#Happy at least good omens is going to have a new season

[give-bucky-his-boyfriend-back]

I want to upgrade my title to "CEO of joining fandoms way too late when nobody is interested in them anymore"

[neil-gaiman]

Hey, Neil! So I've been putting off watching season two of Good Omens because I've been really pregnant and I've got a toddler to boot so I've had very little in the way of time and energy, so I thought I'd save it for when the baby came and I had a lot of late night hours to fill up with a fussy newborn. Well! My son was born this week and after laboring for eight hours with a nine pound baby I was very much looking forward to this! Just a new end to a book I've loved since I was a teen, y'know? So tell me, MISTER GAIMAN, now that I'm neck deep in postpartum hormones and low on sleep and I've watched the final episode, I beg your pardon, but, what the fuck??? (i loved every second, I cried several times, i'll be rewatching this at least three times before the new year, i cannot describe the amount of fanfiction i'm going to consume over the next few months, why can't they just have this???? i just want them to be happy and together)

I know. I know. It's the writers.

[bowtiepastabitch]

Here's the deal on the Good Omens limbo situation. My optimistic and analytic two cents, if you will.

If we look at this through a capitalistic lens, the chances of the show being cancelled are pretty slim at the moment. Think for a moment about the top three amazon prime originals that you pay/keep the platform for. Can you think of three? I honestly can't, not off the top of my head. I know I'm not really the target audience for streaming services, since I don't watch a lot of new shows, but still. I can name plenty of netflix shows I like/might watch. That's why Netflix can cancel anything and everything so easy. They don't have just one or two fandom cash cows.

Amazon, though, doesn't have a lot. Here's a list of all their original shows. I only even recognize 8 titles. I've only actually watched 2. Plus, Good Omens is currently one of the biggest fandoms in fandom right now, with Aziracrow being the top ship on ao3 for the Jan-Dec 2023 wrap up and again on the Summer 2024 leaderboard, as well as the top ship on tumblr and Good Omens as the top tv show (plus second overall after Artists on Tumblr) for 2023. We're a big deal, and I'd bet money that they're betting money on us. I also lowkey think we're the reason Amazon is spending money on a british miniseries starring Michael Sheen tbh but that's just speculation. The show has also won a slew of awards, the same of which cannot, to my knowledge, be said of many of their other properties.

So let's talk production changes; I think there's a good chance they're doing this for the same reason. Our fandom had unique access to the creator via tumblr, and a majority of the conversation around the allegations of SA against Gaiman were and are taking place in fandom spaces. There have been petitions to fire him from the show and conversations (both productive and otherwise) about the duties of fandom when engaging with content connected to problematic individuals. Meanwhile, Gaiman has effectively dissappeared from the internet. Additionally, the video and threads sharing that Terry Pratchett wrote most of the original book have been making the rounds here and I think on the bird app(?). All that to say, if they're betting on us they want to make us happy and keep their good PR. I don't ever expect a major corporation to make a "good" decision, but they will always make the profitable one.

There is, of course, also the matter of the Pratchett estate and the other major players in the matter: the actors, directors, and creative team. These are forces at play with the power to block or stall productivity and profit for Amazon through copyright and labor power. I can imagine there's conversations happening backstage that we don't know about as well as what we see in headlines.

Ultimately, I think the biggest risk to season 3 is unfortunately going to be Neil Gaiman himself and how he responds to the situation at hand. If he steps back quietly, we're living in our best case scenario and everything moves forward as much according to plan as can be expected with at least this small justice being served. I see a hissy fit on his end as the greatest potential wrench in proceedings, but that would exacerbate the (currently quiet in the mainstream) bad PR for him so I give it low odds.

All that to say. From a pragmatic viewpoint, Amazon's best interest seems to be entirely tied to ours as a fandom, and I anticipate Season 3 being made and most likely being only minorly delayed. Either way. What happens behind the scenes in corporate office buildings between rich white men is entirely out of my and your control. I know how huge anxiety can get when it relates to a special interest or a community that has a huge role in your life, and whatever happens we're in this together as a fandom. It's going to be alright. Take a deep breath and maybe get some water. Whatever happens, we're in this together as a fandom, and at least it won't be the end of the world;)

[shinybearnerd]

"Healing Wings"

GOOD OMENS SEASON 2! SPOILER WARNING! IF YOU DID SEE IT YET, DO NOT INTERACT!

Hi!

So, I'm a mess since I finished the new season.

I tried to cope by writing something (since I'll be pretty busy for all of August). And this is the result.

Justice for my boy! He deserved his happy ending.

I wanted to thank everyone that send me requests. As I said before, I'm a bit busy but once I'll have some time, I'll write. Promise.

Enjoy!

Pair: Crowley x reader

(Hints of: Aziraphale x reader, Aziraphale x Crowley, Aziraphale x reader x Crowley)

Words: 2,8k

Genre: Smut +18, fluff and angst

Story: when Aziraphale goes away to become the archangel in heaven, Y/n and Crowley find themselves alone. They both with a feeling of abandonment. As they lean on each other for support, their relationship blossoms deeper.

English is not my first language. I'm sorry if there're any mistakes.

The ride to your house is quiet.

You don't remember much about what happened earlier. You only recall screaming at Aziraphale for deciding to go away and leaving you and Crowley alone. His eyes were covered in tears.

     << Y/n, I can- >>

     << Do not fucking bother! Go on. Go play with your little mates. Is what you wanted after all, right? >> You cut him off, returning to Crowley.

The demon looks at the scene inside the car. He doesn't hear what you are saying but can imagine by the looks of you and the angel. He even doesn't say anything about it once you step inside the car. He only starts the engine and begins to drive.

Once you arrive, you convince Crowley to come inside without effort. Once you lock the door behind you, you see him. Sitting on the sofa. He stares blankly in front of him. Or at least you think so. He didn't take off his glasses or have any intention to.

You walk towards him without saying a word. When you take your first step, it seems like he only notices your presence at that moment.

You walk to him. Crowley's gaze fixed on you, making you feel exposed.

You're now in front of him. You try to say something, but he makes the first move by hugging your legs and placing his head on your stomach. He's tired. You both are.

You remain like this for a few minutes. You caress his red hair and try not to cry, as he enjoys your touch.

He then looks up at you.

You're starting to feel a particular jolt invading your body. Something that grows deeper when the demon stands up and obscures you with his height.

He takes your chin, his thumb exploring your lips. He then kisses you. It's a needy one. A desperate one.

You start to undress one another, but when you try to take his glasses, he freezes.

     << I... I prefer to leave them on. >>

Once Nina and Maggie get out, you pop out from your hiding spot.

Crowley hears your movement but doesn't say a word. Too scared about your reaction to actually do something. 

He listens. Listen to the way your clothes sound when they rub against each other. Listen to your increased heartbeat and your hitching breath, wishing he could feel it against his skin while-

     << Is it true? >> You finally take some courage.

Crowley physically can't turn to look at you, like something is blocking him. But he manages to stand up and put on his glasses. And suddenly, he feels like he can at least try.

When he turns around, your heart sinks a little.

     << No, please... >>

     <&lt; What? >>

You try to reach, but he takes a step behind, trying to have some space between you two.

     << You know that you don't need those >> you point at the black lenses << when you are with me. We've already been through this. Remember? >>

     << I would like to keep them on. If you don't mind. >>

You sigh, knowing that he's too stubborn to listen. So you ask again, trying to look into his eyes. << Is it true? >>

The demon doesn't respond.

     << It's pretty easy, Crowley. It's a "yes" or "no" answer... >>

Your voice seemed calm and amused by all of this, trying to ease the mood. But every fibre of your body tried to remain calm and not rush things.

Something was still blocking him. His pride, maybe. Or even the fear of you rejecting him. He doesn't know which.

     << I'm sorry... I-I can't. >>

He tries to exit the bookshop, but you stop him.

     << Where are you going? Hold on! Why can't you say it? What's wrong? >>

     << Because-... Fuck! >>

He walks in the room, stomping his feet like a wild horse that's been caught and imprisoned. He's trying to focus on something that isn't you and elaborate a clever way out. He's a demon, after all. He's the master of lying.

He can do this.                                                                                                    But once he turns to look at you, he suddenly can't lie to you anymore.

     << Because it's true, Y/n! There. I said it! >>

Your heart is bursting, but you let him talk first. You feel like he needs to.

