Okay, I’m going to tell you a thing about Good Omens, but first you have to listen to a thing about physics, but I promise it’s relevant.
In brief and (hopefully) simple terms (and I know it’s WAY more complex than this but we only need the gist of it), there’s this theory that Time is actually a dimension. You’ve got the zero, first, second, and third dimensions that ordinary creatures like humans perceive, and then on top of that we have the fourth dimension which affects us.
The thing about these sorts of dimensions is that a third dimension creature (like a human) lives in the third dimension but is capable of perceiving the dimensions below their own in at least semi-concrete ways. Picture it like this: The zero dimension is a dot on a piece of paper. The first dimension is the same dot, but viewed from the side, where 1D creatures could see it is actually a line. The second dimension is the same line, but viewed from the a second side, where a 2D creature could see it is actually a square. The third dimension is the same square, but viewed from a third side, where a 3D creature like a human could see it’s actually a cube.
Now, say that I am a 3D creature looking at the 2D square on the piece of paper. I am capable of perceiving that second dimension. I am also capable of affecting that dimension; for instance, if I fold the piece of paper in the middle of where the line is drawn. The 2nd dimension can be affected by the 3rd dimension, even if it can’t really perceive the 3rd dimension the way it perceives its own and lower dimensions.
Thefourth dimension is reckoned to be Time. Third dimension creatures, like humans, can be affected by time, but we can’t really perceive it the way a 4D creature does. We can’t even really guess how a 4D creature sees the world, because where would you even start? It’s a little bit… ineffable, you might say.
Now, Crowley and Aziraphale, in their true forms, should be at least 4D beings, capable of living in the 4th dimension (time) while being able to experience/perceive the dimensions below their own. Now, I would posit that actually these two exist in more than 4 dimensions, I would say (if we’re following String Theory here) that they could exist in up to 7 dimensions (the 7th being the dimension where one can access multiple dimensions, which explains the existence of heaven/hell), but that’s… complicated.
The point is, the POINT issss…. if they are 4D+ beings, then the third dimension - OUR dimension - is to them what a drawing on a paper is to us. Their corporations are, essentially, a 3D representation of themselves the way we might represent ourselves by drawing pictures on a piece of paper. These projections of themselves would be governed by the rules of the third dimension; including the ability (or maybe necessity) to experience time the way we do while they are here (hence why powerful immortal creatures cannot skip around in time while they have corporations).
Anyway, basically what I’m saying is that god wrote a 3D comic strip and put them in it and is now the frustrated equivalent of a writer whose characters just won’t stop doing things without permission dammit. That or, y’know, she fucked off after creating it and they’ve been writing a slow-burn self-insert fancomic ever since while they wait for her to get back.
This would also explain their ability to a) manipulate time the way Crowley stops it several times (consider the way we can manipulate a 3D object), b) travel between heaven and hell and Earth (even though it appears they must do so with the aid of technology like the portal runes or the globe in heaven), c) not be seen by humans at any given time even though they’re in plain sight to the camera (they may be interacting with extra dimensions somehow so as to not be seen), and d) appear to us to teleport (because we may not be able to see their interactions in a fourth dimension).
Now of course you could explain it as “it’s magic” but at the same time, of course it would seem like magic. A square on a piece of paper looking at a cube might assume the cube is doing magic when in fact the cube is just interacting with the third dimension. For example, perhaps a square would see a cube resting on one side as a square. If you were to roll that cube up onto an edge, it would appear (to the square) to become a line. Were you to lift the cube and set it down somewhere else on the square’s paper, the cube might appear (to the square) to have teleported. It would appear to be magic when in fact none of these things have happened; the cube is merely interacting with a dimension the square cannot perceive, the same way angels and demons may appear to be magic but are, potentially, interacting with additional dimensions we cannot see.
Now, you might say that the way Aziraphale and Crowley act (or the actions they take) don’t make sense if they don’t experience time in a linear fashion but I would argue that those actions do make sense. Just because one can perceive time as a dimension does not mean that they can see all time everywhere. Just because we exist in 3 dimensions does not mean we see all 3D objects at once, or that we can see all angles of every object at once or even that we understand, as individuals, every object we ever see (for example, how many sightings have their been of cryptid creatures? How many phenomena in nature have we seen but been unable to explain for a while?).
Imagine that you are standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower. You can see a LOT of 3D objects from there, for sure. But not all of them. You cannot see the Sears Tower in the US. You can see the Sydney Opera House in Australia. You also cannot see inside of all of those 3D objects. You can’t even see the far side of them. You cannot see the individual atoms that make up those objects without using some kind of technology. You also cannot manipulate the tower as a whole; you can move through it, and climb it, take pictures of it, etc, but you, as an individual, cannot pick it up and move it the way you can pick up a small cube, and in fact it would take a lot of inventing things in order for it to be picked up and moved by 3D beings. Even though you and 3D objects are both parts of the third dimension, there are limitations to how you can perceive and interact with one another.
So I would have to suppose that a being which sees in 4D would have similar (if unknown to me) limitations, the most obvious of which is that they may only see time in the space they are currently in. Perhaps there are things they can see but not really manipulate (like wind- you can move a little bit of air but not change a windstorm, or complete timelines may be like the Eiffel Tower; too big to move or affect as an individual without assistance). Maybe there are things which are hazardous to do (like how we can see magma and COULD touch it but it would damage us). There’s also the idea of optical illusion- our ability to perceive things we see can be manipulated by certain things like arrangements of color or placements of shapes (think of the person who took pictures of a giant penny beside large objects, in order to make them look small; they were not, but our knowledge of what a penny is informs our relative knowledge of the size of the car it is beside). Simply being able to perceive and manipulate some aspect of time doesn’t necessarily mean omnipotence or complete control of it, and their abilities would be further hindered by them moving part or all of the consciousness into a 3D body.
I don’t really have a point, I just wanted to talk about this more because I’m excited.
This is delightfully fun to contemplate. Crowley especially seems to have a few extra-sensory abilities, which are hinted at but not explained: 1) he can pause time, 2) he can sense where other ethereal/occult beings are or where their attention is (for example, finding an imperiled Aziraphale, and the body swap “Is anyone looking?”), and 3) in the book he references a future invention to Leonardo DaVinci. These all suggest an ability to at least interact with 4D+ dimensions. And it’s the last one about seeing far into the future that really makes me wonder.
I also wonder how much his interactions with short-term future time help him plan his demonic deeds. There’s imagination that allows humans to plan and create models for what we think the future will look like. But if you could actually see probable futures, it would be much more clear what actions to take. For example, knowing that only a rodent infestation would allow Crowley unfettered access to the mobile network controls. Or just how far reaching the effects would be of Londoners losing cell reception for 45 min. Unfortunately, he often forgets to check on himself in the future vision, so that leads to getting caught up in his own schemes.
