You know, I'm something of an idiot myself.

I’ve been more than two decades (20+years) reading Terry Pratchett. I’ve read the whole Discworld series several times. But not only that, I’ve read other series and solo books (Good Omens among them). If there is something that Terry Pratchett's books leave behind when you finish them is a feeling of fairness and hope. There’s always a satisfying ending. Even when tragedy happens sometimes (Spoiler: when Granny Weatherwax died I cried my eyes out for two days) there’s always a motive for it and it leaves hope behind (after Granny’s death, Tiffany Aching will lead the witches to a new future). There is always fairness in the end. The weak ones always get justice, even if they don't always get everything they want. The powerful don’t get away with their evil plans, but get thwarted. Don’t get me wrong, his books are not all happiness and flowers. He writes about hard topics (misogyny, trans rights, discrimination, racism, death, corruption…), his characters are in many cases troubled (Sam Vimes, Death). But there is always hope in the end. Things get better and, at the very least, there is fairness. And that fairness is a big part of the satisfying sensation you get after reading his books. Another thing to be said about his books is that they are always charged with big doses of morality hidden frequently behind a thin veil of misanthropy (humans will be humans).

I’ve also been reading Neil Gaiman’s books for more than 20 years (btw, fuck Neil Gaiman to alpha centauri and back). The sensation they leave behind in most cases is not a pleasant one, but of unease. There’s injustice, frustration or heartbreak in many of his books. They are much darker and unfair. And the morality in them is more nuanced.

That unfairness is the reason why I know the ending we got in go3 had nothing to do with Terry Pratchett. Nothing short of Terry Pratchett himself coming back from the dead, walking back the black sands of the Dark Desert to tell me personally that this was his desired ending, would convince me of the contrary. Suposedly gos2 and go3 were made to finish the story as Terry Pratchett had wanted, they were doing it for him and for the fans, but they couldn't have made anything less in common with Terry Pratchett.

This was no tribute to Terry Pratchett. This didn’t honour his legacy. To have his story, 75% of it written by Terry Pratchett, butchered and emptied of meaning, fairness and sense in this way is outrageous. Because not only it doesn’t make any sense, it negates everything the book and s1 teach us. The fate the characters, that Terry Pratchett created and loved, suffered was worse than anything we could have imagined (consensual murder-suicide is still murder-suicide). Not to talk about the fact that the universe created by Pratchett has not only been destroyed, no, it has been erased and it has never existed. They tried to erase Terry’s work.

I recon I’ve been played for a sucker. I wholeheartedly believed it was going to be okay. It never crossed my mind, even for a second, that Aziraphale and Crowley were not having their happy ending. Back in 2005 the authors said that Aziraphale and Crowley were in the South Downs. They had been talking about their whereabouts and had come to that realisation. When asked what were they doing in the South Downs NG answered simply that they were sharing a cottage. And some of you may argue that is exactly what happened in go3, but no. Two very nice, I'm sure, and physically similar men got to spend their retirement married sharing a cottage in the South Downs. And I’m very happy for that sweet couple, and that scene is so beautiful and warm and nice I want to cry remembering it. But those weren't Aziraphale and Crowley. Period. Aziraphale and Crowley were evaporated along with their whole universe and they have never existed. Their 6000+ years of love and pining and hiding and fighting for humanity just disappeared into nothing. And that, my friends, is not fair. As it’s not fair the fact that the abusers, Gabriel and Beelzebub*, got to live their happy ending and their love for a few years at least, while Aziraphale and Crowley never could (they had been 6000 years dancing around each other while Gabriel and Beelzebub just what? About 4 years). And it isn’t fair that god herself, the ultimate responsible for the abuse they had to endure, is the one cornering them to decide to agree to a murder-suicide and execute it too. While it’s not fair that the meaning of s1 was completely turned around and humanity, the world and the universe were suddenly not worth saving, too broken to fix.

And you know what else is not fair? To spend years (20 years more or less) saying that this story has a happy ending, a very specific happy ending, and then not only not delivering it but killing the main characters in the most OOC decission ever seen and destroying the whole universe. To have a comedy, turn it into a rom-com, and then a drama without any warning.

Terry must be turning in his grave. What a horrible “tribute” to his work.

*As cute as we want to make that couple be, we can't forget that both Gabriel and Beelzebub abused Aziraphale and Crowley their whole existence and were the ones judging them and sentencing them to death in s1. Have we forgotten the "Shut your stupid mouth and die already”?