     << You don't understand how you made me feel in all these years we knew each other! I only thought that Aziraphale would be the lo... >> he sighs, trying to calm himself by rubbing his eyes. << But then you came along. So full of life and wonder, and it j-just... happened!- >>

In the beginning, he's doubtful. The poor devil thought that was an act of pity towards him, but once he comprehend that you're not going to leave soon, he deepens it. A rush of emotions adds to the kiss. Passion, desperation and relief. All put in Crowley's kiss, who is touching and hugging you like you'll disappear.

You don't even spend time saying something. You've already waited enough.

With big steps, you end your distance. You take the demon's sunglasses with one hand while the other takes the head, smashing your lips together.

You start to caress each other. Your hair, your back, your arms... All you two can reach has been touched and loved.

     << Please tell me this is not a dream and that I'm not gonna wake up in the Bentley with a boner... >> he whispered on your lips between a kiss and another.

You smirk against his mouth while pressing yourself towards him.

     << I don't know about the dream, but I hope this isn't something you have in your pocket. >> You replied, touching his clothed erection.

The demon growls, squishing the flesh of your hips under his fingers.

     << You're playing with fire, doll. >>

His pushes are erratic and hopeless. Like he can release all that pain he's feeling.

But suddenly his pushes stop. You feel his hold tightening as he's afraid to lose you too. Little and muffled sobs start to fill the air as the demon tries to hold you as close as possible.

     << Crowley? >>

You caress his head, trying to escape his grip to look at him.

     << I'm sorry... >> he muffles in tears.

His head is against your chest. Tears are starting to wet your skin.

     << Hey... No, no, no. Hey, look at me. Please, look at me, Crowley... >>

You take off his glasses. Once you look at his eyes, your stomach tightens. His eyes are full of sorrow, ache and distress. And it all makes you feel awful. It's like you can't do anything to make him feel better...

You manage to take his face in your hand. You voluntarily start to caress his cheeks with your thumbs while you look into each other's eyes. And what you see breaks your heart.

Crowley's lips are a little parted, quick breaths leaving and entering his mouth. His cheeks are starting to get wet too. The eyebrows narrowed in an expression of pain. 

The demon makes a face, like he has something to say about that, but you don't give him the chance.

     << I-I'm sorry. I should not... >>

He tries to avoid eye contact. 

     << No, hey... Hey. It's okay, darling. It's not your fault. >>

     << But it is! >> He finally looks at you. << If I wasn't the way I am, maybe Aziraphale- >>

     << Do not dare finish what you are about to say! >> You snap.

Your voice is trembling with anger and pain. How could he think that?

<< I don't know what that idiot was thinking. But he shouldn't have said that! And mostly, you mustn't even consider that! How could you even think that there's something wrong with you? That you're the messed up one?

<< Every time I look at you, I fall in love with you even more. I love everything about you! How you say that you're evil and not nice after saying or doing the sweetest and most beautiful things that even an angel can't do! You are infinitely better than a legion of angels. Aziraphale included. >>

     << Aziraphale does not define you, my love. I know that it fucking hurts. Him choosing heaven over us hurt me, and I can't imagine how heartbroken you must feel right now... But he had no right to tell you to change for him. Love is not like that. Love is not changing the other person. Love is feeling like you own the fucking world! Like you've been struck by lightning every time you see them... Love is supposed to make you feel like this. >>

You take his hand and place it against your chest. Your heartbeat is accelerated. The demon can feel it under his hand and thinks it's the most beautiful music he's ever listened to in centuries. 

Your eyes lock one last time. Every limb of your body is linked to the other, trying both be close.

You discover that you're crying once Crowley slowly slides his hand from your chest, then to your neck and to one of your cheeks, wiping the tears from your skin. He then cups your head with both hands, leaning closer to kiss the new tears forming. Your eyes are closed. You try to enjoy this moment that you indulge with the other. You put your hands on Crowley's wrists, rubbing them with your thumbs. Suddenly you feel something odd.

     << You have a heartbeat... >>

You open your eyes only to see that Crowley is already looking at you.

Under your fingers, you can feel his fast heartbeat.

     << I didn't know you had one. >>

     << In your defence, I didn't tell you... >> replied, starting to wander his hand along your hips. He felts like the luckiest entity in the entire universe.

     << Is it supposed to be this rapid? >>

You see him smile a little, then look at your eyes.

     << Didn't you say that love was supposed to feel like that? >>

Crowley leans closer, one hand on your hair. Once your lips meet, you feel fireworks spreading all over you. The demon's lips are so soft against yours. Kissing you with gentleness as if you were made out of porcelain.

You blush and smile.

He does the same. The first real smile after Aziraphale's departure, even if it's little.

His trusts are slow but deep.

Then, he slips the other hand around your hips, bringing you close as he thrusts deep inside you. A moan dies in your mouth.

Crowley smirks a little before he resumes kissing you. His hands are both on your hips as he's helping you move.

Your eyes are locked as your messy breaths get mixed. Sometimes you kiss, but you prefer to look at each other. You can't explain why. You just feel a deeper connection between you. Like you are making love with your souls too.

-.-.-.-.-.-

You continue moving without saying a word. Smiling, touching, squeezing and scratching (on your part) one another.

And when you come, it's like you feel complete and truly loved.

Your foreheads touch as you start panting and giggling. 

Moments before, after you got dressed, you asked your favourite demon if he could pick a movie while you were calling your favourite takeaway restaurant.

     << What are you doing? >>

Crowley quickly turns towards you. A pillow is still in his hands.

Once the call ended, you saw his figure walk the hallway one last time before disappearing. You came to understand that he went outside, in the garden. You decide to sneak out and follow him.

As you were talking with one of the staff, in the corner of your eye, you could see Crowley walking the hallway front and back multiple times. Different things in his hands every time he passed in front of you.

You were so curious and amused that you almost forgot you were ordering food.

Under the moon's soft light, you can see that the grass is covered with blankets and pillows. Over them, there's a bottle of wine and two glasses; while the outside was filled with battery candles.

You can't move or form a single sentence. Your mouth, on the other hand, is curved in the most beautiful smile the demon has ever seen.

Crowley's now looking at you. A nervous smile on his lips.

     << Surprise!>> He throws the pillow on the blankets with the others. << Do you like it? >>

     << I-I... don't know what to say.>>

He walked closer, putting his hands on your hips. << I thought we'd have a post-love-making/little night picnic date under the stars. I figured it'd be nice to talk about the constellations and all that celestial stuff you enjoy while we get drunk. >> he smugly smirks as he hears your chuckle.

-.-.-.-.-.-

With a snap, the two glasses get filled. Crowley passes you one. << What do you say? >>

     << I'm all yours.>>

He smiles at you and kisses you passionately.

     << You know... I've always wanted to ask something. >>

You two have just finished eating and are now on the blankets, cuddling and trying to get drunk.

     Crowley has spent all dinner talking about the stars. He also told you about his time as a nebula creator. You could see a sparkle in his eyes as he spoke. Some sadness behind it, too. Even if he tried to hide it.

Crowley was amused by all of this.

     << Shoot. >>

     << What's it like having someone making up stories about your work? You know, the constellations and so on... >>

     << Oh. Well... I don't mind. It's like reading- What is that you read... Ehm... -Yes! Fanfiction. It's like reading a fanfiction. I don't mind. >>

     You chuckle, a little flustered. << I don't read fanfiction! >>

     He brings the glass to his lips. << Oh yes, you do! Every time I see you with your phone and reading something, you always giggle and kick your feet- >>

     << How dare you! I do not! >>

     << Oh, yes, you do! >>

You laugh. Your face turn all red by now. << You liar! >>

You both chuckle and lean against the other. The demon's free hand is now running up and down your arm. His head is on yours as he leaves a kiss.

     << Thank you. >> you said, breaking the silence. << I loved all of this. >>

Crowley smiles, proud of himself. << Glad you like it. >>

He put his glass near yours and made them touch. A little high-pitched "tin" followed after. << To the perfect night. >>

     << But I have to admit... >> You continue, teasingly raising an eyebrow. << you seemed flustered when I found you setting all up.>>

     &lt;< Flustered? Me? Nonsense!>>

You chuckle, leaning in to peck him on the cheek. Your affectionate gaze never leaves his.

He couldn't help but smile, feeling a warmth in his heart that had nothing to do with the wine. 

     << Jokes aside, you know how to make a moment last forever.>>

Crowley looks at the wine in his glass. A soft and smug smile on his face.

     << Well, I must admit, this wasn't originally on my plan... >> he confesses.

     << What do you mean? >>

Crowley shifted slightly, trying to find the right words to explain himself.