And maybe it’s less an ability to sense where Aziraphale is that allows Crowley to swoop in and save him. Maybe he’s also peeking into time to find out what his angel is likely to be up to.
I need to know what the fifth and sixth dimensions are?!
I can answer that! Maybe not simply!! But I will try! We’re going off of superstring theory in this, if you want to look into it on your own.
So, bear with me. You have the 4 space-time dimensions as follows:
(0D: a dot, pre-space)
1D is a line (space, y-axis)
2D is a square (space, x-axis)
3D is a cube (space, z-axis)
4D is time (time)
So these, together, are the components of reality, the way cardboard is a component of a box, if that makes sense. They’re subject to physics forces (like gravity), but those forces aren’t a material of the reality, if that makes sense.
Dimensions 5-10 deal in alternate reality.
Consider our reality to be the zero dimension of this new set of dimensions. We are, from everything that we can see, the only point that exists. We are a reality dot.
The fifth dimension is a reality “line.” If you were to turn and look at the dot from a new side, you would see that it has one extra dimension- the fifth dimension. A fifth dimension being would theoretically be able to see its own reality and one other version of their own reality; when you look at a line you can see a line OR if you look at it head on, a dot. So, you could look at your reality, but be able to one slightly different version of it as well.
The sixth dimension is a reality “square.” In this dimension, you are now able to view your own reality, and instead of just the next version of your reality, you can see all other realities that start from your initial dot of reality. This is important: you can ONLY see the realities that begin from the same starting condition as you.
Now, a 6D being should, theoretically, be able to move between those realities, allowing for an approximation of “time travel” at will or “dimension travel” where you could visit alternate realities instead of just seeing them. You couldn’t do this on the 5th dimension because there’s no where to go on a line except the one line. You would likely gain free movement when you add the X-axis dimension.
And since you’ll probably wonder about the rest…. it gets weirder and I’m not sure I can explain them well because they start to include the concept of infinity in ways that are slightly beyond me, so take this with a grain of salt and understand it’s WAY more complex than what I’ve said in any part of this post.
My understanding of 7 and 8 is that they deal in more kinds of alternate realities. Seven I think deals in all alternate realities that belong to YOUR reality, regardless of how they begin. Eight I think deals in alternate realities that are not necessarily your own, but are governed by the same rules as yours (the same kind of physical forces etc, like gravity).
My understanding of 9 and 10 is that 9 deals with infinite alternate realities that may or may not have the same rules of physics as your own, and 10 is basically “everything else, anything goes.”
So when I said earlier that Crowley and Aziraphale may be up to 7D beings in their true forms, I meant that you could choose to think that they, in pure angelic (and possibly full demonic) form, could at least view (if not travel to) any reality that is a version of THEIR reality. Which does beg the question; is this particular reality, with Earth, the only version of their reality in which Earth was created, thus making it important for them to preserve it?
I think future sight might be more like when we try to look into the far distance- the further we go the more difficult it is. Like, you can tell it’s a person wearing red from far away, but that’s it. And it might also be that you can see events directly related to you easier as well. Like how in a crowd you could pick out your friend faster than a stranger from a photograph. It could be Crowley didn’t look into the future but it could also be at that point there were too many fates and looking would have been a waste of time for that event, because he wouldn’t have assumed he needed to…
Do you ever wonder about how Crowley-as-Aziraphale is convinced that, even gagged and bound, Aziraphale would still be trying to mouth “Crowley run!” and how Aziraphale-as-Crowley firmly believes that Crowley would just chuck his popsicle across the park and go after the angels to save him despite being hopelessly outnumbered because
My headcanon for this scene is that they’re both genuinely panicking, because this wasn’t the plan.
They realized that Hell would probably decide to get rid of Crowley and that they’d need holy water to do it, so Aziraphale offered to take his place. But Heaven? They send memos. At worst a renegade angel might be cast out, but deep down Aziraphale’s always known that’s a possibility, and part of his choosing to stand with Crowley was accepting that.
They’re in the park to be out in the open and get it over with. But it’s Heaven who shows up first to take “Aziraphale.” So the real Aziraphale freaks out because he hadn’t considered this and doesn’t know what they might do to him. Meanwhile, Crowley wasn’t 100% on board with this plan–he knows that Hell can do a whole lot to a demon short of destruction, and there’s no way he’s going to let Aziraphale get tortured in his place. So he’s freaking out because Hell is still coming and now Crowley is powerless to intervene.
Basically, these two acknowledged that Armageddon would have probably happened if they’d been competent, so I don’t see them planning this perfectly. It all works out–better than they expected, even, because now Crowley can secure Aziraphale’s freedom just as the angel offered to do for him.
But for just this one moment, it all looks like it’s gone horribly wrong.
It’s an interesting question whether Heaven does in fact just “send rude notes.” That information comes from Aziraphale. Aziraphale is not only in the habit of being stiff upper lip about things, he’s a person who has invested an extraordinary amount of mental energy into pretending that Heaven is good and not at all psychologically abusive towards him. And you watch the way that Gabriel maneuvers Sandalphon behind Aziraphale in the shop—it’s a power play, making Aziraphale turn his back on a known threat.
Still, I believe that they didn’t expect it to go down that way, because I think Heaven is all about the psychological control, and I think their typical move would be to send Aziraphale a summons, demanding that he walk into whatever they planned for him of his own free will. So the idea that Heaven would just grab “Aziraphale” is shocking to them both.
The wonderful Good Omens posters ❤. The high quality parts of the second to last can be found here and even larger version of the last one here:).
All of these are epic. Does anyone know if you can buy prints somewhere?
Also, I took until just now to notice Crowley’s hair is shapes like horns in the one with Aziraphale’s halo. His hair sticks up in rather gravity defying ways a lot, so I think I didn’t pay enough attention…
One really interesting thing about the church scene is just how Aziraphale reacts when Crowley shows up, especially when compared to the Bastille scene.
I mean, look at his face when he hears Crowley’s voice in France.
He just lights up. Whether you believe he arranged his own arrest with this outcome in mind, or whether you think it was just a lucky coincidence that Crowley happened to be nearby, Aziraphale is clearly thrilled that he’s there.
That is the face of an angel who’s just learned that his immediate future no longer involves his own beheading.
And he doesn’t even hint. We don’t get any of the puppydog eyes he uses to get Crowley to make Hamlet popular or clean the paint off his coat. He’s totally relaxed and at ease during their conversation, he agrees that he’s lucky Crowley was in the area, and then Crowley frees him. He doesn’t have to ask. By this point in their relationship, they’ve clearly reached the stage where the idea that Crowley might not be totally willing to save an angel from discorporation doesn’t even occur to either of them.
