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sonkitty · 4 days

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Crowley S2 Hair Post #31

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 2, The Clue, technically

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Sideburns Check

For most of the scene, the sideburns are short. During the cut where Crowley's legs are fully visible as he approaches the car, his left sideburn is long. His head is reflected in the rear window pane, and it's confirmed as long there too.

I've noticed the reflection many times and mainly that the cut has so much focus on a clear view of the car, so I have missed this long sideburn for a good, long while.

Given that, I have to look around and think about what is established so far in my whole theory. What stands out in the cut with the long sideburn besides the long sideburn itself?

Well, given the angles and timing, Crowley himself seems possibly reset a little further back from where I would expect, given his approach to the car with the preceding cut that had the rainbow.

This longer-left-sideburn cut itself is showing Crowley approaching closer to the car before Aziraphale crosses the threshold that is the edge of the sidewalk and getting closer to Crowley. Both the demon and the angel have full-body shots as they are visually "pocketing" the car and closing in toward each other. The car itself has a full body shot with this framing.

So, altogether, it's suggesting that this special pocket setup with the sidewalk threshold had a briefly active radius that lengthened the left sideburn to longest-length. Crowley's pants pocket touch with the right hand is implied, though not visually confirmed, to still be active.

My guess is that the closing in between characters with both being on the sidewalk is what shortens the sideburns yet again.

Interestingly, Crowley's right sideburn is never shown to receive this longer length and is actually the main sideburn visible throughout the scene.

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Brighter Red Streak Check

It's highly questionable for if the more saturated streak is there. Hair is more saturated in the areas of a generally expected split for the episode. However, the saturation is not as defined in its difference compared to the previous scene with Nina. Additionally, the angles don't allow for a good look to be sure. For instance, the best place to check would be probably when Crowley's legs are visible with the longer left sideburn, but he's walking, and it's some distance away to really check the mass of red hair for the more red streak.

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Hairstyle Changes

The top hair still goes up and splits with more hair toward the right and not as much hair to the left. The split itself seems to have shifted to Crowley's right while the hair is going more upward.

At least partly thanks to the lighting from the sunlight behind Crowley, the hair looks more saturated in red too.

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Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects | The Pocket Trick - Basics | The Pocket Trick Touch #2 - Triple Part 2 - Between Cars | Rainbow Connection Part 2 - The Pocket Trick - Triple Part 2 and Double)

The scene starts with a shoulder-angel cut of Aziraphale by the car. Crowley receives an Overhead Light for The Pocket Trick Triple Part 2. The cut that follows is also for The Pocket Trick Triple Part 2. It shows the right-hand pocket touch, the rainbow, and the million other things that are happening with such trickery.

I went over it in the recently updated link, The Pocket Trick Touch #2 - Triple Part 2 - Between Cars.

I'll still talk about the touch here but not as thoroughly.

Every touch in The Pocket Trick has something I call a Touch Point, which is a specific video frame an audience player is supposed to find based on clues from the relevant cut.

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Here is the Touch Point:

I have named this Touch Point as my guess for the most special Clue of clues that is not the record, for the episode. This episode has a lot of clues due to so much threshold trickery. In fact, every Threshold Trick has a reference in the Touch Point itself. There's the car door, car window, bigger threshold from the pub, the current pocket touch in The Pocket Trick, and the sunglasses. The sunglasses will change in the next episode. The car door and window were used in the Double for The Perfect Entrance Trick.

Of the 3 Complex Threshold Tricks, each one is active during the episode with two of those three having two touches during the episode.

Plus, there's the forming general connection between homes through the sideburns being referenced.

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Findable Rainbow

This rainbow is the official rainbow for this Threshold Trick. You may recall I pointed out The Perfect Entrance Trick does not get one, and The Pocket Trick is the first of those that get rainbows at all, to get its rainbow. Here we are.

The rainbow moves across the screen, as if to target the plants in the car.

Often, rainbows are depicted as going from Red to Purple in fiction. This one starts with Purple, then goes from Red to Blue. That might be related to the idea of the story's distorted reality and questionable chronology.

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Rainbow Connection

The Rainbow Connection starts on Yellow. It switches to Green. The rainbow helps trap the Green of the plants for repeat use in The Door Trick and its connection to The Door Catch. Then the Rainbow Connection switches to Blue.

Please see the reference links above for any further details.

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Turtleneck

Thanks to the turtleneck, Crowley's actual neck has no illusionary skin contact with the car behind him that is used as part of the Pocket Frame during the Touch Point. That's somewhat relevant to one of the mistakes the Metatron makes during The Door Catch. The Metatron's left index finger is visibly touching a button. The threshold's buttons are equivalent to doorknobs, so he is regarded as touching his own Pocket Frame and with an index fingertip at that. My own play guesses that's a mistake on his part, based on the other clues from the game, Crowley not doing such things, and the specific choice in framing with this turtleneck in the Touch Point of this touch.

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The Record

The main earthly object actually touched during the scene is the record, which is the presented Clue of the episode. Aziraphale's fingers are mindful of their touch on the record. As things tend to go in Earthly Objects, to receive credit for a physical touch with fingers, depending on the context of the object, three digits give credit when one hand is used, and six digits give credit when two hands are used. Thumbs are important overall.

So, here Aziraphale starts off with using two hands while one hand has two fingers on the record, and the other has one. A thumb is shown to hold the record from a shot behind Aziraphale at one point and again after his hand is slapped. I'm not really sure if the variance in the touch is trying to tell me he's getting credit for the physical touches or if he's avoiding physical credit since it has more to do with showing Crowley the record and the threshold touches we're going to see during the scene.

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Thresholds

This scene has some very important threshold-only touches that are not the touches of the Threshold Tricks, even though that right-hand pocket touch is presumably still active.

In fact, I suspect that pocket touch is largely responsible for the format allowed here.

When Aziraphale says, "And while I'm gone, you can look after the bookshop," Crowley turns to look at the bookshop. His left hand goes up, and all five digits definitely, visibly touch the panel surrounding the doors. I've gone with calling this thing the "door panel" due to not being able to find the proper otherwise. I've gone with another search drafting this post and maybe "trim," or "casing" would be more appropriate. I still prefer "panel."

Whatever the proper word is, Earthly Objects treats it as the threshold that is specifically the threshold part of the door based on how Crowley positions himself so deliberately during The Door Trick.

There's a line across the roof of the car. The fingers are generally lined up with where this roof line is.

Knowing there's an implied pocket touch, we should check in on the Tied Hands. Oh, they might still be tied because the clasps of Crowley's left-most strand are lining up with the lapel edge of his jacket while the actual left hand thumb joints are lining up along the window frame. My current guess is that the Tied Hands still being tied was due to how the actual hands stayed off-screen once they were off-screen during The Pocket Trick Triple Part 2.

After Aziraphale says, "Yes?" Crowley's left hand changes its touch. Four fingers are on the door panel, and the thumb is on a window frame.

In the main Sideburns Scheme post, I noted that Good Omens 2 was interested in these three things: doors, windows, and pockets—especially pockets.

So, in this scene, Crowley is touching 3 thresholds of these things at the same time even if the pocket touch itself is off-screen. That's part of how significant this scene is for preparing to form the connection.

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Sunglasses Reflection

Behold, it is possibly the first reflection of a person in Crowley's sunglasses this season. I miss things, so I won't promise it is. I've been checking while drafting these posts, but I still miss things.

Aziraphale holding the record can be found as a reflection in Crowley's sunglasses in 2 cuts. The first is when Aziraphale starts to say, "It is as you might say a miracle." The cut ends while Aziraphale is saying, "say". The second is Crowley saying, "Oh," in response to "miracle".

This reflection is one of the clues for The Window Trick as the last Threshold Trick.

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Time to pay even more attention to the pockets.

As said in the Sideburns section above, Aziraphale and Crowley visually pocket the car with each of their bodies fully visible while Crowley has a longer left sideburn.

When Crowley reads, "The Resurrectionist" off the record, his pants pocket touch is not on screen, but there is a pocket between his right jacket sleeve, torso, and the bottom of the screen.That pants pocket touch will not be seen again. Sometimes, the cuts will show his upper chest and head without this sleeve pocket. When Crowley turns around to look at the bookshop, the pocket is gone, temporarily forms, and closes with his turning.

The left jacket sleeve, torso, and bottom of the screen also make a pocket when Crowley is implied to touch the car and says, "This Bentley is my car." After he slaps Aziraphale's hand, his implied touch on the car is gone, but the pocket itself is smaller and there before he turns to look at the bookshop.

The tie strands are sneaky and switch a few times off-screen.

Aziraphale makes occasional pockets with his hand and arm while holding the record.

Crowley and Aziraphale are visually pocketing the plants and car thresholds during the proposal.

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Story Commentary

This scene is very, very important, as this part is where both Aziraphale and Crowley decide to form their connection through borrowing each other's homes as part of my overall Sideburns Scheme theory.

I think a lot of things are intentionally strange about it too.

For instance, the cut with Crowley's Overhead Light has different background humans for where Aziraphale is compared to the background humans for where Aziraphale is with the longer-left-sideburn cut.

Again for the longer-left-sideburn cut, Crowley himself seems to be reset a few steps back from his touch in The Pocket Trick, Triple Part 2.

There is that longer-left-sideburn just being there at all for one cut.

There's the already noted weirdness of the humans in the The Pocket Trick, Triple Part 2 cut with the rainbow, see link just above.

When Aziraphale reaches for the car, he reaches out with his right hand, there's a slap sound effect, and Aziraphale's left hand pulls away, as if it were the hand that was slapped for reaching toward the car.

But all these little oddities aside, when I first watched Good Omens 2, other things stood out too. For instance, Aziraphale says, "...but we both get plenty of use out of it, don't we?" about the bookshop with Crowley. They do? What does Crowley use the bookshop for then?

Crowley acts stunned after looking toward the bookshop, like a decision was made for him. I, as a viewer, eventually realize he's going to complain but still loan the car in the next episode. Why would he do that?

Well for that last one, this sneaky snake is playing games with us, that's why. Also, he likes to complain. And trusts Aziraphale.

Crowley traps the Green with the rainbow through the pocket trickery before Aziraphale even proposes!

When Aziraphale reads the record, Crowley says aloud, "The Resurrectionist," and the next minisode will be, "The Resurrectionists," so that could be Crowley picking up on the clue that's what the next minisode is going to be. Even though Aziraphale will narrate and be on a road trip, Crowley will still share the recollection with him.

Aziraphale is doing various non-verbal communication in the scene. For instance, his initial look after crossing over to the sidewalk is something like, he has an idea or he wants Crowley to roll with the idea he has.

When he says, "on the jukebox," the second time, he's nodding his head toward his right. Aziraphale's right is Crowley's left. To Crowley's left is the pub. The car will be parked in front of the pub next episode when Aziraphale starts to drive.

