thinking a lot about how over the years, that evil man (NG) has alluded to the fact that he identifies with Crowley. from the novel's description of the character's appearance (looks kind of like Lou Reed, proud of his cheekbones, etc), to his emotional state (Crowley's rush to the burning bookshop in S1 supposedly being representative of NG's desperation to save Terry Pratchett from death), even NG and Terry's wardrobe choices when Good Omens was first published (NG in black, Terry in Aziraphalean white).
to be clear, I don't think that NG (a bad man!) is Crowley, or even all that analagous to him. but his admissions, however coy, are interesting to me given what we now know: despite being revealed as a sexual predator, regardless of the fact that fans were told he'd not be involved in S3, NG fathered the "finale" with the help of his little horror pals. (notably, those very pals protest his innocence in the face of blindingly awful allegations of sexual abuse.)
the significance, for me, is that so much of the finale felt unbalanced. the push-and-pull between Aziraphale and Crowley, the playfulness and pettiness and overwhelming care, are absent. instead, we get an Aziraphale who is cold, removed, cowardly. Crowley, meanwhile, is something of a martyr: disgraced, publicly humiliated, stripped of his powers, yet somehow still the only really noble personality. it turns out, S3 tells us, Crowley wasn't just the Serpent of Eden who shepherded mankind toward knowledge. he was the best angel ever, and he's been right all along, and now he gets to decide what happens with the universe! spoiler alert: he wipes out everything, including himself and Aziraphale--his best friend.
so much here is inconsistent with the established story as to be ridiculous, and at first I attributed this purely to bad and lazy writing. but now I lean toward another reading: NG is using Crowley as proxy.
an author who's spent the last couple of years wallowing in self-pity and resentment, the back alleys of his mind, isn't interested in accountability. he chooses to broadcast how mean everyone has been to our poor hero, how patiently he's borne the scorn of lesser minds. and now, in his final act of creation, he chooses to nuke the known universe. he decides oblivion is preferable to his own abjection, and he won't go alone: he takes custody of his best friend's memory, his very name, with him.
Exactly this!
The finale has all the signs of being made by an abuser, too. Not only the cruelty of twisting the known desires of the fandom to concede them in the worst possible way, and the betrayal (going against the tone of the series and the expectations laid out previously) but also the gaslighting. The "let's not and say we did it" of the happy ending and the South Down cottage.