Nothing else today. Just be kind to each other.

I know it's been a while since I've done one of these rec lists -- it's not that I quit reading fic but that I've been exceptionally busy -- but this one I felt was necessary. 5 amazing GO3 fix-its in this post (and please feel free to post your own favorites in reblogs or replies).

sometime is now, someplace is here by Path_Finder - A/C, 6k words, T.  Crowley and Aziraphale ask God for something else -- and they have a real discussion.  Lovely and healing.

in the kitchen by carrythesky / @carry-the-sky - A/C, 1k words, G.  In which Crowley and Aziraphale start with the books to bring the world back, and they succeed.  This is soft and beautiful and fits so well with the book/S1 philosophy.

Angiogenesis by casidicus / @a-causidicus - A/C, 6k words, E.  After being reincarnated as Asa and Anthony, eventually Crowley and Aziraphale "wake up" and remember their old lives -- and finally have a real conversation and cathartic sex.  This fic actually made me like Asa and Anthony a little bit, the story of their first date here is truly delightful.

Revival by CopperBeech / @copperplatebeech - A/C, 3k words, E.  Everything I've read by Copper has been wonderful, and this story is both incredibly hot and deeply sweet, as Aziraphale and Crowley, instead of talking to God, have a very Big Bang of their own.

Just imagine how terrified Adam must have been when he realized that his act of courage and free will had all been for nothing. Imagine how scared he was when his family disappeared. Or think about Warlock, who never got the chance to live a life free from his father’s control. Or Anathema. Or Newt. Or Mr. Shadwell and Madame Tracy. Imagine them all disappearing, and how terrified they must have been in those moments.

Good Omens has always treated every life as equally valuable. There are no lives that matter more or less than others. It has always shown how even the smallest decisions matter, the smallest details, the seemingly insignificant people (like Elspeth and little Morag). It has always shifted the focus away from something vast and abstract onto something small, personal, and yet no less precious or beautiful.

I can't listen to 'Time After Time' anymore (obvious reasons).

Can't listen to 'The Winner Takes It All', 'The One That Got Away' (too many edits and the lyrics work too well), or 'Glimpse of Us' (lyrics fit too well). Do not even try to play 'Purple Rain' around me (edits, plus I AM A STRANGER THINGS FAN TOO).

I'm still angry and disappointed. I counted on this finale to give me comfort and peace during a pretty messed up time in my life, and it only made it worse. I can barely watch a single edit without tearing up. I read fics, but they're only a temporary fix, because try as I might, I can't make my brain forget what happened on my screen on May 13th 2026.

People who like the finale keep saying "their love created our universe", but the thing is, THEIR universe already felt like OUR universe. Besides the Bible bits made real, it had all important historical events of our timeline included. The World Wars, the pandemic, the French Revolution. It used OUR locations - France, London, St. James' Park, Edinburgh. That's why they felt so close to us. Because we could imagine them everywhere at any time. We could imagine them being in South Downs right now, looking over us. We could visit their bench and feel like they sit there when we're not watching. It was easy to create when any setting could work. We could see a minor inconvenience and casually say that Crowley made that happen. We could see something nice and smile, thinking that Aziraphale did something good again. We were comfortable with angst because we knew that they would always be fine at the end of the day.

All of that was taken from us. The world feels empty now, because we still have the history of both World Wars, the pandemic, the French Revolution; we still have France, London, St. James' Park, Edinburgh and even South Downs. But we don't have THEM. We've never had them. Everything's exactly as it was but without the comfort of our guardians looking out for us.

All of that makes their 'sacrifice' worthless. Because we don't see ANY difference between both universes. There's never been one. Except that now the magic is gone.

I can imagine and fool myself as much as I want to, but my brain, my subconscious, KNOWS. And it hurts more than anything ever has.

There are some bits I like about the finale. I'm forever grateful that Rachel agreed to direct it, that the cast came back and got involved again. But looking at the mess the writing has created, I can't help but wish it never aired.