While holding the record in the earlier cuts of the scene, Aziraphale's right hand is showing two fingers holding the record and more of his fingers overall compared to his left hand. the left hand starts off with only the index finger with its tip visibly touching the record. That's, possibly, like the right hand is the symbol for "long" and the left hand is the symbol for "short" in whatever code he is using about the sideburns for this connection proposal. As things continue, the touch changes so that more fingers eventually are shown with the left hand instead of the right.

Aziraphale has a "tongue in cheek," right after he says he's going to "investigate." That could mean he's not really going to "investigate," the jukebox but is following the trail from the Clue or that he wants Crowley to act like he's not on board with the idea yet.

Before Aziraphale's hand receives that slap sound effect, he closes his left eye as if he is winking but closes his right eye soon after, so it's not actually a wink.

Aziraphale could also be showing Crowley the record to indicate the clues he found from the Job memory, such as "Goat Gate."

Meanwhile, if Aziraphale is looking carefully—and he probably is—he can pick up on Crowley seeing Aziraphale holding the record when Crowley does because of the reflection in the sunglasses. Not only that, shortly thereafter, when Crowley says, "What car?" little yellow lights are reflected within the sunglasses. These lights are relevant to the Pocket Trick touch that happened earlier and will be later with the Yellow for connecting Aziraphale through the door trickery in episode 6, that is both The Door Trick and The Door Catch.

This scene has the first of four times Crowley says the word, "train." Before I got all into theorizing on the Sideburns Scheme and the Earthly Objects game, one of my questions as just a generally confused audience member, was about why Crowley kept mentioning trains so many times in his complaints while still loaning the car. Why did he do that? There are three instances, but in one of them he says, "trains" twice, making the word use 4 total.

Only because I knew this post was hopefully on its way in the near future, I contemplated that question more recently. Playing with the words and ideas of the game, I reflected on the 4 lines I came up with to explain the non-rainbow shades in the Rainbow Connection. So, I looked up if there was a word for a 4-line poem, and there is. It's...a quatrain. I made a post about it, A Quatrain of the Shades.

My own Earthly Objects play interprets the touch with the thumb on the window frame as an assurance that if Crowley appears tricked into that first threshold touch, he's not. He did that on purpose. This demon knows how to use thumbs when it comes to thresholds. That's why he has 6 Threshold Tricks with imaginary Tied Hands involved.

That cut with the longer left sideburn stands out because it wants the audience to get a really good look at the car before this process starts. The car is going to transform during that process.

This scene is deceptive because the presented issue is a serious concern. However, based on the clues at least, these two are actually in agreement, even if Crowley seems to be manipulated on the surface.

They are likely being read or watched, so they are mindful of how they communicate in this open public human space. Aziraphale's cool with saying the name "Gabriel" instead of "Jim" aloud out here in the street though.

It's interesting that, "And Gabriel," is what gets that extra confirmation touch with the thumb on the window frame. That suggests Crowley wants to look after Gabriel. It's probably part of the overall plan because Gabriel is a catalyst used for the supernatural shift later in episode 5, but it does give Crowley an excuse to spend time with Gabriel too. Crowley's actually going to be in his most friendly conversation with Gabriel the next time they are in a scene together.

This scene is the last present day one with this pair of sunglasses. That's going to be another clue of Crowley accepting the proposal to forming this connection.

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That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

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Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

#crowley #good omens 2 #good omens #good omens s2 #david tennant #good omens meta #good omens season 2 #good omens analysis #good omens crowley #crowley good omens #crowley s2 hair project #good omens clues #good omens theory #good omens theories

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beebopboom · 6 months

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Clothing Within Ranks

(Many people have made wonderful color analysis about good omens before me and I’m going to try and link where needed but I know l'm going to miss some so just know I am sorry about that - it’s not intentional)

What I wanted to get into today was what these colors mean for our characters, their ranks and roles, specifically Heavens uniforms over the years. I'm also only going to talk about the times we see more angels than just Aziraphale (and probably not even going to do a section on him here because that could be a whole post on its own) - one for comparison reasons and two this is already going to be quite long without getting into every single Aziraphale outfit

When going into this I was trying to look for why these angels were displaying these specific colors - what is an in-universe explanation? - what do these colors mean to Heaven? - what is with the big clothing changes throughout the years? why put these colors on clothing - making them physical instead of just atmospheric?

and I’ll admit I struggled with this and almost just gave up on it but I knew it wouldn't leave me alone so I pushed through and shout-out to these here metas that kept me sane and were my jumping off points but without further ado strap in it’s going to be a long one and let's just get into it.

We are going to start all the way back Before the Beginning because although there is not much to go off of (and going to be totally honest this is mostly just a crack thought but I figured why the hell not) there are still differences in their outfits, which I have touched on in a previous post. To summarize the difference is in the sleeves - the cut on Aziraphale’s sleeves are wider while crowley's have a more straight cut - but that is not what I wanted to touch on today, it's the placement of the gold on their sleeves. Aziraphale has the gold, which I should mention that the design on both them is the same, on the bottom of the sleeve but Crowley's is higher up by a couple inches.

Now this got me thinking about how the atmosphere of Heaven would have been before the War and this could just be me but I don't imagine there would a big need to show off rank - and I do believe they had a different ranking system during this time but that is a whole other thing - yknow it would just be something small nothing to really show off. Now we know that Crowley was probably a high ranking angel so to combine all this - what if how high the gold was on the sleeves was the indicator of how high they were in rank? I know that Aziraphale is not the lowest ranked angel but what if at the time he was? I mean he was referred to as a cherub here - which has been explained as just a young angel. Anyway this was mostly just a fun little thought.

The next time we see multiple examples of Angel clothes is in the Companion of Owls minisode and we get a lot of them. Now it has been pointed out before about how the gold embellishments are meant to show off their ranks as angels here - which is a great read so go do it - it really goes into the detail and it is probably easier to just go read it than me trying to summarize.

But why is this such a big difference from literally everything we have seen before? They are big and over the top and really showing off their status. For angels they really seem to be leaning into their pride for this whole story - just a visual way to show Heaven is not as good as they project - it’s giving when royals are just letting other people do their dirty work and when confronted about them sitting in their riches while their people suffer and they say “well what are we supposed to do about it?”

I also find it interesting that literally every other robe outfit we see from Aziraphale they are way more simple, almost like he has different outfits for when he is on a job and then when he is trying to blend in and live among humans - which just opens up a lot of cans

Lets fast forward to more modern times of season 1 and 2 to see how much things have changed and take a look at each angel individually (and the actual reason i wanted to do this post)

Gabriel

His main outfit consist of a gray suit with a white shirt and purple tie and tan shoes. He has some variations with a long gray coat and a gray turtleneck and scarf but we are really just going to focus on his main outfit. The gray is pretty straightforward as the color of archangels but the fully gray suit is specific to this council/leaders of angels. The purple tie is where it gets interesting though. Initially I thought it served the same purpose as his purple eyes, just as a way to show his rank as Supreme Archangel until purple showed up in other angels outfits also in places around their necks. So I had to look into what those angels did and how this would fit into what is essentially a government system. So yes this tie does symbolize him as a leader just not in what you expect.

I will get into the two kinds of base angels later but right now we are going to have to dive a little deeper to understand what the purple means - it is a job. I am proposing that the purple is an indicator that angel is a part of an intelligence/legal department in Heaven and because Gabriel has a solid purple tie instead of it in tartan, he is the leader of them or he at least is the angel they report to. It is a home for our creative angels, the ones making the plans. I will get into why the other angels fit into here when I talk about their outfits but as for why with Gabriel well lets look at his character (his season 1 character at least).

As Supreme Archangel he would need to be the angel that knows the most about what was going on, he very much wants to stick to the agreed upon plan, he spreads information around to make sure everything is going to said plan, and he very much does not want to know anything about the "illegal” back-channels that Heaven may have. These are just a few broad examples but it is worth something to look at. Now to understand the white and tan in his outfit we are going to have to move on to the rest of our gray suits - just remember he is the leader of all angels.

Michael

Their outfit consist of a gray suit and a white frilly shirt with white shoes. The gray suit is of course for their archangel council rank but what is with just the white? White is thought to be just the base color of angels and I think is was but it has changed a little. As the concept still fits with what I am about to propose - it is now just one of the two base kinds of angels.

I'll admit their outfit tripped me up so took a step back and looked at it backwards and it was Muriel that actually helped lock this in. Muriel starts out in a tan outfit but changes into a completely white officer outfit to complete a job - a job to blend in, observe, and confirm and it got me thinking of the actions we see Michael do. They are the one to get pictures of Aziraphale and Crowley, they are the back-channel to hell, and they refer to themselves as a duty officer to name a few.

So to put this all together I think the White is meant to show the angels that are for surveillance - to watch over and observe humanity - kind of like a civil service. Michael is the leader/representative of these angels and that's why the white is so big and frilly to show off this position instead of just a simple shirt.

Uriel

Their outfit is very similar to Micheals with a gray suit and solid color shirt underneath though his is tan. Again the gray suit for their archangel council rank and with the new addition of tan.

So after taking a look at the angels that wear tan Uriel, Sandalphon, Aziraphale, and a few background angels let me introduce the second kind of base angels - the protective ones - the fighters- think of them like the military. Uriel would then be the leader/representative of this group with their tan frilly shirt. Uriel and Sandalphon have pretty similar attitudes as I imagine a pretty high up military officer would have and you have an actual platoon of angels dressed in military uniform - all in shades of tan.

Now I do think something changed in Heaven that required them to start forming this protective side instead of just leaving it as it was or maybe it's the simple fact that God likes threes more. The reason I say this is because in the Companion of Owls minisode Uriel is nowhere to be found and the lack of any tan in Aziraphales outfit until Golgotha in 33 A.D. but even then not consistently until 1793. It just paints a picture that this side is a later development but I am getting off track.

This is the end of the Archangel council and moving forward it will be lower ranked angels which have a lot more to their clothes. You may be wondering about Sandalphon and Saraqael as we see them working with the other archangels as a group of four well then stay tuned we are about to get into it

Sandalphon

Its outfit is mainly various shades of tan which stands out so visually from the others he is grouped with. A long tan coat with black buttons and a tan based tartan waistcoat and pants -it's a big change from the gray. He’s one of the darkest angel outfits we see considering it is bordering on brown and it's long coat, it doesn't look too good for his morals.

Now his tartan consist of a lighter tan and gray which if it wasn't clear enough what kind of base angel catagory it was in, it is the protective one, and the gray to show he is still an archangel. So he is still a high ranking angel probably just below Uriel. But we see him with the council, receiving reports from Aziraphale, why would he be there then? Well what has Heaven been preparing and training for these past few years? A war. It wouldn't be too far fetched to think they would bring in the highest ranking angel that is actually working with the angel troops to keep them updated on how it is looking and for him to be informed of what is going on, on Earth.

It is also worth noting his connection to the Metatron, they are brothers in actual angel lore, their clothes are kind of mirrors of each other (plus the black buttons people), and the fact that Sandalphon completes the weird obsession with fours that the Metatron has but I can get into that later.

