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inspector-constable · 7 months

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Just coming back from tumblr hiatus real quick to say the the new season of OFMD is fucking amazing so far. I already cried. it's everything I could have hoped for.

#our flag means death #Our flag means death season 2 #Ofmd s2

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inspector-constable · 8 months

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ah, poor demon he is not responsible for his actions

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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Now, good lady, simply turn to your husband. Reach into his robes. No. Higher.

GOOD OMENS 2x02 'The Clue'

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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let's be honest, how else did we think he got all those fire extinguishers?

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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I am so insane about the Job arc.

God says, "I will destroy Job's children," and Aziraphale says, "How did he wrong you?"

God says, "I will destroy Job's children," and Aziraphale says, "How will you make it right?"

God says, "I will destroy Job's children," and Aziraphale says, "Gosh, I don't doubt you know what you are doing and all, but maybe we could slow things down a little and talk about this? And it's essential to the divine plan? Are we sure?"

Crowley says, "I will destroy Job's children," and Aziraphale looks him in the eye and says, "No, you won't."

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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This is always such a surprise to me and one of the most difficult things about dealing with religious trauma. Maybe it's an autism thing. I've always operated on the assumption that even if people are doing something really shitty (like taking away lgbt or reproductive rights), it's because they genuinely believe that it's the right/good thing to do. When that turns out to not be the case, I don't even know what to do. It makes me totally lose faith in humanity.

No but like listen to me, the ENTIRE REASON that Gabriel could throw away everything he had for a happy ending with his demon love when Aziraphale couldn't is that Gabriel never actually cared. Abandoning heaven is easy if you don't believe in anything it stands for and were only ever in it for the power. But Aziraphale? Aziraphale is an idealist. Fundamentally, when he goes against the letter of heaven's law, it's because he believes that he's fulfilling a deeper obligation to heaven's true purpose.

Aziraphale's values and goals are good in the real sense of the word and not merely Good in the visible and performative way that most of heaven operates, but he still believes that heaven can and should epitomise that goodness. Conversely, Crowley (the one being Aziraphale has ever met who actually understands and shares Aziraphale's values) has given up on institutional salvation. He's seen both heaven and hell up close and knows they're functionally identical, except that heaven has nicer views. They want the same things, but they can't agree on how to get them.

Gabriel and Beelzebub don't have this conflict. Neither of them cared about anything enough to put it above their own self interest - it's just that their feelings for each other transformed that self interest into something softer, something that maybe grew into real empathy. This is why the path to their happy ending came easier for them, and Crowley and Aziraphale have to walk a more winding road.

#mixing up my good omens and religious trauma tumblrs again lol

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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good omens (book)'s narrative is pretty much wrapped by itself as a standalone story. yeah sure sequel ideas, but it doesn't really NEED anything else to it, it's perfectly cohesive and concise in its message + plot + character arcs by the end of the book. still, it does have a pretty open ending, and i think crowley's proposal of the real armageddon being "all of us versus all of them" as in angels+demons against humanity is significant in how it's implied that, by the time armageddon 2 electric boogaloo rolls around, the "us" wouldn't be angels + demons anymore, but humanity + aziraphale and crowley (vs "them" ie their old sides). they've made their sympathies clear. they've been messing with humanity for millennia, the least they owe them is their protection, so it stands to reason that they'd decide to join the humans' instead.

moving the discussion to the show, i don't remember if crowley's theory made it into the final episode in s1 with all the body swapping shenanigans that went down, but I'd argue that it's not even necessary. aziraphale's relapse by choosing to reform heaven and his proposal to "make crowley an angel again" are NOT something that can be just walked back from. simply abandoning his new role as archangel won't cut it narratively to justify a reconciliation, he's gonna have to work for it, actively go against his new position in heaven, refuse it, sacrifice something etc.

here's the thing tho. it's easy to take crowley's side in this. after all, the man confesses his love and gets his heart broken before god and amazon prime. but this doesn't change the fact that: crowley is also wrong!! just as he was wrong about alpha centauri in season 1. "running away together" is to crowley what "i could make a difference" is to aziraphale. crowley's been trying to run away ever since s1 and that's BAD!!! "just the two of us" isn't the option to take here, not after millennia of screwing humans around, not after millennia of essentially going earth native. not while humans are being caught in the crossfire of the great chess match between heaven and hell. he can't run away every time, he has to CHOOSE earth, the way he's already done since the beginning. they owe it at least that.

so taking all things in consideration, i think the most narratively satisfying resolution to these conflicts would be for a/c to stand by humanity, sacrifice their ultimately unhealthy ideals/dreams, and the best way to do that would be choosing mortality together and basically nuclear bomb on. my House.