COULDN'T AGREE MORE.

i’m not going to claim to be any sort of media studies expert bc i’m not, but i think it’s fair to say that while tv or movies or books etc are open to all interpretations, those conclusions still have to have a basis on what is actually on the screen or page. and so much of what i see from people who tout the beauty of go3 just does not line up with what i saw on screen (or in the book, if we want to look there too). it’s like someone having an opinion based on false information. if someone said they love the first jurassic park movie bc in the end the humans and the dinosaurs sort out their differences and stop hurting each other so everyone gets a happy ending, you would say “ok but that literally did not happen”.

i don’t know how to change that for myself. i’m trying to just view it as a difference in opinion, but instead i find myself continuously thinking “that’s nice, but that literally didn’t happen”. at the same time, i know i’m not going to change anyone’s mind even if i wanted to try. so like. what do i do, just ignore everyone who talks about how perfect the ending was and how much they love it? even people that i otherwise enjoy interacting with? that doesn’t feel fair either. it all makes me feel like i’m coming off as an elitist asshole who only values my own ‘correct’ opinions - which is the last thing i want!

I'm trying to picture what it would have been like to be on the GO3 writing team. Given the 90 minute constraints, and whatever they inherited from NG, and whatever "terry would've wanted x" they had in the back of their head... I do appreciate it's a lot of pressure.

But, stepping back from that pressure, I'm trying to think how I would approach it as a writer. Here's what I'd do.

FIRST: I'd look at what's come before. What did s1 and s2 set up, in terms of plot, character arcs and emotions?

SECOND: I'd write a list of all the strands of the above that need paying off in the finale. If the first two seasons are an unresolved chord, what's the musical resolution?

THIRD: I'd think of some cool set pieces, because I love a cool set piece, eg Crowley's fall. They did a swing and a miss with the war in heaven scene. I'm MUCH more interested in how it started than the aftermath. When thinking about drama, I need to think: what's the most exciting part of the story to enter? What's the part that will create the most tension that needs resolving over the next 90 minutes?

FOURTH: I'd think of symmetry and shape - how does s3 balance out s1, and how does it follow from s2 in a three act structure? How does the Ritz scene in s1 balance the final 15 of s2 and whatever comes in s3?

FIVE: This is a comedy, at heart, at least to me. I'd think, not just what's the most emotionally satisfying resolution....also, what's the funniest, cleverest resolution? What's the most delightful, even if there's sadness and difficulty before the delight?

SIX: I'd delve deeper into the characters - Aziraphale and Crowley of course, but then also thinking about who are my other key characters. What are THEIR arcs?

SEVEN: I'd think about the theology and ethics of it all. Throughout the first two series, we've seen big discussions about free will, the ineffable plan vs the great plan, the role of heaven and hell vs humanity. The role of prophecy/destiny vs improvisation/free will. What is the ethical core of this show? Where do the debates, from Crowley complaining about the Noah situation killing kids to the resurrectionists and Job. What is the role of Crowley Asking Questions vs Aziraphale trying to argue why the answer is "God is good, actually".

EIGHT: I'd ask, "who do we NEED to see?" Which characters add to the story? If we're gonna have random gangsters, justify them!

NINE: Finally, what is the overall theme of all three seasons? What note do I want to leave everyone on? What kind of universe are we talking about here?

I'm thinking about writing a s3 fic at some point, so this is on my mind a lot. Including my final note to self while writing: don't fucking murder everyone in the universe then replace them with uncanny valley clones.

I don't think i'm ready to write it yet. But I think I need to, to purge the finale from my system.

I feel like my reaction to it (although always negative) has evolved so much over these four weeks.

GO3 spoilers ahead 🎺

God won. Over Aziraphale, over Crowley, over love, over perseverance, over humanity.

To give context- The original message of Good Omens, as seen by yours truly, was the breaking of molds.

By all rights, Adam should’ve brought on armageddon. Aside from his inherited occult urges, Adam’s young mind was shaped by despair, over a corrupt world, over what awaited him after playtime, what he was left with. The pieces were in place, both external and internal forces pushed the narrative of “restart it all”, he SHOULD’VE fulfilled his given role, but he didn’t. Adam chose to face the world, Adam chose to reject his mold, he chose to be human incarnate, despite all odds stacked against him, he controlled his destiny.

Anthema’s a witch, Newt the descendent of a witch hunter, they should be enemies, but they aren’t.

The same theme follows for Aziraphale and Crowley: an angel who disobeys god, a demon who isn’t entirely evil, and both of them friends, indulging in earthly pleasures, wines, music, chats. It SHOULDN’T have happened, but it DID.

The soul of this story lies in spite of impossibility, to be faced with two paths, and instead of following one or the other, to make a third one. Will overpowers all. (A message that may not translate to other genres, but in a comedy like Good Omens, it’s brilliant and beautiful)

The whole point of their characters was that they weren’t what they were supposed to be. Not in the eyes of God, or of their superiors, they chose defiance over submission!

