listen I see your headcanons about Aziraphale loving sweets and cakes and pumpkin spice lattes with extra shots of syrup and what have you and that’s valid but consider:
Aziraphale takes his tea with no sugar
the two things that Crowley is specifically mentioned consuming in the book are angel cake and cocktails made from date palm liquor which, based on my extensive research, is basically the most appallingly sugary-sweet alcohol mankind has ever managed to produce
therefore I present the following counterpoint: Aziraphale does not have any particular fondness for sugary things (though he enjoys a bite of something sweet now and then), but Crowley has the world’s worst sweet tooth and tries (very very badly) to conceal this.
like, Crowley isn’t quite sure why, but he feels like he should be ordering coffee blacker than his soul
(which, like, he probably should stick to darker coffee because the lighter a coffee roast, the more caffeine it has and like, the poor thing’s got bad enough anxiety as it is, he doesn’t need to add high doses of caffeine to his system, but that’s neither here nor there)
but also like…. he Hates it, but insists on ordering it, because espresso strong enough to melt your intestines seems like the sort of thing the human Anthony J. Crowley would drink, so he gets it and he hates it and all he really wants is some double whip sugary caramel frappe Starbucks-y monstrosity that’s loaded with more sugar and dairy than your average milkshake and he’s staring sadly down at his ultra-concentrated cold brew cup of Bitterness™…
…only for Aziraphale to sigh and say “oh dear, this candy apple latte really seemed like the thing at the time, but it’s a great deal too sweet for me. You wouldn’t mind swapping, would you, dearest?” and hitting him with the big eyes like Crowley’d be doing him such a favor if they swapped drinks…
…and Crowley tries not to look too relieved, and gives a big put-upon sigh. “All right, angel, I guess I could take it off your hands”
and so Crowley gets his sugary-sweet disaster of a drink that barely even qualifies as coffee at this point because it’s more whipped cream than beverage, and Aziraphale hides his grin behind a calculated sip of the triple-concentrated espresso hell-drink
post-canon i really want crowley to let his sweet tooth flag fly and just make himself every kind of brownie that never seem to get stale and pour infinite sugar in his pale, milky coffee while aziraphale gags in the distance and still manages to be in love with him.
This is beyond valid and straight into Ultimate Truth.
I continue to search Tumblr for only the finest of Crowley metas and this one surely qualifies!
Something that’s been very interesting to me, in this new wave of post-miniseries Good Omens fandom, is the apparent fannish consensus that Crowley is, in fact, bad at his job. That he’s actually quite nice. That he’s been skating by hiding his general goodness from hell by taking credit for human evil and doling out a smattering of tiny benign inconveniences that he calls bad.
I get the urge towards that headcanon, and I do think the Crowley in the miniseries comes off as nicer than the one in the book. (I think miniseries Crowley and Aziraphale are both a little nicer, a little more toothless, than the versions of themselves in the book.) But maybe it’s because I was a book fan first, or maybe it’s because I just find him infinitely more interesting this way–I think Crowley, even show!Crowley, has the capacity to be very good at his job of sowing evil. And I think that matters to the story as a whole.
A demon’s job on Earth, and specifically Crowley’s job on Earth, isn’t to make people suffer. It’s to make people sin. And the handful of ‘evil’ things we see Crowley do over the course of the series are effective at that, even if the show itself doesn’t explore them a lot.
Take the cell phone network thing, for instance. This gets a paragraph in the book that’s largely brushed off in the conversation with Hastur and Ligur, and I think it’s really telling:
What could he tell them? That twenty thousand people got bloody furious? That you could hear the arteries clanging shut all across the city? And that then they went back and took it out on their secretaries or traffic wardens or whatever, and they took it out on other people? In all kinds of vindictive little ways which, and here was the good bit, they thought up themselves. For the rest of the day. The pass-along effects were incalculable. Thousands and thousands of souls all got a faint patina of tarnish, and you hardly had to lift a finger.
In essence, without any great expenditure of effort (look, I’d never say Crowley isn’t slothful, but that just makes him efficient), he’s managed to put half of London in a mental and emotional state that Crowley knows will make them more inclined to sin. He’s given twenty thousand or a hundred thousand or half a million people a Bad Day. Which, okay, it’s just a bad day–but bad days are exhausting. Bad days make you snap, make you fail at things, make you feel guiltier and more stressed out in the aftermath when you wake up the next day, makes everything a little worse. Bad days matter.
Maybe it’s because I’m a believer in the ripple effect of small kindnesses, and that means I have to believe in its opposite. Maybe it’s just that I, personally, have had enough days that were bad enough that a downed cell network (or an angry coworker because of a downed cell network) would honestly have mattered. But somebody who deliberately moves through the world doing their best to make everyone’s lives harder, with the aim of encouraging everybody around them to be just a little crueler, just a little angrier, just a little less empathetic–you know what, yes. I do call that successful evil.
It’s subtle, is the thing. That’s why Hastur and Ligur don’t get it, don’t approve of it. Not because Crowley isn’t good at his job, but because we’ve seen from the beginning that Hastur and Ligur are extremely out of touch with humanity and the modern world and just plain aren’t smart enough to get it. It’s a strategy that relies on understanding how humans work, what our buttons are and how to press them. It’s also a strategy that’s remarkably advanced in terms of free will. Hastur and Ligur deliberately tempt and coerce and entrap individuals into sinning, but Crowley never even gets close. We never see him say to a single person, ‘hey, I’ve got an idea for you, why don’t you go do this bad thing?’ He sets up conditions to encourage humans to actually do the bad things they’re already thinking of themselves. He creates a situation and opens it up to the results of free choice. Every single thing a person does after Crowley’s messed with them is their own decision, without any demonic coercion to blame for any of it.
You see it again in the paintball match. “They wanted real guns, I gave them what they wanted.” In this case, Crowley didn’t need to irritate anybody into wanting to do evil–the desire to shoot and hurt and maybe even kill their own coworkers was already present in every combatant on that paintball field. Crowley just so happened to be there at exactly the right time to give them the opportunity to turn that fleeting, kind-of-bad-but-never-acted-upon desire into real, concrete, attempted murder. Sure, nobody died–where would be the fun in a pile of corpses? But now forty-odd people who may never have committed a real act of violence in their entire lives, caught in a moment of weakness with real live weapons in their hands, will get to spend the rest of their lives knowing that given the opportunity and the tiniest smidgen of plausible deniability, they are absolutely the sort of people who could and would kill another human being they see every single day over a string of petty annoyances.
Crowley understands the path between bad thought andevil action. He knows it gets shorter when somebody is upset or irritated, and that it gets shorter when people practice turning one into the other. He understands that sometimes, removing a couple of practical obstacles is the only nudge a person needs–no demonic pressure or circumvention of free will required.
I love this interpretation, because I love the idea that Crowley, who’s been living on Earth for six thousand years, actually gets people in a way no other demon can. I love the idea that Crowley, the very first tempter, who was there when free will was invented, understands how it works and how to use it better than maybe anyone else. And I really love the idea that Crowley our hero, who loves Aziraphale and saves the world, isn’t necessarily a good guy.
There’s a narrative fandom’s been telling that, at its core, is centered around the idea that Crowley is good, and loves and cares and is nice, and always has been. Heaven and its rigid ideas of Right and Wrong is itself the bad thing. Crowley is too good for Heaven, and was punished for it, but under all the angst and pain and feelings of hurt and betrayal, he’s the best of all of them after all.
That’s a compelling story. There’s a reason we keep telling it. The conflict between kindness and Moral Authority, the idea that maybe the people in charge are the ones who’re wrong and the people they’ve rejected are both victim and hero all at once–yeah. There’s a lot there to connect with, and I wouldn’t want to take it away from anyone. But the compelling story I want, for me, is different.
I look at Crowley and I want a story about someone who absolutely has the capacity for cruelty and disseminating evil into the world. Somebody who’s actually really skilled at it, even if all he does is create opportunities, and humans themselves just keep living down to and even surpassing his expectations. Somebody who enjoys it, even. Maybe he was unfairly labeled and tossed out of heaven to begin with, but he’s embraced what he was given. He’s thrived. He is, legitimately, a bad person.
And he tries to save the world anyway.
He loves Aziraphale. He helps save the entire world. Scared and desperate and determined and devoted, he drives through a wall of fire for the sake of something other than himself. He likes humans, their cleverness, their complexities, the talent they have for doing the same sort of evil he does himself, the talent they have for doing the exact opposite. He cares.
It’s not a story about someone who was always secretly good even though they tried to convince the whole world and themself that they weren’t. It’s a story about someone who, despite being legitimately bad in so many ways, still has the capacity to be good anyway. It’s not about redemption, or about what Heaven thinks or judges or wants. It’s about free will. However terrible you are or were or have the ability to be, you can still choose to do a good thing. You can still love. You can still be loved in return.
And I think that matters.
It’s also worth noting that when Crowley gives people means and opportunities to make a bad choice, that doesn’t take away from them the ability to make a good choiceinstead.
If people were only offered one possibility to act, it would make their sin less meaningful, it would make Crowley’s work less meaningful. But for those who actually decide to not go and yell at their secretary because the phone network being down has been rougn on their nerves, it’s also an effort that becomes meaningful in the right way.
So, yeah, I really agree on all of this, especially the part about free will. That’s what is essential in both Crowley and Aziraphale’s characterizations, and it’s at the very core of the story.
You know what? This makes me want to see a story where Aziraphale and Crowley are actually incredibly good at their jobs. They’ve been on Earth all this time and they really are the most effective field agents Heaven and Hell have - never mind if that effectiveness is cancelled out by the arrangement.