And now compare it to Aziraphale’s reaction when Crowley shows up to save him in the Blitz.
It’s basically the same situation. Aziraphale has got himself into a situation where he’s about to be murdered by humans (and for some reason can’t just miracle the problem away) when Crowley shows up to save him.
Except this time, Aziraphale isn’t thrilled. If anything, he sounds rather annoyed. “What are you doing here?” His first assumption is that Crowley must be working with the Nazis, for god’s sake, even though he knows that that isn’t Crowley’s style, and was genuinely shocked a few centuries earlier when he thought that Crowley was admitting to being responsible for the French Revolution. (Crowley is right to be offended.)
But of course, it’s easier for Aziraphale to believe that Crowley is somehow involved with the Nazis, because there has to be some reason why he’s in that church. At this point, Aziraphale honestly finds it easier to believe that Crowley could be working with Nazis than that, after their big argument, Crowley could still be working to protect him.
After all, how familiar do we think Aziraphale is with the concept of forgiveness?
Given the Fall, given the Flood, given humanity’s exile from the Garden.
Given the whole Heaven and Hell set up that he and Crowley’s jobs revolve around, which really depends on the idea that humans cannot repent after death. Aziraphale might be able to redeem some of the humans on Earth, but once they’ve died, if Crowley’s convinced them to commit whatever magical number of sins you have to commit to warrant eternal damnation, then that’s it.
Given the fact that Aziraphale’s own 6,000 years spent living on Earth might well be meant as a punishment for letting the serpent into Eden, because despite its reputation on Earth, Heaven really isn’t as big on the whole ‘love and forgiveness’ thing as everyone seems to think.
Aziraphale lives in a universe where if you mess up, even if you didn’t mean it, even if you regret it right after, then that’s it. So why wouldn’t he apply that to his friendship with Crowley?
Why would it occur to him that you could fall out with somebody and then make up afterwards with no hard feelings? That you could say things, hurtful things, that you didn’t mean— because you were scared and because he wanted holy water and because it was too much and too fast— that you could fall out so badly that you don’t speak to each other for nearly a century and that, after it all, they’d still walk across consecrated ground and bomb a church for you. And even save your books in the aftermath.
And Crowley, it’s worth mentioning, doesn’t even seem to realise this. Crowley is baffled and a little insulted that Aziraphale would even ask why he was there. Obviously he’s keeping his angel out of trouble— isn’t that basically his second job by this point? He’s totally casual about offering Aziraphale a lift home, though I suspect that that might be a conscious decision to deliberately act like everything’s back to normal, so as to signal to Aziraphale that everything is indeed back to normal. Crowley (and we get to see this trait more later on when it comes to the whole Alpha Centauri thing) forgives so easily that he doesn’t even notice he’s doing it.
And that, I think, is why this is such an important moment in their relationship.
It’s not just the rescue of the books that makes Aziraphale realise the true depth of his feelings about Crowley. It’s the fact that, in his own way, Aziraphale considers himself to be just as unforgiveable as Crowley, and Crowley forgave him regardless.
I didn’t. I didn’t want to be this person. But Aziraphale is sitting RIGHT THERE looking like A TOTALLY RESPECTABLE Roman citizen circa 40 AD. Maybe the hair might be unusual, but the Romans LOVED blonde hair. They thought it was cool and foreign and exotic in sort of a sexy way.
But Crowleyisso historically confused.And I think the production design is too good and Neil Gaiman is too on top of his game for this to be accidental. It must mean something.
I - HAIR
What is on your head Crowley. Are you the emperor? Are you a victorious general currently participating in a victory parade?
Sure, you sometimes see laurel wreathes in portraits. But FUNERAL portraits.
That crown is a symbolic thing, to celebrate your victories in life. It’s not STREET WEAR.
And okay. It’s 40-41 AD. Caligula is emperor. Military chic is in. If you’re a guy, you’re wearing your hair short and un-styled (LIKE AZIRAPHALE.) Those dramatic little spit curls wouldn’t show up until at least Nero.
But actually, pulling back for a second - are you appreciating the absurdity that is this hairstyle? Because it took me a second to notice that only the FRONT HALF is curled.
Whichisa Roman hairstyle. But it’s a Roman LADY hairstyle.
(It tends to get called ‘Flavian Hair’ because the Flavian era ladies of the 70s-90s got pretty extreme about it, but you still had less… dramatic versions in the 40s.)
That’s you, Crowley. That’s your style reference. Honestly, if you had just kept your hair long everybody would have thought you were a cool barbarian chieftain or something.
II - CLOTHES
The black is fine. It’s eccentric, but fine. Romans wore black. Wearing black was Cato the Younger’s *thing.* It gets associated with mourning and/or protest, but it would have been really visually confusing to have Crowley wear some other color. This gets a pass.
Nope, my question is about his articles of clothing. There’s a charcoal grey garment that seems to be a toga + undershirt. It’s looped over Crowley’s arm, which is a classic toga give away.
That part’s fine. But over the top, he’s wearing a true black… short cape? Shawl? it’s really hard to tell, because whatever it is, he is NOT wearing it correctly (is it folded in half?) Also, that irregular red zigzag pattern is very strange and I do not recognize it from anywhere.Seriously, I can’t even decide on a continentfor this garment.
III - JEWELRY
Emperor Nero usually gets credit for inventing the first sunglasses, after he started watching gladiators fight though a green gemstone. He won’t be emperor for about ten years. But hey, he probably got the idea from somewhere.And dark glasses are just a really sensible way to hide your snakey eyes. This is also the first time we see Crowley put up some proper emotional barriers, so it’s a good place for the glasses to be introduced. (@theladyzephyr has a wonderful meta that goes into a lot more detail here.)
So the sunglasses are good. BUT THAT BROOCH.
Okay. This is Aziraphale wearing a fibula plate brooch
It’s a really Roman style, and a really Roman shape (a “pelta”)
I’ve never seen one that looks like angel wings, but a Roman citizen is going to look at that and see a soppily patriotic Imperial Eagle. How nice that this lovely man from Germania/Greece has made some money and become such an exemplary citizen!
But Crowley is wearing a penannular (pin-and-ring) brooch
That’s not roman. That’s a style from the British Isles (Irish, Pictish, Scottish, Welsh.) It says barbarian, boonies, outskirts of the civilized world.
And nobody @ me with pictures of pin-and-ring brooches from Rome. Those are small, cheap, and undecorated. They’re the cultural equivalent of safety pins. Thisis patterned like a snake, and it’s the size of Crowley’s palm.
