Fellow fans of Good Omens

[nonesensed]

If you've seen season 2 and, like me, can't help but speculate what it means for the (hopefully coming) season 3, here's a fun, interesting and thought-provoking fan theory to check out:

The Magic Trick You Didn’t See: Being An Analysis of Good Omens Season 2 by ariaste

I'd love to discuss this theory, and any others, with anyone who feels like it :D

Comments

[bardsley]

I have seen the series. I would be happy to chat. I am not interested in reading a long fan theory right now but if you want to chat anyway, that works. If not, that is okay too.

[madgastronomer]

That fan theory displays wrongly for me, so I'm not going to read it either, but I finished GO2 today and am happy to talk about it! Starting with AUGH WHERE'S THE REST OF IT, NEIL?!?!?!

[bardsley]

Yes, it does not feel like a complete piece of media in itself. It feels like it was created as a six-episode teaser for a season three that we may or may not get.

[nonesensed]

Totally get not wanting to read long theories (though it's too bad the page isn't working for you madgastronomer - is the Google Drive document loading weirdly?). It's a theory that's pretty much eaten by brain at this point, but I'll do my best not to refer to it XD

Season 2 is indeed basically All Setup! I will go feral if Amazon doesn't give us season 3!!! Sure, Gaiman's said he'll write a book version if a TV version isn't made, buuuut that's not the same. I want to see the brilliant actors acting this out! Also, the book!canon is different enough from the TV!canon that it'd feel kinda odd to me to read about the TV characters - but that is a Me Thing, I'd rather have a book version than no conclusion.

Basically, I can't wait to see the pay-off to all the set-up that got done in season 2, and I am very impatient about it.

What were your favorite parts of season 2? I think mine thus far (not having rewatched the series yet) are the fact that it pretty much was the Aziraphale & Crowley show, plus the moment where Aziraphale takes "our car", the dancing scene (especially how happy and giddy Aziraphale was about the dancing), Crowley confronting "Jim" about trying to execute Aziraphale, the not-murdered-goats of Job and The Confession scene for how painful, desperate and heartbreaking it was in the best of ways <3<3<3

PS. As a fanfic writer, I am suffering, because I'm the kind of writer who can't write fic about on-going series BUT I AM SO INSPIRED TO WRITE MORE ABOUT THESE TWO!!!! XD Canon-divergent AUs, here I come~

[madgastronomer]

Oh! My font settings are funky, which is what causes some pages not to display properly, and I thought the theory was in the post, I didn't see the link to the Gdoc. Thanks!

[nonesensed]

Glad that was helpful and hope you have a fun read! "The Magic Trick Theory" is the sort of detailed meta analysis that makes me want to write fanfic based on it - and I probably will, whether it turns out to have been in the least bit accurate or not when season 3 rolls around, 'cause I just think it's neat :D

[bardsley]

Your favorite scenes were mine as well, except I did not like the confession scene. I think I enjoyed the series as a whole less than you did. But I am open to persuasion!

Please feel free to refer to the theory as you like.

[nonesensed]

I enjoyed season 2 all the way through, so I too suspect I enjoyed it more than a lot of people did XD I'm easily pleased when it comes to Aziraphale & Crowley content and I got that in ridiculous amounts this season~

That said, a big part of my enjoyment of season 2 comes from theorizing about what its events will mean for season 3! Gaiman has been pretty open about season 2 being a "fluffier transition" from season 1 to season 3 (with season 3 being the sequel he & Pratchett had been discussing), and there are so many fun fan theories about what in season 2 will become important in season 3. The one I linked above, "The Magic Trick Theory" is my favorite thus far, but I'm not 100% set on any one theory. And until I get to find out what season 3 (or the book version) contains, I have soooo many new fanworks to dig into and create :D

To sum up "The Magic Trick Theory", it basically theorizes that The Metatron is using the Book of Life to edit history, to drive a wedge between Aziraphale and Crowley, which resulted in Aziraphale taking the Supreme Archangel position by the end of season 2. I'm not saying I think this theory is 100% true, buuuuut I think the 'evidence' for it is pretty compelling. These 'clues' can of course be explained in other ways, but they include continuity errors and plot-threads left dangling; like Crowley using dark glasses in the Book of Job flashbacks, the sudden introduction of Aziraphale keeping diaries, the incriminating photo of Crowley & Aziraphale that never comes up again, Maggie not acting Quite Human at times, C & A's miracles not always working on Nina & Maggie, the Shostakovich symphony being closely linked to a poem by Pushkin that's all about a less talented artist (for example Metatron) ruining the work of a genius (God), etc - ending with the fact that Muriel is reading The Crow Road by Iain Banks in her final scene, a book where the main character becomes obsessed with papers his uncle left behind and sets out to solve the mystery they contain.

Basically, I think it'd be great fun if part of the plot of season 3 is Muriel discovering Aziraphale's diaries have redacted parts and that this results in Aziraphale & Crowley having to figure out what about their joint history has been changed and not. If that isn't at all what happens in season 3, I might still have to write that fanfic XD

Also, I rest easy in the fact that we've more or less been guaranteed that A & C will end up in the South Downs cottage together by the end of season 3 <3

[bardsley]

I am happy to theorize about Season 3 with you because you are fun and interesting. The theory you describe sounds fascinating. I would enjoy a Season 3 that is similar to that--if it happens. I actually really like Muriel. If she would be a bigger part of Season 3, that would be lovely.

I also love that there was a visibly disabled angel.

However, in general, I do not want to be left in a position where I need to theorize about a piece of media that may or may not be created. I want to be given something that is complete.

I should mention that real life is pretty miserable right now which cannot help but have an influence on my ability to appreciate anything.