When Crowley and Aziraphale go rogue, someone has to fill in for them. After all, there’s still a job to be done, even if no one anticipated having to do it. However, whoever the new agents are - whether they’re a new principality and a new demon of equivalent rank or a small team of Angels and arch-angels against a little squad of imps - have nowhere near the level of “success” that the previous two did. They don’t understand Earth, humans, or free will, and they’re about four thousand years away from being at the same place the Ineffable Husbands were when they made the arrangement.
I want to see Heaven and Hell, who laughed and sneered at their earthly agents, come to realize just how valuable they were. I want the sweet satisfaction of the two sides missing Crowley and Aziraphale as a jealous ex misses you after you’ve long since moved on.
Aha yes, the reaction of Heaven and Hell alone would be priceless !
I agree with the OP 110%. Crowley is notbad at his job, he’s fucking brilliant at it. But he doesn’t do this 1-on-1 crap like in the old days. He’s become a Logistical Nightmare of Efficency in the most nightmarish of hellish sense. He sows discontent and malaise through thousandsof souls at a time, not just a handful who happen to be near by.
If anything, if you really didn’t want to classify Crowley as “evil”, he’s a Trickster God. He’d hang out with Loki and Papa Legba.
He just sets up the pieces and lets Humainty choose how they want them to tumble. He gives you the choice to do right, but is right there to point out how much worse/fun being bad will be. All for the the low, low price of your soul. And yes, maybe he sort of pads his success by picking people already leaning into their darker inclinations (again, see the Paint Ball into Live Ammunition), but it’s also why he always seems so disapointed when they come up with things before he can even suggest them (see the “animals” in the Bastille, see the “stupid Nazi spies” in WWII). An argument could be made he’s disapointed they got there before he could. But it’s cool, because he’ll take the credit anyway.
Heaven and Hell are absolutely going to notice both Crowley and Aziraphale’s absenses, eventually, though maybe in a human generation or two. Not right away, they’re slow to catch up. And that’s what’ll make Our Side victorious.
It makes me a bit nuts when either A or C are considered incompetent. If they actually sucked at their jobs, either one would have been replaced ages ago, because in addition to taking credit for human things, someone is doing the blessings and temptations each side asks for.
But Crowley is that bit better because he takes initiative. He invents ways to get people to sin. And he’s willing to put in hard work if necessary, as when he went out at night to move markers for the M25.
Not only are they very good at their jobs, they’re very good at each other’s job! That’s the whole point of the Arrangement, that both are capable of pulling off blessings and temptations.
You know at some point Crowley was out there giving Aziraphale lessons in How to Tempt Humans, mostly for his own amusement, and probably waaaay before the Arrangement crossed his mind, because he’d never suggest it if he didn’t already believe Aziraphale capable of matching his skills. And Crowley must have done enough good miracles on his own for Aziraphale to be confident he could pretend to be an angel without giving in to his chaotic/trolling tendencies or else he’d never have agreed to it.
Second, I woke up today with the urge to write plotless fluff about the two of these ineffable cuties just cuddling so I assume there must be something in the air.
What you did to the M25 was a stroke of demonic genius, darling.
You know, it’s just occurred to me that, presumably, Crowley had to prepare these acetates himself. I just find the thought of him tracking down the OHP pens and acetate, painstakingly tracing the map (little forked tongue sticking out?), and writing the caption under it as neatly as he can, endearingly hilarious.
Every part of this is endearingly hilarious and someone should give him his Wahoo!
Also, the handwriting is sort of semi-calligraphy, the kind people who are trained in calligraphy use when they want to be neat but lazy (and also don’t have the right kind of pen). This just feeds into my headcanon that Crowley has awesome Gothic Font Calligraphy skills developed from writing soul contracts in the Middle Ages, but he doesn’t use them any more because it’s too hard.
Is there anything more iconic in Good Omens than David Tennant driving a flaming Bentley down an English road while Bohemian Rhapsody plays?
Possibly, but it’s still an awesome moment.
Especially when our lanky demon steps out, swaggering like an action movie star here to save the day, giving the one-liner he clearly spent half the journey thinking up: “You wouldn’t get that sort of performance from a modern vehicle.”
I wrote “In Love with My Car” because Crowley loves his car, period. It’s his home, in a way his flat never really is. When filming it’s final destruction, David Tennant’s only acting direction was: you are the Doctor and you just saw the Tardis destroyed. (Side note: that is the perfect kind of direction to give DT, not because he used to be the Doctor, but because he’s a huuuuuge Doctor Who fanboy and has probably written that fanfiction.)
Now, I learned more than I really ever thought I’d need to know about vintage cars while researching this story, but for those who have not, in the book Crowley has a 1928 Bentley, and on the show a 1933. This is rather a big difference.
I mean the ‘28 is cute and all. It’s like an old timey cartoon of a car. If I saw one of these on fire driving down the road, I’d be like “no, that’s fair, I expected that.”
The ‘33 is, if nothing else, much more in line with modern ideas of what a cool car should look like. Graceful, curving, solid. This was a car that was made to have good performance - above average, but you know, not German automobile levels - but also made to make you look rich and awesome in a decade where most people were not.
But book or TV show, it does NOT change the fact that Crowley loves the Bentley. Perhaps even more so in the book - like scroll back up and look at that thing. It’s like a sports-tractor. Book Crowley is very concerned with always having the latest, coolest flashiest things, yet he has a car that looks like it frequently gets outpaced by snails. Even TV Crowley, with his fondness for mementos and antiques, is constantly changing and updating his look to match the height of cool in every era, and the vintage Bentley look probably peaked in like the 1960s in the James Bond era.
What I’m saying is, if the point was to just look cool, both Crowleys would probably be driving some model of Jaguar at the very least.
But also in both - though you can obviously see it better on the show - the Bentley performs like a modern Jaguar (or, whatever). Like, Crowley shouldn’t be able to do 90 in Central London for the simple fact that a vintage Bentley can’t reach those speeds. The ‘33 could, as its max speed, under ideal circumstances which included “going downhill” and “perfectly smooth and straight road.” But Crowley drives it, screeching up the road, handling corners perfectly, at speeds that would make any driving instructor pass out.
But the Bentley is the Best Car. Crowley knows this, believes it, feels it in his soul. So when other cars start getting better, the Bentley does too, to match them. No fancy foreign Ferrari is going to outperform his awesome Bentley!
There’s been a lot written about how Crowley interacts with the spaces in his apartment. He keeps everything clean and open and minimalist, because space is such a luxury in Hell. He shouts at his plants because he’s reliving the abuse he suffers in Hell, and the rejection he received from Heaven.
The Bentley, though, represents the face he shows the world. Dark and powerful and cool and a little out of place but full of so much unmistakable style that really you have to question what every other car is doing wrong by not being a Bentley. This is exactly the kind of being Crowley wishes to be. The kind that turns every head when he comes in a room, the kind that always handles everything with effortless grace and style, the kind that everyone makes space for and just watches pass in utter awe.
Even when he talks to the car, primarily during the bits where it’s on fire, he’s encouraging it, telling it how good of a car it is, how it can do this utterly insane thing that it really, really can’t. It’s the complete opposite of how he treats his plants (degrading and berating them when for every tiny failure), because while the plants represent a part of himself he’s trying to distance himself from, the Bentley allows him to be who he wants to be.
And that is something that he would never, ever exchange for any other vehicle.
Anyway, you can read more about my thoughts on Crowley’s thoughts on his car in my fanfiction, “In Love with My Car” over on AO3!
(Note to readers: looking like a very good chance of no update this week. I will post this evening with current progress on my upcoming stories.)
woke: the nazis recognized crowley because he was working for british counterintelligence
also woke: crowley didn’t actually know exactly when and where aziraphale’s book deal was going down, he just had a vague idea, so he’d been busting into churches at random for about the past month and a half, hopping around on his burning feet, and each time he did it he Loudly announced his entrance like “here comes anthony j. crowley to save the day!” because he had a whole plan, he was gonna be so suave, but it was never aziraphale, and he ended up interrupting several other clandestine nazi meetings so that word got around in nazi circles of anthony j. crowley, the weird hopping church guy, and then when he finally did happen upon aziraphale’s deal, he was just so incredibly happy to see his angel that he completely forgot his smooth introduction, but the nazis recognized him as the weird hopping church guy so they did it for him.
Also he absolutely thinks “here comes Anthony J Crowley to save the day” is a smooth introduction.
Also Aziraphale would also think it was a smooth introduction so it works.
We can see Crowley’s, though a little wider, snake pupils here. He was comfortable enough to have his portrait taken by Leonardo like this. Actually, I’d bet that it was Leonardo himself who made these glasses for him.
Why is that?
It’s because Crowley and Leonardo were friends! Crowley has a sketch of Mona Lisa in his appartment:
and from the bts detailed picture:
we know that the inscription is:
Al mio amico Antonio dal tuo amico Leo da V. meaningTo my friend Anthony from your friend Leo da V.
So we know Crowley and Leonardo were friends :). (also there is a short deleted scene with them in some versions of the Good Omens Script Book)
Crowley’s is the apple, the forbidden fruit, his reminder of the Garden of Eden, where he tempted Eve. You can also check a long article about the symbolism of an apple here. :)
Aziraphale’s is a scroll: Symbol of life and time. Both ends rolled up indicates a life that is unfolding like a scroll of uncertain length and the past and future hidden. Often held by a hand representing life being recorded by angels. Can also suggest honour and commemoration. (x) and An emblem of wisdom and an early emblem of the Apostles.(x) I believe there is a multiple meaning, while it is an object often held by angels with meanings such an honour or wisdom, it’s also personal object for Aziraphale, of his love for knowledge and books (which are the human invention, so perhaps even the humanity itself).