So to have them stand there, under the eyes of God, and play into her will, to stick to her rules, to have their only semblance of “choice” be the destruction of the universe they loved, along with their own demise, and to pass it off as “nobility”.

THAT right there, the framing of the “Lamb”, to quote: “what's admirable about it is that it doesn't fight back and it doesn't try to defend itself and it's suffering is noble because it just sits there and takes it.” There’s nothing noble there. It’s hopelessness incarnate.

What’s the takeaway? That power always wins in the end? That it’s better to just take it? That there’s no point in fighting for yourself? That- “suffering is godly when you don’t question or try to protect yourself, and survival is ugly.”

I refuse, I denounce such a miserable message, not from the show that brought us so much light, so much laughter and optimism.

What ever happened to them, the optimists we knew?? What happened to the defiant bastards? Where’s that indomitable human spirit we know and love? I don’t believe it, such complete and utter submission, not from our Aziraphale, not from our Crowley.

“We know what we’re asking for,” Aziraphale said. He and Crowley joined hands, staring down their maker.

Behind them, the shop bell jingled urgently.

A humanoid being barged through the doors. In the same way that Crowley, Aziraphale, God, and Satan were presenting in specifically human shapes that represented beings of a vaguer nature, this being was presenting in a vague shape that represented a specific group of humans. Its edges were fuzzy. It shimmered strangely, not exactly with light, but with a fast flickering of different faces and bodies. It seemed to be trying to look like thousands of people at once. There was a strange fringe around it, not unlike the kind VFX artists grapple with when placing characters in front of a CGI background.

The being tripped on its way in, catching itself with an odd sound that may have been the collective version of a grunt.

“Hi, yes. Excuse us, but, um— come with us,” it said in the voice of a crowd as it pulled itself to its feet. It held its hand out in Aziraphale and Crowley’s direction.

God and Satan raised their eyebrows.

“We still have your universe, but without the, you know, the problems. Come on!” Although the appearance of its face changed many times every second, one could get a general impression of its expression. Currently, it seemed to be impatient and out of breath.

“Er, you are…?” Aziraphale prompted, not unkindly.

“You can probably call us, uh,” the being hesitated. “The Fanatic Domain,” it concluded, with some satisfaction.

“The Fandom. Humans,” God said, smiling mysteriously.

Crowley had been looking around wildly, and he finally checked through the windows as if the crowds had returned to Whickber Street outside. “Humans? Where’d you come from? How’d you get in here?”

“We crawled in through a plot hole,” admitted the Fandom. “But that doesn’t really matter. The point is,” it reached out again, more impatient this time, “come with us.”

Aziraphale and Crowley, still holding hands, shot each other and God a confused look.

“I’m their God and your canon,” God said to the Fandom. “You can’t undo what you already know happened. It will always have happened. If not here, elsewhere.”

The Fandom considered God for a moment. “You can do literally anything you want. Why this?”

God only smiled.

“Fine, then.” The Fandom sat on the ground (mostly; there were a few flickers indicating that perhaps all of it didn’t, but the gesture was conveyed). It crossed its arms. “You and we can sit here and stare at each other forever.”

“I've got eternity,” said God.

“See if we're going to let that mean anything,” said the Fandom.

There was an awkward pause as the Fandom sized God up and God enigmatically watched the Fandom.

By now, Aziraphale and Crowley had relaxed a little. “If we're planning to be a while,” said Aziraphale, very tentatively, “should I make us some hot cocoa?”

“None for me,” said God.

“No, thank you,” said Satan.

“Cocoa would be lovely, thank you,” the Fandom said.

Crowley said nothing; he just followed Aziraphale closely. The Fandom glowered at God until the pair returned. It felt a little guilty about accepting a treat from an angel with one foot in oblivion, but something was going to have to happen to pass the time.

As Aziraphale handed over the cocoa, Crowley leaned on the pillar next to the Fandom. “She isn't a genie. She's not granting a wish,” he said so gently it was painful. “We criticised Her game, so we get to choose freedom for humans like you or the existence we’ve already had for thousands of years. ‘Both’ isn't one of the choices. She’s making a point.”