So basically what I'm saying is that it was brought on specifically for Armageddon and it would explain why he wasn't there in season 2 (besides the fact the actor couldn't make it)

Saraqael

Their outfit is mainly white with some interesting colors in the tartan on their collar, cuffs, and in a stripe down their pants. The white of their outfit puts them under Michaels surveillance side of base angels which makes sense when looking at their actions, always trying to make themselves invisible and just watching plus they are the one who goes looking for Gabriel on the security cameras. But now on to their tartan which consist of white, a light gray, a dark gray, purple and a blue-green color.

At this point we know what the white means as well that light gray is for archangel rank so that leaves the rest. The purple puts them under Gabriels intelligence/legal team which make sense as they are seen as one of our more intelligent angels. The dark-gray I am going to say puts them in connection with the Metatron and the reason it is not fully black is because they are doubtful about him, maybe even scared. Now the blue-green color had me stumped for a bit but the most satisfying conclusion I came up with is that it is for the angels that are planning/apart of the Second Coming - another job. This particular shade of blue-green is new to this season and only on angels particularly associated with bringing about the Second Coming - Saraqael, Muriel, Jimbriel, and the Metatron(i think but not a big deal if not).

This is why we see Saraqael grouped in with the archangel council this season - Heaven has shifted into planning mode instead of fighting.

Muriel

Before I get started I just wanted to say they were the reason I almost threw this all away because of their color combinations but I think I pulled it around

So lets just get into this - they are wearing a tan outfit and have a very similar tartan to Saraqael with the purple, the blue-green, and a dark gray.

This color combination with the tan and this kind of tartan really threw me for a loop. Why would a protective kind of angel be doing these jobs? So I went looking into actual u.k. military rankings because I didn't know anything about them and tried to find out what the lowest ranking members did. And one of the jobs of a lance corporal is a clerk which rung the bell that they also say they are a Scrivener, which is also a clerk.

It has been theorized that they work under Saraqael which seems to be reflected with the tartan. But what their actual job seems to be is writing down and recording these agreed upon Second Coming plans, yknow War plans and filing them. (also looking back there seems to be a very light shade of gray stripe in the tartan - almost like it is faded - maybe a visual hint they were demoted)

I also think it is interesting they sent another protective angel who has a love for written word down to Earth and eventually ends up staying. Only this time they have the complete knowledge of what Heaven is planning even if they don't realize it - they were the one who wrote it down.

The Metatron

Yes we are going to end with him because I guess he deserves a mention. No but seriously his outfit is interesting and hard to read particularly - mainly because it is very difficult to find good pictures - so I don't have a lot of clear cut answers for him and most of this is speculation I guess you could say but I figured I had to include him. His outfit consist of black long coat, pants, and tie with the addition of a blue flower?? shape on it, and a white shirt with blue vertical stripes underneath.

Now he is the only angel we see wear black as the base color in their main outfit - the only other time is Aziraphale’s magician outfit - which has interesting implications of this color - is it a mystery? An illusion? He also seems to have influence over the darker colors we see in heaven, as Saraqael is the only angel we see recognized him. But since I don't have an answer for that so let’s move on to the blue.

I go back and forth on whether this is the same blue that I talked about earlier or just like a generic blue - either way they both kind of boil down to the same thing for Heaven - and that is that Heaven is going through a change. Most of the time when we see blue it is with Aziraphale who we see change a lot for an angel and we see him start to include shades of blue in his outfit in 1601 (though I could see an argument for 537 a.d.) We also see Heaven itself go from a warm yellow undertone and change into the cool blue undertone at some point. And if you think this Second Coming isn't going to involve a big change in Heaven - well have fun. It is also the color Jesus is draped in on the Resurrectionists sign. But anyway lost the plot a little there - my point is that the Metatron seems to like to change things into his favor.

Remember when I said I'd get into the Metatron and his connection to fours well lets get into that now. In the design of the blue parts of his tie their seems to be four sides to it and it got me thinking other fours we see. Another instantance of fours directly related to the Metatron is right before he appears in season 1 four lights float down and when they connect then boom Metatron head. Now on to more nuisance fours and you get that they have a running theme that one of them is off, Adam - the only non-human in his for person friend group, Pollution - pestilence’s replacement, and most importantly the forth archangel pushed up into the archangel council. The thing is without the insistance there be four of them the rankings in heaven would fall into a pretty pyramid scheme - a perfect three one of Gods favorite. But I've probably rambled for far too long about this and it’s getting into other things so I'll leave it here.

So just to summarize what the colors mean

White - is for our base angels that are meant to surveillance

Tan - is for our base angels that are meant to protect

Gray - to show archangel rank - gray suit is for the council

Purple - is a job type for intelligence/legal dealings

Blue-Green - is a job type specifically for planning the Second Coming

Blue - just meant to symbolize change in heaven/angels

Black - just sus - it's a mystery - hiding something

#bless the costume department #i was writing this while in line for a ptv concert #good omens #good omens 2 #good ineffable omens #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens angel costumes #costume analysis #aziraphale #good omens gabriel #good omens michael #good omens uriel #good omens sandalphon #good omens saraqael #good omens metatron

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embracing-the-ineffable · 9 months

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I have QUESTIONS about Nina and especially about Maggie

Why does Good Omens' Maggie misspell "urgency" ("ugrency") in s2e1? And Aziraphale even points it out in the dialog, draws our attention to it.

We know the demons often misspell things ("give us the angle"), but Maggie doesn't seem likely to be a demon, right? Right????!?

But ... her misspelling never comes up again, never factors into her character or anything.

WHY!?

I haven't seen anyone talk about this yet!

Is she working with Hell somehow? She IS the one who "accidentally" invites all the demons into the bookshop. And she's the one who pulls Nina out of the busy coffeeshop in s2e6 to talk to Crowley RIGHT THEN, while The Metatron has Aziraphale distracted elsewhere. Is she being controlled by a demon, or The Metatron, or something?

And why does Nina willingly walk out of her very busy shop for that conversation, which she thinks "won't do any good"? There's literally a line of customers!? That seems really out of character for her.

Nina is also the only one who questions what's happening during the enchanted ball that Aziraphale throws (where he takes away the humans' free will...)

I like the theories about mirror couples and displacement, but they don't seem to explain these specific inconsistencies.

I don't know, who has thoughts??

Interested in diving further into all the Good Omens mysteries? I have lots more of my own posts plus Clues and metas from all over the fandom, here.

#good omens meta #good omens #maggie good omens #good omens 2 #good omens spoilers #renew good omens #nina good omens

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moveslikebucky · 10 months

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Oh no it’s time for me to post my season 2 thoughts that nobody asked for!

Under the cut because obviously spoilers. Not a very long post tho I’m not going into extreme detail here.

OK SO first off let me preface, as someone who mainly writes book omens content, I think it will be shocking when I say I genuinely loved everything about this season.

It took me a couple of days to digest and figure out my thoughts aside from that absolute GUT WRENCHING ending Jesus Christ but here’s the thing a lot of others have said too but in my goofy way of saying it.

This is 1980. We all just watched Han Solo get frozen in carbonite, watched Luke get his hand chopped off and find out the man he’s sworn to destroy to save the galaxy is his father, watched everyone be at their absolute lowest and then the credits roll and the familiar and beloved theme song plays and we’re sitting in the theater going ??????????

And we don’t get Return of the Jedi til 1983.

And we’ll all be fine and so will they, the triumph happens in the end, wouldn’t be a good story otherwise.

I have many nebulous thoughts but the main thing is I have been seeing a lot of people saying that our boys are completely OOC or somewhat OOC for the entire season or at least for that last 15 minutes or so.

And here is where I say something shocking again!

I don’t think they are at all, whether you’re looking at TV characterizations OR the original book ones.

Hear me out don’t get your pitchforks on me just yet.

In the novel, their character arcs are completed because it was always meant to be a fully stand alone novel. At the end of the book there is a full acceptance between the two of them and they actually talk to each other in a meaningful way but CRUCIALLY, a thing that was missing from the tv season, I think is where specifically they diverge.

In the book, when Aziraphale possesses the televangelist, and goes off the rails completely - that is showing in unequivocal terms that Aziraphale is rejecting Heavens dogma. He’s on the same page as Crowley now, and they stay on the same page through the end of the novel.

Neil knew, because it was what Terry wanted, that he was going to have to do the sequel they never did. The sequel that didn’t exist when they wrote the first novel.

Speaking as a writer, even knowing that Patton Oswalt was originally on board to play the televangelist, I feel like leaving that scene out was a very specific way to set up for what we have now.

Aziraphale ends season 1 ambiguously. If you had read the book you can take it as “hell yea they’re on the same page now!” And it’s a perfectly valid reading.

But…

You don’t have to. It’s not implicit. They’re still not really talking about things, just around them. Aziraphale is still shocked when Crowley thinks everyone will come after Earth, still has panic in his eyes until Crowley distracts him. Crucially, Crowley does not tell him what happened in heaven. He only listens to Aziraphale dither on about towels and rubber ducks.

Aziraphale had not broken fully free from his cult.

They’re leaving him alone but his bookshop is still and embassy. He’s still with them, in some small way.

I don’t think the metatron brainwashed him with a miracle (or that he’s been kicking about in reality). He didn’t need to do that when simple manipulation is all that it takes.

Show up and make the people who are mean to him look stupid, compliment Crowley and Muriel who he likes, extract him from his support system, make it seem urgent make it seem just this side of too good to be true of an offer.

The metatron has heard first hand just how much Aziraphale wants to change things, how he wants to do what’s right instead of what is Right™️.

He gives Aziraphale everything he thinks he wants right on a silver platter, including a way to protect Crowley.

Aziraphale accepting that offer is completely in character because, crucially, he is not at the same place in his character arc as he was in the book.

But the thing is, Crowley isn’t either.

Crowley is withholding EXTREMELY vital information from Aziraphale still for his “protection”.

Information that would’ve bolstered Aziraphale to not take that offer, really. Because these boys don’t talk.

I don’t have as much to say about Crowley here, his arc is also not at the same place as in the end of the book, but I see more people mad about Aziraphale’s so that’s what I wanted to address.

Anyway I loved it, and if u have read this far, thank you! Plz don’t leave a bunch of negativity in the replies here, feel free to disagree, but this is a thing I consume for fun and I don’t want to discourse about it I’m just posting my opinion.

#text #good omens s2 spoilers #maybe if I don’t tag the main tag this will stay small hmm

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ingravinoveritas · 10 months

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Crowley and Aziraphale always came off as romantic to me; both in the book and in the show. They have so much more chemistry than anyone else. And I always second guess me reading their relationship as romantic when I see the general public's takes. So then I go back over like, okay, if this was a man and a woman, how would this read. They do couple things all the time. They use pet names. The show leans more into pining but in the book it feels like they're already married. Both the narrator and other characters refer to them as a couple and its never contradicted. Is that subtext or just plain text. I wouldn't call it queerbaiting, but queercoding or representation doesn't feel quite right either. Are we reading too much into it or is media literacy dead.