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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Final thought for the day

I am so proud that Crowley did not follow Aziraphale to Heaven because we see him folding for Aziraphale constantly out of love which is sweet but Crowley knows when to say stop and going to a toxic place that hurt him is simply not possible for him even if it’s Aziraphale that’s asking.

Proud of him for standing his ground and thinking of himself too. He’s tried his best. He’s tried to save Aziraphale too. He’s shielded him for so long so he could keep his innocence that was taken away from Crowley.

But you can’t throw yourself into a toxic horrible place that hurt you because you love someone and they ask you to.

#just because i defend aziraphale for doing what he thinks is right #doesn't mean i think he actually had a good idea #strong independent crowley era

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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The Jewish Pain of Crowley in Good Omens 2

Spoilers. Spoilers everywhere. S p o i l e r s.

Alright let's dive in. So, it's even clearer in s2 that Crowley is the Jewish Representative in the Christian World ->

remember that Good Omens is essentially a world where Christianity is, with some modification, True. Classic Christianity. With the 7 days of creation and the hierarchy of angels and everything. (the exceptions are that its not patriarchal or queerphobic, but I digress)

in christianity, Jews are one of two things: - misguided fools (bc they don't realize Jesus is the messiah) - evil liars (bc they keep saying Jesus isn't the messiah)

-> making it obvious why the Jewish Rep, Crowley, is a demon. In Christianity, Jews and Judaism are at best treated like ignorant children, at worse treated like the agents of Satan.

All Crowley ever did was ask questions. Question the internal lack of logic within Christianity. Why make everything for it to end in 6k years? Why make people just to have them die in an apocalyptic battle? Etc. That is Crowley's Jewishness in action. Not only because he's asking questions, the Big Thing Jews Love Doing ->

-> but also Because Judaism is, essentially, a religion of celebrating life and humanity. Our books start with the creation of everything, not just Jewish people (which, at the time of writing, was extremely novel). We are a "nation of priests" in order to show the world a lifestyle of goodness we can all strive for. Not everyone has to be Jewish to have a good life or afterlife, we do not proselytize.

And, as such, Crowley - the token Jew - celebrates the world and humanity for what it is. His temptations are usually just encouraging humans to be human. He sees the beauty in the world they all created and he wants that beauty to continue.

Now, because Jews don't proselytize, he never really tries to get Aziraphale to join him in the questioning everything thing. He knows that asking questions would give Aziraphale the anxiety sweats. He doesn't really push him into do that.

All he does - throughout both seasons - is gently nudge Aziraphale into seeing how beautiful this world is. From the food and drink to appreciating humans, and then their art, and nature around them. Gentle nudges into realizing that this is a wonderful world worth preserving.

Which makes Aziraphale reject the Death Cult that is the Christian World (I'm reminded of the statement by Beezlebub "All my demons live for armageddon... if you can call that living") but not the hierarchy and fucked up toxic power structure that inevitably leads to that death cult

so Crowley thinks he's managed to persuade his Christian Friend to see the error of his ways, the error of Christianity. Aziraphale doesn't believe in the death cult anymore! perfect! now crowley and aziraphale can coexist and be a couple. Now they can be an "us".

That's where we leave off at the end of s1.

In s2, we see how still believing in that hierarchy (constantly referring to heaven as the "good guys" is a big key) holds Aziraphale back. Crowley, however, is blind to that, because he's singularly focused on making sure that his fragile peace with Aziraphale is protected.

He thinks that convincing Aziraphale that the death cult was bad would be enough for Aziraphale to realize that the Toxic Hierarchy is *also* bad.

But the Toxic Hierarchy keeps its hold on people the same way Christianity does in our world - by convincing people it has a monopoly on holiness, goodness, and right action. And Aziraphale is still convinced of that.

To those of us outside that system, its obvious that a Death Cult could not *possibly* have a monopoly on goodness/holiness/whatever. But inside of it, it's impossible to tell, because they've convinced you that they have that monopoly, and if you reject them you'll be doomed forever, and no one wants to risk being doomed.

This is where the Jewish Grief of Crowley comes in. Because Crowley, like many of us, is in a friendship with a Christian, who - because they are Christian, and you are Jewish - still thinks of you as a "demon", or a "foolish misguided". They're just polite about it.

(note, not all demons are Jewish in Good Omens - in fact, I'd argue that most of them are just as Christian as the angels, because they believe in the hierarchy and the death cult. I digress.)

When Jewish People are friends with Christians, we know that there is a potential bomb on the friendship. At any point, the Christian could reveal that the whole time, they were just trying to convert us to Christianity, because they see us as the "foolish misguided" Jew instead of the "demon" Jew. Yes, there are the isolated Christians in the real world who are able to see Jewish folks as something separate and worth preserving, but they are the minority; and in the world of Good Omens, they just can't exist, because the physical proof shows the Christian world as Real. At the very least, Aziraphale could never be that person.