     << I mean... I had planned to take you and... Azirapahle out on a proper date tonight. >> He admitted, his voice soft and hesitant. << I wanted it to be perfect, you know? Wine, dine, and all that... >>

A suffering smile is on his face as he gunks down his wine.

     << I wanted tonight to be special...>> he softly admitted, looking at his empty glass before grabbing the bottle. << You know... after a week of... well, hell. >> He pours the rubin liquor. << For you. For me... for him. For us. >> 

     You take his hand and kiss it. << Well, I must say, this night picnic under the stars was a perfect first day. >>

     He looks at you, uncertain. << Really? >>

     You kiss him and nod, smiling. << Today was hard... >>

     << Yep. >> he takes another sip of wine and clicks his tongue.

     << But this has been the best date I have ever been to! >>

He smiles, looks again into your eyes and says only two words: << Thank you. >>

You know that he's not talking about the date.

You kiss him again and look at him, stroking his tattoed cheek.

     << Don't even mention it. >>

[grntaire]

good omens is an allegory for queer deconstruction from an abusive fundamentalist religious environment.

i've talked about it on here ad nauseum, probably, but i haven't fleshed my thoughts out on it fully. this has been my interpretation since season 1, and season 2 just solidified it for me. so here goes.

it's about the choice that all queer people in an environment like this have to make, and both choices suck and end with loss.

choice 1: stay with your church community, your friends, your family, the world you've always known, but never be true to yourself. because they will never fully accept you if you are true to yourself.

choice 2: embrace your queerness, live your authentic life, and leave it all behind. you're torn from everything you've ever known, everyone you've ever loved. but it's what you have to do to be happy. aziraphale is stuck between choices. crowley never had a choice. his was made for him.

heaven are the church elders. the protectors. the ones who say they have your and god's best interest in mind, always. they don't. to them, hell are the blasphemers, who are both unworthy of redemption yet can only be saved by it. they are the arbiters of what is good and right and bad and wrong.

aziraphale's story is one of both learned faith and earned faith. learned, in that he's been indoctrinated his whole life. been to church at least twice a week since birth. earned, in that he's seen the good that the church can do–they feed the hungry, shelter the unhoused. how could people who do such good be capable of cruelty? and surely, when they are cruel, there must be some greater good to come out of it?

crowley was faithful once, too. he loved god. loved church. but he knew he was queer from a young age, and asked questions about it. not because he wanted to make trouble, but because he wanted to understand. to understand why something he knew about himself to be so innately true could be wrong. but the church didn't see it as that–they saw the embodiment of sin, questioning them. their authority, their virtuosity, the fibre of what holds their organization together, and he was cast out. was kicked out of his home, alienated from his family, his friends, his community. he fell. and he now sees the church for what it truly is.

as for aziraphale, he's accepted the fact that he's queer, but had faith that his elders had his best interest at heart when they spewed homophobic ideology. he never believed the ideology, not really, but he had to believe (made himself believe) that the people who spread it meant well. that they meant it out of kindness, out of protecting queer people from damnation. he wanted to believe that not everyone in the church was like this, that not everyone in the church thought all queer people are inherently people of sin. that is, until a mentor, someone he trusts, perpetuates it too. he's had moments in his past that chipped away at his faith: he'd stayed friends, or whatever you want to call it, with crowley, and crowley had tempted him into trying new things that the church wouldn't approve of. things that aziraphale loved. but this moment with his mentor is when his faith is truly shaken. it's the beginning of his active deconstruction.

and so he leaves. he leaves and finds crowley and they build a semblance of a life together with what they have. they're happy. he's learning that he doesn't need to go to church to be holy. that he doesn't need to be holy to be happy. that he's allowed to indulge in the things he loves without guilt and shame.

that is, until that mentor shows up at his doorstep, offering him everything he's ever wanted. insinuates that he knows him and crowley aren't just friends, and assures him that they can come back to church together. that they're going to change things in the church, and that aziraphale can help. that they need aziraphale to help. (they don't. they want a pious gayboy to help repair their image. it's performative activism at its finest). aziraphale is being offered his family, his community, everything back, and crowley can come too. preying on his wants and desires, manipulating him back into their control. so of course he says yes. they'll get to be together with everything they've ever known and aziraphale doesn't have to make a choice between losses anymore. (deconstruction isn't linear, and abuse is cyclical.)

but crowley makes it for him. crowley tells him no. he doesn't want that life and doesn't want to go back to those people who hate him so much. who hate them so much. crowley knows what the church is about and sees it for what it is. they're not about god, or moral good or doing what's right. all they want is control. it's about the optics of the organization. it's about influencing what serves them and their agenda, and crowley knows that aziraphale is just a pawn to them. ("Why would we go back to them, when they think that who we are is wrong? Is vile? They think us the embodiment of sin and you want to go help them with their PR campaign?")

but aziraphale doesn't know that, can't know it, and crowley can't make him see it. (aziraphale knows that they cast crowley out, that he was kicked out of his home. crowley never shared with him about what happened after. the nights on the street, the things he'd endured to survive.)

and so crowley kisses him. he kisses him to tell him not that he loves him, because of course he does. he kisses him to tell him "This is what you leave behind. We would never be able to do this there, to be this there, even if they say we could. Our lives are here, our safety is here. this is what you're giving up."

crowley has been through it and experienced their cruelty firsthand. aziraphale won't be able to see it until he experiences it, too. he won't be able to realize he's being played if he doesn't even know that there's a game happening in the first place.

i can't recommend watching the show through this lens enough. it makes aziraphale's story that much more heartbreaking, because there's this intense duality of indoctrination vs. deconstruction that lives within him constantly. (imo it's also the main difference between book aziraphale and tv aziraphale: book aziraphale is significantly further along in his deconstruction journey. it's why he's a bit more of a bastard. tv aziraphale is set back a bit further, which sets up his deconstruction arc beautifully across three seasons.)

it's why aziraphale has the ability to peel back layers of himself and his train of thought depending on the situation at hand–he literally has two trains of thought happening at once. the indoctrinated one, and the deconstructed one.

and when crowley kisses him, it's the first time in his existence that both trains of thought have been that present simultaneously. it's both trains colliding full speed with each other. it's why we see both livid, hesitant frustration and fierce passion and longing at once. it forced him to confront something that lived so deeply within himself that he wanted to bring to light on his own terms, but crowley was desperate. the kiss wasn't i love you, please stay. it was look at what you're leaving behind. we could've been us, we could've been this.

and i think that whatever happens in season 3, whatever heaven does that makes them finally irredeemable in aziraphale's eyes, it'll be a beautiful ending to his deconstruction arc. not that deconstruction ever ends, not truly, but for the first time in his existence, he'll be able to see heaven, hell, and the system as a whole clearly for what they are: a bunch of self-righteous dicks.

[if you're curious about religious deconstruction and what it means, this video by therapist and social worker mickey atkins talking about deconstruction in reference to shiny happy people, a documentary about the duggar family, is a good place to start. cw for pretty much all types of abuse imaginable, fyi.]

[ingravinoveritas]

Happy Good Omens S2 Anniversary!! 🤍🖤

Ahh, thank you so much, and Happy GO 2 anniversary to you, too! ❤️

It's so strange to think of what was happening one year ago. I was one day away from moving into a new apartment, and GO 2 was the last thing I watched in my old place, where I'd lived for 15 years. My life packed in boxes, world in upheaval, and there was season two as an oasis of calm in the midst of it all.

What made it even more special was getting to watch the season with @thetardisisblueandroseistoo with both of us on the phone at the same time. I didn't have anyone to watch GO season 1 with, or to really share in the fandom with right afterward in 2019, so for both of us to be reacting in real time--the tears, the laughter, and oh, the moments of silence--was such an incredible experience. To feel like I wasn't alone, and that someone else "got it" and had those feelings in tandem meant so much to me, and still does now.

It was also incredible to see the fandom spring to life following the release of season 2, and the new burst of energy and creativity that came along with it. (I regrettably missed out on a lot at least on Facebook, as my FB was hacked two days after season 2 came out, and I only just got it back now, after a year. But I digress...) I've loved seeing the fans from all the different iterations (OG book fans, radio show fans, TV season 1 fans, TV season 2 fans, etc.) commingle and share our collective joy and sorrow at what the Husbands have gone through, and the emotions brought so captivatingly to life thanks to the gorgeous, searing chemistry between Michael and David.

And now here we are awaiting season three and the bittersweet conclusion of our story. Bittersweet not because of whatever the plot itself may be, but because it will be the moment we finally say goodbye to Aziraphale and Crowley. They won't be on our screens, but they will still live on--in the South Downs and in our hearts, in the work we create to honor what this series has given us.

