jensen the tapes please

I really thought they were going to become the Illustrator and Author.

I really thought that's why all the books in the shop were made blank.

I really thought God wasn't going to actually exist in a true form, and instead be a kind of omnipresent power of creation.

I really thought that they were going to have their forced-proximity-making-up-with-each-other as they were required to work together to write the new Book of Life.

I really thought that they were going to choose *their* humanity and not a new one.

I really thought they would still be themselves at the end.

I really thought the moral of the story was that the humanity they had was worth protecting, and that life itself (whether mortal or otherwise) was beautiful and inherently important.

I really thought this story was about a love that transcends.

Like we as the audience are lead to believe from the start that Crowley is this jaded, cynical little fucker who’s fond of one person and one person only. The typical “nothing in this world matters except you” grumpy who doesn’t give a shit about a universe that rejected him. Aziraphale, likewise, is pretty easily seen as the bigger picture guy, it’s obvious he loves Crowley deeply but it’s the mission of the larger world, the good of the people, that draws his time and energy- he chooses that responsibility more than Crowley. These are the roles we’ve seen them play and the archetypes we’ve kinda locked them in to. It matches with their grumpy vs sunshine attitudes, their aesthetics etc

Then in s2 we started noticing some cracks in it. We’ve met Angel Crowley who is a beautiful sunshiny dreamer who cares so deeply about the gorgeous world around him. Aziraphale starts to get a bit wrapped up in his own self interest from time to time, caring more about his bookshop or Crowley or even Jim than his larger mission. These little moments added depth to their characters, but ultimately didn’t shake our ideas of them. But THEN-

When they were asked by God what they would save, everything in the world has been stripped from them. The universe is lost- all that remains is each other and the final question of “what in the whole of existence matters to you most?” And we think we know what they’ll say, we think the way we’ve been taught all this time- Crowley is the selfish lover and Aziraphale is the heartbroken rejector.

But instead we meet their cores. We meet the truest stripped down versions of themselves and we learn the truth. Aziraphale picks Crowley. His lover, his life, the being that completes him. He makes the selfish, or loving, choice, no matter what it means to the world. And Crowley- Crowley is crying for the world. He is so utterly helplessly desperate for humanity to have their chance that he’s willing to throw away everything out of his sheer love for them. We’ve met the old part of him again, the artist and the lover, the selfless one he’s had within him all along. And for Aziraphale we’ve finally met the lover in him too, the one who’s finally willing to put his love for Crowley above all else.

even IF we ignored what we as fans wanted, we spend the entire show watching characters choosing people that they KNOW. that they LOVE. adam didnt want more friends and he didnt want to rule the world. he wanted to spend his life with the friends he knew and loved. job didnt want new kids, he wanted the ones that he lost. iirc beelzebub helped gabriel regain his memory because she loved him, not a new version of gabriel.

that set up--that love is the only thing that triumphs the great plan--did not pay off in the finale. we see jesus willing to go along with aziraphale instead of the great plan, but then we never see anything happen with him. he gets erased from reality before we see him really make a change with anyone. even mrs. sandwich says something along the lines of "i never got to see my mum." we saw the set up with jesus, but we never saw the pay off.

with aziraphale and crowley, it is outright stated that aziraphale left because he wanted to make things better for them. for them to have a chance. and crowley states that hes only ever wanted whats best for humans? wheres the "we couldve been us" in that?

- The conflict between Aziraphale’s love for Crowley and his inner need to fix heaven is swept under the rug. Crowley is NOT the reason why Aziraphale comes down to Earth. If they haven’t lost Jesus, when would he start looking for Crowley? Also, Aziraphale doesn’t rebel against Metatron and asks Crowley for forgiveness without challenging his views whatsoever

- The ending itself feels very pratchetty, which by itself is a good thing. It’s hopeful and bittersweet and serves as a beautiful love letter to humanity. However in my opinion, it doesn’t suit explicit romantic storyline. Selfless act of sacrifice is noble but throws aziracrow’s “us against the world” out the window. The ending feels right for book!gomens but not so much for tvshow!gomens, with how much their relationship evolved during the course of previous seasons. Pushing romantic love to the side for greater good doesn’t resonate well with queer audiences

- Season 3 feels disconnected from season 2. First and third season feel somewhat similar in tone but if you deleted season two, nothing apart from aziracrow’s separation would really change

- I know it’s rushed, you know it’s rushed, let’s move on

- Ah and Jesus is useless and his plot leads nowhere

ITS NOT.

- That film

- The ending of that film