Snibs. Dibs.

Oops I started writing and didn't stop.

Alright. I'm a little bit (a lot a bit) nervous about "Season 3" of Good Omens. The internet's ripples of excitement over that Ineffable duo being reunited reached me through the ether and sparked a need in me to chime in. I've now put more time into Good Omens in the past month than the damn degree I'm pursuing so trust me when I say I've put a lot of thought into this.

(DISCLAIMER: I love good omens so much and this is in no way meant to trash it AT ALL I loved season 2. I also love film a lot and visual storytelling and I think this show is a masterclass in that. h o w e v e r I noticed something I've seen in other places and didn't like and wanted to plant my flag early in case Season 3 IS bad and then I can say I told you so. And if it's amazing then I win too because it's amazing. TLDR: I'm a terribly selfish bastard that just wants to win at being right :)

Since dedicating my every waking thought to these gay idiots, I've rewatched the show nonstop (4 times and counting, help me.) and scrutinized every second of it.

while crying alone in my room stuffing my face with cake, of course.

After my most recent rewatch of the Season 2 finale (7 times and counting, HELP ME HELP PLEASE) I noticed something.

They were only using the middle spectrum of shots available.

The range is pretty standard for TV, we see plenty of Medium Longs, Mid Shots, and Medium/ normal Closeups. Each are valuable tools important to the medium of television and are used effectively in GO2 to tell an excellent story with some ridiculously impactful character work. However, something about the pacing lacks a dynamic energy found in GO1 that left the visual texture feeling a bit bland to me.

I gathered an example from GO1 and GO2 trying to make them as close batches as possible to try and eliminate bias (though it's an art not science).

Both scenes involve Aziraphale and Crowley alone for one part of the clip and in conversation with a third character for the other part. I also made sure to use clips from official Prime posts in order to have the full frame.

The scene in GO2 in which Crowley first encounters the amnesia-addled Gabriel is a perfect example of the visual "texture" I'm talking about. We see the full range of shots (MLS, MS, MC, CU), which is great! Really there's nothing wrong with these shots, I love them. Medium long shot has my heart and soul. Here they fill us in beautifully on what every character is thinking or doing, but the way that it's put together leaves no room for the imagination.

The way that the camera is strictly glued to a character until they're done speaking. The way that the camera is stagnant- waiting for the characters to move to it rather than moving with the characters. The way each established angle is the only one we get.

This style is incredibly neat and tidy, but gets weary and leads to visual monotony- especially in dialogue heavy scenes such as this one. The frame suddenly feels stiff in a moment full of big emotions. I believe that this conflict (between the dynamic feel of the scene and the stiff framing of it) stifles the imagination and, to an extent (and probably just for freaks like me that are paying way too close attention) audience immersion.

Yes we know what has been said and how it was received, but how does the visual part of the show make us FEEL what has been said and how it was received.

Contrasting that tidbit with a similar moment from GO1. We see a lot of those same sort of polished mid shots where the character is dead center frame, but we're immediately sucked in by a harsh zoom. Leading to the close ups on Crowley's face to feel suffocatingly IN YOUR FACE! Their "intimate moment" is then literally cut into by Sister Mary Loquacious.

As they decide how to approach her the camera follows them as they approach her and sits comfortably over her shoulder. When we're greeted by that close up on Sister Loquacious it's followed up not long after by another from a different angle. Character's dialogue overlaps with shifting camera angles and reactions are snagged without need for verbal input. It's fast and snappy, the sort of thing you rewatch in an effort to catch every detail of the actor's work.

(here we follow Crowley visually but stay with Aziraphale audibly, creating a satisfying rubber band effect when we snap back to Aziraphale's shot)

That's all capped off by a sick exit as our two protags calmly walk through the chaos of the ruined paintball match. Cops swarm the grounds, confused office workers hand over their firearms, and smoke rises from the rubble.

This scene utilizes similar shots as the one from GO2 but uses pacing, movement, and fresh angles to create a much more interesting visual texture that better depicts the tension and emotion held in the scene.

All of this to say: I'm worried.

This trend isn't new. I've been seeing more and more TV shows that are shot in this "back and forth mid shots on character dialogue" way (often thought of as shooting for the third screen since the people who make these shows are constantly being told that they need to "write it so the guy in the back on his phone can understand it"). Some shows lean on it so hard it makes me want to barf (cough cough stranger things season five cough cough cough cough).

Now Good Omens is a fantastically written show and we ALL know how fantastic the dialogue is GO2 is, but without He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-NNNNNNNeil-Gaiman (I'm not here to chime in) I'm nervous that GO3 is going to get swept along and lobotomized in horrible ways beyond our comprehension and totally, utterly. jump. the. shark.

Now I know that it's not like this is the end of the world, god knows we have enough of that on our plates right now. Little details of composition like this are typically imperceptible unless you're the kind of nerd that really likes to get into it. Frankly GO2 was incredible none of what I pointed out could take that away - I wouldn't want it to.

The minute details might not seem like a big deal, and you might be screaming at me through your screen begging me to "let you enjoy it!" "It's just a silly show about Angels and Demons and apocalypses and stuff, just let it be silly!" But I'm afraid I'm morally opposed to your cries, dear mentally deranged gay (sorry, you have to be if you made it this far) and I must insist that these details are critical.

Film and television are incredible forms of narrative story telling that hold serious weight. Not only that, but they're also just super fun pieces of art to make and I honestly don't know how I'd make it through the day without them sometimes.

I'm not trying to say that all modern shows are bad because kids on Instagram reels are already sporting AI brain chips or some shit like that, some of my favorite shows came out in the past ten years. However. There has been a marked shift in the way that information has been transmitted in visual narrative arts since 2020 and I am not crazy. (If I had a tinfoil hat and another sugar free purple Redbull I would write 10 more pages on how that relates to the lobotomizing of queer stories by the powers that be).

God willing that 90 minute special masquerading as Season 3 is somehow going to be incredible. It's going to blow my mind and this whole post will be for nothing because it's the most beautiful conclusion to this story as could be. I can only hope they make Terry Pratchett proud.

Somewhere in my heart of hearts, though, I can't bring myself to hope that hard.