AND THAT’S ANOTHER THING. They didn’t do snake-themed jewelry in the British isles. Snakes didn’t have the best cultural associations there, and there weren’t too many of them there to begin with. This isn’t something Crowley picked up because “hey, a snake, cool,” and then got attached too. This must have been commissioned special.
But you know who LOVED snake jewelry?
ROMANS.
Romans associated snakes with healing and rebirth - clinics sometimes had lil snakes crawling around on the ground to give the place good vibes.
You cannot tell me that Crowley could have existed in Rome for any length of time and not picked up some of this jewelry. Which leads me to my conclusion:
IV - CROWLEY IS EXTREMELY NEW IN TOWN
The unfashionable pin and hair? The clothing draped the wrong way? The cultural colorblindness of wearing a laurel crown when you’re not supposed to? Crowley looks like a tacky tourist because he is one. He’s not staying here long, he “just nipped in for a quick temptation.”
He’s in a bad mod because he’s had an awful day, everyone keeps looking at him funny, the temptation was a complete bust, he has culture shock, and now he’s just trying to get a drink. But they don’t have any PROPER drinks like ALE or MEAD here, so he just orders “whatever’s drinkable.” He’s even not sure what they drink in Rome.
But then Aziraphale shows up and invites him to lunch some place fashionable. So everything’s going to be okay.
Folks let me talk about Crowley and sunglasses, because I have a lot of emotions about when he wears them and when he doesn’t, and Hiding versus Being Seen.
We’re introduced to the concept of Crowley wearing glasses even before we’re introduced to Crowley, by Hastur: “If you ask me he’s been up here too long. Gone native. Enjoying himself too much. Wearing sunglasses even when he doesn’t need them.”
Honestly Crowley’s whole introduction is a fantastic; we learn so much about his character in a tiny amount of time. The fact that he’s late, the Queen playing as the Bentley approaches, the “Hi, guys” in response to Hastur and Ligur’s “Hail Satan”. I like this intro much better than the one originally scripted with the rats at the phone company, but I digress.
Crowley wears sunglasses when he doesn’t need them. Specifically, he still wears them around the demons, and when he’s in hell.
You know where Crowley doesn’t wear glasses? At home.
We never once see him wearing glasses in his flat, except for when he knows Hastur and Ligur are coming. That’s an emotional kick to the gut for me. Here’s one of the only places Crowley’s comfortable enough to be sans glasses, and when he knows it’s going to be invaded he prepares not just physically with the holy water, but by putting up that emotional barrier in a place where he wasn’t supposed to need it.
An argument could be made that Crowley actually never needs glasses. We’re shown that it’s well within the angels’ and demons’ powers to pass unnoticed by humans. Crowley and Aziraphale waltz out of the manor in the middle of a police raid, and going unnoticed by the police takes so little effort that they can keep up a conversation while they stroll through. Even an unimaginative demon like Hastur apparently doesn’t have trouble with the humans losing it over his demonic eyes. The humans in the scene at Megiddo are acting like “this guy is a little weird” and not “holy shit his entire eyeballs are black jelly”
That means that Crowley’s glasses are a choice, just like Aziraphale’s softness. Sure, he could arrange matters so that nobody ever noticed his eyes, but he doesn’t want to. Crowley wants acceptance, and he wants to belong, and he’s never, ever had that. He didn’t fit in before the Fall in Heaven, he doesn’t fit in with the demons in Hell. With the glasses, and with the Bentley and his plants and with the barely-bad-enough-to-be-evil nuisance temptations, he’s choosing Earth. This is where he wants to fit in, perhaps not with the humans, but amongst them.
Even after Crowley is at his absolute lowest, when he thinks Aziraphale’s dead and he’s on his way to drink until the world ends, he takes the time to put a new pair on when the old ones are damaged. He needs that emotional crutch right now, even with everything about to turn into a pile of puddling goo he’s not ready for the world to see his eyes.
Which is why I swore out loud when Hastur forciblytakes them off.
It’s about the worst thing that Hastur could have done. Rather than leading with a physical threat, his first act is to strip away Crowley’s emotional defences. It’s a great writing choice because god it made me hate Hastur, even more than all the physical violence we see him do.
It’s also the moment that Crowley really truly gets his shit together, and focuses all of his considerable imagination on getting to Tadfield and Aziraphale to help save the world. He’s wielding the terrifyingly unimaginable power of someone who’s hit rock bottom and realised it literally could not get any worse than this. He doesn’t put another pair of glasses on after discorporating Hastur, and he spends the majority of the airbase sequence without them.
He puts them back on again, I think, at the moment that he really lets himself hope. When he thinks ‘shit, there may be a real chance that we get through this to a future that I don’t want to lose’.
The vulnerability is back, and he needs Adam to trust him. In Crowley’s mind being accepted by a human means he needs to have his eyes hidden. Someone give the demon a hug, please.
Interestingly, there’s only one time in the whole series that we see Crowley willingly choose to take his glasses off around another person. Only one person he’ll take down that barrier for, and even then he’s drunk before he does it.
Dear God/Satan/Someone that makes my heart ache. Crowley’s chosen Earth, but he’s also chosen Aziraphale. He’s been looking for somewhere to belong his entire existence, and it’s with the angel that he finally feels it.
When the dust settles and the world is saved and they finally have space to be themselves unguarded, I like to imagine Crowley takes off the glasses when it’s just the two of them; the idea of being known doesn’t scare him quite so much anymore.
also OH MY GOD THAT LAST GIF I NEVER NOTICED THE WINK BEFORE?????????
Never forget that Crowley spends his entire existence pretending to be this masterful, ruthless demon as well, but you see his puppy eyes when he’s upset and there’s no way you could consider that man a merciless, corrupting terrible force bent on the destruction of mankind.
If eyes are the windows to the soul, then Crowley has put up blackout curtains because he really, really doesn’t need anyone seeing that, because if they did, then they would know exactly who he is and what he is and that terrifies him.
It’s also fascinating to me that he starts wearing them after the crucifixion, which is also when he chooses to change his name, shedding the identity of the Serpent (too squirming at your feetish). The glasses are part of it - a tangible reminder that he’s not what he was as well as a security blanket to hide what he’s thinking and feeling.
I just realized something from this scene where the angels snatch Crowley-disguised-as-Aziraphale. Crowley keeps bobbing his head and looking off to the side and then trying to nod at Aziraphale-disguised-as-Crowley.
I think that was supposed to indicate that Az!Crowley (I’ll use this to keep track of who I’m talking about) knew that that was Hastur close by and was trying to warn Cr!Aziraphale (and this is the Aziraphale version) about him. It explains why Az!Crowley played Aziraphale in such an animated way during that part. He wasn’t squirming to simply escape. He was trying to prevent what he knew Hastur would probably do next.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work and Hastur whacks Cr!Aziraphale with that crowbar.
