Okay. I promise my complaining will eventually come to an end. I really do. Itâs just... I have one more thing.
I keep seeing people say things like: "But they reconciled, made the decision together, and their love for each other and humanity led to the Big Bang, so itâs not like the original husbands didnât get their happy ending!â
Look, I get what you mean. I really do. Itâs just not how I see it.
To me, what we got was a forced "I forgive you", a barely-there reconciliation under an apple tree, and two grand gestures. The first grand gesture came from Aziraphale, who neglected his own needs / desires to let Crowley make his decision. The second grand gesture came from Crowley, who forgot about himself and dismissed his feelings to sacrifice himself for humanity. [Both are acts of love, yes.]
I just donât think this is something anyone should do for the sake of love. Healthy love should not keep expressing itself through self-neglect. It should not require people to dismiss their own needs and feelings. Why was choosing yourself framed as selfish?
Even if it turns out there is no other option than self-sacrifice, I will always read this as tragic, not romantic.
.
.
.
On a more personal note, I was raised in a family where you had to earn love. So I grew up becoming a person of grand gestures, always ready to give everything to the people I love, often not even knowing where my boundaries were. I am still struggling with this.
Naturally, I loved Crowleyâs character. But I also loved that he decided not to go to Heaven with Aziraphale in Season 2. He drew a line there, for the first time, really. I wanted him to heal. I thought that this was where the story was going. Instead, I feel that what Season 3 tried to tell me is that his behaviour was never unhealthy. It was always just deeply romantic. And this... this feels wrong to me.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
The thing is, I could get over the fact that I didnât like the finale. But I just cannot accept that, at least the way I understand it, it sends more than one harmful message. And that took me completely by surprise.
To everyone saying "they don't need to kiss to prove they're in love"
Do you understand the implications, especially in today's political climate, of a show that revolves heavily around a queer/queer-coded couple where the only onscreen kiss between said couple is their breakup? Especially one that explores themes of sin, forbidden love, religion, dogma, and high control groups? One where the character associated with hell is the one forcing the kiss and the character associated with Christian heaven (even if heaven in this case is bad) is the one who is not receptive to that affection? A show where the heaven associated character tells the one who kissed him "I forgive you"? One where the main characters have had to hide their relationship for fear of their lives in a storyline that is heavily analogous to the persecution of queer people? Where even in a scene that showed explicitly they were married, the show still would not deign to display physical intimacy between two men? Y'know, some of the most highly stigmatized kind of affection there is?
If they had never kissed at all, I wouldn't mind. But by kissing in season 2 when they broke up, they showed that they were willing to cross that line. They stopped being ambiguous in that moment. They're whole "we're not humans and don't show love like humans" went out the window when the show decided they would in fact engage in an overtly queer act. But the only time there is unambiguous queer affection is when it's used to separate the characters.
If they had never had a full on sex scene between two hetero characters who had just met in season 1, I wouldn't mind. But the show was more comfortable with displaying physical intimacy between a man and a woman that we never saw after season 1 than they were between the two main characters of the show.
If they hadn't had an ending that literally showed their wedding rings, showing that they clearly can and will display a queer couple and also conform to heteronormative standards by having them married at all, then I wouldn't mind. But they went as far as having the characters who famously had a relationship that was open to interpretation and put them in the husband/romantic partner box, but wouldn't dare go as far as physical intimacy?
I know that many people who are not amanormative or allonormative are frustrated that a relationship that was previously ambiguous/up for interpretation was boxed into a romantic label. But now that they have, it says something that they chose to display queer relationships, and they chose to display physical affection, but not both at the same time. It says something even if they didn't intend to. It's just too awfully convenient that the couples who are always subjected to "well you don't need to be physical to be in love" are the queer couples. In a political climate that promotes homophobia and violence against our community, increasingly sex negative and pro-censorship legislation regarding online spaces, and legislation that aims to categorize participating in anything remotely queer in public as a sex crime, I think anyone who looks at a story of romantic love between two masculine presenting people and says it's not necessary to have overt physical acts of affection has lost the plot.
It's a cop out, plain and simple. And queer fans deserved better.
[image description: graphic which has text with some words emphasized by being in a different color. Text says âCAN YOU IMAGINE A STRAIGHT STORY WHERE THE MOST WE COULD HOPE FOR A REUNION OF LOVERS WOULD BE A KISS...