Ombra e Luce:
When you put the two portraits together, you find out that they are actually one large picture!
And what is the one object that is the in both portraits, that is connecting them and that they are both touching?
It’s a book:
The book’s name is OMBRA E LUCE, italian for: SHADOW AND LIGHT. Symbols for Crowley and Aziraphale.
The background of Crowley’s potrait
The background of the demon’s potrait is the same as Mona Lisa’s!
@tsilvyreply: It might be redundant, but I’d like to point out that Leonardo da Vinci made an art of combining shadow and light, ‘ombra e luce’, in his chiaroscuro and sfumato techniques, which became a trademark of his art, as we can see in the Monna Lisa and many of his other works.
Now maybe I’m a romantic, but I love the idea that Leonardo saw how perfectly Crowley and Aziraphale, shadow and light, fit together, and got inspired by them to try that in his art as well.
@thegoodomensdumpsterreply: I love all of this, but the question I’m asking myself is: were Crowley and Aziraphale independantely in touch with Da Vinci and had their portraits done separately, and Leonardo, this old jokster, had totally connected the dots between them and joined their portraits on purpose… or did they go ask Da Vinci together for a double portrait ?
@poetic—-nonsensereply: Honestly, my headcanon for this is perhaps a little out there: just from looking at these pictures, I tend to think da Vinci never met Aziraphale, or at least hadn’t by this time.
Crowley’s portrait looks pretty much spot-on, with a look I can entirely believe he would’ve been sporting around that time. When we look close-up, the details and shadows of his face, his expression, and, yes, his eyes, are really finely detailed and accurate, in a really instantly recognizable way.
By contrast, Aziraphale’s picture (to me at least) looks really… unsettlingly off. When put up with the other one, yeah, I can see that’s Aziraphale, the hair and clothes and general demeanor are distinctive, but it’s definitely nowhere near as natural-looking as Crowley’s portrait. Look at it: the neck is too long, the face too narrow and elongated, the expression is plastic, the body proportions are off, the hairline’s in the wrong place, and the facial features (eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth) seem to float, heavily drawn and shaded, on a face otherwise devoid of detail and line and all those five zillion little creases and shapes on Michael Sheen’s face that have enraptured all of us.
(I mean, I imagine Michael’s reeeeeeeally difficult to draw properly, but this is da Vinci we’re talking about. And portraiture was kind of his thing. I imagine if he’d actually had Aziraphale in front of him, he’d have positively attacked it.)
It’s almost like da Vinci was working off a description Crowley had given him, of someone he had never seen.
Especially since loads of the people who met da Vinci mentioned that he was really good at memorizing faces – I think it was Vasari that said he used to go out and wander around the city, and then come home and sketch all the interesting-looking people he’d seen, with almost disturbing accuracy.
So, yeah, by my reckoning either Crowley commissioned a lover’s diptych to stare at longingly (and cry over), or da Vinci decided to make it as a present to Crowley, confident that he could sketch a pretty good approximation of this Aziraphale fellow after all the time his good friend Antonio had spent talking about him. And Crowley no doubt had a bit of a Moment upon reciept of it.
(There’s a really good post I saw ages ago when I was lurking about how this was a very specific style of portraiture that saw its day for a few decades as a popular way to paint lovers; I’ll see if I can find it again!)
Probably unnecessary EDIT: For reference, I submit this picture that I just pulled off a Google search, where Aziraphale’s at mostly the same angle (and also I just like his expression).
Aziraphale’s was done from imagination, after Crowley spent FIVE DAYS describing him in intense detail that NO ONE ASKED FOR.
(Or, yeah, I can actually just imagine excited Crowley telling Aziraphale he can introduce him to just the cleverest most interesting human JUST YOU WAIT ANGEL and then maybe asked Leonardo to do it from memory afterwards?)
Either way, Aziraphale has no idea this double portrait exists.
@noglingreply: Personally, my favorite part of this bit of artwork is that Leonardo’s Aziraphale looks a bit like Sir Terry, and his Crowley looks a bit like Neil Gaiman.
@marisferasiopcomment: These portraits were very popular among the wealthy I Da V’s time because one partner could have the other’s portrait in their rooms/home/etc but when they got together they could hang them side-by-side and have a full couple’s portrait already done. So either Da V did this as a little joke and gave them both to Crowley (my personal HC is that Antony was his “little devil” lover we can read about in his journals) or that they did it on purpose because it was a dad and Only Crowley knew WHY it was a fad and he desperately wanted that little bit of visible proof of their friendship/relationship which could be e easily hidden if need be
@somecleverreferencereply: I like to think it’s a double portrait and they cut it in half after the fact out of embarrassment and fear of their bosses finding out that they’d been doing portrait sittings together. They both moped about it for ages afterward.
Ok there’s tons of cute art and fic and metas our there connecting Crowley’s past as a star maker to the star he wanted to run away to and the romance of Alpha Centauri being two stars that orbit each other and it’s all really sweet, but I can’t help thinking…
Y’all know Alpha Centauri is a triple star system right?
Alpha Centauri A (Rigil Kentaurus), Alpha Centauri B (Toliman) and Alpha Centauri C (Proxima Centauri).
A and B form the super romantic pairing.
C is a red dwarf, orbits much farther out (closer to Earth), isn’t visible to the naked eye, and is the one that actually has confirmed planets in the habitable zone.
Like, I honestly don’t know what romantic thing you can do with this information but i honestly love the sort of angsty/unrequited romance feel of it which doesn’t seem like a good fit for this ship (more of an OT3 thing? Or some kind of identity thing idk?) but I’m just saying if anyone pulls it off idk tag me and I’ll name a cat after you in the future.
i looked into alpha centauri because i was interested in the potential meaning of that choice as the place he wanted to run off to, and i noticed the triple star system fact as well. to my mind the red dwarf would represent earth for them - it’s the thing that united them in the first place and that allows them to continue to be together, but it fades into the background compared to their relationship to each other. i think the fact that crowley suggests they run off together to be there reinforces that concept. even though the earth is an intrinsic part of their connection (as the dwarf is an intrinsic part of this star system), when it comes down to it, it’s so much less important to crowley than his relationship to aziraphale that he would abandon the whole planet to be with him (as the dwarf is so dim in comparison to the binary stars that it’s invisible). but visibility - i.e. crowley’s perspective - is not the only thing that matters. there’s a practical reality beneath what is clear to the viewer. if the dwarf were removed from the system, the whole thing would be unstable and it could not survive. if aziraphale and crowley did abandon the earth, their lives and relationship would fundamentally change in a similarly unsustainable way. they’d be on an empty world, forever hiding in fear, with literally nothing but each other. they’d be alive but not living. they couldn’t be happy, and ultimately they would probably be found and destroyed anyways.
the only solution is to maintain all three, and two of them can continue to feel much more important, but they do need the third to stay together. which is how things work out for him and aziraphale in the end.
i think this is probably just me stretching to make the analogy work, but it’s fun to find meaning in these little things, whether it was intentional or not.
Select additional comments:
@aethelflaedladyofmerciacomment: @mochacoffee idk sounds like a pretty solid metaphor to me we often ignore how the Earth, the city, the cultures they live in have shaped them into who they are. They are what humanity has made of them.
my cat seems unimpressed tho so I don’t think she’ll be willing to be named after you.
@ambular-dcomment: Hm. I think the third one would be God. Out of sight, keeping an eye on them, exerting an influence, but basically staying out of their way.
@rudyrose365reply: Wait. There’s an invisible third force orbiting around our romantic pairing, gravitationally acting them, and maybe creating life?
@tickety-boo-afreply: On a less metaphorical level, the fact that there are potentially habitable planets in that system makes it seem like less of a dumb choice to run off to. Sure, it’s abandoning earth’s humanity for the sake of each other, but maybe there are other life forms they can coexist with? And their corporations might not be useless there?
@chonaku-things comment: for me, it is earth, because it is the second love of crowley and aziraphale
@alviepines comment: Third star is their new adopted son, Adam. And/or their other son, Warlock.
okay but contrast episode 1 where Aziraphale instinctively looks to his left in the sushi shop (because Crowley is always on the left when he isn’t orbiting or driving) and is surprised to find Gabriel on his right
Compare to Episode 3 in Mesopotamia thousands of years earlier
Aziraphale looks to his right because he’s expecting someone from Heaven. Perhaps as support, perhaps for the reprimands they love to give, but it’s Crowley who’s decided to show up. Look at his hands. He’s so nervous! Maybe he’d hoped someone was going to come tell him it was all called off? (Was he praying? It’s almost that shape)
After this scene, in Golgatha, Aziraphale is a little surprised to see Crowley, but not to the degree that he was in Mesopotamia. Just the general surprise of seeing a casual acquaintance. He looks forward, unable to look away from the execution. He doesn’t even think of looking to the right. He barely glances in Crowley’s direction either, but it seems like between the flood and Golgatha Aziraphale has given up on expecting any sort of Heavenly support or backup. He’s alone on Earth.
Except along the way he becomes reliant on Crowley. The Arrangement. He can always count on Crowley to be at his side. His left hand man-shaped being. He was neglected and left alone so long he forgot there was even the possibility Heaven might pop in for a surprise visit.
I was thinking about the Mesopotamia scene, in particular when one of the Unicorns decides to leg it;
Nope, this isn’t about how no one listens to Crowley, or how (adorably) Crowley hasn’t the foggiest about mammalian reproduction (and, I mean, I know I said ‘meta’ but I’m not sure this post even qualifies as a meta tbh).
Everyone and their Granny knows David Tennant is Scottish.
Something that everyone and their Granny might not know is that the national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn.