One thing I did wonder about there though was who was Cr!Aziraphale talking to when he said that “it’s no problem, it’s tickety-boo.” To himself? To the audience? Both of those seem a bit off given the tone of the scene. And it doesn’t seem like that’s something he’d say to someone like Hastur.
My thought is that he was saying that to Az!Crowley. Yes, it was unlikely that Crowley would have been able to hear by that point unless Crowley would still hear thoughts that are directed at him (which I can totally buy with them),
It makes sense that Cr!Aziraphale would do this given how Crowley normally comes to his aid every time he’s threatened, Cr!Aziraphale might have thought that Az!Crowley would finding it agonizing if he had to watch him suffer and couldn’t do anything about it. Thus, Cr!Aziraphale’s last instinct before he passes out is to try to reassure Az!Crowley that it’s all right and to not worry about him.
The script book adds another wrinkle to this as it included a stage direction that Cr!Aziraphale tried to crawl after the van that was taking Az!Crowley away. Even while in what had to have been an immense amount of pain, Aziraphale still tried his best to save Crowley.
However, all of this also means that, it was one thing for them to come up with this plan, and it was something entirely different for them to actually stick with it. And I don’t think they were really prepared for that. The whole point of switching faces was so they could protect each other from punishments that would be lethal to the other one.
But…that doesn’t work if they don’t let themselves get captured! Their deep seated instinct to protect each other could have easily ruined their clever plan. They were very lucky that it didn’t.
This is one of the reasons why “idiots in love” takes on more than just the light-hearted meanings for me in regards to them.
Select additional comments:
@ambular-dreply: Yes, but it wouldn’t have looked terribly realistic if they’d just calmly watched each other get kidnapped and hauled off without reacting, either, would it? “Oh, would you look at that, Aziraphale/Crowley is being made off with by agents of Heaven/Hell. Have a good time, dear.” That would have seemed downright suspicious. They couldn’t succeed in stopping it if they wanted their plan to work, but being seen trying and failing was perfectly reasonable and even necessary to the ruse.
@codicesandflorareply: Actually that makes sense too. They would both have to seem at least somewhat concerned about each of them being kidnapped or there might be concerns as to why they are so unworried…
Then again…Heaven and Hell seem pretty tone deaf when it comes to personal feelings, don’t they? I honestly wonder if it would occur to either of them that an angel could love a demon beyond the generalized feelings of love they are supposed to have for all things. So while Aziraphale might appear concerned, it would be the same sort of vague concern other angels might have for someone/something less fortunate than them.
And I think Aziraphale’s comments about how Crowley is a demon and thus implying that he’s not capable of love aren’t his own thoughts, but Heaven’s ideas. And Hell probably doesn’t encourage demons to love anything either. So I doubt either side believes that a demon could care about an angel beyond selfish interest.
That all said, I still really like your take because it implies that, despite the rampant obliviousness and prejudice of Heaven and Hell, they are still able to recognize the genuine love and affection Crowley and Aziraphale had for each other. The fact that they would have to show concern over the other one being kidnapped despite the thick, unmovable wall of beliefs Heaven and Hell have about the opposite side says a lot about how powerful the love Crowley and Aziraphale share truly is.
@megspictureaday reply: #ive always thought it was fortunate that crowley (as aziraphale) was taken away first #because if crowley had seen aziraphale get hit over the head with a crowbar #before he was restrained and forced to commit to the disguise #he wouldve gone fuckin ballistic #ALSO #poor aziraphale had heard crowley say my lot dont send rude notes #but then he gets cracked over the skull with a crowbar he mustve been like #oh my god is this what usually happens when crowley gets in trouble……
First off, 1000% yes. I don’t see how Crowley would have stayed committed if he hadn’t already been tied up and gagged.when Hastur did that to Aziraphale. I mean, this is a demon who will not hesitate to let people die just to prevent Aziraphale from being discorporated. Hell, he’ll let a bunch of corporate drones go through near-death experiences just because one of them had the audacity to stain his angel’s favorite jacket.
Granted, the ones who died tended to be awful people anyway and the paintball-to-real-gun prank was just as much about snark toward Aziraphale’s “Moral Argument” ridiculousness.
But both of those things still illustrate that Crowley can be ruthless when he chooses…and that choice often occurs when Aziraphale is involved.
Not to mention that Crowley already didn’t like Hastur anyway. Seeing him assault Aziraphale probably put him into Full Tilt Fire and Brimstone Mode. Which he ends up saving for Gabriel and his cronies, but that is another discussion….
Secondly….touche on going straight for the feels because I actually had not thought of that. I imagine Crowley doesn’t go into detail about what Hell does to people who directly defy orders because he doesn’t want his angel to worry about him (and possibly pull away in an effort to keep Crowley safe).
Although Aziraphale might be stupidly in love, but he’s not a fool. He definitely has an inkling of what could have been meant by “my lot don’t send rude notes”. He also might try to not think about it.
But having Hastur do that to him…and then seeing what goes on in Hell…and then realizing what that had/could have meant for Crowley…I think that would have been more traumatizing than anything.
I’m convinced that this is why he has that quietly horrified look (as Crowley) when that minor demon is destroyed.
That casual cruelty…the fact that anyone can be obliterated at any time for the flimsiest of reasons…that is/was the reality of Crowley’s life and the very real risk he took for choosing to “fraternize” with an angel.
Aziraphale is now seeing all of this for himself, and you can’t convince me that he wouldn’t harbor a sizable amount of guilt over that.
@monkey-on-nitrous-oxide oxidereply: Yes. I think that this is the point where Aziraphale realises how much he’s hurt Crowley every time he’s told him “you’re a demon”. Also, he probably realises that Crowley really wanted that Holy Water to use against other demons, not to destroy himself.
Crowley, as a former angel, knows very well how terrible angels can be. Aziraphale has no idea of how horrible demons are.
Crowley isn’t brave. He’s too smart for that. Only idiot demons aren’t afraid of Hell’s wrath.
Oh, he’s got bravado. He’s got bravado coming out his ears. Being a flash bastard who’s maybe a little too cocky for his own good is a very respectable look for a demon, and Crowley’s great at performing it. But there’s fear underneath. An entirely justified amount of fear, if you ask Crowley.
Crowley’s fantasy of being the maverick bad boy action hero (James Bond, Dirty Harry) who doesn’t play by the rules but wins anyway? That’s his fantasy precisely because in real life he is far too aware of the power structures that surround him and how exactly they can fuck him up if he steps out of line. He doesn’t buy into the ideology at all, but he understands the system of dominance at work, and his position in it, perfectly well.
