Polite Anarchy

And Crowley plays Aziraphale as incredibly brave, yet extremely forgiving and kind to the end. Someone who shows no weakness even when faced with destruction.

Crowley: "Uuuh..."

YOU CAN'T SERPENT, IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN ALCHEMIZE THROUGH DESTRUCTION OR THAT SHE CAN WEAVE FROM STARDUST, ITS SOMETHING YOU MAKE TRUE BECAUSE PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT IT IS. YOU USED TO BE SO CLEVER CROWLEY.

Crowley: "Ack, ngk, well...I've just been having a rough time lately..."

Basically I re-read The One True Copy and Honestly I Can’t Believe The Nerve Of This Man Would You Just Look At What He’s Done To Our Story

I’ve talked about this so many times at this point. The book and seasons 1 + 2 stated that humans always had free will to begin with. They literally come up with things beyond and original to anything from heaven and hell. The whole idea of there being Good and Evil is literally what creates the concept of free will in the first place. The reason some humans can’t do as well as others is because there is inequality of the humans’ own making, therefore some are born in castles while others are born in poverty. And Crowley even BELIEVES that he’s “[hung] around humans” long enough to have some free will of his own. Please tell me how God has to do with literally any of this???

The issue was literally never about free will. Having free will or not, being influenced by God or not, being influenced by Satan or not, was shown to be fairly insignificant in the book. Despite anything that heaven or hell or God ever did to the humans, what they did to each other was always better and worse. God is literally completely irrelevant. Actually, God only speaks once (in an Infamous Bible to ask Aziraphale where his flaming sword went) but otherwise does not interact with anything or appear anywhere else in the book at all. The fact that the finale tries to paint God as the one true thing that was always keeping humanity from having a “chance” never ceases to blow my mind.

I’m willing to bet my life Terry Pratchett wrote this one

Certainly not giving Depressed-And-Suicidal “God will always stack the deck against me” Crowley here, is it???

***For context for the next one: Adam is talking about getting rid of both The Them and The Johnsonites gangs as a metaphor/allegory for Heaven and Hell going to war to try and get rid of each other

While they mainly suggest that either gang coming out as the sole winner is as undesirable as either heaven or hell winning for eternity, I think this serves to make a point about how getting rid of both sides entirely is also a bad idea. The neighbors, the bystanders, the rest of humanity, may see it as “a plaque on both your houses,” But “it’d be a jolly sight less interestin’ if we all weren’t here.”

And remember, Terry Pratchett was responsible for The Them scenes in the book.

“That’s because the people trying to sort it out were [Gai]men.”

*cue vague sounds of frustration as I tear my hair out in the background*

NG deserves jail time for taking this quote from Adam and giving it to Crowley to serve as his Righteous Hero Speech. Also, they didn’t sort anything out while any of the humans were alive and only declared that they had ‘sorted it’ after the entire universe was dead 💀

I cannot believe this line. It is literally presented as sarcasm, as satire, and yet the finale unironically adopts this entire philosophy in the end.

*cue somewhat louder sounds of frustration as I tear out what little hair I have left in the background*

*Me crossing out every single line in the finale script I just printed* 

1. The Nazis recognized Crowley. They had never personally encountered him before - “Mr. Anthony J. Crowley! Your fame precedes you.” But they knew him by reputation; enough to know his full name, and to recognize him on sight.

2. The Nazis obviously have some kind of grudging admiration/respect for Crowley, and yet also were immediately prepared to murder him as well. “The famous Mr. Crowley. Such a pity you must both die.”

3. Rather than pulling the trigger immediately, the Nazis hesitate and listen to Crowley when he starts telling them something Very Important - but then scoff, and immediately assume he is feeding them false information.

4. Crowley knew that the bombs that night were due to fall on the East End, and had sufficient warning of such to be able to pull off his ‘last-minute demonic intervention’ to get them to drop on the church instead.

5. Crowley knew about the gang of half-witted Nazi spies running around London blackmailing and murdering people.

6. Crowley knew down to the minute exactly when a Nazi spy deal involving Aziraphale was about to go down in that church.

believe that Crowley was involved with Actual Very Serious Wartime Intelligence Efforts, because I have a great big vulnerable spot and it is labeled, ‘Crowley and Aziraphale decide that London is their city, heavenly and infernal policy decisions be damned, and any powers that want to raze her from the maps will have them to contend with’.

It just doesn’t make sense to me to end their story by turning them back into unironic mythical or spiritual figures. Into martyrs of Free Will, or the central figures in a Poetic Creation Myth, or some sort of Cosmic Entities watching over us all, or the embodiment of love or whatever.

I think for a lot of us it utterly failed and we are left with exactly that - a cruel writing choice that people tried to pad to make it a bit less hurtful. The analogy that’s coming to mind is cushioning broken glass with cotton candy so you can eat it. Like, that’s not how that works. If someone tries to feed you broken glass you refuse and then try to make sure they don’t do that again. And also cotton candy dissolves with the slightest moisture so it’s ineffective anyway.

It is never truly about a TV show, is it?

If you have had a rough time in your real life for quite a while, and you were waiting for the finale to give you a bit of joy, of course this would hit hard. We are left thinking that even in fiction, a happy and peaceful existence is not an option. Love does not conquer all. The universe is rigged beyond saving. And if this is impossible in fiction, what does it mean for us, for our very real lives?

There has been something wrong with Aziraphale since s2, but I was only able to put my finger on it now after the show's ending. Aziraphale was Terry Pratchett's character while Crowley was Gaiman's. I relate to Aziraphale in s1. I feel like I can understand him on a deep, personal level. But since s2, the mannerism is the same, but something is off.