Good Omens TV + (as I like to call them:) “Good Moments”
Listen, I love to hate on Aziraphale’s boss just as much as the next person, but the more that enjoyable antagonism kept returning him into my thoughts, the more I picked up that things are never just black and white in this story… so here it is, a compilation of GO-TV Gabriel’s (relatively) good moments that nobody ever asked for.
Yes, he’s a horrible boss and annoying and full of himself and wants the world to end… but. Most of what he does probably doesn’t come from a place of malice? (I know, I know, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions [and door-to-door salesmen]…) He’s juts as fallible as most of the characters, it just shows differently. But then he also has to have his good side, and moments when that can shine through. And he does:
A) He’s very generous in giving out praise? (See GIFs 1-3.) I wish most authority figures I’ve encountered would be handing out validation that generously. Anyway, a breakdown: 1. Yes, it comes off as being gullible or not paying enough attention to his field agent(s), but he does believe Aziraphale when he says he’s been doing his job without Crowley noticing him. And Gabriel looks genuinely impressed with that. He doesn’t give explicit praise here, but he does call this achievement a “miracle”, which, among angels, should count for something. 2. Come on, he actually claps when Aziraphale gives his report (about influencing the Antichrist)? And I’m pretty sure he knew the other angels would follow sort. He applauds and compliments, even though he firmly believes what Aziraphale is trying to do will eventually prove to be pointless. Not a sentence I thought I’d write, but he does seem to appreciate doing Good just for the sake of doing Good. 3. Again, with the “excellent job”s. That’s all. (Also, in the full scene, he keeps going on about the little joke that Sandalphon made, which is… kind of sweet, I guess.)
B) In the 4th GIF: yes, I know, we don’t like the full scene and Gabriel says mean things, etc. But there is one tiny moment I needed some time to appreciate… The Great War is pretty much imminent at this point. Within a day, everything on Earth will be destroyed, so whatever Aziraphale does that day (other than going to war) would be pretty much inconsequential. They’ve already met here, Azi’s reported all that he knows, so, really, there is no particular reason to keep him on Earth anymore? No reason why Gabriel couldn’t make him go back to Heaven right then, with him? He’s never seemed like he appreciates any aspect of Aziraphale’s earthly disguise beyond the strict necessities. But now that whole disguise is pointless… but still, however little they generally understand each other with this estranged underling, Gabriel seems to understand that all the inconsequential earthly things are still important to Aziraphale, and gives him time (as much as he can) to “wrap things up”. Yes, this seems like the bare minimum of humanity, but (a) they’re not human and (b) if Gabriel was nothing but the epitome of horrible bosses, he wouldn’t show even this small purposeless kindness.
C) In GIFs 5-6: after I first watched that episode, I used to privately call this “the only redeeming character moment”. Faced with incriminating evidence against Aziraphale, Gabriel says there must be an “innocent explanation”. Now, I might be the gullible one here, but it seems genuine to me. Also, we seem to love imagining Gabriel as this nigh-all-knowing, all-controlling ultimate boss, but… pardon the expression, he’s only “human”. (Not technically, but you know what I mean.) The way he replies, his expressions and his pondering really sold me on the fact that he has no idea about the existence of “back channels”. Apparently, he doesn’t know nearly as much about his co-workers as he thinks he does - which, I almost feel sorry for him, having to run Heaven that way. Expectations and negative qualities aside, he’s doing the best he can.
D) I’ll keep this as non-spoilery as I can (thank you English language for the passive voice): when the angels are getting fire-breathed at (ugh, I take it back, screw the passive voice), all of them back away in shock and horror, but… Notice what their hands/arms are doing? It’s a split-second reaction, so there isn’t really time for being calculated or pretentious. They, in some way, all reach for each other. It can be seen both as a terrified gesture of seeking comfort in their connection, and as an instinctive gesture of protection - with Sandalphon and Uriel wanting to drag Gabriel back out from the line of fire, and, in turn, Gabriel wanting to push them back into safety (while he’s possibly still a bit more in harm’s way). Whichever one it is, it doesn’t look like the act of a horrible person to me.
To conclude. This collection of course doesn’t balance out his world-ending and simply mean personality traits and actions, but I haven’t seen a compilation of “bloody Gabriel’s” non-horrible moments. And my brain couldn’t stand to leave something GO-related without adding some shades of grey. He might mostly be doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons, or, at least, nearly never the right things for the right reasons. But. You know, my history teacher used to say, there are two types of generals: the one that says “Advance!” and the one that says “Follow me!”, and it says a lot about the generals themselves which ones they are. Gabriel would definitely shout “Follow me!”, and that’s enough of a testament of a certain amount of goodness for me.
Select additional comments:
@forineffablereasonsreply: #given that i think a big part of the Point to good omens is that there’s good and bad in everyone #and it’s the bit you choose to act on that matters most #it comes as no surprise that there’s good and bad even in these ancillary characters #it makes the story super layered and nuanced which i love
@hedonistbyheartreply: #I think there is value in seeing the good parts too yeah #and Gabriel is only as ruthlss as God herself in the end #even if i absolutely do not appreciate the fatshaming or the ‘die already’
@dukev027 reply: I think it’s important to add that some of Gabriel’s motivations and reactions comes from the fact that he firmly believes all the angels are acting exactly as angels should. He’s impressed with Aziraphale evading Crowley, because the idea of them working today doesn’t ever cross his mind. This scenario doesn’t exist for him. When Michael confronts him with the photos, Gabriel defends Aziraphale, because he can’t imagine the angel lying to him. And when Michael asks to use the back channels, Gabriel states there are no back channels, because for a proper angel there aren’t any.
Call it negligent or whatever (I wouldn’t personally), but Gabriel doesn’t comprehend that an angel would go against their nature. This is why when he finally realizes Aziraphale “betrayed” them, he gets harsher than usual, maybe even jaded, verbally lashing out at Aziraphale. The betrayal is what drives him to make an example out of Aziraphale and to connect with rather unpredicted allies (though, I would wager this is a temporary alignment). If these other angels are going to be improper, why shouldn’t he?
@rainydaydecafreply: Yes, to all of this. It did strike me, going back to rewatch Good Omens, that for all of Gabriel’s faults, he’s not purposely trying to be a jerk. He’s actually very genuine in everything he says and does. He believes in the good he’s doing, he’s very upbeat and an overall positive influence on the angels around him, and he strives to lead through enthusiastic example. He’s excited at the prospect of Armageddon, and not in a bloodthirsty way… he just doesn’t understand what could possibly be bad about billions of humans getting slaughtered. They’re just humans, after all, and humans die, it’s what they do. He’s content to follow orders, just like most of the angels. If it’s part of the Divine Plan, then it can’t possibly be wrong.
Gabriel only really shows his jerk side when the Divine Plan goes sideways and Aziraphale steps forward and makes him question what he’s doing. Makes him doubt, makes him look back and realize that he might be wrong. And that’s a very uncomfortable feeling for someone who has spent thousand of years basking in the absolute faith that he is Right In All Things. Gabriel doesn’t want to shift his world-view or open himself to the possibility that he misinterpreted God’s word. He just doesn’t. He shuts his eyes to it, he snaps at Adam and calls him a disobedient brat. His priorities and moral compass are so skewed that he goes on to become a villain, though of course he never once sees himself as a villain. There’s not a shred of hesitation when he condemns Aziraphale to death by hellfire. He literally can’t comprehend the concept of “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” He’s the Archangel Fucking Gabriel, don’t talk to him about the greater good, he is the Greatest Good this universe is ever gonna get.
Anyway, to wrap this up, I agree wholeheartedly. Gabriel’s a fantastic character with a lot of good qualities and a lot of flaws. He’s that one boss we all know who piles you with unreasonable deadlines and makes you work through the weekend, but also makes an effort to remember your kids’ names and brings donuts to the budget meeting every Wednesday. We love him and we hate him in equal measure, and that’s what makes him so interesting.
(Also, can we all agree that Jon Hamm was perfect for this role? I was in stitches at the “THANK YOU FOR MY PORNOGRAPHY!” line XD)
@cheeseanonioncrispsreply: The problem is that Gabriel has a very black and white view of morality, which… isn’t actually that surprising, considering the universe he lives in, but it’s his main character flaw.
Anything that is part of the Divine Plan or involved with Heaven is Good, anything that isn’t is Bad.
He’s trying to be a good boss. He’s clearly trying to create a friendly work environment and have good relationships with his employees. He doesn’t understand Aziraphale’s liking for Earthly pleasures, but Aziraphale is still an angel, even if he is a bit weird, and so he is still Good and Gabriel is going to try and make him happy— and he assumes that the destruction of Earth will do that, because it is part of the Divine Plan and therefore Good. Aziraphale has to like it.
But when Aziraphale actively fights against the Divine Plan, and stands hand in hand with a demon and the AntiChrist, and places himself unequivocally (in Gabriel’s mind) on the side of Bad?
Well that’s it. I mean, he must have known Aziraphale for millenia— quite possibly longer than Crowley— and up to now he’s been trying to have a friendly relationship with him. But now he’s Bad, suddenly Gabriel is pissed that he won’t die fast enough.
Gabriel would absolutely die for any of his angels, but he’d also easily kill them if he thought they were no longer on the side of Heaven and the Divine Plan, and you can see both sides of him in the execution scene.
@keelan-666reply: #i think he wasnt exactly happy to do it either tho #i mean he says just shut up and die already with that grin #but his face afterwards is very different #and i think part of how rushed his execution of aziraphale was was bc he just wanted to get it over with #he doesnt think aziraphale doesnt deserve it and he doesnt think hes wrong for doing it #but its still an unpleasant act even if he wants aziraphale dead
@janeymac-iereply: That’s interesting, because I always took the praise, the “excellent job!” stuff not as insincere per se, but as a perfect example of Corporate Positivity.