So Crowley’s strategy is to learn the rules. Learn exactly where the lines are, what you can get away with and what you can’t. He’s like an abused kid who knows that most of the time, his parents couldn’t give a shit what he’s up to, but when they’re around you’d better be on your best behavior or you’ll get hit.
So he learns the way through the minefield, the narrow routes of safe passage. People who live near minefields are extremely attentive to their geography. You had better memorize it, if you want to stay alive. He learns what Hell does and doesn’t care about; where the danger zones are. They couldn’t give a shit about silly, superfluous miracles to make his life easier, and hey, messing with humans for sport is Hell’s national pastime. And they never, ever cross-check the paperwork. (He’s always got a story ready, just in case this is the one time they do.) A little minor healing, a blessing or two on the DL, that doesn’t ping their radar. But stay away from humans when they’re close to death–that’s when both Heaven and Hell are watching, circling like hawks, like vultures.
He meticulously observes the other demons and parses out how to act around them. Hastur and Ligur are violent but they’re morons; he can outsmart them any day. Beelzebub is not a moron and ze has enough power to really make your life unpleasant; deference is recommended. Dagon notices everything–be wary of that one. And he’s good at this social assessment, too. He’s able to ride his minor celebrity status from his dumb good luck with the Eve thing for thousands of years, even though plenty of other demons absolutely fucking resent him for it, because he’s very smart about knowing who he can piss off and who he can’t.
He’s hyperaware of power dynamics and social rules and expectations. It’s part of what makes him such a good chameleon on Earth; he can quickly identify the couple of details that will sell a role and make him seem like he fits. He’s great at working in Earthly dictatorships and surveillance states, because he understands how they think. They don’t watch everyone all the time; they watch some of the people enough of the time to convince you they could be watching at any time, and then let fear do the rest. And there are always back doors, black markets and underground scenes–safe passages–and he’s good at finding them.
When he and Aziraphale are together, he’s the one watching out for both of them. Aziraphale worries about Crowley’s safety, but the angel hasn’t fully internalized how ruthless his own side can be. Crowley knows. He learned that minefield too, the hard way.
(Of course, they both think the other one is the brave one, and you can see it in their trials. Aziraphale-as-Crowley is cool as a cucumber, playing the badass Crowley wishes he was. And Crowley-as-Aziraphale is gracious and self-possessed in the face of Heaven’s utter contempt for him, but also not afraid to scare them a little.)
As survival strategies go, Crowley’s has mostly worked out for him. (The proof is in the not-being-a-pulverized-pudding-in-Hell’s-deepest-pit isn’t it?) But like any emergency response, it can become maladaptive in non-emergency conditions, and after the Apocanope, the hardest thing to unpack is not just the bog-standard hypervigilance (are we safe? are we really safe?) but this kind of paranoid hyper-self-awareness of his own outward presentation that manifests itself in all kinds of ways (am I doing it right? is this the safe way? is this a performance, or who I really am? do I even know who I really am?). And, as much as he desperately, wholeheartedly wants to be with Aziraphale, I think it will take him a long time to fully realize that for the first time maybe in his entire existence, he doesn’t have to worry about the route of safe passage through a minefield of social interaction, where he’s one step away from doing the wrong thing at any time. There isn’t any route of safe passage with Aziraphale. Because there aren’t any mines.
This may, possibly, be my favorite scene in the entire series. Because I know it’s played for comedy, and Tennant really hams it up, but like many things in Good Omens it’s a well-executed joke covering up something much deeper. And once you take off the comedy veneer it’s incredibly sad.
The thing is, it’s so out of character for what we know about Crowley at this point. For all his “ooh, I’m a DEMON, I’m not NICE, I’m BAD,” his brand of “evil” is mostly mischief, minor annoyance and a little chaos. It’s giving the paintballers real guns but not letting any of them kill each other, because, quote, “that wouldn’t be any fun.” And while he can be scary in a pinch and violent when he needs to be, he’s not cruel. What is he even doing in this scene? He’s not performing his demon-ness to impress anyone here. He’s in his house, alone, yelling at plants, which–the magic of cinema has somehow been able to convey to us–are afraid of him.
Exercising total power over things that can’t fight back, exacting disproportionate, irreversible punishments for minor failings that maybe aren’t even their fault…that doesn’t sounds like Crowley, does it?
Gee, who in this story does it sound like? Oh right. Those are things God does. Those are things God did to Crowley.
And what does God herself say about Crowley’s plant terrorizing, when narrating this scene to us? “What he does is put the fear of God into them.”
I mean, on an existential level, the idea of Crowley playing God with his plants when God is an actual character narrating this scene to us is hilarious. But also…Crowley, my demon, please get a therapist.
This was the scene that really fucked me up when I first watched it. On second watch, I found the bandstand really hurt, but the first time around, this one hurt more. Because it’s so obvious what he’s doing, what he’s re-enacting there, and there’s God, bemusedly and detachedly narrating it. Just, ouch.
I think there are many layers to this scene. What Aziraphale’s words might actually mean:
The speed of the car. While it might seem so at the first glance… nope, it’s not about that.
What Aziraphale probably thinkshe means is about being friendly with the enemy, not only about The Arragement of helping each other out when working to make their Head Offices happy, but now also helping with other personal matters, about spending time with each other, about being more than agents stranded far from home who sometimes share a meal. He is asking Crowley to give him time because he cannot get used to the idea that quickly (well, quickly for an immortal) but he is not discarding it alltogether… (similarly when in the knight’s time he vehemently refused The Arrangement and in the Shakespeare’s era we learned that they helped each other dozens of time). He knows he will fold.
What the scene is actuallyabout is love. And it doesn’t matter how you view their relationship - whether friendly, soulmate, platonic or romantic - they love and care very deeply about each other. Crowley is much better about realizing this (though he would never say that out loud), while Aziraphale is not (consciously). He still has the head mostly full of Heaven’s propaganda, yes, but head only. His heart already knows he loves the demon, but needs time to get the head on board as well.
tbh both of these lines hit me like freight trains so I don’t think I could have physically handled an “I love you” moment anyway
they don’t say it, but they show it, over and over and over again
i’m content with that. I don’t feel cheated in the slightest.
Content with it doesn’t even begin to cover it for me. I’m grateful. It’s so much better as it is. “You go too fast for me” or “to the world” (especially given the way he says those lines) knock “I love you” right out of the park.
Before Good Omens happened to me, I was in the place of accepting that love stories aren’t meant for me. I never liked the romantic side arcs in movies or shows or books really. I could never get behind it, nothing ever clicked. It felt superficial. Hollow. Formulaic.