Hi there! Thank you for sharing these thoughts in response to my post from the other day. What you've mentioned here (how this would read if it was a man and a woman) is something I have thought about as well--both in terms of Aziraphale/Crowley and Michael/David, as I have shipped them outside of the show for some time now, and especially given the increasingly fuzzy line between them and the characters (which both Michael and David themselves have talked about in multiple interviews).

I think what we're seeing is neither queerbaiting nor queercoding/representation, but instead a sort of incongruity between what was put on the printed page when Good Omens was first published and what was brought to life on screen when it came to TV. What I mean by that is I often see a lot of people point to the line "gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide" as proof (almost typed "poof" there--hello, Freudian slip...) that Neil/Terry meant for the characters (specifically Aziraphale) to be gay. But from what Neil has said, the main intention here was for this to be a play on words--so, "gay" as in homosexual, but also "gay" as in happy, which was the original meaning of the term. I'm then led to think that in the minds of two cishet men in the late 1980s, "gayness" conjured a particular, unserious image, which they then brought into the writing.

Fast-forward to thirty years later, and you have Good Omens finally becoming a television show. Terry Pratchett (Gnu) had sadly left us, and so the task fell to Neil to write the screenplay and honor Terry's last wish by faithfully adapting the story. And while Neil wisely decided to cast Michael for his goodness and angelic-like nature, what I think he didn't count on was Michael's long-held beliefs and ideas about the character of Aziraphale and how he would portray him, or his profound penchant for playing numerous queer characters over the last several decades. The gayness of Aziraphale on the written page was something that Neil could control, but he couldn't control the gayness of Aziraphale as interpreted by Michael.

So that led to Neil having to address some things that I don't think he was quite prepared to address, both about the show and inside himself. Mainly, that if we are to extrapolate that what we see in season 1 is a reflection (to some degree, anyway) of Neil's views on relationships, a straight couple with little to no chemistry can jump into bed together without any hesitation, but a gay couple with tremendous chemistry and who share a deep and profound connection can't express that, either physically or by simply saying "I love you."

Much discussion has been made about how it's not necessary for someone to say "I love you" to convey such a sentiment. But what I've noticed missing from this discourse is the age/experience of anyone who has been in a relationship where that wasn't said (or conveyed) by one partner and how painful that was for the other partner. And as I mentioned in my other post, even once gay/queer people started to exist in media, they still weren't allowed to fall in love. (The phrase "the love that dare not speak its name" even came into being because of this taboo, for crying out loud.)

So when we then look at the countless tweets from Neil about how Good Omens is a love story while considering the vastly different ways in which that love is regarded when it's straight vs. when it's gay, his words start to ring somewhat hollow. And if he repeatedly has to emphasize that something is a love story, then maybe it isn't coming across as a love story in the way he thinks it is. Maybe Neil being more comfortable with casual, meaningless sex than a deep commitment speaks to a larger issue on his part. Or maybe Neil was fine with the abstract idea of a gay love story, but suddenly less comfortable with the concrete, three-dimensional reality of it.

If I had to use a word to describe it, then, from a media/cultural standpoint, I think I would call it "queerplaying," which I would define as roleplaying queerness on a surface level without actually delving into the complexity and messiness of what it actually means to be a queer/non-cishet human being. (To be clear, I am applying this to the writing/the original GO text, not to what Michael and David ultimately brought to the roles as actors.)

I hope this all makes sense. Again, the second season could come out tomorrow/Friday and prove me completely wrong about everything I've just said here, which would be wonderful. But I'm glad that other people have felt similarly about what we saw (or didn't see) in the first season, and the disconnect between the perceptions of fans/the perception of the public vs. Neil's authorial intent. Thanks for writing in! x

#pavoptes #reply post #good omens #good omens 2 #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #neil gaiman #creators are not perfect #i think neil may have some internalized homophobia he is still dealing with tbh #but i'm glad we've had Michael and David as Aziraphale and Crowley #not holding anything back #can't wait for the second season #discourse

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cloud-based-and-rainpilled · 10 months

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Horrible opinion time ™, but honestly, season 2 of Good Omens really clinched it for me as a show to come back to (tl;dr at the bottom sorry essay post)

Overall season one is much better imo (higher stakes, better structured, more sarcastic and self aware, better set pieces, etc. Also I have a personal preference for the ensemble aspect of the show/presumably the book,) and of course this comes from it being a very good book. A lot of book to screen adaptations are awful but it's always good when the author has some kind of creative input

However, when I saw Every-- or more specifically, the rabid fandom (and author) reaction to Every-- I went from vague interest in watching GO to actively wanting to watch it, and then doing so. I still firmly believe Amazon did that shit on purpose and whoopsie it worked lol

So while overall I think season two is a bit more muddled and the stakes are far lower, the shift from macro issues being the primary conflict in season one with the Apocalypse (apparently the book is very much focused on this plot and the romantic aspects of ineffable husbands were bass-boosted in the series,) the micro interpersonal conflicts in season two are very compelling in a different way

Good Omens 1 was wrapped in a neat bow; it felt sweet, but because a lot of the ensemble aspect was cut, the ending with Adam didn't really quite hit the punch it needed imo (Real "You have no power over me!" Labyrinth moment, except not as cool.) Body switching was a fist pump in the air moment, but with that wine toast and the birds chirping, it felt over. I'd have thought back on it as, "Oh, that show! That was cute, maybe I'll watch it again someday."

But that fuckin cliffhanger and Crowley and Aziraphale's absolute despair really brings out the angst and conflict I love from media. Succession (yes I am still Succession brained, sorry) has plenty of money moves, but all the important psychologically devastating/funny aspects come from the characters' (and actors') interactions

People are upset about leaving on conflict but-- why? Conflict in a story is what makes it move. It's the only thing that motivates an actor or a character (thanks acting method, you will always be annoying as fuck) Their separation now emphasizes the truly terrible ambiguity of good and evil in Heaven and Hell and could possibly take it into a more philosophical and metaphysical direction that-- while may have existed in the book-- didn't really exist prominently in the first season

I know people overall want a beautiful resolution for ineffable husbands but you know what? I'll take the pining! I'll take the misery! When it's all wrapped up, the imagination stops. When there's always something looming, there's always something to come back to

tl;dr Aziraphale & Crowley failmarriage is so frustrating and has so much potential to explore deeper philosophical and psychological themes and y'all're cowards if you're mad lmao (no one really is tho tbh)

#no one will read this lol #good omens #good omens spoilers #good omens meta #i hope this doesn't seem like asslicking i just really got in my feelings about this season #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens speculation #good omens analysis #succ brained sorry #succession

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jxnxai · 10 months

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good omens 2 might have ruined the character (SPOILERS)

i am so distraught over good omens season 2 so i'm going to write this here in hopes that people see where i'm coming from. there will be SPOILERS in this post so if you don't want that please scroll

i love this show so much. it means so much to me i cannot even begin to explain but after seeing some fresh takes on s2 (from the book fans. all the book fans hated s2) i've realized that there are two things that i really didn't like in this season:

1) aziraphale and crowley being friends in heaven 2) crowley creating the universe.

both these things did not sit well with me (more specifically the latter though) their whole dynamic in s1/the book was them befriending each other despite being on opposite sides. that first scene in s2e1 completely threw all of that away. it got rid of the effect their supposed first meet once had on me in the pilot episode. did aziraphale only befriend crowley and maintain their relationship because he remembers the angel crowley used to be? if he'd never met crowley pre-fall would he have just disregarded him as common demon scum? and the whole point of good omens was that it doesn't matter what your upbringing is, whether it be angel, demon or human, it was your CHOICES that determined how "good" or "bad" you are. even the most seemingly "insignificant" of people could make a difference. that was why aziraphale and crowley being nobodies was so important to so many people. they were able to avert the apocalypse yet it wasn't like they were the leaders of heaven/hell or something. anyone could make a difference and good omens showed that. implying how powerful crowley must've been in heaven and offering aziraphale a job as heaven's ruler in s2 completely got rid of all of that. that made me really upset.

lots of people were upset about aziraphale accepting the job offer because they felt it was totally OOC and i COMPLETELY AGREE. this is why i also believe in the coffee theory, it makes the most sense. there's no way aziraphale would've thrown everything he had on earth with crowley away for a mere promotion. it wouldn't even make sense for him to be offered one; why would heaven want a traitor to rule? one of the key points of both seasons is how unfair and systematic both heaven and hell are; neither of them would offer such a thing to either aziraphale/crowley if they didn't have an ulterior motive.

otherwise i loved that season. i know some people felt it was fanficky but i like fanficky!! i love aziraphale and crowley and i really hope neil is able to wrap it up in s3 because if not i will be fucking devastated. i'm not even kidding when i say that i could physically feel my mental health degrading after s2 came out because what the hell

also i think gabriel and beelzebub are cute and all but it really came out of nowhere?? the amount of fanservice was great but i think some of it ruined the feel of the show for me... idk. yes i will forever be grateful for the 5 whole episodes we got of aziracrow fluff. no i am not over the ending or the fact that they were friends before crowley fell.

i'd love to hear your guys' takes

#GOOD OMENS SPOILERS #don't get me wrong i love angel crowley #i adore him i think he's great #and i loved seeing him interact with aziraphale!!#just... in the long run. such a small scene threw a lot of what made good omens good omens away #just my opinion though #good omens #good omens tv #good omens s2 #good omens season 2 #go2 #aziraphale #crowley #beelzebub #gabriel #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #ineffable bureaucracy

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aethelflaedladyofmercia · 9 months

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New Good Omens WIP...?

Been playing with some ideas for a season 2-based fic. It's a bit rambly at the moment, repeats itself in a couple of lines, and seems to be launching itself towards a 100k plot despite the fact that I specifically told it to stay short, but there we are. Mostly it's a way for me to work out some character and plot ideas just to see where they go and what I feel like writing about.

Related note: I adore Muriel...

Anyway, if anyone's interested, here's my second scene, which has Muriel coming back from a visit to Heaven and visiting Maggie. If there's interest, I can post the fic once I've got a few chapters done and gotten some editing in.

(Spoilers ahead)

Muriel took a deep breath as they stepped out of the transporter, stretching their arms and really letting the feel of Earth soak into them.

It was a lovely day.

Every day was lovely, they found. Bright beautiful blue skies, or big puffy clouds, or rainstorms! All that noise, pattering and tapping and booming, it was almost as good as music. Maybe even better, they thought loyally, since music was made by humans and a storm was made by God. If nothing else, God had kept all the best instruments for Herself.

Then again, there was that one piece of music with the cannons in it. So perhaps it was a tie after all.

In any case, there was no storm today. The air was crisp and cold, especially when the wind whipped around the corner, and all the humans looked so delightfully cozy in their fuzzy sweaters and puffy coats, bundled up for warmth. Muriel miracled up a scarf to help themself blend in, something brightly colored. Humans love bright colors, though Muriel was still getting the hang of them.

