On the matter of Aziraphale and Crowley's "Decision", I feel like making a comparison with Miraculous Ladybug another show that was completely ruined by its own creator. Bare with me even if you haven't watched ML, there won't be spoilers
So, one ethical question that ML originally* posed to its viewers was that of what would happen if the villain Papillon/Hawkmoth won and gained access to a wish he needed to alter reality.
Papillon terrorizes (and sometimes kills) civillians over and over for months, but he doesn't care, because he plans to create a new timeline where his wife had never died, so he wouldn't have become a supervillain and terrorized the city (I'll leave the "one life for another" out of this discourse or I'll never get to the point).
So tecnically, if the villain won, everything would be fine: in the new timeline his son wouldn't be an orphan, he wouldn't even remember being one, the civilians wouldn't remember being terrorized, and his crimes would have never existed, all clean. Except not.
Except that even if everyone's trauma got erased because in the new timeline it never happened, that wouldn't mean he didn't commit those crimes, and that wouldn't make the suffering that he caused less real. His victims still deserve justice. And it's not fair that one single person gets to decide arbitrarily over other people's existence. That's why some fanfics set post this hypothetical Wish make a point of restoring their reality and bringing him to justice.
So you can see where I'm going with this.
Erasing the universe does not "make up" for the wrong that was done to humanity and to the angels and demons. Erasing Aziraphale and Crowley's trauma does not equate to giving them a happy ending. Erasing trauma (if that were possible) is a cheap way to avoid having to deal with the consequences of what you've done and possibly having to make up for it.
So I'm not happy that Aziraphale and Crowley got erased alongside everyone, because all those characters deserved a chance to heal, not to forget about their trauma entirely.
And I won't call their trauma-less versions "better" because they're smiling and not hiding behind sunglasses, I won't be happy that "now they can love each other" as if their traumatized selves couldn't be happy together. As if traumatized people and imperfect worlds were broken things to get rid of.
*I'm really only taking the first seasons into account, I think it's pretty clear that from a certain point on the story deviated from its tracks and lost its point entirely to become a moneygrab so I'm sticking with the original concept.
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Repression is a coping mechanism, not a personality trait
You have probably seen what Mickey Ralph wrote. And of course, everyone can interpret the story presented in Good Omens differently. But I have to say that I really, really disagree with his comment. There are two reasons for this:
(1) We didnβt need βI love youβ to be sure that Aziraphale loves Crowley. We already knew that. The love was clearly there in Season 1, even though there were only a handful of touches.
(2) I find framing βbeing repressedβ as a personality trait alongside βimpulsiveβ really shocking. Repression is a coping mechanism. And that is exactly why I wanted Aziraphale to say βI love youβ, to witness him heal, work through his trauma, and finally fully accept (embrace) the fact that he loves Crowley.
But of course, this is only my opinion, so it is just as valid as his :)
That's right, WE don't need an "I love you", but the characters did. After 6000 years of hiding, of repressing one's own feelings and being scared that one's love will destroy the other person, you sure as hell need your characters to acknowledge their love in a healthy way. It's not about what the fans want, it's about character development. It's about finally giving your characters the one thing they fought for since the beginning. "Repression" was precisely what we were waiting for them to overcome. Which doesn't mean they need to make it raw on screen, or even kiss for that matter. But it was just the two of them during the tree scene, their walls were down, you can't convince me that if they were a straight couple they wouldn't have had a heart to heart and a love confession right there.
I'm tired. Why do queer people always have to lose? Why is queerness always treated like a tragedy, even in a comedy?? Enough is enough.
My two cents on why I didn't like the ending of Good Omens
To be honest I didn't hate all of it, but there was just so much that didn't sit right with me that I can't accept it as canon (and it's not because it's "sad").
Overall it left me feeling so odd, because (aside from the bit about Asa and Anthony, which was fine ig, that sequence made me genuinely cry on first watch) I couldn't be sad about the Decision. Betrayed yes, but not sad.
I felt like it was trying to trick me into crying, into being amazed by this grand, heroic gesture which actually meant very little to me as a viewer. I guess tricking is something that writing can do, but when you can tell you're being tricked so easily that it actually breaks your suspension of disbelief, I'm afraid we've stepped into bad writing territory.
[I want to make it clear that I'm not blaming this on the director or the cast, I think they did their best with what they were given, and the harassment they've been receiving is gross and unacceptable. Despite everything, I'm glad Rachel Talalay took care of this project, and I'm forever grateful that David and Michael brought this to life for us one more time, seeing them both on screen is a joy every time. Even if I didn't like it, I'm glad they tried to bring it to conclusion.