A lot of media is very bad at show not tell when it comes to relationships, especially the romantic ones. How often do you see characters hardly interacting, and then they suddenly kiss and say “I love you” and get married at the end of the tale? It leaves me sitting and scratching my head and wondering what happened. This way of showing relationships depends on us to see characters kissing, holding hands or saying their I love you’s and believing it without questions. It asks us to fill in the blanks. They kissed, it’s love, look at the cute ship.
But that doesn’t work for me. It makes “I love you” seem like empty words. Quickly said, quickly voided after, because there wasn’t much substance behind them.
Good Omens on the other hand is super show not tell about it. Through the entire timeline, from Eden on, in every single scene they’re in together, we can watch them grow closer. We watch them become friends, and by the time of the Globe scene, they’re just radiating fondness for one another. Their looks, their actions, it’s so obvious even without looking at a single line of dialogue. Just look at how Aziraphale’s entire face lights up at Crowley’s appearance in Paris, or the way Crowley looks after Aziraphale when he miracled the stain off his coat. Or, in what’s arguably their worst moment, look at Aziraphale’s face when he tells Crowley it’s over at the bandstand. He’s so close to crying. Look at that quivering lip and shining eyes. He’s hurting himself at least as much as Crowley.
And if you do look at the dialogue, you get so much weighty confessions of love, friendship, devotion, concern, care.
You get “you go too fast for me”. It’s a line I find more powerful with every rewatch, because there’s so much behind it. It’s not a rejection. Not at all. It’s “I need time”. It’s “I’m not ready now, it’s too much for me at this time, but I’ll be ready for it. I’ll get there. I want to get there.” It’s “please wait”. It’s “be patient with me”. I think it’s something that needs a lot of courage and trust to say, too. It’s not something you’re usually told is okay to ask for, but it’s such an important thing to feel like you can ask.
You get, a moment before, “I’ll give you a lift, anywhere you want to go”. This is the line that stood out to me more on my first watch of it. It’s an unconditional offer, and the way it’s said, you get the feeling that if Aziraphale asked to be driven to, say, Australia right then and there, Crowley would have dropped everything else and done it. This is “I’ll go anywhere, with you. I’ll do whatever you need of me, for you.” And he says it again, drunk and still not entirely over his grief in that bar. “Where are you? I’ll come to you, wherever you are.” “Wherever you are is where I want to be. Where I will be”. It’s a promise.
You get “We can go off together”. How much louder can you shout it, really? This is Crowley saying “you’re the one thing in this entire world I will pick to save if I can’t save anything else”.
You get Aziraphale’s “I forgive you”, right after Crowley tried to talk him into running off again and called him stupid. I think it’s not Aziraphale forgiving Crowley for calling him stupid. It’s Aziraphale referring to their previous conversation, to Crowley’s “Unforgivable, that’s what I am”. This is, even before Aziraphale gives up on Heaven (he still clings to hope at this point), this is Aziraphale saying “I don’t care if God condemned you, because I don’t. I forgive you.”
And “To the World” has to be the best of them all. To the World, to the world Crowley entire gave up on when he thought Aziraphale was dead, to the world they lived in together for six thousand years, to the world that’s the only place either of them fits in and the only place they can enjoy together.
No, “I love you” can stay right out of this. It’s been said a hundred times over, with looks, with actions, and with lots of better words.
do you think aziraphale recognised his own words during crowley’s execution? his own words that came from a place of love and that burning need to keep crowley safe, becoming a deadly weapon against the very being he has sworn to himself he would keep from harm? it must have hurt to hear michael unknowingly throw his own words back at him, tainted with cruelty and the intent to destroy, where aziraphale’s were only ever imbued with a fervent wish to protect, with love. heaven and hell don’t even know it, but they made crowley’s trial as painful for aziraphale as they could possibly have.
Yes, it must’ve brought back a lot of memories for Aziraphale at that moment, memories he could have probably done without having to deal with right then.
But imagine how it would have gone if they had not figured out the body swap. Imagine Crowley’s there, and this is what he’ll hear before he gets dumped in the tub.
Valid take: Crowley fell in love with Aziraphale since he said he gave away the flaming sword, and has been holding out for that love ever since.
Also valid take, but less talked about: Crowley slowly fell in love with Aziraphale over the millennia, the same way Aziraphale did. Maybe with sliiiiightly more awareness of what was happening, because he doesn’t have as much repression and denial to wade through. But it still caught up with him unawares.
Hottest of hot takes that my brain won’t stop screaming about: the full force of Crowley’s feelings didn’t barrel into him like a flaming Bentley until Aziraphale gives him the holy water. That’s when it’s pedal-to-the-metal, no-stopping-this-beating-heart, holy shit I love him and he loves me, that’s what this has been this whole time.
Which means….AZIRAPHALE HAD HIS OH SHIT MOMENT….BEFORE CROWLEY
!!!!!!!!!!!
ANOTHER TAKE I SAW RECENTLY AND COULDNT GET OUT OF MY HEAD was that Crowley fell in love with Aziraphale at the wall of Eden, but he didn’t realize it until the BOOKSHOP FIRE
Which… makes sense because of the music changing from You’re My Best Friend toSOMEBODY TO LOVE.
So yeah, he was totally pining the entire time, and it was probably agony, but he didn’t know what he wanted that he didn’t already have.… until he thought it had been taken away for good.
That would imply Crowley had yet to realise it when they were with Warlock. In this scenario he thinks Aziraphale is his Best Friend, right?
Cue Nanny being quite worried when Warlock begins school, because surely 6 years old Warlock is way too young to have that kind of intense relationship
See, I don’t think Crowley has a hard distinction between friendship and romance. Like. How much basis for comparison could he possibly have? To him it’s just one long increasingly intense stream of emotional attachment, which begins when the angel proves just how different he is.
But it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when anything shifts, partly because there are so many gaps in their onscreen history. Like, for my money, he’s showing full-on affection and is at least somewhat smitten by the time they’re at the Globe, but there’s such a gap before then, it could have happened any time in the last several centuries. But there are definitely romantic overtones by then. He’s just so damn weak to those puppy-dog eyes.
As to when he realizes it, that’s a whole other question. But personally… again, I don’t think there was actually a big ‘aha!’ moment for Crowley. I’m inclined to think that epiphanies are more Aziraphale’s thing, and that Crowley’s been low-key aware of how he feels for a long time. Like after he saves the books, he ducks his head and avoids eye contact before walking away. I think he’s well aware of the gesture he’s making there.
