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]

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.