One other thing that I can't ignore while writing this is how (as some people pointed out) this ending might have been heavily based on NG's scripts, even with some changes, and with what we heard from one of the writers I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, so this is just to say that my complains are more about the crappy writing and the awful messages than about the pacing and all the other stuff that is due to budget and runtime cuts.]
1. For a start, I think this finale places Aziraphale and Crowley on a too high pedestal that they did not need. The original story of Good Omens didn't put all of humanity's sake in their hands, and that's because the original story knew these characters aren't morally superior heroes.
That was the whole point actually.
Crowley and Azi are imperfect in many ways, and it's clear from the start that they don't just want to save humanity because it's "the right thing to do", they mainly wanna preserve their own life and the comfort they found on earth ("no more Mozart", "no more little restaurants where they know you"), and that's what's beautiful about them, what makes them human. They don't love humanity in the selfless, all encompassing way a god would, they love the earth for the same reasons that we do: because of the experiences, of the endless possibilities, the books, the cars, the whales. Yes they love humanity, but they were never meant to make this big of a choice for them.
Of course, I get the existentialism behind that last decision, to have Azi and Crowley choose humanity and offer themselves as a final delcaration of love for them, and I understand why many people found meaning in it. But I also think everything leading up to that scene completely obfuscated the intentions behind it, and the execution of said sacrifice was even more of a mess.
2. We couldn't have seen that coming. The finale spends a lot of time on plots that don't lead anywhere, it dances around Aziraphale and Crowley's problem without giving them time to solve it and TALK (you know, just literally the biggest problem that was brought up in s2 and should've been the main focus of our main characters' arc this season), then we reach the ending and our characters have to take a decision the show did not prepare us for, and then it's over.
That's why a lot of us are upset, it's not because the ending is "sad", it's because it comes completely out of the blue, overturning everything we've always known about the characters and without a setup to support said ending. We've known these characters and this universe for years, we had a pretty clear idea of where their character arcs were headed and what to expect from this story as a whole, and literally nothing, from a narrative perspective, was leading to a tragic ending.
Good Omens has always been a comedy, and even though it did touch on some grimy topics, in the end its characters always found a way out by outsmarting the system and finding loopholes (the "But is it also the Ineffable Plan?", the body swap, the trick with Job's children). The ultimate message was always that, no matter what sick rules society imposes on you, you can choose your own path in life.
So, if there was one thing us viewers could count on, it was that our characters would always come through, and for YEARS the showrunners convinced us that's what was going to happen (namely, the South Downs cottage). Then in s3 the narrative does a 180 and tells you that no, actually there is no way out of this and our characters just need to surrender to the system (why? we're left to wander, this possibility was never introduced to us, so why now?).
What left me utterly defeated in that moment is that Crowley and Aziraphale didn't even try to find another solution or one of the usual loopholes (and there were plenty, the writers just decided not to use themβ they had the book of life in their hands ffs, don't give your characters an all too powerful tool if you don't want them to use it).
3. Everything that mattered to us was destroyed. Above all else, this is what hurts the most. And I'm not just talking about our main characters (and everyone else) literally dying, I'm talking about that happening before both their character arcs had reached a proper end.
I'm talking about the fact that season 2 had set up the premise for a reconciliation, which needed to happen in order for their relationship arc to be complete, for this ending to be at least somewhat happy, and instead all we got was a mockery of an apology, and our characters acting as if they had learnt nothing from their conflict (which they didn't, the writing there completely forgot they had some character development to do and decided to not bother with fixing their relationship).
How can I be happy to see these two act bitter around each other for one and a half hour and not address their emotions seriously?
The storyline we were following about these two, along with that of every other character we knew, was discarded, cut short. This is the definition of sacrificing the characters for the plot. A plot that was not even thematically coherent with Good Omens in the end!! Who asked for this? It's no wonder people are pissed. Again I could have accepted their unnecessary death if they had at least solved their own conflict before that. If the story that I had been following was brought to conclusion.
This is why I feel betrayed as a viewer. The writer/s knew exactly what the story needed and what the public expected, and they decided not to deliver that.
4. In the end the message this finale leaves us with reads as "you can't overcome oppressive systems" and it's sad to say, but it's an awful message to spread given the times we're living in, and given that the characters delivering said message are a metaphor for queerness and religious guilt.