A part of me is looking forward to it and dreading it in equal measure, and yet I know my life will be forever better because of Good Omens and the friends I've made in the fandom. I was in such a different place mentally when I found the show in 2019, and I am so, so grateful that GO came along when I needed it the most. I can't wait to see how the story ends, and to see all the stories we'll keep telling long after.

To the world... 🥂

[denimbex1986]

'...In season 2, Gaiman and his co-writer John Finnemore takes us beyond the pages of the original book and focuses on the millennia-lasting connection between the book-loving angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant), who cares more about saving humanity than he'd care to admit.

While fans are certainly eager to see more of Aziraphale and Crowley, actors Sheen and Tennant were also more than happy to reprise their roles. "It was very pleasing to slip back into those slightly too-tight trousers," Tennant joked to me about donning Crowley's wardrobe once more. I talked to him about "Good Omens 2" before the SAG-AFTRA strike, and we touched on how season 2 even came to be, what it was like to have Jon Hamm's amnesiac Gabriel throw a wrench into Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship, and — for a brief moment — about fan fiction.

With the first season, there was the source material from the book, but season 2 is new territory. How did Neil [Gaiman] pitch season 2 to you, and when did he pitch it to you in the process?

It gradually came into focus over a couple of years, probably. I mean, from the initial idea that there might be more story to tell, which probably had its genesis way, way back as a sort of fantasy idea, really, where we were shooting [season] 1.

And then [season] 1 came out, and I think from that point, there was a slow realization that actually there might be more to come. Neil was clearly excited at the idea, and I think Amazon were keen to do it. And Michael and I were thrilled that we would get to return to [these] characters. We always thought it was a one-off. That was how it was pitched. That's what we were contracted for. When we started off on that journey, there was never a sense to go further, but what a treat that it was going to. And I think Neil would drop us little nuggets down the months and years, really.

Then there was a point, now when would it have been? I was in Romania filming "Around the World in 80 Days." Michael was, I can't remember where he was, but we had a Zoom call together where Neil read us the first scene, the opening scene, which is, if you've seen it, you'll know we meet a very youthful Crowley and Aziraphale, very much way back at the beginning of time. And Neil read that out to us over a Zoom call and then gave us a quick sketch of what the rest of the series was going to be. He told us some of the other writers that he was working with, and some of the early ideas, and he told us how it ended. That was all worked out, and it just felt delicious, really. I mean from that moment on, it just felt like it was always meant to be. It felt like it was such a perfectly formed idea. I think it's fair to say that Michael and I didn't need much persuading.

One thing I love about both seasons is that Aziraphale and Crowley are definitely an odd couple, but in "Good Omens 2," they're an odd couple who gets a toddler — at least in the first few episodes with Gabriel.

Yes, yes. That's a very good logline. Yes. The odd couple with a toddler.

I have a toddler, and some of the lines, I was like, "Is Neil in my house taking audio of my child?" Because you had the established dynamic with Michael for Crowley and Aziraphale in the first season, how did the dynamic change in those scenes with the two of you and with Gabriel when he's in that toddler state?

Well, I suppose it's Gabriel's very presence that changes it, isn't it? I mean, he's the grit in the oyster there, because I think they've just about managed to figure out a way of existing separately and together without their head offices ruling their lives. They're living with existence in the shadows on Earth and actually having probably quite a reasonable time. I mean, Crowley's living in the back of his car, which isn't ideal, but they're bumping along, and they can spend time together with less of the threat of being told off for it.

The absence of heaven and hell has actually been quite a good thing for them on the whole. So to have Gabriel revisiting is a bit of a disaster. Especially — I mean, he did try to discorporate Aziraphale and that Aziraphale was actually Crowley at the time, and that's not something Crowley's wanting to forgive. So to have Gabriel back in their midst and inexplicably amnesiac at the same time, it's not really what they needed and it's not helping them to keep their heads down. So it's brilliant in terms of setting these characters off on a new story and taking them to places they didn't imagine they would ever have to go. It's a fantastic device and like you say, yes, it's a bit like the odd couple with a kid, or two supernaturals and a baby, something like that. And I think that's the joy, isn't it? If there's characters that you know and love, you just want to spin them into a situation that they've not been in before and sit back and enjoy it.

Another thing in season 2, and I'm going to keep this spoiler-free, but there are a lot of flashbacks to other points in time, which you got a little bit of in the first season. But I think we get more of it here, and one of the things with those flashbacks is that you, especially as Crowley, get to wear the most magnificent costumes. What was that like for you, to embody these clothes and portray Crowley through all those different points in time?

Who wouldn't get a kick out of being able to reimagine what that version of Crowley would've been? Because unlike Aziraphale, who tends to be a bit more conservative in the way that he addresses whatever period he's living through and in some ways sort of changes very little, Crowley leans into wherever he is and tries to find the zeitgeist of the moment and chew it up and spit it out a little bit. So from a design point of view, that's great fun. Obviously, Kate Carin, our costume designer, was allowed to run riot, because you get to design a period look and then add another 25% on top of it. And Stevie Smith, who designs my makeup on it, gets to find new ways of sticking facial hair on me. And it's hugely fun to play, and hugely fun for everyone to create.

And those little stories — the stories within the story — to get to see those characters at different points in their existence, it's a treat. It was always Michael and I's favorite bit of the first [season], that sequence — episode 3 where you saw them traipsing through history. And so it was delicious that there was more of that in season 2, and they're very much crafted at specific points in the story to illustrate an element of how Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship has developed over the millennia and why they are where they are now. So they're not just indulgences for us all. They're very specific plot points to tell.

I'm sure there's fanfic out there that's similar to what we see of Crowley and Aziraphale, and it's interesting to see the official version of it.

Yes. I mean, I've experienced some fanfic in my time. I think it's best, probably not for me [to read]. Sometimes you find yourself doing some very, very extraordinary things. So perhaps I'll leave that ....

No, I think that's wise on your part. And then for my last question, it just looks like you're having fun when you're playing Crowley —

I wouldn't want you to imagine anything other than very, very hard work. Very difficult, very dull, very boring. I'm never enjoying myself at all.

Yeah, no, of course not! But for Crowley, is there anything you do to get into that mindset?

It was interesting going back for series 2, because there's been quite a gap between filming 1 and 2, and I was a little bit concerned that the voice or the walk or whatever else it might be have slightly left me. But once I was staring at Michael Sheen's bleached white hair and his ... oh, I could be rude. I'm not going to be rude. So no, it all sort of seemed to come back fairly easily, to be honest. I felt, there's certainly, it's a very pleasing character to inhabit and all that full cynicism that he splashes around himself, which actually hides, I would say, a heart of gold, although Crowley would never admit that himself. It was very pleasing to slip back into those slightly too-tight trousers. It really was a pleasure. It was great fun.'

[amaliazeichnerin]

Not separating the art from the artist

July 29, 2024

When the news about the allegations against Neil Gaiman broke at the beginning of July, I was shocked. In this text, I’ll write some thoughts about this. I’ll put links down below, in the footnotes.

I listened to the podcast that broke the news (1), all four episodes. I later read a bit about it on Reddit (2) and listened to an extensive video (YouTube channel Council of Geeks, footnote 3).

Then I read that another woman had come forward, talking about her experiences with Gaiman ten years ago, in another podcast (4). I also read about rumours how questionable behaviour of Gaiman towards young female fans has been a thing for decades.

And he has admitted to some of what one of these women, Scarlett, has said – having a consensual relationship with her.

Well, even if the relationship (and other similar ones) has been completely consensual - which I doubt after listening to Scarlett’s experiences and what the other two women said - there still is a strange power dynamic at play: A wealthy, privileged older man and at least three young, inexperienced women, two of them fans who likely were to some extend starstruck by the attention he gave them. And Scarlett was employed as the nanny of his child.

In my eyes, this kind of power dynamic in a relationship is unethical, especially given all the details in those podcast episodes.

Why am I writing about this here? I have a hard time with „separating the art from the artist“. Some time ago, I have written a blog in German why. (5) I used to be a fan of the Sandman series and the Good Omens series. I also like the Dead Boy Detectives series and I watched and read American Gods.

I think the connection between the Dead Boy Detectives Netflix series and Neil Gaiman is not that strong, because while he has written a part of one episode as far as I heard and has created the characters for the Comic books, he wasn’t that much involved in the creation of the Netflix series. They also changed the two main characters quite a bit, as far as I know, for instance making them older.

