This post contains spoilers for Goods Omens season 2, episodes 1 and 5.
Good Omens season 2 is out, and it’s an utterly sweet, romantic continuation of the love story between the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant). Aziraphale and Crowley aren’t human, so it makes sense that their romance wouldn’t play out exactly the way a human love story would—but that means that Neil Gaiman, writer John Finnemore, and director Douglas Mackinnon were able to explore their story in a different way.
Like dancing!
Call me sentimental, but I was reduced to a puddle during the scenes that involved Aziraphale and/or Crowley dancing. Shall we recap them? Yes, we shall.
Dance #1: Crowley’s apology dance
Obviously, the event we were all waiting for is the Jane Austen ball in episode 5. Before we get to that, though, I want to talk about Crowley’s apology dance.
In episode 1, Crowley initially refuses to help Gabriel, who has shown up naked and confused on Aziraphale’s doorstep. However, after he finds out that Aziraphale will be erased from existence if Heaven finds out he’s got Gabriel, Crowley rushes back to eat crow.
Understandably, Aziraphale is mad at him for storming out earlier, which is adorable enough on its own. Then he tells Crowley to do the dance. The two of them have a little tradition, you see, of performing a dance whenever one of them turns out to be right. Or, rather, Aziraphale has a tradition of doing it when Crowley is right, as he makes sure to point out. Crowley sighs, and then does a few little flourishes and turns, chanting, “You were right, you were right, I was wrong, and you were right.” Aziraphale, appeased, forgives him.
What makes this scene so delightful is that it gives us a glimpse into the minor squabbles and tiffs that Aziraphale and Crowley get into as they live out their long lives on Earth. It makes their relationship feel real and lived-in, instead of an eternal honeymoon. Watching a couple fight can reveal more of their characters than watching them swoon over each other, and seeing Aziraphale and Crowley navigate a minor conflict is a lot of fun.
Dance #2: the Jane Austen ball
After Heaven finds out about the miracle Aziraphale and Crowley perform to hide Gabriel’s whereabouts, the two of them cover it up by telling the angels that they were making the coffee shop owner Nina and the record shop owner Maggie fall in love. The problem? Now they have to actually make Nina and Maggie fall in love, since Heaven is watching.
Crowley hatches a plan to make them stare into each other’s eyes in the rain, but a ripped awning and a gush of water ruins it. But Aziraphale has already had another idea: he’ll use the neighborhood business association’s meeting as a pretense to throw a Jane Austen-themed ball. He explains to Crowley why his plan is foolproof. At Jane Austen’s cotillions, he says, “people would gather, do some formal dancing, and realize they had misunderstood each other, and were actually deeply in love.” Sign me up.
Sure enough, the moment each business owner walks into the bookshop, they find themselves mysteriously compelled to take part in Regency-era ballroom dances. Then we get the moment every fan and shipper has been waiting for: Aziraphale eagerly asks Crowley if he wants to dance, and pulls him onto the dance floor.
Admittedly, their dance isn’t the dreamy moment that Aziraphale describes in the pub scene. There’s no getting lost in each others’ eyes, no sudden calls to run away together to a cottage in the South Downs. After all, Crowley is really worried about the horde of demons milling around outside the bookshop.
Still, there are two things that make this scene so special. First off, there’s the fact that there are two potential queer couples dancing together—with another queer-coded character in attendance—and no one blinks. Yes. This is how it should be.
Secondly, it’s earlier in this same episode that Crowley seems to really grapple with his feelings for Aziraphale. After Aziraphale invites the business owners to the meeting, Nina asks Crowley if the two of them are an item. Crowley, clearly flustered, stammers out a non-answer, and Nina comments on how “other people’s love lives are so much more straightforward than our own.” Crowley is left reeling afterwards, and that scene makes it all the more satisfying when the two take hands on the dance floor.
Of course, the events of episode 5 set the stage for everything that goes down in the season finale. But the finale is made all the more satisfying by the lead-up to it—and all the love that’s wrapped up in a few brief dance moves.
(featured image: Prime Video)
Published: Jul 28, 2023 12:42 pm