[nonesensed]

Muriel was such a delight! As were the visibly disabled angels! More of that in season 3 please and thank you Mr Gaiman <3

Well, that's a fair point. I went into season 2 pretty prepared for it to end on a cliffhanger, since that's the sort of shows you have to write for Amazon to bother renewing things, and Gaiman had been pretty open about season 2 mainly being a build-up to season 3. But if cliffhangers aren't your thing they're just not your thing, so I get not liking the season based on that.

Hope life starts treating you better soon <3

[madgastronomer]

I would say less teaser and more first half or two-thirds of it, and we are owed another two to six episodes, dammit. What was there was substantial, it just wasn't finished.

[nonesensed]

Yeah, to me it feels like we got to the Bandstand Divorce Scene in season 1 and left on that cliffhanger AND I AM DYING NEIL WHY (I know why, I can hear him cackling and I respect him for it, but also, WHYYYY???!!!)

[bardsley]

What was the substance? I did not feel like there was all that much there, but that might just have been that I did not find much of interest.

[madgastronomer]

The development of Shax, the Nina and Maggie plot with all the texture about Nina's partner, Aziraphale and Crowley's differing ideas (and plots) about how to get them together, the romance between an archangel and a duke of Hell, the whole resurrectionist subplot, the interactions between the various angels, the development of Muriel (whom I love)? I do feel "Jim's" time with them could've used more emotional depth, but there was a lot going on this season, even if it wasn't as all over the place as the first.

[bardsley]

Valid story points all. Thank you for making me reflect on them. I think I just didn't care for the (lack of) development of Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship and did not have much interest Nina and Maggie. I also felt dislike and disinterest in everything involving Gabriel. He was not the angel I wanted to see in a relationship with a demon.

[madgastronomer]

I can see how you'd be frustrated, sure. Personally, I like the relationship between Gabriel and Beelzebub because they're both insufferable assholes. They deserved each other, and I hope it makes them both less unpleasant. But I also particularly found the parallels, and where they failed, with Aziraphale and Crowley quite interesting. The fast-forward version of the two-agents-on-opposing-sides thing foremost. And I both enjoyed Nina and Maggie for their own sakes and for the parallels there. But I'm also not especially emotionally invested in C&A having a particular style of romance together.

[bardsley]

I want C & A to be together in a loving relationship but don't have specific thoughts on what that needs to look like. I was not interested in Gabriel and Beelzebub for their own sakes, and don't feel like I was given a reason to care about them. TI saw the parallels attempting to be drawn in relations with Gabriel and Beelzebub and Nina and Maggie. I just didn't find them interesting.

I also didn't care much about the mystery surrounding Gabriel so not a lot held my attention.

[madgastronomer]

Now that I think about it, having read the book repeatedly over the years, long before the tv show came out, I also feel like I was never as invested in the original story being Their Love Story as a lot of people are about the show? They were only part of it. I expected them to remain only part of the show as it continued, and to have new people to get invested in as well.

[nonesensed]

Oh yeah, I completely agree with you on how the TV!version of A&C have taken over the story quite a bit, especially now in season 2, but already in season 1 with The Longest Cold Open. They're also quite different from their book counter parts in personality, making their dynamic different on screen compared with in the book.

I too have been a fan of the book for a good long time and while I do ship the book version of A&C, I'm far more invested in their on screen romance by this point. I still love the book, I still ship book!A & book!C, it's just that it's such a joy to get to see the TV-versions dance around each other XD

I suspect we'll be getting more characters and less A&C focus on season 3, since that's the book Gaiman & Pratchett actually had been plotting together.

[bardsley]

For the book version, I was interested in everyone involved with the book of Prophecy as well as the Horsemen, not just the angel and the demon. I tried to be interested in the kids but I wasn't. I was more interested in the kids in Good Omens than I often am in other books though.

My sourness about Season 2 isn't really about their love story as such. I care about queer fans who will see another piece of media depicting a queer love story that ends in a sad way. I feel like the people involved in the show likely are aware of how important this is to people. I feel like they should have done better for their audience than making something that ends as this does.

I do not need the entire show to be about A & C. But I do not like Gabriel. I do not think I was given enough context about his relationship to care about it. I felt that more could have been done to show Gabriel's relationship with A & C too. I found Maggie and Nina uninteresting. I recognize that these are personal opinions.

I am not writing angry messages to people involved in the show. I'm just personally disappointed. Again, not completely about the romance, but about given something that does not feel complete.

[madgastronomer]

As a queer fan, I think queer canon relationships need to be able to have the same kinds of problems as straight relationships. A fight over priorities and taking a new job is a normal fight, and a normal breakup. There was nothing about it that was "because you are queer".

And it's clearly not the end. If the third series is never made, then it will be an incomplete work, not a finished one with that being the end. Gaiman very clearly had too much plot for one season, and Amazon only signed it for six episodes. If he'd rushed the story to try to get it all into six episodes, it would have been awful. So he did a cliffhanger with the hope of another season.

[bardsley]

I disagree with both of those points. In a perfect world, queer relationships should have the same variety as straight relationships. But it is not a perfect world. I cannot find enjoyment in yet another piece of queer media that ends painfully. It fits into a negative pattern of other queer stories that came before. And it is in a literal sense the end of Season 2. That it is ALSO incomplete just makes Season 2 a badly constructed season. The people who made the season could have chosen to make something complete or not make something at all. There was no need for a Season 2. I feel done badly by this cliffhanger. I came out of this season feeling exploited and like my time was wasted.

This isn't all about wanting things to end in romance for A&C. It's not even mostly about that. I'm just not interested in what plot was there. I did not season-longer transition. I do not want a season that cannot stand on its own.