When it comes to Good Omes, Gaiman was heavily involved in creating the series. I used to love it. I wrote an alternative universe fanfiction about it, I created some fan artworks and two cosplays. I also bought some fan artwork and hung it on my wall. I also love how Michael Sheen and David Tennant portray the main characters. However, after these news about Gaiman, „Good Omens“ feels … tainted to me. I lost my enthusiasm about the show. I have to admit about season three that I was mainly interested in a happy ending for Aziraphale and Crowley, preferably a romantic one. At this point, I do not much care for the rest of the plot. So far, there haven’t been any news that season three gets cancelled because of this controversy. So we’ll have to wait how that goes on.

But there is more, and here is where it sort of gets a bit more personal. „Good Omens“ inspired an urban fantasy novel I wrote last year and want to publish next year. I even wrote an acknowledgment in the book thanking Neil Gaiman for the inspiration, but I have deleted that now. I have written that acknowledgment also this June in a question to Neil Gaiman here on Tumblr, but I now hope that he never sees or answers it.

As for Sandman, I am not sure anymore if I want to watch the second season which is said to come out some time in 2025.

I have never bought books or comics of Neil Gaiman, except for an e-book of „American Gods“ and a print copy of "Good Omens" which I both bought last year. But I have deleted the e-book some days ago. I used to read some of his books from our local library, back in the early 2000s.

I am going to keep my copy of „Good Omens“, because at least half of it was written by Terry Pratchett. And so far, I haven’t heard about any controversies about that author.

I would like to close this blog with a German article from a SFF website why we shouldn’t put famous popular authors on pedestals: https://www.tor-online.de/magazin/mehr-phantastik/neil-gaiman-und-co-wir-muessen-aufhoeren-menschen-auf-ein-podest-zu-stellen

Addendum August 2, 2024 Two more women have come forward with allegations, in a new podcast episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/master-the-allegations-against-neil-gaiman/id1756088562?i=1000663998586

Btw, if after all you are still a Neil Gaiman fan and enjoy his works – you do you. But please do not reblog this to come to his defense, do not comment, do not message me. Just scroll on. I am not going to discuss this any further.

Footnotes: (1) „Master: The Allegations against Neil Gaiman“ by The Slow Newscast Episode 1 of 4: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1NxQdD9F1vb4YxtAPEiI5J

(2) https://www.reddit.com/r/neilgaimanuncovered/

(3) "About those Neil Gaiman allegations (and the outlet that broke the story)" by Council of Geeks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xmeEXDFM8I

(4) Podcast „Am I Broken: Survivor Stories“ by Papillon DeBoer Season 4, Episode 2 https://open.spotify.com/episode/47enk8V96GGkJtXEgwpXbs (5) Blog: „Muss man die Kunstschaffenden von ihrer Kunst trennen?“ https://amalia-zeichnerin.net/muss-man-die-kunstschaffenden-von-ihrer-kunst-trennen/

This is also interesting: „Manufacturing consent“ by Annabel Ross https://politicsdancingxyz.substack.com/p/manufacturing-consent

Rollingstone Article: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/neil-gaiman-denies-sexual-assault-allegations-two-women-1235053131/

A round-up with a time line of everything going on with the allegations, reactions and more: https://muccamukk.dreamwidth.org/1678972.html Transcripts of the Tortoise Media podcast as PDFs for free download (TW: graphic descriptions of SA) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CuFVjs06gtQcPhhUEeR4GMORY37iMfz3

Addendum August 31, 2024 Two more episodes of "Master: The Allegations against Neil Gaiman" have come out, with more women coming foward with allegations.

Vera from "Council of Geeks" has done a second video on the topic.

[gattinarubia]

so I decided to watch Our Flag Means Death after feeling bereft in the wake of season 2 of Good Omens thinking it might help alleviate some of the *feelings* I was feeling from that... and it almost... kind of did? I got a new ship out it so... mission accomplished?

I had LITERALLY no idea that season 2 of OFMD would be launched in FOUR DAYS. now i'm absolutely spiraling and this was not the plan at all. for some reason i thought OFMD s1 came out way before GO s1 (probably because black sails content had been around for a while but it didn't have the fucking gorgeous and amazing Taika Waititi in it so I have no idea how I got them confused) but it was only a year earlier!!!

i'm extremely excited and also really worried that i'm headed back down the angst rabbit hole. i just want these middle aged queer characters to be happy, dammit. maybe it's because i'm 30, but mature, fully-realized adult queer characters are my emergency bread and milk these days and will probably remain so forever.

Taika Waititi and Neil Gaiman have become disproportionally important to me and i feel both guilty and a bit silly that i'm hinging so much of my sanity on their creative choices.

(also Vico Ortiz now has me in a chokehold and I want them to have the best career ever where they can be 100% authentic and a drag king superstar to their heart's content... at least i think OFMD S2/Taika won't disappoint me there, at least. it seems like taika waititi drinks his "respect enbies" juice every day.)

please feel free to PM if you just want to squeal about either of these shows, because i have *thoughts* and i'm not totally sure how to deal with them. RIP my tumblr front page.

[lin11a]

After watching Good Omens season 2, I wanted to talk about this :

A lot of people did recently said that Season 2 Episode 2 was a great episode, but didn't understand the food scene, or found any reason this is here. Well, as far as I am concerned, this is actually the best scene of this episode, even better than the end, and I wanted to talk more about it.

Here is the summarized main topic of this flashback : GOD IS "TESTING" JOB WHILE CROWLEY IS "TESTING" AZIRAPHALE ON DIFFERENT LEVELS

This episode has a big flashback about Aziraphale and Crowley that can't be ignored at all, thanks to all of the elements that we learn about how the Heaven/Hell/World work in this story and about our ineffable duo. We can list those like this :

Demons always do the bad jobs. Nothing new, but what it is new is the "permit" that Crowley has from God to destroy Job possessions and family. An angel can't react against this kind of permit. Usually, angels just watch demons do their thing and rather think about the happy ending than the process, according to Gabriel's justification :

If angels let demons do and just stare, Aziraphale couldn't let Crowley do that, even after knowing about the bet. At first, he was not aware about the permit nor the bet, and although he's informed after asking, he just comes back to Earth to avoid the killing of the children by trying to convince Crowley to stop, just after the killing of the goats. It doesn't go too well at first :

In front of this apparently crualty, Aziraphale gives up and is about to leave, BUT notices that the crows around there do not go CAW CAW CAW. He turns toward Crowley and gets from him the REAL staring and honesty he was asking before at this very moment, without any words spoken.

It's important to notice that Crowley turned (twice) toward Aziraphale, so the angel can have his real answer behind the devilish acting he's got to play. Crowley lets the birds go baaaaa on purpose to see what reaction he would get from the other side, or at least, he waits to see the reaction of the angel instead of just leaving. Aziraphale understands that Crowley didn't kill the goats, and assume quickly that the children will be safe.

Crowley is not naive and knows that Aziraphale misunderstands the true meaning of his decision. But he's also enough smart to understand that Aziraphale has a weird behaviour for an angel : no angel would come to Earth reflecting on a decision from God by trying to convince a demon to stop it. It requires at least to have enough consideration toward humans and kids to act like that, which even Gabriel does not have in this story... Aziraphale does have it, and we all know who has it too but doesn't want to show it too much then constantly fails anyway...

He's so bad at being bad that when he sets the children's house on fire, Aziraphale sticks to his positions and remains sure of the idea that the children won't die by Crowley's hand. Icing on the cake : Aziraphale doesn't give up nor go away again : he even goes real close to Crowley this time, sure there is no danger at all for anyone's life, sure that Crowley can't lie anymore or hide under his role if he does that.

Right after in the cellar, Crowley just sees that for once, he's not alone during his duty, and tries to get comfy with what he has in front of him : a wine jar and an angel who has trusted him. Crowley invites Aziraphale to try drinks then food. At first, the angel thinks about temptation from a demon, but the real thing was only about curiosity. Common angels don't have enough curiosity to understand humanity : they often base their knowledge on only ONE experience (like the "birth" of Eve for Gabriel, who considers he's now an expert about human reproduction) or things they've been told since the beginning. From Aziraphale : "demons are bad, angels are good" without nuance. And THIS IS WHY he's not able to understand Crowley completly while they talk about "sides" at the first time.

Aziraphale sees the world as two sides only, but he has this empathic side that can bring him to understand humans, but also and over all Crowley. The thing is Aziraphale never really had the chance to get more interested in something that's not about his own duties, because angels usually are not curious. This is why he mixes up curiosity and temptation. He can't make the difference if he doesn't try anything.