âŚAND THEN THEY DIDN'T KISS BECAUSE THEY ALREADY KISSED ONCE?â]
I said on numerous occasions between season 2 and 3 that if they can show two people who met 5 minutes ago have sex and also have a second implied sex scene, they can do the same for the two beings who have known each other for more than 6000 years. I didnât forget about queerphobia. I just expected that a show that has been progressive in so many ways wouldnât go backwards. I was wrong, on so many counts. And Iâm heartbroken because of all the choices that the writers made
The whole "our car" bit, which imo was cute in s2, somehow became mean-spirited in s3
Like Crowley is adamant that it's NOT their car, it's HIS car, and Aziraphale just keeps willfully ignoring him
Which is a symptom of a bigger problem, when you take a look at the whole picture. Of Aziraphale not listening to Crowley. Specifically, not listening when he says NO
It's not our car
I don't want to help you
I'm not nice
The angel you knew is not me
I was a terrible angel
There are others. The point is... I hate it. I hate what they did to Aziraphale here. There are flashes of it in the other seasons but the point should be character growth, character arc, Aziraphale realizing he's not listening and doing a better job. Not... Doubling down until the bitter end
It's 3 a.m. and another night of horrible sleep (thank you Prime) and maybe everyone is too worn out to care, but......
I cannot accept that the world was so broken it needed to be eliminated.
I do not believe that, when Aziraphale heartbrokenly expressed that all he wanted was Crowley, that Crowley wouldn't suggest they stay in that Garden for as long as they can -- just to give that last gift to his Angel -- before resuming this cruelly unnecessary path with God.
I reject the concept that after 6000 years of studying Aziraphale's every thought and action, S3 Crowley no longer has ANY CLUE as to who his Angel is, what he wants, how hard he's tried, and especially how much he loves and needs some peace with the person who completes him.
I find it ridiculous that, when Crowley said what he wanted, he somehow did NOT see the faint hope in Aziraphale's eyes fade and be replaced with numb despair. That he said, "DID I SAY THE WRONG THING?" with no attempt to convey how much he valued his Angel.
I think it's bizarre and insanely OOC that Aziraphale would say, "Otherwise I wouldn't need to find him, would I? AND I WOULDN'T NEED YOU." Our Angel was torn apart leaving him in the Final 15, and torn apart in losing him to God's rigidly uncaring games.
I will not accept that Crowley was so defined by his traumatic history that he accepted all this, and them disappearing into the ether, without even a delay or a struggle or a massive brainstorming session about all those damned empty pages that become a NEW BOOK OF LIFE.
I refuse to justify this ending with the idea that Crowley's life was so defined by his pain that ending his existance - AS HIMSELF - was some romantically tragic destiny.
*****
I'm trying so hard to be "Nice", and "Accurate", and reasoned, and helpful. But this was some crappy OOC despairing nihilistic Giving-Up, by the former demon whose whole arc in S1 was that he learned to NOT GIVE UP. Where was the fight that comes before the noble sacrifice?
Their story, the part of the story that was ACTUALLY THEM, ended in that diminished bookshop. It was to end as it began -- in a Garden.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Turns out I cannot stop disappointment posting, especially after getting some sleep and really being able to think on all the reasons why the ending fundamentally bothered me so much.
One of the biggest ones is the strange turn in the depiction of the GO god.
Because both sides, under the guise of being forced along by a divine plan, were in fact making all the wrong decisions of their own free will exactly like humans do.
From all the mentions of them in the book, to the actual voice we get to hear in the show, I was SO sure and felt it was so canon that the natural direction the show was leaning towards was the concept that angels and demons did have free will.
The ending of the book and S1 reinforce this especially. Everyone is convinced Armageddon has to happen! They tell Adam over and over again that this is the way things are, its part of the plan, and as supernatural beings, they all have no choice but to follow it.
But Adam doesn't. He says nope that's wrong, and does things his way. Even Aziraphale and Crowley. They act against their orders for years, sneak their way out of their executions, and this seemingly omnipresent god doesn't do a thing themselves in response despite all this supposedly being their will.
Then season 2 rolls around and Gabriel goes missing. THEE supreme archangel. Only for it to turn out in the end that he chose to do his own thing, as did beelzebub. They both turned against their orders and "purposes", and once again, there are no consequences beyond those attempted to be imposed by their immediate peers/coworkers. The almighty couldn't seemed to have cared less.
Even when the "bet" in regards to Job is falsely won. There's no way that god didn't know, and yet victory was still claimed and rewards were given out accordingly. I'll die on the hill that that was more of a test of the angels, and what they'll let happen, than it was of Job himself. And Aziraphale and Crowley are the only reason they passed, because they used their free will to do the right thing.
The series was moving in the perfect direction for the message to be that everyone has free will. That the angels and the Metatron especially were an excellent parallel to humans who do hateful things in the name of religion and claim the moral high ground because they're just following the will of a higher power.