Picture it like this: we live in a society that ostracizes gay people and has actively prosecuted and killed them for their very existence all throughout history (and still is). If we had the opportunity to change the system once and for all, of course we would want it to not have existed in the first place so that nobody ever got hurt, but reality is that we can't erase the past (and even if we could magically erase everyone and start over, that would not take away the suffering that already happened!!), we can only fix it in the present and make sure things will be better going forward. That's the most human thing you can do: learn and do better.
Erasing the past and starting from zero is a lazy easy-fix from a narrative standpoint, and it's never a solution in real life, on the countrary, it's something we have to learn to accept as not possible. So why would you try to send that message in a story that's always been a metaphor for real issues?
What are we to learn from this? That when your society doesn't even want you alive you should just hope to get luckier in the next life? To abandon everything you've ever fought for because it's not perfect? Where is hope in all of this? Where is the message of hope that was delivered in the book and in s1?
I'm sorry but this couldn't be farthest from the Good Omens I know. And neither the story, nor the characters, deserved this end. Aziraphale and Crowley didn't deserve to end in such a miserable way, the imperfect humanity they've grown to love didn't deserve to vanish either, they deserved to be fought for, just like our imperfect world does.
I actually really like Cleopandra's alternative ending idea because that feels more like Good Omens, a story where no matter what, humanity finds a way to thrive, and the protagonists are able to get out of any dire situation with a clever twist.
And that ending opens the door to a theme that's also very important to me: change. That's where I thought Good Omens was gonna end, with the system being dismantled, and with all the angels and demons being given the possibility to change.
How awesome would it have been? How satisfying, to see the "holier than thou" angels and the demons who had to make "suffering" their whole personality discover something new, a world of possibilities, and have the chance to decide what they want to do with their existence as supernatural entities. Heaven and Hell are just labels, once you get rid of the system that punishes humans after death and forces all the angels and demons into maintaining a faΓ§ade, you have given everyone free will. And maybe there will be angels and demons who won't accept this change, who will still want War because that's what they've dedicated their whole life to and will be left asking "what's the point of me now?", and that's where the magic starts, that's when they'll start to grasp the human experience, when they will have to decide what their life means to them, and what they're gonna do with it.
Instead, we got nothing. All the characters we loved didn't get a chance to heal, they simply got erased, their memories and their trauma with them, as if those things weren't at all important to the story.
In the end I'm just disappointed. I know it's unfair to talk about all the stuff that they couldn't fit in just 90 minutes, and it's not like I was expecting this finale to be perfect, but I still did have some hope, because what was the point of making s3 at all if not to give us closure? Who thought not giving our favorite characters closure was a good idea?? I think we all know who, and that's a big part of why I'm disappointed.
I'm pissed at that one awful man in particular who has likely been playing with us all this time and has managed to ruin this for all of us, I'm sad because the fandom's bad reaction is affecting the actors and all the lovely people who did put passion and care in this project, I'm sad for the community who is being divided by this and for the people who had their comfort show ruined. And I'm sad for what this show could've been.
I know it's hard for a lot of people, but I find that the best thing for me is to ignore this last installment and keep enjoying the original work, and the fanwork obviously. We can't let the bad things ruin the good ones, and to me this fandom has always the best part of Good Omens.β€οΈπ€
Do I believe that it's theoretically in character for Aziraphale and Crowley to sacrifice themselves for the sake of humanity? Yes. Did their sacrifice make any sense considering the previously established context and themes of the show? No. They got rid of the Earth that they loved and blank slated it when there wasn't a particularly compelling reason for them to do so.
I thought that the book and season one established that humans are complicated but worthwhile. And that our choices are important and meaningful. Adamβ"human incarnate"βshaped reality with his beliefs, and Aziraphale's words shaped the way that everyone conceived of the Great Plan. Free will clearly existed in the original universe for both humanity and divine beings. Crowley COULD HAVE restored "our" Earth and asked for divine intervention to be formally banned, and that would have been a fitting ending. They could've sacrificed their own connection to humans without getting Thanos snapped out of existence, and it still would have been a poignant, meaningful conclusion. The actual story and the choice to start over seem very...not orchestrated for shock value, but. Well. It seems like an attempt to seek out the most crushing way to close the curtain on two beloved characters to achieve a "sometimes the good guys lose" ending. I think they wanted it to be emotional and bittersweet, but they lost something trying to get to that point. The comedy vanished. The love for humanity at the narrative center of season one wasn't really there, eitherβ"burn it all down and start over" is not a message consistent with earlier established themes, even if Aziraphale and Crowley ostensibly sacrificed themselves for humanity's sake.