Now, we have Crowley, who doesn't like being a demon at all, who loves questions and curiosity, who CRAVES for answers he might never have... He's on Earth for a long time and do not take his devilish work seriously, because he doesn't understand the point of choosing between demons or angels. He wants to be HIMSELF only. He wants to do what HE thinks is good, and for so long, he never had the chance to think objectively "I'm the one who's right, because I'm just myself and it's okay" without having Heaven or Hell arguing with his way of living. When Aziraphale just came in his life, it’s as if the world has finally laid out a little something, another curiosity, and this curiosity was curious about him as well, even if this curiosity is irritating. But until then, Aziraphale meets several criterias that angels don't have and that Crowley loves.

And what did God do when Job met the criterias to make God wins the bet ? God granted him with presents.

...so why couldn't Aziraphale has his own presents from Crowley, just for existing in his way ? Yep ! Eating is not at all an invitation to sin in this scene to me. Crowley's present to Aziraphale is waaaaaaay different that the presents given to Job of course, but it's undoubtedly more important on his scale. It's not about just a piece of meat : Crowley offers Aziraphale the chance and opportunity to find out, experience and enjoy what Earth can offer to him, even when there is a huge storm outside, even when it seems like the end of time ! He gives him the chance to understand why living on Earth can be beautiful and how human creativity can bring a lot of pleasure and good feelings. Food is the big part of it and the first of course, but after that, we can see that Aziraphale learned to dance (another thing that angels don't do), has a huge passion for books and a full collection of them, likes talking about everything, likes living on Earth near humans more than living in Heaven, etc. At last, it's not important that Aziraphale didn't understand the whole Crowley's elaborate morality/way of living. What's important here is that he's interested to understand, not like other people. Job kept his fey, and Aziraphale kept his trust and open-mindedness to the world. This is also a big present for Crowley, to not feel so alone like before, and also being seen as more than a demon.

Please, just mind this is my interpretation of this scene, and that I really thinks it gives a lot more than what people use to see in it.

[wheeloffortune-design]

*holding a mic 🎤 * good evening, would you like to tell us about your opinion on the upcoming second season of good omens?

* Holds out, mic 🎤 *

I'm terrified.

And excited, of course, don't get me wrong. But first season ended in a good note, the characters are in a safe place, you can expect they're happy. A second season means plot, and plot means bad things are going to happen.

If you take into consideration that they'd like 3 seasons total, and also that a lot of projects are dropped halfway, and also that this is not based on an existing published novel, we could very well end season two on a cliffhanger, or at least a bad place, that should be resolved in season 3... but what if there's no season 3.

Remember the cool summer of Avengers 2012 were everyone wrote fic about them living all together in the tower and having tuesday movie nights? And then the movies did the exact opposite of that and we never went back to that safe, happy place anymore?

So yeah, can't wait for the new series. I just want my guys to be happy, and plot is going to get in the way of that. Things are going to change.

[alargehunkofdebris]

S3 Won't Be Like S2, and That's Not a Bad Thing

So after the absolute cheese and crackers of this second season (plus that whollup of angst at the end) many Good Omens fans will be waiting for that next level of fluff and angst come S3. Don’t blame you at all.

However.

I think, should we be fortunate and get a new season at all, we must all be prepared for the reality that S3 is not going to be like S2, and remember too that this is not a bad thing.

Middle seasons/movies/books are notoriously tough to get right. Though they function as their own story, they’re also the middle part of an overarching plot. They are, in the plotting world (if you use Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat plotting structure terminology) the “fun and games” part of the plot. You get neither the interesting introduction of all character/plot/main conflicts, nor the highest stakes/climax/resolution of the end. So it’s really hard to keep that level of interest in a season that has no solid beginning or solid end of the main plot.

However, in this particular instance, Neil Gaiman and Co. have the absolutely wonderful benefit of having two main characters that most fans are content to watch paint dry with. The characters and their dynamics are the jewels of this story. So, this second season had another function. It was a “treat” season, in a way, because it slowed everything down and really let us indulge in the little, joyful things – aka, the developing relationship of Crowley and Aziraphale. Season One gave us a lot of that, too – but a great deal of that development was added for the show. With just the book as reference, it was a very plottish story. That’s why it required a season to pull off and not just a movie. On the other hand, if you took the events of S2 and converted it to a book of the same style (aka, focused mostly on the plot and the overall cast of characters, not as much on the main two) it would be significantly shorter.

Now, back to the subject of S3. This future season will be going back to the roots of Good Omens, because a big chunk of that plotting was done back when the original book was created. The major beats have been in place since 1990. So, it would probably be a fair bet to say that there will be a lot more plot-heavy beats, with less laser-focus on the relationship. Where S1 had several plots with one major one involving Adam as the antichrist, S2 was literally a romance story with a mystery element. S3, on the other hand, will likely be a return to form, and this isn’t a bad thing whatsoever. Many will be happy about this, because while it would be lovely to have an infinite amount of time just seeing the domestic side of an angel/demon relationship, we absolutely need some gritty, high-stakes plot points to round off this massively ambitious story.

It doesn’t mean we won’t get a lot of relationship things. We need it too, considering the build up we got S2. It is the heart of the whole story. I just think that S3 will be a perfect balance of what we liked of both S1 and S2. Where some would find S2 a little lacking in speed and stakes, S3 will be faster paced with bigger conflict. Where some find S1 to spend too much time away from the main relationship, S3 will absolutely focus on this as one of the two major plots of the story (S1/the book, on the other hand, had at least 4 plotlines that we switched between somewhat equally.)  

So, when we think of S3 and theorize on its plot, we must think of it more in the context of S1/book rather than S2. We have to imagine that the major beats were figured out in the 90s, and focus on those unresolved setups we got in S2. So, we have the Book of Life, the Memory Wiping, and the Second Coming. I may also suggest the 25 Lazareth Miracle Concept, though I’d probably guess that it’s a modern Gaiman addition/enhancement with its focus on Crowley and Aziraphale’s “stronger together” theme (this theme enhancement was mostly a Gaiman addition in S1, remember, with the Ep 3 cold open and The Switch at the end). I’m still not positive whether this is going to end up being that an angel and demon working together makes the most powerful miracle (which would probably be more in-line with the original 90s plot) or if it’s specifically Crowley and Aziraphale; there would be very different plot possibilities with either. With the first, we could potentially have a return of Beelzebub and Gabrial as an Act 3 saving grace, and with the second they could literally have a “true loves kiss that saves the world” kind of thing, which I don’t think will happen (but Lord, can you imagine?)

All I know is that when a large chunk of S3’s original plot was conceived, the authors had no idea just how popular the angel and demon duo would be. It was written without that influence in mind. And I think this is a Good Thing. Because as much as we all want infinite content of Crowley and Aziraphale, there is always that danger of “too much of a good thing.” In getting only what we want, we would lose all those other parts that makes this story beloved.

Neil Gaiman said it himself, so many times. S2 is the “gentle and romantic” season. It is, in other words, the one that focussed on Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship. He said also that he can’t guarantee the fans will even like season 3, and I don’t think that is because he’s going to do anything awful to our beloved characters. I think he’s simply being wary of fans who might take for granted that S3 will have that same level of fluff (affectionate) as S2, and this just won’t be the case. And I very much guarantee that even if we have a perfect level of relationship focus in S3, the sheer glut of it in S2 will create some disappointment and bitterness indeed.  

In short: we are absolutely, without a doubt, NOT going to get that same level of sweet, domestic relationship stuff in Season 3 as we did in S2, and we all should try to avoid throwing undue expectation (and potential bitterness) at Neil Gaiman if there’s that distinct change of pace/tone. Because it doesn’t mean we won’t get a huge amount of relationship stuff in general (we could even get more); it just means it won’t be the sole focus, and it won’t be “gentle and romantic.” There won’t be plots about trying to put on a Jane Austin ball, or trying to play matchmaker for a local couple. There are going to be much higher stakes, with a lot more stuff happening. And this isn’t a bad thing. It’s what’s needed to make a well-rounded trifecta of seasons. So be prepared, set expectations, gird your loins, have a ton of fun in the meantime, and—most importantly—pray that S3 will be renewed at all.

[neil-gaiman]

Hello!!