But instead we got the bookshop scene and the last 30 minutes and a god that's holding the world and our angel and demon at gunpoint, telling them this is the way it has to be, and being very nearly cruel in her comments about Aziraphale's love for Crowley and how this story has to come to an end.
They should have kept her a mostly passive force in the story, it ruins so much of the series charm. The S1 and 2 almighty would never.
Instead, they should have put the responsibility on the angels and demons to fix things. Show them all that they do have the choice to make things better. That they can follow the example of Gabriel and Beelzebub and Aziraphale and Crowley. That there were consequences for the archangels coldness, and demons that can love despite their damnation
Like what was the point of going out of their was in S2 to show us that Aziraphale and Crowley were NOT outliers in their independence???
Making this post to fully summarize my thoughts on and problems with S3. I got quite a lot of my opinions out there in my last few posts when I was fresh from finishing the finale and still feeling heated about it, but this will be an attempt to dive a bit deeper. Spurred on by a few of the arguments I've heard since voicing said opinions.
I'll be reiterating a lot of what I said in this post, as well as adding to it. So if some this sounds familiar, that would be why.
Lets start with the three biggest changes I feel that S3 made to the fundamental message of Good Omens.
These being its depiction of god, the logistics of free will, and the relationship between the two.
The topic of free will is brought up constantly in the book. Specifically in reference to the idea that demons and angels don't have it.
"But there was no getting out of it. You couldn't be a demon and have free will."
"And just when you'd think they (humans) were more malignant than ever Hell could be, they could occasionally show more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of. Often the same individual was involved. It was this free-will thing, of course. It was a bugger.
Aziraphale had tried to explain it to him once. The whole point, he'd said-this was somewhere around 1020, when they'd first reached their little Arrangement-the whole point was that when a human was good or bad it was because they wanted to be. Whereas people like Crowley and, of course, himself, were set in their ways right from the start."
From the very beginning this idea is presented to us, I believe, with the expectation that we're supposed to sniff out pretty quickly that it's bologna, and is even pretty quickly followed by the many examples of Aziraphale and Crowley utilizing the free will they supposedly don't have.
It's a constant truth and a heavy thematic device throughout the story in the book, S1 and S2. For the longest time, even Aziraphale and Crowley are in just as much denial of their own free will as they are of their relationship with each other.
Then S2 rolls around to mirror and reinforce this theme with Gabriel and Beelzebub. The Supreme Archangel and The Lead Demon of Hell's forces make the choice to abandon their 'purposes" and face no actual consequences besides those attempting to be enforced by their immediate peers/coworkers.
Like, what was the point of going out of their way to show us that Aziraphale and Crowley were NOT outliers in their independence if not to give us another example of the free will that angels and demons continue to deny.
Then you have Adam and Anathema. The entirety of Adam's story exists as an ode to free will in the GO universe. It's repeated to him over and over again that he doesn't have a choice, only for him to choose what he wanted to do anyway. That's the point of his story. Making your own side.
Someone had the gall to say that the existence of the first and second book of prophecies was proof that free will was non-existent, and never would be if people's actions could be predicted. They said this in reference to the second book especially insisting it acted as proof that S1 had changed nothing and the great plan was still in motion. They said that, when the entire point of the second book showing up and its subsequent burning was to allow Anathema to break the cycle her family was trapped in.
You can make the argument that just burning it wasn't enough, even by the laws of their universe, to really make any kind of change, but that doesn't change the fact that symbolically that was the whole point of the scene! Free will! She chose to live her life on her terms from then onward.
A similar argument was made in defense of S3's take on god and her relationship with free will. That the idea of omniscience as a whole cancels out free will on its own. That free will cannot exist simultaneously with an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent god.
This is where my opinion gets a bit harsh, specifically in response to some very rude DMs I received on reddit after reposting some of my initial thoughts over there. (My fault for sharing anything on reddit though...)
But please, read all the way through because I get to my point a bit slowly.
I think there are some people that have let their personal distaste for Christian theology influence their bias for this flip in the GO god's character, this new bleak outlook on free will and apparently the "only" way they think it can be achieved.
But the Good Omens universe has never been 100% accurate to Christian theology, has it?
The GO univeres is one where angels can do bad, demons can love, krakens exist and pins shoot themselves from their place on the wall because they want no part in the place they'd been pinned too.
It's a universe, based on and critiquing organized religion, yes, but also one where the antichrist can decide he doesn't want to be the antichrist anymore.
So why now are we defending so vehemently the idea that, no, yeah, free will never actually existed in the first place because of the stringent real-life theories of pre-ordainment under an omniscient god.