Aziraphale as I understand him would not abandon his bookshop for years without finding a way to (sneakily, if needed) check on it and make sure all is well with it. Doubly so for Crowley. If he went to Heaven to help organize the Second coming (if he even trusted Heaven - they tried to burn him with hellfire!), he would find a way to involve Crowley without Crowley having to become an angel. They're on their own side, after all. Even if he was threatened (the popular "coffee theory"), he would find a way to comply with Heaven outwardly while staying on their own side - he has millenia of practice.

But that's not the Aziraphale we see in s2 and s3. Why? Because he's no longer Terry Pratchett's Aziraphale. Gaiman sees himself as Crowley, so he felt the need to make Crowley the one who's right, who loves the world more, who is better, and who was wronged. Retrospectively, it's visible from the very 1st scene of s2. It's the reversal of their roles. Before, it was Cowley who was besotted with Aziraphale since the first meeting when he got a glimpse of his true self. Now the roles are reversed. It's Aziraphale who admired Crowley since first meeting him as an angel. And all through s2 and s3, up until the very end, he still admires the angel without fully accepting the demon. This is not the Aziraphale I know.

And Crowley is different, too. Suddenly he is the one who would sacrifice everything for the world, while in s1, he didn't care for the world without Aziraphale in it. It was Aziraphale who was willing to do anything to save it. But Gaiman wanted Crowley to be more, as if loving Aziraphale so fully was not enough.

Maybe he does not understand loving someone as fully. Maybe he only understands how good it feels to be important. In s2, it wasn't as evident, and it could still be interpreted differently, but it is evident in s3. Gaiman did not want to honor his friend's memory, he wanted to be important, and in turn, he wanted Crowley to be important and outshine Aziraphale.

I've always thought that Anathema Device's character arc was underappreciated. Specifically the bit about burning the second book of prophecy.

Agnes obviously knew she was going to burn it but still went to the trouble of creating it and putting all of the necessary pieces in place to have it delivered at exactly the right time and place. Why go to all of that trouble? And the answer is, of course, so that Anathema could have a choice.

If the first book was all Agnes wrote, then Anathema would have been left abandoned because none of it was ever her choice. She was born with a destiny, it was written, and there was never a question about whether she would fulfill it or not. What's she going to do, rebel and refuse to save the entire world? And once she filled that purpose, prophecies done and the way she has lived her life up until that point is gone. Which is, again, something she never had a say in.

So Agnes gave her a choice.

I remember I hated her burning the book the first time I read it. I couldn't imagine why she would give that up, both in character and also why something with so much interesting narrative potential had been introduced only to be immediately discarded.

But after the show came out, I got it. It's about free will, it's about choice. It's really quite beautiful if you think about it.

Agnes Nutter having FOREKNOWLEDGE of the choices her descendants will make doesn't mean she's controlling them. She knows Anathema will decide to burn the book, but she gives her the choice either way, right? So Anathema's choice still has meaning, right?

Similarly, I always assumed, the fact that God is all-knowing DOESN'T NEGATE THE EXISTENCE OF FREE WILL.

She knows Adam and Eve will decide to eat the apple, but she puts the Tree in the garden anyways. She knows certain angels will rebel and Fall, but she creates them anyways and lets them make the choices that will lead them there.

Her knowing how things will turn out doesn't necessarily mean she's a puppet master. Prophecies can only become self-fulfilling if the characters KNOW about the future.

That's why God keeps Herself and her plan "ineffable." Maintaining the mystery is what keeps free will alive.

In my mind, at least, it doesn't matter if God already knows what choice you're about to make, if YOU don't know until the moment you decide. If She stands back and lets you choose anyway, She's keeping her finger off the scales and letting things happen.

That was my understanding of Good Omens God in S1 and S2 (and it's pretty damn close to how I feel about God in the real world, but I recognize that that's a personal matter).

So it really took me by surprise when Crowley asserts in S3 that free will isn't a "real thing" in any universe where God exists. It really doesn't seem to line up with how these concepts were explored in the entire rest of the show.

And I adore one above all.

I won’t stop fighting for Aziraphale and write about him (and write him too, however inferior my abilities) just because that asshole didn’t understand him. Didn’t understand his love and who he was and always will be.

Aziraphale belongs with Crowley and I reject whatever bullshit GO3 was, that tried to retcon their beautiful relationship. Crowley is not cruel and mean. He’s also not one to defer to authority and definitely not one to break Aziraphale and finally drag him to run from a difficult task. (I also don't believe angels and demons could not have changed. He and Crowley did. Beez and Gabe only needed a nudge.)

Their universe was salvageable. Exactly like ours is. Because they were born from this universe. From our struggles and our questions and our what ifs.

What if an angel and a demon walked among us, angel and demon from the old stories of Eden and Heaven and Hell and a world that was to last 6000 years?

What if we fought the gods and fought to keep the world for longer? What if, wherever and however we are born we fought to try and make the right choices, because the angel believed we can?

No system is unchangable. No one has the right to tell us we mean nothing and it’d be better if we didn’t exist. Or whatever the message where a world full of queer people is destroyed, was supposed to be.

Aziraphale is stubborn and yes, somewhat selfish and self indulgent and he loves to enjoy things and that’s exactly why I love him. He also knows when to stand up for himself, when to back away, when to make a hard decision to save his love. He’s brave and sweet and silly and kind and a bit of a bastard.

I will always adore Aziraphale.

- What did you even tell that artist?

- I wasn't...I didn't!!! I was simply trying to get Gabriel off our backs by-by planting evidence of our rivalry!

- Uh-huh

- I didn't think they'd draw me looking like a strongman!! Or...or quite so hairless...