First of all, THANK YOU!!! The world has been feeling harder and more hopeless to me in recent years, and individuals like yourself help more than I will ever be able to express to bring light and hope back into my world. Loving and obsessing over gems like Good Omens, and American Gods (the novel at least, I must admit I never saw the show 🙈) have always given me motivation, sparked my creativity, and made me feel so much love for this, often unfortunately cruel, world. I can't express the solace it brings to me when the creators of the things I love are thoughtful and decent human beings. So, again, THANK YOU 🫀🫀🫀

I just finished my second viewing of Season 2 and have a question for you (my apologies if it has already been asked and/or answered and I missed it)!! 

How did you select the song "Everyday" by Buddy Holly? It is absolutely perfect on so many different levels, and for so many different threads and characters, all while still encompassing the perfect feelings of this show. I always include playlists with the stories I write, and often agonize over which song is the best choice for certain moments. You had to pick one song to encompass the entirety of it, and it truly blew me away! 

Thank you this Season and for everything you do; it really does mean the world to so many of us 🫀🫀🫀

In February of 1991 (I think) Terry Pratchett and I were staying in the Chateau Marmont hotel in LA. These days it is a very fancy hotel but back then it was pretty manky and run down. We were being put up by a film company and each morning we would fax over an outline for a new version of Good Omens the Movie and each afternoon we'd go to the studio for a meeting and we would realise that nobody had actually read what we had sent over that morning. Then we would go back to the hotel and work on trying to incorporate the studio notes on the outline they hadn't actually read into what we were doing.

We worked up in Terry's room because it had heating, and it was incredibly cold in LA that February, especially cold because I was in a chalet out in the grounds and there weren't heaters or extra blankets or anything in the chalet.

And at some point in there we were talking about music, and I suggested a few scary and ominous songs that might work to signal the end times. And Terry said "What about Buddy Holly's song Everyday? It sounds so upbeat and cheerful. But what if it was about the end of the world?" And I got all excited at the idea of Everyday being the Good Omens theme song.

So it's really just there to make Terry happy.

[oh-contraire]

Coming back to fandom

Okay so it's been like 15 years since I've been properly excited about a fandom, so I didn't expect to be sitting here in my 40s, supposedly a serious adult with a real job and a real life (such as it is), having fallen even more deeply in love with Good Omens, a show based on a book that I've loved for over 20 years, a story that's always been there for me, this lovely little comfort read with a life-affirming message, and that has now eaten my entire brain and made it abundantly clear that I'll be stuck right here at least until season 3 comes out and gives me that beautiful everything-is-as-it-should-be cathartic resolution and I can finally rest and go back to real life (ha!)

I certainly didn't expect for this silly show about angels and demons to help me figure out this late in my life that I'm non-binary, to have all those parts of myself that I didn't quite understand suddenly start to make sense. I didn't expect to actually start to really own my queerness - which as a perpetually single person at my age, who's straight-enough-passing to not have to hang it all out there, while simultaneously being lucky enough to exist in a group of friends where queerness is basically the default and you'd almost have to come out as straight (old goths are the best) - is such a powerful experience, and is helping me figure out what the next part of my life will be and what the hell I'm doing around here.

The last time I was in a fandom, I was young (well, compared to now). I had parents who were still alive, who I was close to, and who I could share my excitement with. I've got beautiful memories of travelling from Australia to Europe with my mum in 2008, the last time we'd ever do that, of spending a couple of days of our precious holiday at Cardiff Bay watching the post-hub explosion scene in Torchwood Children of Earth being filmed, of her sneaking away and getting GDL's autograph for me on a random piece of paper, when I was too mortified to even consider it. I'll never watch Family of Blood or Utopia without remembering how I saw it for the first time with my dad, randomly flicking through channels and not really knowing what we were in for, and both of us experiencing that incredible, literally jaw dropping moment when Derek Jacobi was revealed as the Master, how I teasingly called him Father of Mine for years after that because it was such a wonderful shared moment for both of us (and because I was a totally cool and normal grown adult even then).

I never expected to fall straight back in love with Doctor Who after that, 15 years later, having lost both of my parents to awful illnesses, having tried to pretend that life, however fine it all was for the most part, hadn't had this constant undercurrent of existential dread, a horrible sense that from now on it would just be a series of losses, that all the things I loved would just fall away until there was nothing important left, that I could scramble for those little crumbs that felt like renewal or purpose but that ultimately felt hollow in the face of what seemed like an increasingly bleak and relentless world of serious things like work and mortgage payments and obligations and the whole thing of pretending to be a real adult doing Important Things.

I never expected just how healing, how utterly cathartic it would be to see 14 come back after all these years, older, tireder, after experiencing all that loss and grief, and to see them love so deeply, to see them find a new home, a new family, and to finally find a way to be actually, truly happy. I cried so much during that episode, and it felt like actual hope for the first time in years, like it helped to heal some part of myself that thought it would never be properly healed.

I'll never stop being in awe of how stories can do that. These silly little TV shows about angels and demons or time travel and the universe, which are really about humans and life and death and love and everything that's actually important, and which bring to the surface those deep truths that are hard to see among the minutiae of everyday life.

Stories are so powerful, and I'm so happy to feel excited about them again, and to have them weave their way back into the fabric of my life. So, thanks to RTD and @neil-gaiman for helping me find this feeling again, and thanks to fandom for continuing to exist while I figured out that this was one of the big parts that was missing from my life! <3

[orionsangel86]

Good Omens S2 Episode Review - 201 The Arrival

You know how here on tumblr we often voice our grievances about modern film and television? Everything is too dull and washed out, too dark and grimy, too muffled to the point we can barely hear, and the writing seems to be done in such a way that you can almost feel the contempt oozing off of the writers for their own fanbases?

Maybe Neil Gaiman came across those posts and had a good chuckle, before nodding in agreement and taking notes, because at least so far in episode 1, GOS2 makes none of these vital mistakes! I can already tell I'm going to fall headfirst into obsession over this series again, and I've only watched one episode!

Spoilers for episode 1 only under the cut. Safe for anyone who hasnt watched any further (because I haven't either at this point!)

Gods its gorgeous isnt it? To the extent that I think gifmakers wont have to spend hours and hours doing colour corrections for once! The opening scene blew me away. I wonder if we'll ever find out who Crowley was before he fell? Seeing as he was clearly a high ranking angel. This is where the Crowley-was-Raphael truthers are throwing a party lol.

From that first scene its clear they are going heavy handed on the AziraCrow romance. Zira's little double take when he thinks Crowley is calling him gorgeous before realising he was talking about the nebula was already less subtle than anything they gave us in the entirety of season 1. So we are off to a good start!

"How much trouble can I get into just for asking a few questions?" Oh Crowley, my poor naive little angel! :'(

It's interesting how already there seems to be a general mockery of creationism and creationists (which I love btw) because of how idiotic these beliefs are. Crowley is asking all the right questions of course. Creating the universe just to center everything around a little planet called Earth just seems a bit, well, silly doesn't it!

The title sequence is an absolute ball and I consider it sacrilegious to skip it!

This episode sets up an interesting new dynamic for Aziraphale and Crowley that raises questions. If we consider where things were left off at the end of season 1, you would think they would be on very good terms, happily enjoying their retirement together (whether as friends or something else) but that doesn't appear to be the case. It was already something I picked up in the promo scenes, but seeing the full episode now it really isn't subtle that something has gone sort of wrong or at least somewhat disjointed for them. There is a tension between them which is completely new.

"There's only three reasons why you ever call me.

You're bored.

You have to tell someone about something clever you did before you pop.

Somethings wrong."

Do I detect a hint of bitterness there Crowley?

That plus the clear jealousy towards Aziraphale's "naked man friend" and the anger with which he responds "SO DID I!" indicates that Crowley is very much not happy with the current state of their relationship. Why would Crowley not be happy with their relationship when he should have everything he wants? Freedom from Hell, relative safety in retirement... okay so he's living in his car which isn't ideal (but something tells me that's more because he's waiting for Aziraphale to invite him to live at the bookshop than that he couldn't find another apartment if he wanted to). What else could Crowley possibly want thats causing this tension? Hmmmm.

I love how with Crowley, there is at least consistency in his motivations to do anything. In that if it's something that he doesn't want to do, but Aziraphale is in danger if he doesn't do it, he'll leap head first into the fire just to protect Aziraphale. Beelzebub's threat about "extreme sanctions" is clearly a horrible thought, and what would Crowley even be if Aziraphale was erased from existence? It raises the stakes beyond the threats of the first season. Destruction is bad enough, but at least you'll have your memories of your friend/6000 year old life partner, but to be erased from the book of life completely? Ooof that's worse. Far FAR worse. Poor Crowley.