Ever work for a big company? Like, a US based multinational company? They’re big into Employee Morale and We’re All One Team and This Company Loves You Too, and many of the managers actually buy it. But it’s a corporation, it doesn’t care about any of that. Morale should be high but we won’t hire more people for rush period, we’ll be very insistent about overtime instead (but stop just short of telling you you have to because that’s illegal here.) We’re all one team but actually you’re one of a hundred people who can do your job and we can fire you if we notice a fuck up, and upper management have never heard of you and would be annoyed if you emailed them. This company loves nothing except your productivity even if it treats you well and you will be dropped like a hot potato if needs be.
The managers who buy it, the problem is… they love the company back. And they buy the company line when it’s “we’re all one happy family” and they buy it when it’s “we have to change to lower-quality health insurance for everyone” or “reduced break time this week, too busy” or “Mary Smith has to go”.
Gabriel didn’t care enough to notice that Asiraphale was obviously lying, that his reports had been false for centuries, that he was not, in fact, doing a good job. Gabriel doesn’t care about anything except Heaven. He’s come down from On High to give a cheerful and encouraging pep talk to an underling and he is going to do that just as well as he can, because Morale Is Important and Our Staff Are Valued, and he believes those things but because they’re inherently false, his own sincerity doesn’t matter. God doesn’t answer an angel’s prayers and the CEO doesn’t know your name and never wants to.
The reason it comes across as insincere to most people is the fact that it’s so obviously reflecting that kind of real life interaction. Heaven is a big clean corporation which carefully hides its dirty hands— “we don’t have back channels”— and Gabriel believes the corporate bullshit and ignores the evidence to the contrary, because you can’t go having *doubts* in Heaven.
@feelingbadforcrowleysplantsreply: to me Gabriel doesn’t seem mean or a truly horrible person, he is just so far removed from what az’s world (figuratively and literally) so he is oblivious to az’s feelings. And he just happens to be on an opposing side. He truly believes that Armageddon is the right thing (because why not? He doesn’t care for earth and it seems obvious to him that heaven winning would only be good). And the “die already” is totally understandable (although it still makes me hate him) because he discovered az was a traitor all along and he was betrayed and put in a terrible situation.
Gabriel isn’t a horrible character, he just happens to be on the opposing team
@ilsa-fireswanreply: We coo over “you’re an angel, I don’t think you can do the wrong thing” but honestly the whole show is Aziraphale trying to maintain faith that Heaven must be Right And Good while seeing it all from humanity’s perspective. Gabriel doesn’t have that. He spent those 6000 years in Head Office - the place where they issue you a flaming sword to lend support to your moral argument. The place you can Fall from for asking too many questions. He doesn’t understand human desires or human responses or human interactions but he’s doing his best to advance the Great Plan - the Greatest Good he knows - and has been since the start of everything. He is (brutally) honest and (aggressively) pushes perfection (or his view of it) for everyone under his direction, but I don’t think he’s maliciously mean. Also, I think his “I like the clothes” moment is an attempt to relate to Aziraphale and his odd little hobby/obsession with humanity.
@mybestfriendsarefictional reply: #yesss #gabriel is definitely a complex character #which is great! #tho i disagree #he isn’t doing “the wrong thing for the wrong reasons’' #i’d argue he’s doing the wrong thing for (what HE genuinely believes are) the right reasons #that’s kind of the point #the angels wholeheartedly believe their side is righteous and good so they can’t POSSIBLY do the wrong thing #aziraphale! is! the! only! one! who! doubts! that! #i dont think gabriel is intentionally malicious either #he just on a fundamental level cannot understand aziraphale #i dont think the other angels are bad necessarily #just very stuck in their ways
In addition, Sandalphon is blocking the exit. And he and Gabriel are standing at complete 180 degree points with Aziraphale in the centre. This is a thing I have known sadistic interviewers to do: to deliberately sit (or stand) at such angles to the victim/interviewee that they can never have both interviewers in their eyeline at the same time. To make eye contact with one, you have to lose sight of the other. Normally I’ve seen it done with the two interviewers at 90 degrees, so the interviewee has to keep turning their head. This is even more cruel: Aziraphale has to turn his back on whomever is not speaking. It’s a deliberate tactic to make a victim more awkward and wrong-footed, and in this case, even physically vulnerable.
Yep. You’ve articulated what I was trying to get at with ‘’trap’’. You don’t block off the exits like that to have a polite conversation. You do it to threatensomebody.
It’s like they took the mob intimidation bit from the original book and turned it into something far more horrifying and with more weight for his character arc, because this is what gangsters do to scare people. imo Gabriel is fairly well aware of whats going on long before the surveillance photos come into it and he just likes watching Aziraphale squirm with anxiety over how much he knows, because he’s not stupid, he’s a sadistic bully.
And Aziraphale is playing the game so well. He tells himself he trusts them but he absolutely doesn’t. He smiles, he nods, he tells them nothing. He has a quick answer for the jibe about the evil smell. He shows zero reaction to their loud comments about pornography (react, and prove you’re more used to humans than to angels? That you find angels embarrassing now? That you know more about earth than the guy who stationed you there?). He’s covering his ass expertly—he knows how to defend himself. He’s watched angels fall.
Like don’t get me wrong, I like a good clueless boss as much as the next person. But that’s not Gabriel. Michael asks if Gabriel minds Michael following up through back channels and Gabriel plainly says “there are no back channels, Michael” and it’s not because Gabriel thinks there are no back channels, of course there fucking are, he’s been using them too. But how dare Michael bring them up so baldly. How dare Michael betray the ruse, and to his face like that. They’re the good guys, you know.
Select (many) additional comments:
@jacquez45 reply: this is one bit where I wish they’d left in something: in this scene, Crowley has literally snuck out when Gabriel & Sandalphon enter the shop. (In the script book, Aziraphale basically keeps them out of the back room until he sees that Crowley has gotten out, then invites them back.)
the reason I wish they’d left this in is that yes, Aziraphale clearly feels the threat in this scene, but he fucking brazens it out anyway, straight-up lying about the Jeffrey Archer books when he knows full well what Sandalphon is actually smelling — the aired scene implies that it might be Crowley, but the scripted one it’s much clearer, and I like the extra layer of courage that the clarity gives Aziraphale.
@forineffablereasonsreply: #NOT TO MENTION THE VERY THINLY VEILED HOMOPHOBIC THREAT #OF SANDALPHON BEING ASSOCIATED WITH SMITING PEOPLE IN SODOM AND GOMORRAH #SURE WE CAN CHAT BIBLICAL ACCURACY BUT THE CULTURAL MINDSET IS MEANT TO INFORM HERE #IN THE CONTEXT OF AZIRAPHALE’S QUEER NARRATIVE? 100% A HOMOPHOBIC THREAT
@gomensgayreply: and saying “you remember sandalphon?” like sandalphon isn’t one of the four bastards aziraphale has been reporting to regularly for eleven years At Least????
That wasn’t “hey, you remember who this random guy is, right?”
That was “hey, remember what we can do to you if you step out of line.”
Scary shit.
@violetfaustreply: I’ve been convinced that Gabriel is smarter and even more malicious than he pretends since the watch-through when I realized Gabriel knows Adam is the Antichrist BEFORE he gets to the airfield. Even Crowley doesn’t know Adam’s name (”You, boy, Antichrist–what’s your name?”) and Beelz has no idea which of the kids he is until Crowley wordlessly points him out. But Gabe says, “That one. Adam Young.” The only way he can know is if he’s somehow keeping extremely close watch on Az.
Gabriel’s bland “I’m sure there must be some explanation” to those pics of Az and Crowley is not the shock of a being who finds out he’s been betrayed by a trusted employee for at least 400 years. It’s not even the vindication of finding out that an UNtrustworthy employee has in fact been guilty for 400 years. He’s entirely unsurprised and his denial that back channels exist is a tacit approval for Michael to finally bring this out in the open. “Go ahead and do what you want but I didn’t tell you to because I’m the good guy.”
Yeah, Gabriel has been waiting for Az to slip up for six thousand years. So why doesn’t he just use his knowledge of the Arrangement against him? Because LOTS of angels and demons have arrangements. Michael has Ligur; Gabe himself has some unnamed downstairs source. If Gabriel punishes Az and/or Crowley and one of them knows about this, the whole system could come crumbling down. (It’s fine to be a hypocrite as long as nobody knows about it.)
So he’ll just wait for Az to take that one step too far and to Fall, get chucked out of heaven. But that never happens. And it pisses Gabriel off.
Gabriel saying to Aziraphale in the sushi restaurant, “it’s a miracle he hasn’t spotted you yet” about Crowley, when 218 years ago in 1800, Gabriel spied on Crowley and heard him talking very specifically about Aziraphale and his ability to thwart, which I think counts very much as having “spotted” Aziraphale. It’s a deleted scene, but it definitely got far enough to be worth considering.
In that same 1800 scene, when Gabriel and Sandalphon show up at the shop, Aziraphale argues that he needs to stay on Earth because Crowley has “been here as long as I have.” Later, when Gabriel comes to tell Aziraphale that Armageddon is starting, Aziraphale reminds him how long he’s been here, and Gabriel responds, “so has Crowley.” These lines - the whole incidents - seem referential to each other.
Finally, Gabriel asks Aziraphale, “how was the hellhound?” after Warlock’s birthday party. Theoretically, of course, Aziraphale could have informed the angels that he was planning to attend the party…but we don’t see him or hear any reference to him doing it, and in fact Aziraphale didn’t know himself that there was supposed to be a hellhound until the 11th hour. This looks to me like Gabriel knowing more than he lets on (except in strategic moments like this).