Colors, that was another thing about Earth, the lovely colors, almost enough to make an angel’s eyes ache after too long in Heaven. Perhaps that was why Aziraphale was looking so pale lately. Muriel only got to see him every few months, and each time there was less pink in his cheeks, less sparkle in his eyes.

It was sad, really; he’d always seemed so brilliant alongside the other angels. It was clear the new duties weighed heavily on him, but Aziraphale insisted that was a good thing, that leadership wasn’t something an angel could wear lightly, even if all the other Archangels seemed to.

It was all confusing and a bit mysterious to Muriel. Still, the few minutes of conversation they’d shared had perked him up a bit, and Muriel was happy to have helped, even a little.

They tried to do the same now, spreading a bit of cheer as they walked down the streets of Soho. Muriel mingled with the humans in the crowds outside the shops and pubs, bumping the occasional shoulder, exchanging the traditional greetings of “Hello” and “Alright, mate?” and “Oi, watch where you’re walking, you bloody wanker.”

That, Muriel decided, was their favorite thing about Earth. All the humans going about their days, talking and laughing and arguing, holding hands, opening doors for each other, coming out of the shops with their bags full of treasures. Muriel could spend hours sitting in a cafe or restaurant with an untouched beverage, just watching them all. Lost in the spectacle of countless human lives. Each one a book in their own right, a complicated story, but taken as a whole, they were a… a…

What did one call a whole lot of books? A shop, probably, but Muriel didn’t think that was quite right. They’d have to write it down on their list of questions to ask the humans when they had a chance. Not today, though; they had another, far more important mission to take care of, given to them by the Supreme Archangel himself.

“Allo, allo, allo,” Muriel called brightly, opening the door to the record shop. It was, as always, wonderfully cozy inside, not quite so dimly lit as the bookshop but equally crowded with material objects. The records were more neatly arranged than Aziraphale’s books, but no less loved, and they filled the Little Back Room with a warm, peaceful sort of joy.

“Muriel! How lovely to see you. Are you here for Mr Fell’s order?” Maggie came around the counter, her face lit up with a brilliant smile. She’d been smiling quite a lot the last few weeks, though Muriel hadn’t worked out why yet.

Human moods were such a mystery. They’d have to see if Nina had any ideas; Maggie had been visiting the coffee shop more often lately. Or maybe that was a clue? Had Nina finally bought a record player, perhaps? Muriel was sure they’d overheard some kind of discussion about that.

“That’s right! He told me it should be ready.”

“Well, you’re just in time. They got here just a few hours ago.” Maggie pulled out a box of records and started flipping through them. “Did he give you his next order?”

“No. Nothing this time.” Muriel rocked on their feet, looking around at the album covers decorating the walls, each one its own confusing riot of colors and symbols, totally unrelated to the kind of music it contained.

That was another of the things they were enjoying. Music. A special sort of human language, closer to Enochian—the natural language of angels—yet also entirely different, filled with strange rhythms and far too few actual words. Much harder to decipher than books, but the challenge was really quite thrilling.

“Well, ah, let him know that if I hear from him in the next week or two, I can get one more order in before the holiday rush.”

“I will if I get the chance, but I don’t think it matters. He’s going to be quite busy now.”

“Oh… Oh, is he?” Maggie paused, a few records in her hands, lips pursed. “Only he’s busy all the time now, and… oh, I don’t know. It just isn’t very like him, is it?”

“Isn’t it?” Muriel furrowed their brow. “He always seemed busy when I saw him before. Oh! Is this one of those words that means different things? See, when I say it,” they smiled, pointing to themself, “I mean, he’s always rushing about and doing things with his hands, and thinking… all kinds of thoughts! I don’t think I’ve ever thought half as much as he does. Is that not like him?”

“I… I don’t know, I suppose it is.” Maggie shifted the records in her hands, as if hoping the words she was looking for were written on them. “But I mean… Well, he’s always listened to the same music as long as I’ve known him, as long as I can remember, really, and some of these are… just so very different. I thought it might be… I don’t know, a mistake, or…”

“Oh! Don’t worry, I still have the list.” Muriel patted their pockets and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper. Real paper—on one of their first visits to Heaven after being put in charge of the shop, they’d brought Aziraphale a notebook and one of the pens off his desk. That had really cheered him up. He liked to send Muriel notes, fun greetings and instructions on things to do about the shop, and he always seemed to write with a little extra flourish when he used that pen.

The note still carried a glimmer of Heaven, but Maggie didn’t seem to notice. She flipped it open and carefully looked through the pile of records. “Yes, there it is. Made in Heaven. But still… odd of him to ask for the modern stuff.”

“Oh, that’s because it isn’t for him.” Muriel watched as the records were slid into a bag and eagerly took it. “There aren’t any record players where he is. But I told him I was curious about other musics, and he’s been giving me different kinds to listen to. He calls them homework,” they added, handing over some of the papers humans used for trading, “which means I’m supposed to play a different one in the shop every night. There’s a schedule and everything.”

“Ah. I see.” Maggie put a hand on her hip. “You know, I wasn’t aware he knew anything existed other than obscure classical composers and wordy show tunes.”

“Oh, no, Aziraphale knows just about everything,” Muriel said, wondering what a show tune was. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew more musics than you did.”

“I’m sure.” She looked down with a funny smile at the trading papers. “Oh, look, he’s overpaid again. That’s not like him, either—I can’t take a hundred pounds for this!”

“Ah-ah-ah!” Wagging their finger, Muriel dug into their pocket again. “Aziraphale agreed on those records for this amount. He’d be very upset if we couldn’t reach an agreement.”

“Muriel, I’m not trying to haggle—”

“But I insist! I’m willing to go as high as… one hundred fifty!” They proudly handed over more folded paper. Haggling was another human activity Muriel enjoyed. Quite the opposite of selling books, which mostly involved discouraging potential thieves, but they were getting very good at this, too.

“Mmmm.” Maggie bit her lip. “You know this is another hundred, right?”

“You drive a hard bargain. Two hundred, then!”

“No—I—” She burst out laughing, pressing a hand to her face. “Alright, yes, two hundred. We have a deal.”

“Yay!” Muriel clutched their bag excitedly. They always won at haggling.

“Definitely yay. Um. Why don’t you pick out a few more records to take back, since you haggled so well?”

“Oh, no, I can’t. Aziraphale gave me a schedule, and I need to listen to all of these, starting tonight. It’s my homework.” That was practically an assignment, and from the Supreme Archangel himself! Muriel was determined not to fail in their duty.

“Well… yes, but at one record a night, this won’t last you very long. And if Mr Fell is too busy to give you any more homework, maybe I can give you some? Since I know almost as much about music as he does.”

“Oh, yes! That’s a wonderful idea, I…” They lowered their voice, slightly nervous about the audacious request. “He said you might… have some… bebop?”

Once again, Maggie laughed. Muriel wasn’t sure why, but it was a delightful sound. “You really are something, aren’t you? Not sure about bebop, but I bet we can find something you like. Come on…”

#good omens #good omens season 2 #good omens s2 spoilers #muriel good omens #maggie good omens #good omens fanfiction #my writing #my wips #wip wednesday #wip tuesday?#wip whenever

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sonkitty · 5 months

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The Sideburns Scheme (Good Omens 2)

Find the newest Sideburns Scheme material here: The Sideburns Scheme

Formerly titled "Crowley S2 Hair Project - Main Point of Reference for Sideburns".

This post as regularly updated as I process my thoughts.

Last Updated: 01/11/2024

This is short:

This is long:

There is more to to it than above, and we are going to work through that.

Crowley's sideburns change in length in season 2. I am reasonably sure I have figured out how and am starting to work though a little bit of why.

Here is my take.

The absolute most crucial thing to understand for my theory is space. Character presence, movement, and likely memory all impact the space, but the space decides the length based on those things. The space is practically a character reading the story with us and making decisions on what length to give Crowley in response.

If you walk way from my post with only one thing and one thing only, I want it to be this:

The Bentley is Crowley's own former-demon space, and the driver's door to that space is its primary threshold.

Now, if you're with me, and curious enough, here is so much more.

Effect

When I refer to the effect, I will specifically mean the changing of the length.

But what is the effect from that?

Each type of length probably provides a benefit of some kind since Crowley takes actions to get them one way or the other. Grasping what that is, is difficult to say the least.

We'll see what each space tells us because the spaces have different readings on Crowley as it is. There are lengths between short and long after all. Short is going to be considered a human space and long enough will be considered a former-demon space, to simplify things as best I can. I won't say "long enough" every time, just "long" and sometimes I will refer to a "longest-length."

On its most basic level, short trends human, and long trends supernatural with that length increasing depending on the supernatural elements within the space.

Even though the length is what I focus on, the sideburns even change on how full of hair they are, and sometimes aren't even...well, even.

Earthly Objects

I don't really know if Earthly Objects is a game or if that's the name of the game, but that's my understanding of what something is that is happening in the story.

The Earthly Objects game is somehow related to this Sideburns Scheme, which is also like a game. Both deal with thresholds so encounter each other. Certain aspects of the Earthly Objects game hint at falsehoods in at least the tutorial sequence for the sideburns.

Even so, the message about how the sideburns worked is still true. This story is tricky like that.

As such, a lot of my analysis is still going to be on what is presented nonetheless.

Home Base Concept - The Bookshop

Aziraphale's bookshop is where a lot of the present day season 2 story takes place, and it is nearly a second home to Crowley. Aziraphale himself is an angel, or a former angel.

The bookshop's default reading on Crowley being with just Aziraphale, if later scenes in the story are any indication, is somewhere between short and long, a medium length that gets closer to proper human-space short when in a private room together.

That's a reading that recognizes Crowley as a supernatural entity but still giving something shorter than longer reading around other angels. Most likely, that's because Crowley and Aziraphale are supernatural friends whose relationship is very similar to human partners.

When other angels are around, the bookshop's reading on Crowley increases the length. It's most noticeable from Gabriel, but that's likely because Gabriel is the angel who is around for most of the story.

Muriel shows up later, and Muriel is an angel, yet the sideburns are short. What gives?

The bookshop takes Muriel literally when Muriel claims to be human. It probably helps that Aziraphale literally accepts this claim even if he is fully aware that Muriel is an angel. As such, the reading on Crowley is that being a former-demon who tends to be around humans and pretend to be human often enough, the sideburns should still be the proper length for this "human" encounter.

When Muriel has admitted to not being human and Crowley acknowledges a full awareness that they are an angel, the next time they are in the bookshop together, both with other angels and alone, the bookshop then gives the longest type of sideburns to Crowley.

After that, the bookshop's not really going to tell us about other specific angels, such as Michael.

The main thing we're told is that other angels who are not Aziraphale are going to make that length longer, with at least Gabriel and Muriel being among those angels.

So, what does longer mean among the other angels? My general guess based on character behavior and story events when it's on, is that it's also a mark of rank from Crowley's time as an angel before his fall. The reading comes from a latent memory within the angels themselves. The story has repeated implications he was a high rank, seeming to be most specific at "First-Order Archangel" among those implications.