On a completely different note: I don't really mind that they didn't kiss. They clearly loved each other. I am upset that they didn't get to love each other openly or out loud, ever, because they were erased before they could ever reach that point. I spent enough time in the closet that that hurt me a little. And I am happy for "Asa" and "Anthony," but I think people are right in saying that they're simply not the same characters. They're strangers. We are the sum of ALL of our choices and experiences (which is quite literally what Crowley was getting at when he was talking to God), and these two don't have very much of what made Aziraphale and Crowley themselves.
I don't know. It probably could have been worse. I'm glad that there was a conclusion to the story, even though I didn't much like it. At least some people found closure in it.
[Disclaimer: I have no intention of getting into a discussion with op or for them to get harassed, so please just don't interact with their post if you come across it.]
This is such a fucked up thing to say even if we're talking about fiction. How do you even concieve such a disgusting thought?
I know that as fandoms get larger discussions get more complicated, and it's been annoying enough to see people pick sides and shit on one character over the other for the past two years, completely forgetting all the meaning and nuance a story has, but this goes beyond picking sides.
Obviously this isn't the first time I've come across this kind of stuff, I just really don't want this fandom to become toxic.
This community has always been a safe space in my experience, full of wonderful people sharing theories and fanarts and fanfics, I've had some of the most mature discussions ever here. Even with the *recent events* this community has responded with unexpected maturity.
All of this is to say, let's not start inciting violence.
"Oh but you don't know what it's like to get dumped by the person you love for the Church" let me just say that if your response to your partner falling back into their abusers' hands is fantasizing about harming them, you may want to work on yourself.
I'm all for projecting your own feelings and experiences onto a character, but we can't forget about the actual canon when we discuss things publicly.
Aziraphale isn't choosing "the Church" (as in, the irl institution that has committed attocities and still traumatizes people in the name of a god we can't even prove the existence of), he's choosing Heaven (something that in canon actually exists, as does God), which is a slight difference, but it has more nuance than the real Church (even though this doesn't undermine the struggles people with religious trauma go through). I see it more akin to an abusive family than an institution based on faith.
We can't deny that the angels are Aziraphale's family, and we can't expect it for him to be easy to lose faith in his (and Crowley's) Mother. So for someone to say that Aziraphale's actions are unjustifiable, that's just untrue.
And a lot of people act like he just "dumped" Crowley out of cruelty, as if it was an easy choice for him. But he's always been like that, retracting into his "safe" zone, putting distance between them so they both don't get hurt. Even then his offer was about protecting Crowley, making sure that Heaven can't harm him (though, being a victim of that abuse, he doesn't realize that Heaven is what's hurting him in the first place), he even wants to undo the wrong that GOD did to Crowley when She turned him into a demon, because in his eyes Crowley doesn't deserve that suffering.
Until that last second before the elevator scene, you can see that he's hoping that Crowley will understand him and follow him like he always does. And it's ok for Crowley to set his foot and show Aziraphale where he draws the line, because he's dealing with as much trauma as Aziraphale is, and neither of them is perfect, they just made different choices, and they will eventually understand each other.
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Petition for GO3 to start off with a montage of Crowley and Aziraphale going about their new lives separate from each other, both utterly miserable, as βsave meβ by queen plays in the background
Woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this, because the visual representation of Niffty's power seemed kinda generic to me at first, but no that's a running stitch! This is such a clever little detail
Also this whole scene implies that she was an overlord?? I guess it makes sense given that she works for Alastor and that Husk was one too, but they can't just leave us with that, what kinda overlord was she? Did she lead an army of roaches? I need answers.
That's a man who wholly believes he isn't worth the trouble for Angel and that he's doing everyone a favor by leaving, even though he knows it hurts him.
And still he keeps his voice steady, unbothered (though he can't even make up a real answer to Cherry's question, he just flips it back to her and deflects), all the while we're looking directly at his face, just so we know how much he's forcing himself to make it look like he doesn't care.
Seriously this scene was so good, those two lines of dialogue were very impactful on their own but Keith David's delivery was the final blow for me.
About the protest that are going on in this last weeks here in Italy.