All this leads me to believe Heaven knows WAY more than it lets on. I also kind of wonder - if Hell has the same level of knowledge as Heaven, was Crowley chosen as the Antichrist’s deliverer as a punishment, some kind of bizarre torture meant to “test” his “loyalty”? Was Aziraphale’s station on Earth meant to be a punishment that the angels are now unhappy about because he enjoys it?
@whispsofwindreply: I don’t remember where I read it, but I really liked the theory that being on Earth is a punishment for Aziraphale, but a reward for Crowley.
Aziraphale failed in Eden, so being on Earth, basically cut off from most of Heaven, would be a punishment (except he actually loves it, which must frustrate Gabriel to no end).
On the other hand Crowley’s stunt in Eden was a major success, and it would make sense that staying on Earth would be a reward. Hell is clearly miserable. Threatening to take that reward away would give Hell yet another tool to blackmail and control Crowley. I don’t think they would have given him the Antichrist if they didn’t trust his abilities, it was too important of a job to use it as a test or a punishment, anyway.
Also, from what we saw in the show, I wouldn’t be surprised if Heaven knew a lot more than Hell does. Unlike the book, Heaven is very present, and organized in a cult-like manner. Gabriel really reminds me of a cult-leader, friendly and apparently innocuous on the outside while being actually ruthless. Such a group would have the means and the motive to create a very efficient surveillance system, under the guise to protect the sanctity of Heaven.
On the other side, Hell is much more chaotic, ruled through threats and violence. Collaboration is actively discouraged. Fear is encouraged, and I got the impression that powerful demons prefer to terrorize minor demons into obeying instead of actually checking if orders are being carried out (“Do this or I’ll skin you alive” instead of “Do this and I’ll come down later to check you actually did it”). Such an environment isn’t optimal for a good surveillance system, because information will be lost in the chaos, or hidden in fear.
You can also see this difference in the way Heaven and Hell contact Aziraphale and Crowley. Hell constantly talks to Crowley through the radio or the telly, basically a constant reminder of “you are never safe, we are always watching and we will hurt you if you make a mistake”. Except that’s really inefficient, and it allows Crowley to hid things under their nose despite being very scared of his superiors. Correct me if I am wrong, but Hell representatives only interact with Crowley in the flesh when he is called to pick Adam up, and when Hastur and Ligur go to murder him. The demons usually keep their distance, which means the information they get may be distorted.
Heaven on the other hand? The Archangel Fucking Gabriel goes personally, multiple times, to talk with Aziraphale. In the sushi restaurant, at the park, in the bookshop. He gets into Aziraphale’s personal space all the time, and he usually plays it as friendly interactions. In a lot of instances, he isn’t even trying to scare Aziraphale into compliance, he is emotionally abusing him. It’s not “we are always watching so you should be terrified”, it’s more of a “hey buddy, you see how I really care? I am here and you are really disappointing me, why can’t you do this one thing right?”.
Only when he brings Sandalphon the emotional abuse takes a step further into a more threatening territory. Gabriel has a more hands-on approach than his counterpart, and if he asks the same of his underlings he probably gets very precise information.
In short, I think Gabriel knows a lot more than Hell on what Crowley and Aziraphale are up to, and would absolutely love to punish Aziraphale, except he can’t because then he would put his own back-channels into jeopardy. So he turns to petty bullying and cruelty under the facade of the Friendly Boss/Family Member.
@krakensdottirreply: The contrast is fascinating, honestly. “I was reprimanded for performing too many frivolous miracles, got a strongly worded letter from Gabriel” vs. “My lot do not send rude notes” / “Is it my fault they never check up?”
Hell is inefficient. That’s clear from their offices, it’s one of the major traits separating Heaven and Hell. So they might not check up on you often, beyond lazily sending reminders over electronic media. If you are caught not doing your job, the consequences are dreadful - ‘reprimand’ is a mild word for it - but it doesn’t happen often. Your odds of getting busted for any one thing are very low, so if you’re a renegade demon, you might as well live on the edge and take that chance.
Heaven is exactly the opposite. They’re ruthlessly efficient and organized, and you bet they monitor miracles. Aziraphale can’t so much as miracle up a handkerchief to sneeze in without them getting on him about it. That’s why he’s so much more cautious, so hesitant, always so wary of pushing boundaries. His consequences may be, at least on the surface, milder, but he is MUCH more likely to have to face them. And they add up. Beyond the notes, there are warnings, and beyond the warnings there are threats, and beyond the threats… well, Hell got their ideas from somewhere, didn’t they?
@mage-catreply: In short, in Good Omens the conflict between Heaven and Hell is not Good versus Evil, but rather Order verses Chaos, and the work makes a brilliant case about why you don’t want to be at either end of the spectrum.
@whetstonefiresreply: Heaven was deliberately kept absent in the book, when the whole thing was a Cold War analogy where they were Britain-NATO and Hell was the Soviet Union–two organizations that were not really particularly different at a deep level, i.e. you needed real expertise to tell their armies apart, and which tended not to really care about the things that are important to people, and which were quite likely to wind up obliterating life on Earth in a stupid shoving competition.
Hell was semi-present and explicitly awful; Heaven didn’t care about the right things but they cared about doing things the right way, and weren’t deliberately cruel. Just unfeeling. The narrative shared Aziraphale’s disinclination to be really critical.
Heaven is the thing that therefore got the most new building-up and updating to the current political climate, in the miniseries, as it became a central player. Its identity didn’t necessarily change, but what Gaiman was trying to say about it sure did.
Visually, they went with the effect of Heaven as the upper reaches of a skyscraper and Hell as its mouldering horrible basement, but the structural impression is of Heaven as the government and Hell as organized crime.
While the latter is a lot more likely to just come around and fuck you up, and to make sure their employees are scared of their capacity violence on an immediate level, the former is much, much more powerful, their reach is longer and they and know a lot more. Their scary goes a lot further. Good Omens the book had one foot in the nuclear age and one foot in the information age, but it’s been 30 years.
@winterbirbreply: Everyone in the notes is using this as n example of Gabriel and using an intimidation technique, which makes sense from a Watsonian perspective (even though I don’t subscribe to it), but I’d like to bring up an important Doylist (aka writer/producer decision) point:
This actually separates Gabriel from some of the biblical atrocities assigned to him, especially Sodom and Gomorrah, which in biblical mythology had Gabriel do the smiting et cetera.
So from a production standpoint, having Sandalphon in this scene isn’t (Doylistically) to intimidate Aziraphale with Gabriel as the aggressor, but instead to reinforce the image of Gabriel as the “company man” while Sandalphon is the one who actually enjoys being cruel.
I’d like to reference the 2006 US paperback edition, where after Crowley describes most demons akin to tax inspectors, he goes on to say
“…If it came to that, most angels weren’t paragons of virtue; Crowley had met one or two who, when it came to righteously smiting the ungodly, smote a good deal harder than strictly necessary. On the whole, everyone had a job to do, and just did it.
“And on the other hand, you got people like Ligur and Hastur, who took such a dark delight in unpleasantness you might have even mistaken them for human.” (p. 253 para. 1-2)
Gabriel and Sandalphon pretty neatly exemplify the difference between these two attitudes. Especially when you consider that the producers did not have to change who smote Sodom and Gomorrah, Sandalphon’s purpose is to be that unnamed angel that takes way too much joy in smiting (see his face in the 2nd and 4th panels), which serves as a foil for Gabriel who represents the prevailing attitude of “just has a job to do,” like the tax inspector.
Tl;dr: This wasn’t done to make Gabriel maliciously evil, it was a production choice where they included both Gabriel and Sandalphon in the same scene so that the audience would a. See an angel described in the book as “[smiting] a good deal harder than strictly necessary” and b. Have it be made clear that contrary to what biblical mythology might suggest, this angel is not Gabriel.
@morelifeangelreply: I think it goes even beyond that. I think Gabriel certainly had a sense that Aziraphale had gotten (from his point of view) too comfortable with the humans, but beyond that, I get the impression that he likes intimidating Aziraphale simply for the fun of it. While Sandalphon seems like a petty thug, he’s at least obvious in what he is.
Gabriel is more like the sort of person who can do horrible things at his job and actively enjoy it, and then go around to enjoy a nice meal with his wife and children. The sort people say, “He could never do something like that, he’s such a good guy!”
After all, he’s on God’s side, so anything he does is clearly right, isn’t it?
@fuckyeahisawthatreply: There’s a lot of great takes on this scene in the reblogs already, but yeah… Gabriel may be oblivious about many human things (not because he’s dumb but because he just doesn’t care) but he’s not stupid.
As for whether he has any idea what’s going on between Aziraphale and Crowley…personally, I don’t think he has the imagination for that. But he’s a bully, so making people uncomfortable is fun, and Aziraphale’s a soft target cause clearly he’s seen as The Weird One among angels.
Right after this scene, there’s a parallel scene with Crowley, where Hastur and Ligur talk to him through the TV. The thing about both these scenes is that Aziraphale and Crowley’s respective higher-ups and lower-downs don’t really deliver any new information to them. In both cases, the sole purpose of these “HEY just checking in!!” visits is intimidation. It’s to remind them, Shit’s about to get real on Earth and we’re watching you. Don’t fuck this up.
Of course, we the audience know that they have already, most definitely, fucked this up. And the characters, in the scenes immediately preceding this at the end of episode 1, have just confirmed for themselves that yes, they have indeed fucked this up. And here come their bosses to make sure they haven’t forgotten exactly what the stakes are. As usual, Heaven and Hell are doing the exact same thing; Heaven’s just doing it with a smile on their faces.
