He’s referring to the chairs we briefly see in the theatre where Aziraphale is doing his magic act:

Left to right: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Crow Road by Iain Banks.

I want to focus on these three in a row specifically because Neil chose to put those books there in that order and I had something of an epiphany last night about it all when insomnia was chewing on my toes.

These three books have also been mentioned out loud in the show in episode 2 when Gabriel is reorganising the shelves:

“It was the day my grandmother exploded” - The Crow Road

“It is a truth universally acknowledged-” - Pride and Prejudice

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” - A Tale of Two Cities

For those unfamiliar with the books, I’ll do a quick potted summary of each, with a focus on why I think they’re relevant and especially why the order of the chairs in the theatre feels relevant.

A Tale of Two Cities

Set during the French revolution with one lead who is an aristocrat who has stepped away from his class and background to support the less fortunate than himself because he disagrees with the way they did things. Also, he changed his name because he doesn’t want to be associated with the place where he came from.

The big culmination of the books is when said man is betrayed and set to be executed, but his friend takes his place. There is very literally a body swap by someone who looks very like him in order to save his life. This body-swap is done out of love.

aka - season 1.

Pride and Prejudice

Two people from very different class backgrounds have a very very bumpy start to their relationship because of misinterpretation, miscommunication and a lot of external pressure put on them by the rules of their respective societies. Both of them have different information and because of that, both of them are seeing exactly the same situation very differently. One of them tries to express his affection, but does it so badly that the other tells him there is no chance she will join him.

aka - season 2

The Crow Road

A young man tries to solve a mystery of someone’s disappearance using only the papers they left behind, with said young man’s background rooted in faith and belief in a higher power. There’s also a secondary plot about emotional growth into a more mature and more fulfilling relationship.

(And wouldn’t you know it, it’s the book handed to Muriel by Crowley, who tells them they’ll like it, and the Metatron comments on it)

aka - season 3

in another post i mentioned that aziraphale is a worse boss than gabriel from the angels' (especially michael's) perspective, and the reasoning behind that is actually quite simple.

while gabriel was an asshole, he was still a capital A Angel and existing full-time in heaven. he was the representative and in charge of all the bureaucracy, the (war) plans, the actions of individual angels, and—until he went lover boy on a demon—stuck to the rules.

heaven likes its rules. heaven wants everything to stay exactly the same except that hell gets crushed, so there's nothing except their perfect, pristine, and completely impersonal office halls.

gabriel was working towards that goal alongside everyone else, he never really questioned why they were doing it or if it was the "right" thing to do. they've been operating under the same rule set for millennia and in accordance to that, they're Always right and Always better, so why bother?

you don't question the divine plans, you execute them. gabriel might have been a pain in the ass as a person/angel, but as a boss he was actually pretty damn good. he loved following the rules, he loved making everyone else follow the same rules.

on top, their ranks were given by god, they were divine assignments which also shouldn't be questioned.

i imagine it is a little like being part of a royal family. your older brother might be a bitch, but he's the crown prince and that will not change unless he dies or mysteriously disappears. that's how the family functions, and everyone has their role to play (though we know that most of the archangels still manage to play by their own rules whenever they can).

but then you get lucky! your annoying boss and bitch of a brother falls in love with a demon and essentially gets all his rights and status revoked. he runs off with his lover, which leaves you in charge. you are next in line, after all... right?

wrong!

not only is a new crown prince assigned that hasn't even been present in heaven, it's the fucking court jester that's been doing who knows what with the proletariat and also lost the antichrist and ruined everything you've been working for.

so instead of getting the promotion you should be getting, there's this other guy everyone hates who's attempting to rearrange everything. new rules, new plans, new goals, new everything. no one wants to do that except him.

aziraphale got a role and a job he was not qualified for and that wasn't ever meant for him. the metatron might be trying to sell to them that god decided this, but i doubt they believe him. they're just going with it because of the potential consequences.

Problem is, he has mental health & drug issues and couldn’t afford to get them all spayed & neutered, so now there are 6 grown bitches with 15 puppies total, and they’ve dug under his fence in multiple places but he can’t afford to fix it so they go roaming all around town. (When I say can’t afford it, I mean his house is currently running on a generator because he can’t afford his electric bill.) He’s also a day laborer so he cannot take multiple full days off work to take them to the vet an hour away. He’s in a really rough spot.

He’s not a bad person. He’s just overwhelmed.

And this little conservative town with 6 churches for 300 people, have they tried to help their neighbor? Have they adopted the puppies he’s been trying to give away? Have they offered resources?

NOPE! All they wanna do is talk shit about him and complain about the dogs but never lift a finger of their own. And they come to his house to yell at him and cuss him out about the dogs, which does not exactly engender in him a cooperative attitude, as you might imagine.

So after a while of this going on, my mom gets fed up with all the NIMBY bullshit and starts talking to the guy, because she’s done animal rescue for 20-odd years and has Connections. He’s resistant at first, but when he realizes she’s not being an asshole to him on account of his addiction or the dogs, he decides to let her help.

She gets to work organizing and networking. Finds a non-profit that will cover vaccinations, spay/neuter, and flea treatments for all the dogs. Talks the next-door neighbor into paying for materials to fix the fence, since this guy can do the work of it himself. Gets him in touch with another non-profit that will adopt out the adult dogs.

Less than 2 weeks after she decided to do something, all puppies have been to the vet, 10 puppies and 4 adult dogs have been adopted out, and the second non-profit is coming by next week to pick up the remaining 7 dogs to ship them out for adoption.

I was driving along a mountain road with a person I kinda knew in the passenger seat (like a roommate of a roommate or something). The road was very narrow, very twisty-turny, steep cliffs on both sides. I came around a blind curve to see a huge tree branch in the road. I managed to swerve just in time to avoid it, and also not veer the car into the sheer cliff face going up on the left, or of the sheer cliff face going down on the right.

"That's so dangerous. Someone should move that." I said.

"You're someone." said my passenger.

I very slowly pressed the brakes, my car slowly rolling to a stop as what he'd said started to sink in to my brain.

It had never occurred to be before, in all my life, that I could be the "someone" who could fix the thing. Not ever.

It was dangerous to stop here. If another car came, they could easily hit me, as it was a blind curve. We talked about it, decided it was worth the risk to possibly save a life, and we quickly ran to the branch and moved it to the side as best we could, then hurried back to the car.

It was a nice day. All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn't been invented yet...

but “ai is just bad because it’s bad” will convince no one and is a morally lazy position to take. about anything!