So he returns. Of course. The catty bitchiness between them when Crowley returns though and has to grovel with that silly little dance (and I do hope I see at least a dozen gifsets of that silly little dance when I eventually remove my filters!). OMG Aziraphale you are such a bitchy gay I love you! But does Crowley tell him about the threat? No of course he doesn't. Because draaamaaaaa babes!

I have to scream about Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy being the first Queen song to play. You gotta hand it to Neil, he clearly knows his fanbase well!

Moving on to Maggie and Nina, I find their dynamic lovely and awkward, though I do think the narrative parallels are more heavy handed than in a season 8 monster of the week Supernatural episode (which is an impressive feat of brick-wall-to-the-face obviousness believe me). Still, I love narrative parallels as a storytelling device, so I am of course gonna eat all this up and gorge on "the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one" tropeyness to my hearts content.

Clearly Maggie is the Aziraphale and Nina is the Crowley (the twist being that Maggie fell first, whereas we all know Crowley has been holding a flame for Aziraphale since the Garden - then again, that opening scene puts Aziraphale's feelings in a new light!) so I am looking forward to seeing how else their budding relationship compares in future episodes!

Re the central mystery around Gabriel, I've gotta hand it to John Hamm, he's hilarious. I love him. I have absolutely no idea where this is going after only 1 episode, other than to giggle at the fact that if all of Soho didn't already assume Aziraphale was "as gay as a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide" then they certainly do now!

"You're funny. I love you." Amazing. No notes. Keep making Aziraphale squirm lol. Though doesn't it also pose an interesting question? Gabriel is still an angel right? Beings of love. They are supposed to feel love and I think part of the point of the beurocracy of Heaven is that the angels have forgotten their original purpose - to love others. Right? Maybe I'm just making that up, but I found it interesting that as soon as Gabriel found himself enjoying Aziraphale's company, he was so comfortable just expressing his feelings like that.

(side note that I love how in GO, they always give a fairly accurate representation of the streets of Soho, too many films and TV shows filmed in London underestimate just how bloody crowded the city is. You can't move without bumping into someone in the West End at any point and GO has gone all out on filling their film studio with extras which is a nice touch.)

So whats in the box? What's in the matchbox? I'm calling it now there is a connection. I also don't think either are actually "empty". Gabriel said his arms were heavy from carrying the box around, but if it was empty then it wouldn't have hurt his arms to carry it. A trick of some kind perhaps? Something invisible perhaps?

The Book of Job quote on the matchbox "Out of his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out" Probably important. Isn't one of the episodes coming up about Job? Still, I am in no way a bible scholar I haven't even read the thing, so I'm not gonna attempt to analyse all this and I am sure some other very intelligent person on Tumblr has already done so!

It was a really good really enjoyable episode with some laugh out loud moments. I like the mystery, and all the new characters are interesting. So far nothing has bored me and I really am gagging to watch the next episode ASAP. Its wonderful having Aziraphale and Crowley back on the screen again, like coming home to see some old friends, but this time for some reason its all a bit awkward and the tensions a bit off and so I am sitting here wondering if maybe they got really drunk one night and almost fucked but then didn't go through with it and refuse to discuss it so now i'm going to have to subtly get them to talk about their relationship drama. Lmao.

I'm a slut for other peoples relationship drama though, and Neil Gaiman just handed it to me on a platter. ;-)

[ingravinoveritas]

How are you doing after all the lovely new GO/David and Michael content we got today? I'm just so happy they're back together again, and that we are getting so close to season 2!!!

Hi, Anons! Oh my goodness, what a day it's been. Anon #1, you've asked how I'm doing, and the truth be told, I'm genuinely emotional. I don't think I truly realized how much I missed seeing Michael and David together until we finally got them in the same interview today, and those photo call pictures.

The thing is, it's not as if we haven't seen them at all over the last year, as both Michael and David have been busy with work and different projects. They've both done interviews and appearances on their own, but there's just something that comes into being when they are together that's missing when they're by themselves. This third thing between them, that is so palpable it's almost visible. We know Michael and David are closer now than ever, but it's as if the chemistry between them has grown and transformed into something much, much deeper.

To your point, Anon #2, I absolutely did notice that Michael and David nearly held hands at the beginning. I think it was Michael who attempted first, then David, before they settled on linking arms:

What gets me about this--what got me earlier when I watched it and still does now--is how instinctive and natural it was for them to reach for each other's hands. I had a feeling prior to this, but it seems almost certain that they have held hands before. Neither one of them hesitated for a second, except for seemingly having to stop themselves from holding hands and linking arms instead. The contrast becomes even more stark when you see the video of Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldana walking onto the set in a similar manner--it's incredibly awkward, and there is none of the warmth or chemistry that Michael and David have in abundance.

The other part that stood out to me about this woefully short and inadequate interview was how toned down Michael and David both were. This is particularly noticeable when Michael is describing Good Omens and refers to David/Crowley as "my best buddy":

There is a lot happening here, not the least of which is both of them looking completely disgusted as Michael says that (the "meh" head nod from David, and then Michael sucking his cheeks in and looking like he's choking on his own bile). I think both of them were/are under specific instructions not to talk about the second season or share anything that could be construed as "spoilers" (including but not limited to The Thing, which you know they were both dying to talk about), so that is certainly a large part of why this went the way it did.

But there does seem to be more going on beneath the surface. We saw David in the photo call earlier today wearing a "Leave Trans Kids Alone" t-shirt under his jacket. Yet here on the One Show, he is no longer wearing the shirt. It doesn't seem farfetched to guess that the BBC asked him to change out of the shirt, and Michael--not wanting David to stand out for the wrong reasons or get flak for it--changed his own clothes in solidarity.

The strangeness is further compounded by something that was pointed out to me by several folks via DM, which is that in the pictures from the photo call, David is visibly not wearing his wedding ring:

As we know, David always wears his wedding ring, which makes its absence even more conspicuous. Could he have simply forgotten it on the nightstand in Michael's hotel room? Sure. But what makes things even weirder is that he is indeed wearing the ring on The One Show. So, to recap: David is not wearing his wedding ring when he has the trans pride t-shirt on in the photo call, but he is wearing it when he doesn't have the trans pride t-shirt on on television.

What this leads me to think is that someone--the BBC? Amazon? PR?--is making some specific (homophobic) marketing choices, which in this case means trying to sell the show to a mainstream (a.k.a., straight) audience, and therefore told Michael and David both to tone down the gayness (as if that's even humanly fucking possible for either of them) overall, but especially when talking about the characters/plot.

Taking all of this into account, what happened later in the interview is even more glorious, which is Michael giving the biggest "fuck you" to all of the above (BBC/Amazon/PR) by doing what he does best: Being Michael--because when can he not?--and (again) calling David's hips "slinky," followed by getting in a good, long, loving, sexy stare:

All of this leads me to your comments, Anon #3. I know you had sent this prior to now, but I wanted to include your Ask here because I think it speaks to exactly what we saw today. I've thought about what you've mentioned so many times, because that's exactly what I think Michael and David do and are for each other--a safe place, and they have truly helped each other through some of the hardest times in their lives.

Thinking about David's anxiety, I find that especially poignant given today's events, and how vocal David has become in recent months. I think he deliberately wore that trans rights shirt and that rainbow pin because he knew how much reach they would get...but at the same time, I am sure he knew the risk of doing so, and that it would set him up as a target.

It's very easy to imagine David feeling that anxiety before the photo call today, knowing what he was going to do, and Michael calming him--maybe even holding him in his arms if they had some time alone this morning. And when they came out onto the set of The One Show, you could see Michael nearly bursting with pride and love as they walked together. Even when they got flustered nearly holding hands, as soon as they linked arms, they both became so calm. It felt as though Michael and David were a united front--on their side--and while David flashed a big smile to the camera, Michael could not have given two shits about it, because he was holding onto David and never letting go.

Michael couldn't say the things he wanted to today, but that's not what today was about. It was about him stepping back and giving David room to be in the spotlight and to shine. Soothing David's anxiety and encouraging him to be vocal the way Michael has been for the past four years. He's supporting the man he loves, and it is so beautiful to see.

So yes, those are my thoughts on the new GO and Michael/David content from today. I'm truly hoping that Michael and David have an opportunity to do an interview where they can be totally unleashed and say exactly what it is that's on their minds. But I'm still so glad to see how much relief and joy it brings them to be back together again, and I hope they'll get to do it a lot more in the weeks ahead. Fingers crossed...