I've seen plenty of people make excellent arguments here on Tumblr as to why they support the ending that weren't just "durrr, god bad and free will not real", like the very outspoken few that sparked me to put together this post .
I'd also like to put it out there that I've never been this defensive in regards to any other piece of media I adore, even those that have also disappointed me. My gripes with the finale have very little to do with whether or not I liked it.
When S3 was finally announced, I was prepared from the get-go to potentially dislike how things would go. That's always a possibility with the series we love, especially when they fall into the hands of new writers for better or for worse.
There's a timeline out there where I even would have accepted a similar ending. Not liked it, but accepted it. IF the context leading up to it hadn't been such an uncharacteristic disregard of the story's original message.
In a world and story written to counteract the message of biblical fate and preordainment, how did it make sense to suddenly do a 180° and just follow the rules of it instead?
They should have kept god a mostly passive force in the story like they had been.
Because we never actually hear what the almighty thinks of any of what's going on, do we?
⢠Not when Aziraphale lies about his sword. (I'd like to think it even made her smile.)
⢠Not when Adam stops the war.
⢠Not when Aziraphale and Crowley dodge their executions. (Which I like to think she hadn't even ordered. That was definitely just the archangels doing their thing.)
⢠Not when the bet with Job is falsely won.
⢠To this day, we don't even see any proof of her being the one that fell the demons. We see the opposite, actually. We see an angel lie to her face and find out that she, and I quote, "never brought it up again."
Instead, everyone always speaks for her.
Which I think left the angels and the Metatron as an excellent parallel to humans who do hateful things in the name of religion and claim the moral high ground because they're just "following the will of a higher power".
All as a result of abusing their free will in the same way that humans do.
But instead, we got an arrogant, dismissive, nihilistic antagonist of an almighty.
And don't even get me started on the character assassination that took place in having Anthony "Don't test them to destruction" Crowley be the one to pull the trigger and decide that their world wasn't worth saving.
Not that the sytem needed to change. Not even that all the problems regarding free will that were introduced in S3 needed to be fixed. That it Wasn't. Worth. Saving. That it had to be scrapped and started over. The very concept of which Adam's story in S1 enforces is a bad thing.
Setting aside how things could have ended for Aziraphale and Crowley, whether they end up as humans, or had gotten an eternity together, the message behind how they got there being so backwards from what the series had been showing us so far is my (and many others) biggest issue with it.
It's okay to like the turn that the S3 finale took if you were one of the people who did, but it seems dishonest to embrace it as anything but just that. A turn, from the heart of season 1, 2 and the book.
Sorry for the lack of art lately. Found myself emotionally and creatively drained after the finale. But anyway, I still can't stop thinking about The Hands.
Sorry for the lack of art lately. Found myself emotionally and creatively drained after the finale. But anyway, I still can't stop thinking about The Hands.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Because the current state of the Good Omens fandom makes me really sad, I promised myself I would try to refrain from posting my negative thoughts about the finale...
But you know what? I just saw pictures of angelCrowley and 'Anthony' back to back, and maybe this is me being stupid and in denial, but Iâm only realizing now that this 'Anthony' is, in fact, a "reincarnation" or whatever of angelCrowley and NOT demonCrowley, the being we spent the story with, the being he became after millennia of experience on Earth - I mean THE Crowley, our Crowley, Aziraphaleâs Crowley, and I just...
It makes me even more furious than I already am. They erased nearly everything that was making this character interesting. After showing us time and again how terrible Heaven was, how free will is important, and why labels shouldnât matter as long as you stay true to who you are deep down ("just a little bit a good person", "just enough of a bastard", "just an angel/a demon who goes along with Heaven/Hell as far as he can"), they told us that a fallen angel was a bad thing, that it shouldnât exist after all. They ended with two 'angels' falling for each other.
I wonder, what happened to shades of grey?
I fell in love with those two because they were are far more complex than what it says on the tin. I donât give a damn about the purest of angels. I care about characters who ask questions, who doubt, who evolve, who fight for what they believe in, who love unconditionally, despite the odds.
And to think about all the other narrative decisions made in that finale...
What a shame that ending was. What a terrible, terrible shame.
And what if I never needed their souls to be 'intertwined by fate'? What if all that I needed is for them to love each other because they have known and understood and shaped each other for so long? And what if I never cared about them âfinding each other in every universe?â What if all that I wanted is for them, in this universe where the odds were so stacked against them, to choose each other?