Crowley was hoping he had managed to convince Aziraphale that Christianity is bogus, so they could remain friends without Aziraphale trying to turn him into something he's not. Aziraphale thinks that he's doomed, because he rejected the Hierarchy, and is constantly doubting himself and his own worth without his codependent relationship with the hierarchy

This brings us to the end of the season. When Crowley sees that Aziraphale never really left Christianity at all, that he was just waiting to come back to it, that is a grief that many Jewish people have felt in their life when a friendship with a Christian comes to a head. Aziraphale offering Crowley a second chance at angel-hood, and to be his "second in command", is essentially Aziraphale trying to convert Crowley to Christianity.

Trying to Erase Crowley the Jew.

In real life, when this happens, Jewish people become heartbroken regardless of the nature of the friendship. The person they thought was their friend was, this whole time, someone who saw them as foolish and misguided, someone who saw them as damned and thus lesser. It was never a friendship. It was a trap.

And for this to happen between Crowley and Aziraphale, not only leads to the deep grief of losing a friend, but the deep grief off realizing that friendship - and the love that Crowley so desperately wished to finally access - was all a lie. A trick. A trap.

It's not just that Aziraphale didn't understand, or that he went back to the toxic relationship. It's that all of Crowley's memories - all of his time with Aziraphale - is poisoned now. Because he can't see it as anything other than Aziraphale trying to turn Crowley into someone he's not.

They talk so much about temptation, but in the end, Aziraphale was the one trying to tempt Crowley into self-destruction, and not the other way around. And realizing that broke Crowley's heart more than anything else could.

The kiss? A last ditch attempt to try to get Aziraphale to realize what he was doing. What he was giving up by buying into the toxicity and the hierarchy. But toxic relationships brainwash you. It was never going to work.

The only way they can come back together now is for Aziraphale to realize that Crowley was right all along. He has a lot of growth to do. And Crowley has a lot of pain that is definitely going to get in the way. He spent 6k years thinking that Aziraphale saw him as an equal, when he never once did.

How could Crowley ever trust Aziraphale again?

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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I am simply not interested in taking sides when it comes to aziraphale and crowley's little cosmic divorce. this is a jane austen romance, which means that both of our romantic leads need to grow and change before they can have their happily ever after. the problem isn't that one of them is Right and the other is Wrong, the problem is that they're each prioritizing a different problem and then approaching the problem they've backburnered with a long-standing habit or belief that they need to grow out of before they can succeed.

aziraphale is correct that heaven needs fixing! we can quibble over whether accepting a job as the boss is the right way to do that, but ultimately leaving michael or whoever in charge is going to lead to armageddon 2 armageddon harder. it simply will not work. the problem is that he's fumbling the relationship with crowley because he still needs to get over the idea of there being an inherently good and bad side and he needs to stop thinking that it's crowley being a demon that's keeping them apart. it's his own black and white logic that's doing that.

meanwhile, crowley is correct that he and aziraphale need to Name The Relationship and stop fucking around, and also that heaven and hell are the same institution with different labels and it's insane to think either of them is Good. but his impulse to respond to everything by trying to grab aziraphale and run is not gonna cut it here. "you can't fix an institution from the inside" is a philosophy of dubious value if your alternative is not attempting to fix it at all. if aziraphale is being held back by his cops and robbers mentality, crowley is being held back by cynicism and fear. they both need to let go of their flawed moral philosophies and emotional bad habits if they want to keep the world safe and be together! that's the point of the story splitting them up in the first place!

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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🥃 constitution of an ox!! 🙄 aww no dying. enough dying. 😠✋ NUU more dying. no more dyyyying. 🙅‍♀️💃 dyiing is just... it's just... it’s just… wrrrrrrrroooonngggg. ❌🚫 nahh. narrrhhh. 👹 do i sound like a goat? 🤨🐐 neeeighhh. ♫ o flower of scooootlaaand 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 when will we see your likes again ♫ - 🫡 right come on, let's get cracking. 🤝 angel! 😇 angel. 🏳️‍🌈 say something that.. convinces her, that povertyisineffablywonderfulandlifeisworthliving GO ON. 😤💪

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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#sorry my angel #but even i have to go with crowley on this one

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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hey neil!!

the historical flashbacks are some of my favorite scenes in season 1 and season 2 of good omens, so i was wondering if there were any time periods you’d really like to portray aziraphale and crowley in that you haven’t already???

Quite a few. Ones that we had planned as possible for Season 2 (that either didn't get written or didn't get filmed) included a Wild West one, a 15th century Papal one, an Arabian Nights one, and a 1960s American one with Crowley and Aziraphale female presenting. And we have the whole of human history as a canvas. But for now the ones you've got are all.

#can someone start writing some oneshots for these #i neeeeeed it

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inspector-constable · 9 months

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Something about the way he said this makes me tear up every time.