Crowley seems to be in charge among angels. He becomes a decision-maker and ends up directing the action.

When he is with only himself and Gabriel, he is in charge.

When he is with only himself and Muriel, he is in charge.

When he is with only himself, Aziraphale, and Gabriel, Aziraphale might make suggestions but otherwise follows along with Crowley's direction of what to do.

When Crowley is in the bookshop scene with both the powers of Heaven and Hell, he is in charge right up until he says to Aziraphale, "You got this?" Before that, he is quick to deflect a war, and they basically just let him with him yelling, getting the cardboard box, and recovering Gabriel's memories. There is a moment where it looks like Michael is taking charge by commanding mortals be turned into salt, but Crowley quickly steps in to volunteer to take care of it. Saraqael, who looked ready to do what Michael ordered, abides and lets Crowley escort the mortals out.

Do longest length sideburns do more than mark rank? I suspect they are related to memory, and they are always present during three access points of memory with Gabriel, who has amnesia. Each one is brief, and it's hard to say how much the information given is actually used. One access point is a mix of Gabriel's and God's voice, another is a mix of Gabriel's and someone else's voice who sounds like a woman, and a third access point is that Gabriel took his memory out of a matchbox, no, wait, he took it out first. In the first two access points, Gabriel's eyes turn purple, which seem to be a mark of rank on him as the Supreme Archangel.

If the sideburns mark rank in the bookshop among angels, what does that mean for Heaven? Most of my analysis on Heaven is not about that, but at the very least, none of the scenes provided in Heaven show the angels stopping Crowley from doing what he wants. Muriel is the only one who does something that even looks close to trying and abides once he changes his appearance for them.

Home Base Concept - The Bentley

Did you ever notice how abruptly the encounters with Shax and Beelzebub ended when Crowley was in or near his car? That was weird, right? Here is what I believe happened.

The Bentley has special rules as a space, and each of those encounters ended with Crowley kicking out the other demon, possibly on accident in two of those instances.

The threshold to the Bentley is mainly the driver's door, but the driver's seat acted as one when Crowley was summoned to Hell.

Of note, the sideburns are long in these instances though not at their longest length that happens in the bookshop. Based on Crowley himself, Shax, and Beelzebub, that altogether suggests a default demon reading from the car. It can change, but it has to be managed through Crowley in the season's ending.

Back to the topic of the encounters, let's move on.

Shax at the Door

Crowley placed himself on the threshold and possibly made Shax wait a full hour before answering his phone. When answering, some of his body is touching the roof of the car, which makes it so that he's not touching that door panel exclusively. Then he turns around when he would presumably not be touching his car but at least fully intending to touch it, which seems to suffice for the story. Shortly after, he is leaning against the roof again.

By taking this action, he is allowing Shax closer to the space around the car and talk to her.

For the shots we are allowed to see him from the front, he is touching the roof, door panel, and sometimes we see the window pane is included the lean as well.

Before he asks, "Is that all?", he stops touching those parts of the car entirely and cannot be seen touching any other part.

Shax disappears from the scene.

By removing the touch from the car, the home base kicked her out. The forced exit seems unintentional.

Summoned by Beelzebub to Hell

Beelzebub uses a fly already inside the car. Crowley did not invite Beelzebub in, but the fly is enough to get their metaphorical foot in the door.

They then do not fully manifest in corporal form into the car and summon Crowley into Hell.

Crowley very deliberately leans back and while we can't see his back constantly against the throne during the entire scene, it is implied, bare minimum, he is not leaning forward while on that throne for most of it. He's gathering intel despite his evident reluctance to be in Hell during the scene. The throne he sits in represents his driver's seat. Even when Crowley seems to want to lean forward, he'll try to not lean too much or he will lean to the side. Until the end of the conversation, he only leans forward off the back of the seat when he asks something ("Is that a new face?" "How?"). As in, he is inviting that part of the conversation into his space. He'll lean most toward Beelzebub's throne, even making sure to place his hand on the seat. The seat is to Crowley's own left, which is akin to the passenger seat in his car.

Crowley never stands up from the throne and only leans too far forward possibly at the end and possibly on accident. Beelzebub's "So if you hear anything..." is good enough to end the conversation, and that was a conversation where they were not invited. Crowley himself has no further questions and no further interest in actually being in Hell. The intel gathering is done. As such, the space reads that business is done and sends him back to the car instantly, whether Crowley intended for that exact thing to happen or not.

Shax in the Car

Crowley allowed Shax in by not verbally denying her entry and looking at where she would manifest. He kicked her out by non-verbally revving up his car even more after doing it once and giving her a second look. The home base understood it was about to de-activate and kicked her out.

The Park

The park would probably be considered a human space.

To my best estimates, his sideburns are a little longer than what their usual intended shortness is when he finishes driving.

The park is not a home base environment, but Crowley takes certain steps allowing the space to become more his own that might explain the slightly longer length.

The main step at work seems to be the newspaper, which is probably his intended earthly object eventually. Because he holds it with only two fingers on his right and has other touches in place, such as his back to the bench and his arm on arm rest, the newspaper actually gets to act as a door to his own space. At least, I think that's what happening based on my earthly objects analysis overall.

If it's not the newspaper, then it is the stillness. What does stillness do? I'm not entirely sure. Based on this context, I would guess it helps him be sensed or seen. Besides Nina later, humans don't usually approach Crowley, but one does before Shax later shows up.

The park itself is probably a more familiar place to Crowley compared to other human spaces too.

When each of the characters he speaks with show up, there is no interaction from him to them until he deliberately pulls the newspaper down from his face. That is to say, he passes through his threshold to talk to them.

His sideburns seem generally the same length during the scene.

Activation Points

The proper border for short and long is hard to explain, but when I say "longer" below, I am looking for length beyond what you see before Crowley enters the coffee shop and walks across the street with Aziraphale when they leave. Both scenes show us multiple angles of his face for comparison to the rest of the season.

Activation Points for longer sideburns:

-The bookshop under the right conditions

-The Bentley under the right conditions

-The pub (dependent on its threshold)

-The music shop (dependent on its threshold)

-Hell (likely qualifying through the Bentley)

-Heaven (likely qualifying through the pub)

-The park (see above, might be considered iffy by others)

What are the right conditions for the bookshop to make Crowley's sideburns longer?

Longer seems to be a default reading actually. It's more like certain exceptions must not be met.

-No individual angel claiming to be human

AND

-Not in the private room with Aziraphale after encountering Gabriel

AND

-Not alone before an angel activates the effect.

The sideburns will be longest in any significant angel encounter that has an angel who is not Aziraphale and not pretending to be human. Those scenes are:

Scenes with only Crowley and Gabriel

Scenes with only Crowley, Gabriel, and Aziraphale

The overall general scene with angels, demons, and two humans, where Crowley is actively trying to undo a declaration of war.

The scene with Muriel after everyone else has left.

There's a small chance they lengthened slightly after first encountering Muriel, then going to talk to Aziraphale in the private room, but I can't really tell.

What are the right conditions for the Bentley to make Crowley's sideburns longer?

-Not directly shown but hinted to be staying parked for a long enough time with him inside or possibly a long enough time in a preferred familiar area to the car.

-Standing at the threshold with utmost precision in the season's ending

Throwing away mail shows longer sideburns, which again, I am guessing means he was parked long enough before he exited.

The sideburns will be longest at the season's ending. I currently think it is because of stillness and how his touch is focused exclusively on the threshold.

Activation Points for shorter sideburns:

-Driving the Bentley for a long enough time after de-activating it as a home base.

-Exiting far enough away from the bookshop, assuming the bookshop already activated longer sideburns. This distance expands during the story, explained further below.

-Being present in human spaces. Thresholds can both force and counter this effect, dependent on their design.

-Entering a private room with Aziraphale within the bookshop shortened them from the bookshop's main first floor after encountering Gabriel.

Connecting the Two Home Bases

During the specific season 2 story, Crowley regularly parks his car across the street from the bookshop, generally by the coffee shop.

In episode 1, once Crowley reaches the middle of the street and starts to count to ten, the sideburns are a shorter length that better matches before he entered the bookshop.

In episode 2, we see Crowley with longer sideburns right before he crosses the threshold whereas episode 1 showed them still short. At some point he leaves and is seen with short sideburns again, across the street.

In episode 3, Crowley exits the bookshop to interact with Shax. He never crosses the street and remains mostly along the sidewalk. Still, it might be considered further in distance and longer for the sideburns than seen in episodes 1 and 2.

In episode 4, when Crowley exits the bookshop, his sideburns are again longer than the usual shortness around humans up to that point of the story. Episode 1 is structured to tell us that the sideburns get shorter from the bookshop threshold to the center of the street. Episode 4 shows us the sideburns did not get shorter from the bookshop threshold to the center of the street. They stayed longer.

Why?

Crowley and Aziraphale connected their home bases for when the Bentley is parked across the street, intentionally or not. I think it is intentional, but I have a very loose grasp on a possible reason.

So, how did they connect their home bases?

Aziraphale borrowed Crowley's car. Crowley borrowed Aziraphale's bookshop.

Put another way, Aziraphale inhabited Crowley's home base without Crowley for a certain amount of time and distance. Crowley inhabited Aziraphale's home base without Aziraphale for a certain amount of time and distance. Both time and distance contribute to changing the length from each of these homes.

Crowley and Aziraphale remotely contact each other once during this borrowing phase. Assuming this effect is memory-related, those spaces now share those memories.

When Crowley and Aziraphale take Crowley's plants, living things that inhabited one home base, then another, during this process, they are finalizing this connection.

The plants will now have memories of being in each space, and each space will now have memories of the plants inhabiting them.

I don't know how much the plants were necessary, but they are a significant part of Crowley's home at the very least.

Yes, despite Crowley's obvious reluctance and discomfort with loaning his car and my not fully understanding why, I think forming this connection was intentional from both of them, not like with super confidence, just the way I see Aziraphale look at the bookshop and look at Crowley. Crowley has a chance to see for himself by looking at the mirror in his car when putting the plants away. They are small clues.

All the same, back to my main stuff. My theory is the home base border along the center of the street has disappeared. It might actually be more like a radius around the bookshop that has expanded, but that's the main place the border is understood to exist.

Onto my loose grasp of a possible reason.

This connection, this disappearance of that border, does not protect the rest of the street from the incoming demon invasion when it starts. The demons enter the area without invitation.

After Crowley enters the bookshop for the ball, no humans, as best I can tell, no humans are on the street. There is a bunch of fog, and it's dark, and there are demons. Eventually, there will be an angel there, but there are no humans.

Crowley escorts some humans to safety to exit the bookshop. However, when he dismisses them, we don't really see where they go. The story cuts away and when we are back to Crowley's location, they are gone.

There are other times we've seen Crowley in or near his car with longer sideburns and no humans.

