anthony is: gentle and shy and brilliant, understated by humility and the stuffy academic circles that he's spent decades inhabiting. He loves the stars. He marvels at them. The stars he once created thousands of years ago now fuel his curiosity to understand the universe around him. They give him meaning. They give him purpose. There's a beautiful synergy to that, moving, and ironic, and multifaceted - and tragic because he'll never know the truth. He can search the stars his whole life and dedicate every moment to trying to understand them but the truth will always be out of reach for him, blotted out by his wiped memory. Only we know why he feels the need to gaze out toward the heavens with a desire to get answers to his questions.

CONs:

1. Jesus

I mean, the entire thing with Jesus was pointless. They lose him, and then they find him and as soon as they do they literally walk away from him bc he serves 0 function in the narrative lol. He shows up and dies immediately, just like Harry the Fish and the other Whickber Street patrons.

I understand that the end of S2 queued up the second coming subplot, but I would have scrapped the entire thing. With only 90mins to spare, they had too much going on and if they focused on A and C talking things out after Azi saved a powerless Crowley from (an actually threatening) Mafia, they could have teamed up and gotten things done the same without Jesus. Then we would have had more time to explore and make sense of the main plot. Which brings me to:

2. Lazy Writing

Crowley's homelessness and brush with the Mafia were two plot points that I really enjoyed but that we just didn't really get to delve into enough. Aziraphale showed up and immediately got the Bentley back with 0 effort (why crosswords? Just miracle it away) and made the entire Mafia subplot a moot point. It kind of made Crowley seem weak and useless bc the Mafia wasn't that scary (threatening to burn down a bookshop? Feels like a lazy bluff, I wouldn't have fallen for it) and then beating them was way too easy.

There's only a feeling of danger there if Crowley is trapped under their thumb without miracles, either threatened with violence, or blackmailed, or as a means to protect someone they've taken hostage, but once Azi shows up he's so overpowered that it makes the whole thing deflate. There's no real jeopardy. Imagine if Azi had shown up ready to miracle the place to bits but Crowley was locked up in some other place and they threatened to hurt him if Azi did anything? Or what if Crowley was on the Mafia's side bc he knew (and Azi didn't) that a human's life was at stake? Aziraphale wouldn't have been able to snap his fingers and render the subplot irrelevant. Use the miracles, but make it feel like there's real danger there first.

And why exactly would Michael want to end the entire universe in the first place, including themself? They want to be in charge and lead, literally why would they want to die just bc no one ever listens to them? Scrap this plot point too, tbh. Stick to the main plot: Azi and Crowley need to get over themselves so they can team up and kill God for the sake of humanity.

3. They Killed the Real Aziracrow

Look, I don't like that they did this either. I don't like that Crowley and Aziraphale don't remember everything they've been through. I don't like that the show doesn't explicitly tell us that they will live multiple lives and that they could very likely live one human life and then die. If they do live eternal lives, I don't like that they have to start over again and again, learning (like all humans do) to love themselves and figure out how to live in the world. I don't like that they have to deal with taxes and elections and human rights legislation when they could have been exempt from all that if they were still immortal.

I don't like that they're dead, that the serpent will never again walk the earth and that his angel won't spend eternity in the bookshop with a cup of tea and a pair of spectacles perched on his nose, surrounded by his collection of antique books.

It doesn't feel right. I love Professor Anthony and his love story with Asa, but it's like watching a different show. One that I enjoy, but one that isn't the same, and I think it's possible to want both, to appreciate both, to love both. But in the end, I didn't write it, and the piece of media that exists is what we got. And I'm okay with that.

I love what we got. I love the tragic beauty behind Professor Anthony's love of the stars. But do I think that the demon Crowley and the angel Aziraphale should have lived on, happily, peacefully, side by side, forever? Do I think that they could they have found happiness and love in each other, emotional baggage and all? Did they deserve to live in the world that they worked so hard to keep safe from destruction, alongside the humans that they loved so much?