(the book that inspierd this thing Is "Uomini e no" and Is the First book in prose that Talk about the recistence against the fascist regime and must be One of my favorite book of all time also because take Place in the city of Milan that is my city and Is great to undestand the different type of mentality in a time of crisis and what make someone human e what dosen't )
The sentence in the top left says, "Bisogna essere in gamba..." It's one of the last sentences the protagonist says in the book, and in that context, the expression takes on the meaning of "being the one who does something," highlighting the protagonist's initiative in not simply accepting what happens around him.
Striking is already doing something, and doing something is better than remaining silent.
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I shudder when people say "I don't know how we got here" as if the past 650+ days of genocide weren't literally televised, during which Israel committed daily atrocities, experimented with all kinds of violent death, reshaped the entire world's perception of what is now deemed acceptable in the form of collective punishment, and destroyed all red lines to see how far they can go with complete impunity, and to see how far they can go before the world erupted in anger and collective action. It didn't. And that's exactly how we got here.
"Destroyed all red lines to see how far they can go with complete impunity" This yet again reminds me of a certain someone in the '30s and of a certain diplomatic strategy called Appeasement. How strange.
What if Lilo and Stitch (2025) was an in-universe movie about Lilo and Stitch's story?
(Scene: Lilo, Nani, Stich, Pleakley, Jumba, David and Cobra sit in a movie theater with the lights coming on. The first five just stare in slack-jawed disbelief, Cobra is as stoic as ever, and David forces a smile.)
David: "Well. That, uh... wasn't too bad, right? The effects were decent, and the actors did a good-"
Nani: "WHAT THE FU-?!" (glances at Lilo) "Er, what the freak was that bullroar??"
Lilo: (pouting) "Apprently ohana means 'screw your family, going to college is all that matters'."
Stitch: "Stitch expected nothing. Stitch still disappointed."
Jumba: "This is an absolute travesty!"
Pleakley: "I know, right? How could they reduce your character to a cold-hearted, one-note monster?"
Jumba: "Hm? Oh yes, that too. But what have they done to Jumba's beautiful accent??"
Cobra: (pinches the bridge of his nose) "I told you you should have argued for full creative control."
i know I'm not the only one w mixed up feelings for lars of the stars spin off, but i actually hope I'm not the only one having problems with it for this
it made me so sad and disappointed hearing that it'll probably be on Amazon Prime Video, SU is a show that i grew with and was there for me when nothing else was and I feel like we can all agree that it's a show that's taught many of us about love and resistance, but most of all, it tells the story of beings resisting against imperialism...
then... why are we all alright with it holding hands with one of the corporations de BDS Movement is putting pressure on? why is it okay for all of us to wait to consume something from a platform benefiting and investing on the GENOCIDE going on Palestine? why is a show who showed us resistance from imperialism in such a sensible way, now just completely ignore the fact that they wanna sell the continuation of that story to a corporation thats paying for this genocide?
it's just heartbreaking how performative speeches against imperialism and hate are, because the second we have to bring things to action no one really wants to change the way they act. i really wanna enjoy this spinoff, SU has been so important to me and Lars is most definitely one of my favorite characters ever, i really wanna see more from the off colors and from space, but selling it on that direction it's just heartbreaking
and before anyone says that there's no ethical consumption under capitalism, i know, but I'm not talking about ethically right or wrong, I'm talking about financing an ongoing genocide, and even though every other consumption choice may not be "ethical" you can still chose not to put your money on genocides
SU π FANDOM π NEEDS π TO π TALK π ABOUT π THIS π
Amazon, alongside Google and Microsoft, as well as other brands, are considered as the vertebral column of technology when talking about the ongoing genocide on Palestinian lands by "Israeli" militars, as they not only invest money on this genocide but also trains AI and sells it to "Israel" to continue with this genocide
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the thing about a new steven universe spinoff coming out is that EVERYONE is gonna wanna work on this show. and since itβs a recession and so many people in the industry are jobless right now, theyβre gonna get the best of the best. So itβs probably gonna be really good
the other thing about a new steven universe spinoff is that itβs a really good indication of what the state of the industry is like. Basically every creator Iβve had the fortune of talking to has said that studios are simply not greenlighting new shows, and almost all of these former showrunners have tried to throw their hat in the ring to get a reboot of their old show.
And whether these former showrunners are trying to pitch new spinoffs because they need to continue to make money or because they simply love making cartoons, itβs not really my business. But it HAS become very clear that the only way to do this is to make a reboot or go indie. Thatβs it.
the third thing about a new steven universe spinoff being focused on lars and the off-colors means thereβs finally a chance that they can sing a song where padparadscha is a measure off so sheβs singing in a round