Iâve mostly not been looking at social media since I watched the finale, but Iâve still seen some back and forth about the âbury your gaysâ trope. Idk where yâall stand on this but the phrase that came to me earlier was âSchrĂśdingerâs Bury Your Gaysâ. Hear me out:
Even as angels and demons are queer compared to humans, Aziraphale and Crowley queered what it meant to be an angel and demon. They were the ones who discovered that celestial/occult beings were capable of free will too. And they developed a relationship and an Arrangement that they knew would have them possibly destroyed if their Head Offices found out. So they were kept apart, essentially punished and tortured for who they were, and they were led to believe (by a forced binary choice from god) that the only way to make things better for anyone was to sacrifice themselves. Just as they were finally starting to express what they meant to each other. God is the one who used the word love and her saying she smiled at them while they struggled the entire time⌠makes me want to throw things at the screen.**
On the other hand, the finale ends with a queer gay couple having a meet cute, a first date, and then a retirement in the South Downs where they hold hands and Anthony says he has everything he ever wanted- the universe out there and Asa right here. It sounds lovely, like the opposite of âbury your gays.â
The problem with this- the thing that makes it SchrĂśdingerâs problem- is that not everyone agrees that Aziraphale/Crowley are Asa/Anthony, as I wrote about here, so for some this is a tragedy where the characters we have followed all along get judged by god herself and then are given a false choice which leads to them choosing annihilation. And others believe that this is a more or less happy ending where human versions of our beloved characters get their happy ending in a South Downs cottage.
It is simultaneously a tragedy and a romcom đ hence SchrĂśdingerâs âBury your gaysâ. Not that everyone will see it as both, but that the collective view of it is both. (And that is the fault of the writers!)
**This isnât even mentioning all of the lgbtqia+ people who were also destroyed when the world was obliterated and not restored.
(And yes on the meme that is the Amazon logo I used as an arrow because they are at least partially responsible for this messđ¤Ź)
Palate cleanser? I made these months ago and have been using them as my phone wallpaper, but neglected to post them. My headcanon is that this a recreated, unconsecrated chapel, so no âhot sandâ for Crowleyâs âbareâ demon feet. I edited the original photo still in multiple ways, including to have daytime lighting.
And yes, there are slight differences/variations because I cannot stop once I start đ
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Iâve awakened to a lot of posts on the tag wherein people are wondering where this assumption originated, and itâs a fairly straightforward story. Back in early 2005, Neil made this post on his blog. I wasnât the only person who was idly curious as to what Neil and Terry had decided Aziraphale and Crowley were up to âon the South Downsâ (see linked entry), so, given I knew both of them would be doing readings/signings within a week of each other in Cambridge, MA that autumn and that I planned on attending both events if I could, I was determined to ask both of them the same question if I was fortunate enough to be called on at both events (which I highly doubted would happen; Iâm not good at making myself stand out in a crowd). I had no particular motive. I just wanted to know, and so did a number of my friends (both online and offline) at the time. Terryâs event was first, and he did, in fact, call on me at the Q&A. I explained that Iâd read a reference on Neilâs blog to a conversation between the two of them regarding what Aziraphale and Crowley were doing on the South Downs, but that Neil hadnât said precisely what. Strangely, Terryâs answer had everything to do with the sequel-that-was-not-to-be and nothing to do with what I actually asked, so, while it was an entertaining answer regarding the rest of the conversation theyâd had that day about the ill-fated sequel, he wasnât forthcoming. At Neilâs event a week later, which was held in a much bigger venue and attended by at least three times as many people, the Q&A had got down to the wire; I hadnât been called on, and they could only take two or three more questions. I donât really know what happened, but I ended up being the second-to-last person called on. I asked him the same question Iâd asked Terry, almost verbatim. Neilâs answer started out very much like Terryâs: how theyâd been catching up with each other, reminiscing about the idea of a sequel (thatâs where the whole pornography joke came up, which somebody did badly misremember in how they represented it on Wikipedia, and, actually, I have no bloody idea why somebody felt the need to put any of the information from his answer in a Wikipedia entry on Aziraphale in the first place), and generally chatting about the novel. This is where Neilâs answer finally diverged from Terryâs, for which I was pretty grateful, because I was beginning to get the sense that neither one of them really wanted to fess up to what theyâd decided. Neil ended his answer with, âWell, what theyâre doing on the South Downs is sharing a cottage. Next question?â I donât even remember what the last question was at this point, because I couldnât get it through my head that the answer was something so simple, yet so momentous. I understand that it annoys the authors that itâs broadly interpreted as support for slash in canon, but thatâs the domain of fandom: interpreting information in such a way that results in further exploration and character growth (just perhaps not in the way that the original creators intended).