@not-a-fucking-pogo-stickreply: Also with the turning people into salt bit. It’s both the more clear homophobic threat and a reference to the death of the only person who looked back towards those condemned, Lot’s wife, who was turned into a pillar of salt. Definitely calls to mind the close association of Aziraphale to one of the damned ie Crowley, who he could be considered to have looked back towards after the fall by not dismissing him as the other angels seem to have done the other demons.
@rocket-poolreply: Yes to all this, except maybe Gabriel knowing what was up before Michael pulls out the intelligence network. He makes a point of calling him Azira-FAIL (whereas Crowley calls him Azira-FELL, something Gaiman has confirmed was done purposefully). I think he’s just a bully, going straight back to Aziraphale “failing” to prevent the temptation of Eve.
Of course, if Michael suspected - and they are very obviously the intelligence officer, with the backchannels - they could have been stoking Gabriel’s dislike. That would lead to this more… Careful treatment. Especially if you hold to Crowley only just leaving, Michael might have been trying to catch Aziraphale in the act…
@loptsvinr reply: Pretty sure dealing with angels is why Aziraphale is so good at lying. The angels are a very organised/lawful gang, whereas the demons are more of a chaotic evil mess. The demons couldn’t even make sure the Baby Switch Plan would be executed perfectly, whereas if the angels were given that task they would constantly be watching over everything.
@livebloggingmydescentintomadness reply: i feel like it also really deserves pointing out that Gabriel very specifically brought the angel who carried out the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to intimidate Aziraphale, The Queer Angel.
now, in actuality, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was not about homosexuality (Ezekiel 16:49–50: “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.“) but it’s pretty damn ingrained in the public consciousness that it was “a gay thing” to the point where anal sex is called sodomy.
it’s too deliberately mentioned to be an accident. Gabriel brought the angel who (we all have been led to believe) slaughtered queers to intimidate Aziraphale. that’s why Aziraphale looks so uncomfortable.
@ineffabilumreply: Ugh, this makes my heart hurt. How awful to be threatened by the good guys, to be trapped in a room and think, well, it’s a good thing I didn’t Fall. It’s no wonder Aziraphale is always telling Crowley, “Yes, but you’re a demon.” If this is what Heaven’s like, what kindness could he possibly expect from Hell?
#of course he does trust crowley #but every once in a while that defense mechanism kicks back in: #don’t laugh until they laugh don’t let your guard down don’t show your hand first #locate the exits be polite feign ignorance smile but not like that not too wide #it’s hard to let someone in when you’re waiting for the other shoe to fall
@thesourthernpansyreply: And to go on from that point, it so very clear that Aziraphale doesn’t agree with Sandalphon’s methods, remembering him and slightly changing key in his voice to ‘I dont like what you do, but technically we’re all doing it for the same thing, so I’ll put up with you cos my boss is right there’. And that’s it!
@falloutboyrocksmysocksreply: Oh I like this! And I’m loving the fact that there is still so much of this show left to talk about like this and analyse!
For me the way that Sandalphon was positioned at Aziraphale’s back, while Gabriel positioned himself in front of Aziraphale, made me think. In the Bible during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot, who the 2 angels that were sent as emissaries to visit, and lodged and ate with, and Lot’s wife, were told to flee the city after God commanded it to be destroyed due to the sins committed there.
The 2 angels told Lot, Lot’s wife and a few others to leave and commanded them “look not behind thee”, to not look back at the destruction, but Lot’s wife did and she was turned to a pillar of salt.
Remembering that, I couldn’t help thinking of why Gabriel brought Sandalphon, but when he mentioned Sodom and Gomorrah, and that Sandalphon was partly responsible, it made me think even more about how he was positioned in regards to Aziraphale, and the decision made to position them that way.
It made Aziraphale have to look back at Sandalphon to talk to him.
Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but seeing as this is a show that always has a reason for literally everything that happens in it, I thought it was very interesting.
@katy-133reply: Can we talk about how in the book, Crowley went to Gomorrah?
I’m just picturing Crowley and Aziraphale separately visiting the place at some point, quite enjoying the food, not knowing the other was there. And then both of them leaving just before Sandalphon arrived, saw what was happening, and decided that it had to go.
@aura218fandomnetreply: it’s a threat to crowley too. we know what you’ve been up to, we know with whom, we know you know we know, and if you play along, we don’t have to mention this. as long as you behave, we can keep up this shared fake ignorance of your greatest sin and everything is the status quo for a little bit longer. but WE are in control of how long that status quo lasts and we can take that feeling of safety away from you and from your lover.
@220-221b-whateverittakesreply: Can we also talk about the choice of Sandalphon as the heavy in particular? We know Az is super gay coded, and his narrative is a pretty blatant coming out story. But Sandalphon, of all the other angels, shares that coding. And how does Az know him? Sodom and Freaking Gomorrah. The biblical story most often used to persecute the Gays ever since King James decided to put his spin on the Vulgate. To me it reads as a threat like, “We know what you are, and either you turn against it like Sandalphon, or Sandalphon turns your gay ass into salt.” Sandalphon strikes me as the perfect archetype of the ex-gay/closeted-gay that works out their shit by persecuting their own. If you told me he was in charge of Heaven’s version of Exodus International for naughty angels needing reeducation to avoid Falling, it would completely track.
@ffxplayerreply: In the interview for the TV Companion(which is amazing, you should read it if you love Good Omens, I borrowed my copy from library)the actor who plays Gabriel(someone help me out here I’m too lazy to google right now)said he was going for American CEO, same kind of power play. And it definitely comes through in this scene. Intimidation through mind games is totally Gabriel’s scene. Like I don’t for a second think he’s stupid. I wouldn’t love to loathe him if he was stupid. He’s very very clever at what he does, and has zero fucks to give about whether this might make him evil. His sense of right and wrong is his own belief in what HE thinks is right. Scary concept.
@eretriaelessedilsreply: It seems others have beaten me to making this point but I saw this on ig first and wanted to contribute- the traditional interpretation for the reason the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed was widespread homosexual activities of the inhabitants, and if Sandalphon was the one who killed nearly all the inhabitants of two whole cities for being gay it seems like a very deliberate choice for Gabriel to bring him. Especially alongside other angels seeming to threaten aziraphale in terms of homosexuality with Uriel goading Aziraphale with “your boyfriend with the dark glasses”, and Uriel being the angel of chasity could indicate another threat had the relationship she implied between Crowley and Aziraphale been sexual- and then Uriel being the one to most strongly threaten him physically (at least before he was sentenced to death) in pushing him against the wall does seem imply further violence. Overall I cant help but think there was somewhat of an implication that Heaven thought the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley did verge into romantic and were prepared to threaten and punish Aziraphale for it if he stepped out of line.
“It’s a miracle he’s never noticed you.” Gabriel’s not an idiot, he knows there’s no way Crowley doesn’t know about Aziraphale. Aziraphale is hiding something from him, but there’s no proof.
The pause there, examining Aziraphales reaction.
“But that’s what we do.” A reminder, you’re an angel, one of mine, don’t forget what team you belong to.
A threat, all of it.
@grrlcookeryreply: The demons in GO? They’re evil, but they do damage like a snake or a cat would. Theyre following their nature with no shame or apology. The angels? They’re terrifying. They’re pretending to hold the moral high ground. They’re behaving as though they have a right to choose their actions, whereas the demons simply act. I’d rather meet a GO demon than an angel, any day.
Can we talk about Aziraphale’s rebellion? I want to talk about Aziraphale’s rebellion.
Like, obviously Aziraphale rebelling against Heaven started with giving away the sword. We all know this. He took his stand six thousand years ago and has, in his own quiet way, been defending his choice ever since. In the miniseries, we don’t see as much of how Aziraphale actually conducts his work on Earth as we do of Crowley’s half-hearted attempts at Being Bad, aside from that one line during the drunken bookshop scene about how he tries to influence humans to do the actual thwarting, but I think a lot about the line from the script book that was cut for time, about how he was hoping to influence Nero by getting him interested in music. Which… hoooooo boy is thata lot to unpack, but I digress.
Crowley gave humanity the opportunity to choose, and has continued to do so, allowing mankind to choose their fates. And Aziraphale? Aziraphale is doing just as he did in giving Adam and Eve his sword: giving humanity the tools with which to enact their own destiny, whatever that may be. Aziraphale’s methodology is a consistent defense of his original rebellion, but he still tries for six thousand years to tread the fine line of loyalty to Heaven, even as he makes it oh so very clear, with his misprint Bibles and his love of human culture and his clear discomfort in the face of Heaven’s other messengers, that he doesn’t like their ways or their attitude.
But that isn’t what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is the moment that Aziraphale goes full loose cannon.
When Aziraphale first gets poofed back to Heaven, he starts out this confrontation with the Quartermaster with the same fumbling, almost unctious behavior he shows to the Archangels (feat. Sandalphon) up until this point. He doesn’t like these people, he barely evenrespects these people, but he feels he owes them his loyalty so he speaks courteously and very nearly obsequiously (but with a twinkle in his eye that says “I am mentally eviscerating every stupidass word out of your idiot mouth” the whole time). He makes light of having been discorporated because he knows he’s in trouble and he’s so in the habit of trying to downplay his slip ups, his tiny rebellions, and dress them up in humor, that it’s his go-to reaction when he suddenly finds himself bodiless and stuck in the absolute last place he wants to be.
But then the Quartermaster starts giving him a dressing down, and at first we see Aziraphale kind of wilting under his ire, shrinking back into himself (which is an amazing bit of physicality from Mr. Sheen, seriously, go rewatch, the body language he uses in this whole scene is amazing) and trying to compress himself down under Heaven’s rage… but then the final blow is delivered:
“You pathetic excuse for an angel!”
And Aziraphale just kind of goes still and absorbs this. He thinks it over. He straightens up. And he makes his choice.
