That ‘Good Omens 2’ Finale Feels Heartbreakingly Familiar
Love the angst, but also oh my God.
*** This article contains spoilers for the entire second season of Good Omens, as well as for the entire first season of Our Flag Means Death. Be warned. ***
The second season of Good Omens is finally available for everyone to watch and rewatch—and as you might guess from the faint sounds of sobbing echoing from showrunner Neil Gaiman’s DMs —it came with a hefty emotional punch.
Before the season was released, Gaiman (who co-wrote the novel of the same name with Terry Pratchett) had described it as “quiet, gentle, and romantic.” So of course, everyone expected that with Armageddon averted, David Tennant’s demon Crowley and Michael Sheen’s angel Aziraphale would be free to live their lives together on Earth.
Turns out, though, that the gentle romance Gaiman was referring to was between the archangel Gabriel, former leader of Heaven and portrayed by a hilarious Jon Hamm, and the prince of Hell Beelzebub, played by Shelley Conn (Anna Maxwell Martin played the role in season one). What started out as a crackship between fans became one of the major plot points of this season, with Gabriel and Beelzebub deciding to leave everything behind and run off together.
And that’s without considering the fact that Aziraphale and Crowley have been playing matchmakers all season for humans Maggie (Maggie Service) and Nina (Nina Sosanya), who appeared in season one as satanic nuns of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl. The women work on the same street as Aziraphale’s bookshop and are very much narrative mirrors for our favorite angel and demon.
Season 2 sees Aziraphale and Crowley coming to a direct confrontation about their long history together and their feelings for each other. Tennant and Sheen simply crush their storyline with incredible acting and easy chemistry. But the result was not the happy ending we’ve all been hoping for.
The finale sees Derek Jacobi’s Metatron manipulating Aziraphale by playing into the angel’s lingering heavenly conditioning, i.e. that there’s only one kind of good and it’s the institutionalized angelic version. Crowley (who knows very well the sort of “good” that Heaven does) can’t believe that Aziraphale would want to leave the life they have on Earth. The final scene of episode six sees them saying basically the same thing but in two completely different languages. The result is a masterpiece of miscommunication and angst. It’s thematically coherent, it’s brilliantly written and acted, and it will lead to a delicious third season … if we ever manage to get our hands on it. But if this heartbreaking moment felt awfully familiar to you, you’re not alone.
Where else have we seen a blonde, extroverted, and sometimes goofy character misguidedly leave behind the dark-haired, introverted, and generally more prickly love of their lives? And not in a queerbaiting way, because I will not accept any mention of BBC’s Sherlock? If your answer was Our Flag Means Death, then you might be entitled to compensation for emotional damage.
In episode 9, “Act of Grace” of Our Flag Means Death, Rhys Darby’s Stede Bonnet and Taika Waitit’s Edward “Blackbeard” Teach decide to run away together after sharing a kiss. Except that Stede never makes it to the arranged meeting with Ed. Stede returns home to the wife and children he had abandoned to become a pirate, convinced that he just ruins everything and everyone around him. Ed is left heartbroken to resume his role as captain and descend into the darkest parts of himself and his persona as the Kraken.
Like Tumblr user @koalaaquabear so perfectly put it, “I can’t believe we all just got Our Flag Means Death‘d when we thought we were gonna get Heartstopper‘d.” And many people in fandom spaces were quick to catch up, considering that the audience for Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death is mostly made up of the same people.
Of course, there are differences—the two shows are similar but not the same, and not just because one deals with Heaven and Hell and the other with the Golden Age of Piracy. In Our Flag Means Death, we see Stede realize he is indeed in love with Ed (thanks to the intervention of his wife Mary), and understand very clearly that he was wrong to leave him. He immediately stages an elaborate and flamboyant plan to fake his own death and starts his journey back to Ed, even as Ed himself sinks into despair. The last shot of the season is Stede already reunited with his crew—though of course, the reunion with Ed deserves all the time and pathos that only a new season could give it.
Aziraphale, on the other hand, is one step ahead of Stede and one behind. He’s ahead because I believe that he knows very well he loves Crowley. Consider that scene in the bombed church during World War IIas well as Michael Sheen’s acting choices. But Aziraphale is also incredibly good at gaslighting himself into thinking that he’s not in love (or that he is but with his own idea of Crowley). And he still must undo the millennia of heavenly conditioning, while working through the hurt he felt when Crowley rejected his invite to heaven. Only then can he start his own journey back to their life on Earth.
Still, I think we can all agree that both those journeys and their resolutions will be incredible, and exactly everything our angsty but happy-ending-loving fandom hearts have ever wanted. As soon as studios start to pay their writers and actors correct wages, that is.
(featured image: Max)
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