There is a huge impact to the holy water scene, though. Because I think - just my theory - that’s when Crowley realizes Aziraphale loves him back just as intensely. Az has always been so reserved about their relationship, keeping a distance, using euphemistic language, and rarely making the big leaps forward; it’s almost always Crowley making a move. And yet here he is choosing to give Crowley this immense gift, out of sheer concern for his well-being, in the most personal way possible (a fucking tartan thermos), before dropping that absolutely LOADED line. Yeah. I think that’s when it hits Crowley that his feelings might actually be reciprocated.
A clear distinction between friendship and romance might not be sensible to a being of an inherently sexless species. Even if they can feel a human-like sexual attraction because of their human-ish bodies (which I’m not sold on at all), it’s probably not an instinct that comes to them naturally. They are clearly naturally affectionate, aka do form friendship bonds (at Eden they’re both still fairly uninfluenced by humanity, haven’t been incorporated long and both clearly show signs of liking each other one way or another), but does the distinction humans make make sense? What is a romantic relationship if you take away sexual desires and expressions of affection? People make it sound like friendship isn’t love. But it is. You love your friends, and you especially love your best friend. People who say a best friendship isn’t as close and intense as a romantic relationship might not actually have had a real best friend before.
But I want to make a point aside of frustration with our society’s looking down on friendships, and that point is that both “friendship” and “romance” are human labels, and what is considered appropriate under either of those labels has been changing alot in just the last couple of centuries of human history. Crowley and Aziraphale have been around for all this time.
Romantic relationships were not always the most intellectually and emotionally intimate relationship for people to have. For a long time, marriages were formed not by affection, but primarily by political and financial concerns. To make sure there were heirs, to combine two farms or kingdoms, that sort of thing. You could hope to get along well with your spouse, and some spouses certainly grew to love one another, but marriage was often a bond made for practical considerations, rather than emotional ones. If you were a king or duke or whatnot, you might have an affair with someone you loved. The normal peasant couldn’t afford that sort of thing in the long run. Lots of trouble. Friendships and familial relationships like those between siblings were what you got your closeness and support from, either instead of or in addition to your marriage.
For a long while, people romantised friendships the way today’s culture romantises romance. Have you ever read epic Irish folk tales, stories of blood brothers and what we today would probably describe as platonic soulmates? Or for example the late 19th century novels of German author Karl May, full of characters in life-long best friendships that today’s readers will interpret more as queerplatonic partnerships or as homoerotic subtext, depending on how they squint at the text? Or the full blown love letters adressed to friends they found from the 17th to 19th century? At this time, in Western culture the concept of a “romantic friendship” came up, a relationship type that some researchers think has existed before, but then became more visible, because romantic relationships (the modern interpretation of them) came more into focus and especially physical affection between friends started to be considered weird (a trend that ended in what we have today).
Today, if you want to cuddle a best friend or hold their hand or share a house and a life with them, you’ll have to negotiate the relationship terms, because right now these things are monopolised by romantic relationships. That was not always the case, and it’s probably worth noting that it isn’t actually very healthy for humans to live that way. We’re capable of lots of different loving bonds and to limit emotional intimacy to one type of them might be one reason we have things like today’s loneliness epidemic going on.
But the point was historical relationship types.
Some of these historic close friendships were certainly homosexual partnerships hidden in more or less plain sight, but that doesn’t change that for centuries, it was quite normal to be a lot more affectionate and emotionally open about your close friendships. Crowley and Aziraphale casually reference events from hundreds of years ago. Time means little to angels and demons. The by comparison rapid changing of human relationship labels must be all sorts of confusing.
Is it surprising that Crowley doesn’t have a clear distinction? Or, that he chooses to call his attachment to Aziraphale “best friend”? It’s the much more long standing term for what they have. Angels/demons seem to naturally form friendships, so it’s probably a concept he was familiar with already (there were probably friendships between angels in Heaven before the Fall). And as a being to whom human-ish attraction of a more sexual nature might well not come naturally, he’s stuck observing humans and their relationships to make sense of the terms they use. Now, especially considering the history, observe a close knit friendship and a romantic relationship. What’s the difference? It’s not the emotional closeness. It’s more like the physical expression (kissing, sex).
Crowley and Aziraphale don’t kiss and have sex. At least not on screen. Whether or not they will do so after Armageddon isn’t relevant to the time during the series. Crowley looks at his relationship with Aziraphale, and goes “yes, he’s the most important being in my life, I’d do anything for him, he knows me best out of everyone in existence, even if the whole world ends in a puddle of burning goo, he’s what I’ll try to save, without him my life is meaningless, but we don’t kiss and don’t fuck” and concludes “best friends!” It makes sense, doesn’t it?
Excuse me for rambling. The above points aside, I do agree that Crowley grows to love Aziraphale slowly and over time, but is definitely at a near present day level of affection for him at the globe. He’s looking at him so fondly, and yes, so weak for the puppy eyes. (Which isn’t necessarily a romantic thing either; I’m super weak for puppy eyes from my sister and my best friend, and reasonably weak for it from other friends, so weakness to manipulation by puppy eyes is probably individually different and Crowley might just have a bad case of it.)
But I’ll buy Crowley being in love one way or another at the globe, and the thermos being his moment of “wow, he likes me back”.
One of the hidden gems of the Good Omens television spectacular are Hasturs’s hysterical screaming. Oh, of course his shrieks at the melting of Ligur win the gold medal — but his TERROR at Crowley’s driving…
I took that scene as Hastur not afraid of the flames, so much, but of the SPEED…probably his first time on the highway, definitely first time going over 60 MPH, probably his first time in a car…to suddenly be in this human contraption filled him with mortal terror.
I figured his mind was probably fuckin BLOWN at ‘the wheel’.
Hastur getting gradually more terrified over millenias at all the new humans inventions, especially the ones meant for transportation is hilarious to me.
Chariot? Death trap.
Car? Why was that even allowed ????
TRAIN???? TRAIN ????? FUCKING TRAIN GOING 200 km/h WITH HUNDRED OF PEOPLE INSIDE ????? WTF
OKAY BUT THE FROG. lolol it is also terrified and thats very good.
Crowley really just dedicates his immortality to flipping the bird to the Four Horsemen doesn’t he?
Crowley: Oh I haven’t bought petrol for the Bentley for 60 years because paying for things is undemonic Pollution: How dare you Crowley: Oh I’m going out for dinner. With this angel. I’m going to get pudding so he can have my share Famine: You little shit Crowley: *makes sure everyone at the paintball fight has miraculous escapes when the real guns come out* Death: This is just flirting Crowley: Yeah so this war between heaven and hell is causing problems with my marriage so I’m afraid I’m gonna have to, you know, shut that shit down War: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve never made the connection, but this is an extremely good point