“Well, I suppose I am, really.”
He knows what he is. He’s known from the beginning. His rebellion began six thousand years ago, and all these years with humanity and with Crowley, pushing and pulling at him and making him think and evaluate and question everything, has made him ready to own up to it.
Up until this point, Aziraphale’s rebellion— his misprint Bibles and his little white lies and his overindulgence in human things and the questions he keeps to himself for fear of Falling— has been so quiet. It’s been whispers behind closed doors and a hush-hush Arrangement with an Adversary he shouldn’t even speak to let alone have cozy dinners with. It’s all under lock and key and oh so very discrete.
Until now. Now Aziraphale is pissed.
He’s spent six thousand years teaching humans how to solve their own problems, giving them the tools they need to fight their own battles and actually make use of that power of choice Crowley gave them, even if he doesn’t actually realize that’s what he’s been doing all these years. He’s put literally all the Time there has ever been into guiding and caring for the Earth, and under absolutely no fucking circumstances is he going to let it all be blown to bits so Heaven and Hell can have their stupid pissing contest all over it.
And suddenly all that servile obedience to Heaven, all that soft-spoken pandering, just evaporates. Suddenly it’s “I have nointention of fighting in any war!” Suddenly it’s “Idemand to be returned [to Earth]!” Suddenly Aziraphale has absolutely run out of fucks to give and he’s ready to scream out everything that’s been coming to a slow boil inside him over the course of so many centuries. And he doesn’t know yet, he doesn’t yet understand that all the work he and Crowley have been doing for six thousand years has already given Adam and the Them everything they need to make their choice and defend it. As far as Aziraphale is concerned, he and probably Crowley are the only thing standing between the Earth and its imminent destruction, and he absolutely will not just stand back and let it happen.
It doesn’t matter that his Quartermaster is berating him. It doesn’t matter that that whole line of angels has suddenly turned in eerie, perfect unison to stare him down with blank-eyed dispassion and unfeeling Judgment. It doesn’t matter that this is treason in Heaven’s eyes, that there’s a damn good chance he’s going to Fall for this. He’s chosen his side, and he’s making a stand.
And then the thought occurs to him that, well, why can’t he just go back to Earth? Why can’t he just possess a convenient human host? Demons can do that, and what are demons but fallen angels? Why can’the do what a demon can do? He knows damn well and good that angels and demons aren’t really all that far apart— he has six millennia worth of love and an Arrangement spanning nearly a thousand years to prove it. We talk about Crowley and his imagination and creativity, but Aziraphale is no slouch when it comes to thinking outside the box either. So once Aziraphale starts asking questions, reallyasking them and not just thinking them quietly to himself and then locking them up tight where no one is likely to see, he instantly becomes this unstoppable cannonball of chaotic energy. It’s the loudest, most brazen Rebellion since Lucifer himself, and it’s done in the service of Humanity, because Aziraphale’s defining character trait is his radical kindness.
Basically, Aziraphale backflips out of Heaven with both middle fingers in the air, and frankly I think it’s amazing.
So in all that cringing away from the Quartermaster, I see Aziraphale’s eternity of being slowly chipped away by the emotional abuse of Heaven. He might question what’s right, he might question whether he even respects his superiors as he should, but deep down he is an angel and he WANTS so very much to be a good angel. He wants to be acknowledged. He wants to be told that his rebellions are ok because they’re done for the Right Reason (at the same time that he does NOT want to be found out).
And then…they push him too far. Hell is after Crowley (Who may or may not be leaving for ever) earth is about to be destroyed, humanity is going to be wiped out, NO ONE CARES, and now all his failures are laid bare and
And Aziraphale decides he just does not give a single care, s**t or f**k anymore.
It’s like, he hits rock bottom, and realizes in that second that he can actually stand on his own two feet.
Look, let’s be clear on this: from the moment the Antichirst was born Crowley was fucked. Even if he managed to avert Armageddon, the forces of Hell and Satan himself was still going to come after him and destroy him for it. So, of course, he had an escape plan. He HAD to have an escape plan.
From the moment Crowley delivered the Antichirst Crowley’s plan was:
1. Do absolutely everything I can think of, including enlisting Aziraphale’s help, to prevent Armageddon.
2. When I’ve done absolutely everything I can do and the forces of Hell come to destroy me then I will escape of Alpha Centauri, and hope that it was enough. Oh, and I’ll try really hard to convince Aziraphale to come with me.
Crowley doesn’t even mention Alpha Centauri to Aziraphale until it seems to Crowley that they are all out of ideas. Further, just mentioning an escape plan is NOT the same thing as literally running then and there. Crowley does not attempt to put his escape plan into place at all until the forces of Hell are at his doorstep.
It is not selfish for Crowley to have some sense of self-preservation. It is not selfish to have a back up emergency escape plan for if doing everything you can think of is still not enough. It is not selfish to run from the literal forces of Hell attempting to destroy you personally because you tried to save the world.
It was Crowley’s idea to try to avert Armageddon. The moment he knew about the Antichrist he was straight onto trying to prevent it without any hesitation. Crowley is the one who convinced Aziraphale. And he did it all knowing that if Armageddon didn’t go according to plan he personally would be blamed. He’s fucked either way. So, of course, he was at least partially motivated by love of the world and preventing suffering and all of that. The real reasons spill out when he’s drunk: dolphins. Dolphins, that’s my point.
Can we please stop condemning him for making an escape plan? Can we stop thinking that having an escape plan means that Crowley ‘you can’t kill kids’ never had unselfish reasons to save the world? Can we please stop condemning him for wanting to live?
And please, if you are sacrificing your whole life for the greater good, stop. Do your best AND make escape plan. It is okay to want to live your life.
There’s something about how Crowley throws out that line: what if the Almighty planned it like this all along? that is just so empathetic and caring and selfless… He knows that Aziraphale has had the ground ripped out from under him, he’s lost all faith in Heaven, he’s literally lost Heaven in fact, he will have to discover what exactly being on his own side with Crowley means (Crowley has been on his own side for a very long time now I think, not so much has changed for him). But Crowley sees there’s something that could make it easier. Aziraphale could retain his faith in God herself choosing to believe that it was all God’s plan, including Aziraphale and Crowley forming their own side. I don’t for a moment believe Crowley actually thinks that’s likely (possible perhaps but not likely) or even particularly cares in a sense (he does what he thinks is right, he follows his own compass and doesn’t need to be told it is in the plan to be alright with that). But he gets where Aziraphale is and he just offers this up as a gift, says it casually like it is no big deal and let’s the seed take root. Like he could have tried to get Aziraphale to see it all as he does but he doesn’t, he helps Aziraphale to make his own peace with it all, to figure it out in his own way. Wow, even here he’s the ultimate defender of free will isn’t he?
Select additional comments:
@fuckyeahisawthatreply: Oh interesting! I like this interpretation because this has always seemed like…not a very Crowley line to me. (So much so that I had convinced myself it was Aziraphale’s line until I went back and watched the scene again.) But I really like this take on it!
@amuseoffyrereply: Here’s a thing, though: Crowley does believe in God and he questions Her so many times. This is such a him thing to say because when we saw him yelling at Her in the privacy of his own home, he said “You’re testing them, I know you said you’d be testing them”.
To me, this line reads as him realising that humanity wasn’t the only thing being tested. God was testing her angels and demons and everything else in between. She planned it all like this, knowing Aziraphale and Crowley, the only morally grey, imaginative, enthusiastically loving creatures of Heaven and Hell, would be there. She let them share the gift of free will that humanity had and watched them run with it knew they wouldn’t let her down :)
@theniceandaccurategoodomensblogreply: I definitely think God is testing the angels and the demons too and that Crowley realises that, yes. I personally, don’t have faith that God’s plan is all for the ultimate good, that she ensured it would all specifically end up as it does (rather than just testing and seeing the results which is quite different I think). I don’t think Crowley has that faith either, but he’s ok with Aziraphale having that faith as it helps him. The whole “believes in” thing doesn’t really apply. Crowley knows God exists. He believes in God like we believe in the ground under our feet. He is incapable of being either an atheist or a theist in any human sense. The only faith relevant is faith in the plan, faith that God doesn’t just exist but is to be trusted, is a force for the good, is actually in control. I don’t read Crowley as having that personally. He doubts her the whole damn time.
@here-for-analysis-and-squeereply: It echoes his doubts in the garden “what if we both did the wrong thing”, and questioning the God’s plan back then, all the way back
Douglas: Now tell us about - are you going to tell us the story about you and Terry…
Neil: Yes, I will.
Douglas: I think that’s important one.
Neil: I was gonna say our location is a Chinese restaurant we’d had turned into a sushi restaurant. So Terry and I, Terry Pratchett and I, had a standing… not even a standing joke, just a standing plan, that we were going to have sushi - there was going to be a scene in Good Omens where sushi was eaten and we were gonna be extras, we were gonna sit in the background, eating sushi while it was done. And I was so looking forward to this and, so I wrote this scene with it being sushi, even though Terry was gone, with that in mind and I thought: Oh, I’ll sit and I’ll eat lots of sushi as an extra, this will be my scene as an extra, I’ll just be in the background. And then, on the day, or a couple of days before, I realized that I couldn’t do it.
Douglas: You never told me this before either. I might have pushed you into doing it, had I known. I think you were right not to tell me.
Neil: I was keeping it to me self ‘cause I was always like: Oh, maybe I’ll be… this will be my cameo. And then I couldn’t. I was just so sad, ‘cause Terry wasn’t there. And it was probably the day that I missed Terry the most of all of the filming - it was just this one scene ‘cause it was written for Terry and all of the sushi meals we’d ever had and all of the strange way that sushi ran through Good Omens.