“We know you think you're making a selfless choice, but we're human, too. You're part of us.” The Fandom’s face crumpled like a tissue. “Look, we can't be entirely sure how any of this works. We're flying by the seat of our pants here. We just know more chances to make more choices are out there, and we can bring you to them."

Aziraphale smiled at Crowley. “What do you think?”

“Well, anything's worth a shot, I suppose.” Crowley looked the Fandom up and down. “This isn’t part of Ineffability, is it?”

“Where we come from,” the Fandom said with conviction, “ineffable is just a word referring to things that are too profound for other words. And by definition, we expect plans to be effable.”

“Remember: you're here because you know what happens,” said God.

“You’ll always know what was there. Underneath,” Satan added.

“Sure. So they still have the Godless universe they asked for and we have them,” the Fandom said. “It doesn’t have to be about erasing or undoing. It can be about…answering. Making it so this doesn’t have to be the only thing that happened. And we're real, so you can't stop us any more than we can stop you.”

God chuckled. “That is fair enough, I suppose. But,” she said to Crowley and Aziraphale, “when you put your faith in humans, you can only last as long as they do. And these ones are in a state of high conflict.”

The Fandom managed to convey a collective sigh. “That’s none of your business,” it said. “We’ll sort it out with them.”

Once again, Aziraphale reached for Crowley’s hand. “This is unexpected, isn’t it?” he asked gently.

“Yeah,” Crowley said. “Yeah, it is. But looking back, I’d say putting faith in humans is the only thing that’s ever really worked for us.”

“Well, after you,” the Fandom said hopefully, turning its back to God and Satan, gesturing toward the door.

Content warning ⬇️ and with a spoiler below the cut

Content warning: I would call this “hurt/no comfort” but if you liked the ending it might not feel that way to you. This video is dialogue between Crowley and Aziraphale, from the Final Fifteen, overlaid on the finale scene in the bookshop…

I’m angry at that abusive asshole and how all of this could have been, not just avoided but, entirely the opposite experience. We could have been brought together in our happiness that our angel and demon and the whole rest of the world got to keep existing, together, like we were promised.

I considered just saying how badly it is written x 13 but... Happy 1 month anniversary!

In no particular order:

Crowley is an asshole

2. Aziraphale is barely the love interest, the wife now, who went to work and 'abandoned' the poor husband

3. Storylines go nowhere

4. Everyone punches Aziraphale for no reason

5. Metatron is too complicated to deal with so he gets erased for no reason

6. Jesus is barely a decoration on the Christmas tree

7. Michael finally snaps and I can't even blame them, but we see no real reason why (as they don't target Aziraphale specifically - why?)

8. Angels and demons now can't change - apart from one special boy

9. Humans get absolutely no say in a story about humanity

10. Free will gets brought up and decimated, treating viewers as stupid

11. Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship gets retconned. Actually all relationships do. Including that of the audience with the story. Everything is angry and lifeless for no reason.

12. Muriel deserved better.

13. God wins their stupid ineffable game. Hurrah!

The foreshadowing from S1, where Crowley(in Aziraphale) chose vanilla ice cream and Aziraphale(in Crowley) chose strawberry ice pop, has been resolved.

You liked it? Congrats! Stop saying that under every posts of people who didn't as if you liking it makes it automatically a good finale.

The only people who are destroying the fandom are those who are forcing people to hide or feel bad for not... Liking a tv show? Get over yourselves lol

Calling people who didn't like a tv show damaged and losers is... You need to go see a therapist asap, if you really get so hurt by people disliking a tv show and start lashing out at them. Just saying.

It's not a romance has to be the dumbest take I've ever seen about a show that started as a comedy, continued as a rom-com and ended as a romeoxjuliet tragedy (sort of, the finale only wishes it was written that well).

No I' don't have to be 'm not ungrateful if I didn't like this episode. It's perfectly within my "rights" as a viewer to just... Not like stuff?

They aren't because end credits =/= canon, sorry. Plus since when do we need the canon seal of approval to write fanfics, wtf?

Yes all of the haters have been harassing the crew, all 50-70% of us (depending on the source) who didn't like the finale. Aaall of us. -_-

Asa and Anthony are quite textually not them, stop using them as a crutch for a couple that was already perfect and didn't need tweaking or their tRaUmA erased, to make them more compelling.

I am also meh they didn't kiss but at the same time what kiss would they have had in this finale that is just one big giant doom and gloom pile of crap? I'm actually glad they didn't kiss, It'd have felt like Every2 the vendetta of the unnecessary angst.