The basic idea is that the space surrounding Crowley's car, that we've been seeing, has split itself into two different spaces at once. One is the Earth where humans do what they do, as usual, but are now not disturbing Crowley while he is in his car. The other is the Earth where Crowley does what he does, not being disturbed by humans until the driving time deems otherwise. The "no humans" space is a supernatural-exclusive zone when it comes to angels, demons, and humans. For whatever it's worth, the only living natural beings I can find in the area are plants, inside and out of the car, and that one fly before Beelzebub shows up inside the car (assuming that fly is indeed natural).

Instead of a person, such as Crowley, being two places at once, one place becomes two places at once. The car being Hell, and the pub being Heaven further support this idea. Each of those spaces are accessed when Crowley has the longer sideburns and in that zone to begin with.

The mechanics are confusing with the flies, I don't fully get it, but it probably relates to the car having thresholds in a wider supernatural space.

In the case of the ball, the split didn't just happen by accident or through time alone. Crowley's car is near the bookshop, but he wasn't in it, and it wasn't in its usual isolated area. The window is open on the morning of the ball but closed when he talks to Nina, so we're never shown when it's being switched from open or closed.

There is a very specific point where things start to change, but before that, there are also some specific things that happen. Namely, during each ball invitation shown on camera, Crowley accompanies Aziraphale. He does not say anything during the actual inviting and makes some effort to touch an earthly object. Mrs. Cheng is a special case, but there is a touch against Aziraphale's shoulder while Aziraphale is speaking in a foreign language with Mrs. Cheng that ultimately counts. It's too varied to get even further into how these touches are different, because my main point is he does them.

He also makes self-touches on both his clothing and his skin. In the times where he does not have visible skin contact touches, he is doing something with his pockets that probably still end up somehow counting as the missing skin contact touch.

Once every such location has had Crowley do the necessary touches, finishing off with the wine he takes with him, he moves onto the specific point where things are about to change.

He goes to the bookshop and approaches Gabriel in basically Demon Mode. The music has a hint of foreboding. The subtitles include "drunkenly" when he first talks. There's an underlying menace in his entire demeanor from the start. He forces a light on with "Let there be light." He removes his sunglasses with a subtle demonic hiss. He uses his left hand to do the removal, which is the only time he ever uses that hand for that purpose of the three times it is done at all. The story provides a notable view of his long right sideburn. His eyes are fierce, and his voice grows increasingly fierce too.

The simple words "Did Not Care For it" are capitalized in the subtitles. They sound like a threat even though he's not threatening to do anything. He calmly tells Gabriel to jump out the window.

It all seems to settle down once he realizes Gabriel's obeying him without question. There's that rank hint again.

I digress. What I'm trying to say is, I think Crowley was drawing out his own demonic energy to start the split, a shift from one zone to the other.

Now it doesn't look intentional for the shift at all from everything else happening within the scene. It's meant to feel how it does on its own in the full context of the entire story with what we know of both characters. The main hint of the intention is actually from the consistency of the ball invitations. The story makes sure Crowley leaves with a wine bottle and glass from the restaurant, then arrive with a wine bottle and glass in the bedroom where the scene takes place. I definitely can't tell you how or why or what mechanics are at work, but I sense that they are. That's a noticeable pattern that might explain how the humans collectively invited to the ball are temporarily allowed in the supernatural zone.

The shift from one zone to the other is not instant. It's happening while Crowley is out in the street to make sure Maggie and Nina are on their way. The street is growing increasingly foggy as it is getting darker. Fewer and fewer humans are around as time passes.

It doesn't really seem to be completed until Maggie is walking toward the bookshop with Nina not long before her as next-to-last. Maggie herself is a human, but she seems to be a special type of human not explained in the story as to how or why she is different. Nina could be too even if it's not as obvious. She is next-to-last.

If one excludes Maggie because she is human in some capacity, then it's probably done when Crowley himself enters the bookshop as a means to complete the matter, further confirmed with Shax arriving through the supernatural elevator in the pub instead of wherever the rest of the demons came from. The story referred to such a place as "stairs" when Shax was planning the invasion. An elevator is decidedly not stairs. It definitely raises questions about Shax with that kind of timing and wording.

Another thing about this special zone is that the Bentley is the only car around once the shift is done.

Speaking of the car, Crowley won't just drive away to re-merge these spaces. Not only that, he's not going back into that bookshop despite the indications in the dialogue he would.

Nope.

Instead, he goes to Heaven and spends time there until the war declaration goes off. Upon returning the following day, the merge has happened, either through the time itself or just the reset of the day. Sure, it could be the halo blowing up, but the people aren't shown as being in the street until Crowley himself is visibly there

So, if Crowley and Aziraphale wanted to protect the street overall from the incoming invasion but somehow still needed this ball to happen with some humans, that's what they did to protect everyone as best they could.

It might even be a trial run for needing to protect Earth on a much bigger scale later.

Now, admittedly, he did seem alarmed by the demons arriving, but both he and Aziraphale have been acting in certain ways to throw off whoever or whatever is reading them throughout this story.

By making the border disappear, or expand, that meant that once Crowley entered the bookshop on the implied Thursday, his sideburns could not become their usual shortness around humans until after he had driven for enough time and far enough away from the bookshop. He did not take that action and receive that shortness until right before the ending credits.

I suspect the sideburns do more than all of that since they seem connected to memory in some way.

The Bigger Thresholds Trick

This part of The Sideburns Scheme is likely a significant crossover with The Earthly Objects Game as one of the Threshold Tricks Crowley does during Good Omens 2. Much of the content below was written before I recognized the existence of these tricks and is still relevant to the sideburns overall.

There are three special threshold locations, but we'll talk about a certain two first.

Those locations are the pub and the music shop. They are human-specific locations that make it quite difficult to develop theories like the one about the connection and the other about the existence of a supernatural zone.

During the story, both locations have one thing in common that seems to have nothing to do with Crowley.

Both locations have an encounter with a human who remembers a meeting from some years ago and say as much to Aziraphale. Mr. Brown brings up this meeting while Crowley is busy getting drinks and describes the time frame as "several years ago" (I used to think "ten", sorry). Mr. Arnold brings up the meeting with Crowley standing at the door, describing the time frame as "ten years ago". Both of them mention lights ("winter street lights", "Christmas lights"). This might not be the exact same meeting, but the similarity is nonetheless there.

Their encounters also both have significant contrasts to each other.

Mr. Brown is met in a very busy pub with a lot of humans around. It's much bigger than the music shop.

Mr. Arnold is met alone in his music shop, which is quite small in comparison to the pub.

I've considered the idea that Mr. Brown is a human who has false memories about this meeting given to him by the Metatron to setup the present day Thursday night meeting. I have no reason to believe Mr. Arnold is setup in the same way. Mr. Arnold doesn't actually want to go to the present day meeting at all.

Heaven is not expected to be a human space, but it shares a connection with the pub. That is the third special threshold we'll discuss here.

All three of these locations have thresholds bigger than Crowley. Being bigger alone is not enough. Crowley manages each one of these special thresholds in a different way.

Let's go.

The Pub

The pub's threshold starts with a door frame when entered. It has two wooden doors with windows. It also has a panel along the door frame's right side leading further into the space. The panel does not end with a door. There is a post to parallel the end of the panel on the other side.

The length between the door and this panel is the threshold. That's enough space to be bigger than Crowley.

Because the threshold has two doors and two different types of ends, it also has two lanes, one for each door. The right door has a threshold from it to the end of the panel. The left door has a threshold from it to the post on the wall.

While we do not see Crowley's sideburn length before he entered, the camera zoom into the pub sign actually does show us, below the sign, that only the right door is open.

The story does not show Crowley switching lanes on camera, but to me, that seems to be the most likely action he did. His red-headed figure can be spotted behind obscure glass on the panel trailing Aziraphale. The rug he is walking on might be some kind of indication that he is in the left lane since Aziraphale is probably in the right lane and not walking along the rug at all.

When Crowley exits, he sticks to the lane by the panel and door that will make the sideburns short. If it makes any difference, the right door that is open, is open inward toward the space of the threshold instead of outward toward the street.

A possible factor I don't understand is that Crowley parked his car near the pub instead of the coffee shop that particular episode.

The Music Shop

The music shop's threshold starts with a hole in a wall and leads to a door.

It is also bigger than Crowley.

But Crowley entered the music shop, right?

Crowley is touching the door with his hand, then his back the entire time he is visibly on camera in that space. Sometimes it looks like he's shifted position between shots, but the main thing is the camera watching him when it is watching him sees that he is still touching that door. It's probably significant that this door has a window, and Crowley's touching that too with his back. All the same, the threshold still considers him as in its space instead of the music shop's space because he never let go of the door.

Which then begs the question...how and why did he know to do exactly that for exactly that scene? That entire setup suggests that he fully meant for that outcome or to learn it. Aziraphale is checking. Yes, he's giving away a book and catching Crowley off guard and thinking about how to get the ball with a dance going, but he is still checking that the longer sideburns are there. The story literally shows us that location receiving a mark on a paper for being done! No other locations get a mark, just that one!

So, a similar question is begged for the pub since a similar encounter happened. There was a human who remembered a meeting from some years ago and says so to Aziraphale.

One memory, by all appearances to me, seems to be fake. Mr. Arnold's doesn't make any claims that mismatch anything Aziraphale claims to remember.

But...he just coincidentally brings up such a similar memory in such a similar context of Crowley maintaining longer sideburns? While in a presumed human space unless one considers threshold size, two-lane management, and touching the door? I have no explanation. What good does having that memory recalled in front of Crowley do?

Heaven

So, if Hell qualifies through the Bentley, does Heaven qualify through the pub?

Yes, but I'm not sure how. I'm sure based on intuition.

The truly easiest, most basic thing is that Crowley doesn't press the elevator button and avoids touching the doors for the overall entrance. It's still worth explaining how this entry and design is so different.

Crowley enters and exits this threshold first. That is, by far, the most confusing thing he does. Admittedly, not long before this part, Crowley also crossed an open threshold first with Mrs. Sandwich next to him, implied and then confirmed arm in arm. Still, he was not first before Mrs. Sandwich. He was first with Mrs. Sandwich. Furthermore, that scene has a specific context of getting humans out safely instead of the more standard movement of just passing through a door to get from one place to another for other reasons.

In general, over the story, Crowley crosses thresholds alone or with Aziraphale. The other closest thing resembling crossing a threshold with someone else is Elspeth. She enters first, with him following, in The Resurrectionist minisode. That scene is a little suspect as it is, but even so, he wasn't first.

Upon entering the Heaven elevator, Crowley turns around such that two elevator doors are behind him and three elevator buttons are to his left. In turn that means that the doors behind Crowley are to the left of a front view of the buttons. Muriel hesitates but eventually joins, also turning around, and even listens to Crowley's request to close the doors.

The lighting and distance make it difficult to see just what his sideburn length actually is, but around when Muriel closes the doors, the sideburns look to be a medium length. They are past the standard shortness of being around humans and shorter than being around Gabriel when humans aren't around. That's largely been the length during the ball with some questionable hints of reaching full length at times but being hard to tell.

When Shax looks toward the elevator going up, the pub doors can still be seen on Earth. Later, there is a wall seen on exit that could be what took the place of the doors, but it's not explicitly demonstrated in the story.

Later, two of the buttons from within the elevator are shown from a front view. From that front view, reflections and lights suggest the elevator doors are opening on the right instead of the left.

Just like the wall, the story does not explicitly demonstrate if Crowley and Muriel turned around yet again.

I do believe that Heaven is supposed to be the pub, so it's rather curious that the story is working so hard to avoid confirming that, even on some level implying otherwise with the blocking. If the potential wall that formed where the pub doors were simply became another set of elevator doors, that would make Heaven the street outside the pub instead of in the pub, which seems unlikely.

There is a little clue in that when the elevator is summoned, the pub lights up a little within itself and outside where the elevator would be.

Another thing about this threshold is that if Crowley and Aziraphale moved that border from the center of the street...that might have been part of an expanding radius, would the sideburns be longer anyway? It's not like we could know!

Not pressing the button and avoiding the doors is the easiest explanation, but then why does Crowley make sure to move first? Honestly, I give up. I'm just going to tell you what my intuition is telling me. That move is for whatever is happening with that miracle sound right before Aziraphale enters later. It is more for season 3 or season 2's link leading up to season 3. The bookshop doors are open during this entire Heaven visit. The bookshop has a broken window during this entire visit. Somehow, these things matter and are part of a bigger plan happening in the background of the story.

But back to the entry all the same.

When Crowley does pass through the elevator doors, his hand is touching the wall inside, which is likely an earthly object touch to initiate the scene.

All that said, I believe the Heaven threshold still considers Crowley as inside its space.

The sideburn length seems to remain the same. It is a length close to when Crowley is around Gabriel yet not quite getting there, seeming to stop just short of it.

During Crowley's time in Heaven, the story puts a lot of effort into teaching us something about Crowley if we haven't figured it out by now. Well, sort of. The something is more evident to anyone willing and wanting to look for this type of information frame by frame. Crowley, for the most part, does not see people with his eyes. That is likely true of most other things as well.

His entire body language constantly tells us otherwise. He snakes his way about among pillars when talking to Muriel about bees. He glances back after passing Michael and Uriel. He turns his head in the direction of voices when he hears multiple angels discussing things on different screens. He taps Muriel on the shoulder directly. He knows to look downward to Saraqael's position. He even glances Saraqael's way without hearing them speak first at one point. He knows where to look toward Muriel when telling them, "You too." Everything about Crowley's movement tells us Crowley sees the angels.

Only one thing and one thing only informs us Crowley is not seeing the angels but is sensing them with his eyes instead.

Check his sunglasses.

His sunglasses will reflect panels of light, sometimes blurred panels of light, but they never ever reflect an angel in this tremendously well lit space with Muriel dressed in their all white Inspector Constable attire.

Most especially, check when Crowley turns to Muriel after they said, "That's pretty good, actually." He turns his head. They are literally on screen together. There is part of a more solid-looking white pane that's a light or something on the desk. We can see his eyelid. Move to the next frame, and we still see panels of light.

We do not see Muriel.

There are other times in the story where you can actually catch a reflection of a character in Crowley's sunglasses that threw me off. I saw it once when he was talking to Aziraphale by the car in episode 2 and again when talking to Muriel in episode 3. I think there's even Mrs. Cheng in episode 5, but I don't have the energy to decipher or further comment on that. She's special. The end.

Later on, close to the end of season, the sunglasses have reflections of people and movement, but that's a truly special case involving windows and thresholds though long sideburns are there too. If anything, much of this Heaven visit with the lights, light reflections, and lacking other reflections, are to help us understand how special the ending is. For a more in-depth explanation, here is a link to a post I made about it: Earthly Objects Study - Windows Part 2 (Good Omens 2).

Moving on, both of those times I saw reflections of Aziraphale and Muriel, the angel being reflected is actually holding an object and deliberately showing Crowley that object.

Crowley might be seeing them because he is seeing them holding something—with intent at that! Such things were also earthly objects.

Now onto the exit.

First off, we don't see them all get in or get out. The story gives us two little clues that Crowley was still first and hence, another clue, that it might indeed matter. Toward the elevator, he leads with Saraqael and Muriel following. Away from the elevator, he leads with entry into the bookshop.

Now during the trip for the exit, we see something interesting besides the fact that we have conveniently missed whatever led to Michael and Uriel being there.

This scene is so quick in its standard speed that it's easy to dismiss.

Those four angels are looking at him, right?

In my opinion, no, no, they are not. I am a little less sure after grasping how Crowley's sight works, but still...consider it.

They sure look like they are looking at him.

By Crowley starting his exit and maintaining touch on the threshold's door, he has become invisible to them. They probably saw him enter the elevator. We, as the audience, know that there is something special about maintaining touch on the door at the end of using a threshold as an entrance.

Now we see him do it during an exit by keeping a small part of his upper back against the door.

This scene is more like the angels are looking at his invisibility, not at Crowley himself. That's why they have the mixed reactions that they do.

Michael looks incredulous. Muriel looks mildly scared and amazed at the same time, in reaction to his place, not the angels surrounding them. Uriel looks annoyed. Saraqael remains neutral. Muriel's is the one I consider our biggest clue for reaction.

He's not reflected in the closer view of their eyes, but I can't say that happens much for the story or characters overall.

The elevator's surface is reflective and shows bigger shadows around the angels. There is no reflection or shadow to tell us Crowley is there when we see the angels. Muriel's white helmet is probably at least a little reflective. Still nothing.

Well, could it still be that they can see him and just have those thoughts on Crowley? I could just somehow be missing it, right?

Yes, of course. We're going to keep playing along.

Uriel starts to look down, soon followed by Muriel, as the light starts to go up as Crowley's appearance changes. The light itself might be allowing them to see him as it travels, but the story doesn't tell us. Instead, it alerts us very pointedly that the only thing reflected in his sunglasses are the lights along the side and maybe behind Muriel.

He says, "Funny old world, isn't it?" because those angels are now forced to trust a demon in their shared space of this threshold, and each side is invisible to the other. He senses them with his eyes and not seeing them, but the reverse is probably not true for at least Muriel and Uriel. Saraqael gets a pass on being shown. Michael is the biggest hint of an exception since Michael does not look down.

The Season 2 Ending (The Door Trick)

Just like with the bigger thresholds, this part of the sideburns scheme actually crosses over with the earthly objects game (Threshold Tricks). Much of the content below is about The Door Trick. Some of it is a mix of before I recognized it for being that, and some of it is the latest I've had to change due to what I learned about pocket touches. Just like with the bigger thresholds, I still consider the content in general relevant enough to keep here.

The end of season 2 chooses to show us a context we haven't actually seen despite seeing Crowley, his car, and this street as much as we have throughout the episodes.

This scene is extremely difficult to analyze for sideburns because of how much the sideburns depend on everything else. They're the longest length but don't seem to be quite as thick as when around Gabriel in the bookshop.

Based on all of the information available to me, the length is from a combination of his stillness and maintaining a threshold-only touch on the upper panel of the door to his car. That's not based on intuition this time like with Heaven. These things have mattered in other places, so that's why I'm looking at them now as part of the possibility. And there is A LOT despite how simple it all looks on the surface. This character is precise in his choices when it comes to whatever this scheme really is.

Let's start with how the context is different.

The most noticeable thing is that Crowley is a lone supernatural entity among a lot of humans. Muriel is presumably around the area somewhere, but they are not on camera for the parts I am going to discuss. I am taking that, from the story's meaning, Muriel is not why the sideburns are this length at this time.

Other demons and angels are gone. Aziraphale is part of this scene, but there is a distance between him and Crowley, probably enough that we're supposed to think it's not directly because of Aziraphale's proximity either. The same goes for the Metatron.

This scene was how it clicked with me that the length was determined by the space, not the presence of angels or demons or humans directly. They're all too far to say that this length is from them. It's the car and Crowley himself...because the car is Crowley's own space, his own home...that he connected with Aziraphale at that. This length is still different from being near or in the car in previous scenes. Well, he's doing some things that make it different.

Doors are thresholds, and most doors in this story have earthly objects on them, such as a doorknob or a window pane. Most touches on the door from the characters in the show are indeed on these earthly object parts, most especially the doorknob. Crowley's door to his car has a handle. It also has a window, which just so happens to be open in the first shot we'll see of him. There's no window pane there to get in the way of the things he's going to do.

Besides the touch on the door and the stillness, there are some other things he's doing.

He has his right hand in his pocket except for his thumb.

This part right here is crucial. The stillness is quite likely related to this thing. Every touch in The Pocket Trick has at least some movement. This touch is not part of The Pocket Trick, and that is one of many differences.

Pocket touches require extreme care in how they are done. When first realizing the scale of what they are, it feels like everything matters when it comes to the pockets. That may still be true. I cannot fully understand them. If it's not everything, it's still a lot. The sun beaming down on him and hitting the light where it hits him, especially his head? That is quite likely because of the pocket touch. It is the strongest source of light on Earth while not actually being an earthly object on Earth providing a light source. There is a car behind reflecting light toward him as well. It might be acceptable or even helping because of the sun.

Understanding pocket touches is overwhelming. I'm still working through it, so I cannot cover everything.

I will still cover some parts below.

As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of humans. Humans have a notable presence when it comes to the pocket touches.

Crowley's legs are crossed to help him lean onto the car in the specific way for this scene. By having them crossed the way he does, there is no space between them. Somehow, that's going to make them a Double touch for what he's going to do soon.

Though we see the legs, we do not see his feet.

Before Aziraphale enters that elevator, we are given three different camera shots that all look like Crowley is standing incredibly still as the scene progresses.

The first shot shows the lean, the hand in the pocket, and the sleeve of his right arm on the upper panel, deliberately avoiding the roof. As the camera starts to pan, there is an ever so tiny gap in his sleeve as if to help alert us that he is not touching the window frame, despite what the incoming angle would otherwise suggest. While we cannot see his feet, the angle is enough that we should conclude they are not touching the edge of the sidewalk. The edge of the sidewalk is a threshold, but it's not a threshold Crowley wants to touch in this scene. The window frame is probably a physical threshold for the window he's avoiding.

The camera pans, and you can see the longer sideburns if you check. His left hand and some of his forearm are not touching the door, including his watch. The thumb of the left hand is not easily visible with the other digits. Of what can be seen of the left thumb, much of it is cast in shadow. That's on purpose for the pocket touch. The left thumb joint is not as deeply cast in shadow, and that too is on purpose for the pocket touch. Those touches greatly depend on the left thumb joint. The index fingertip is visible. The other fingertips are not visible.

The scene moves back to Aziraphale, then back to Crowley.

Crowley is still standing quite still with his hand in his pocket. His left hand is partly obscured by the car's front side lining or whatever it's called. This story really likes the number three, and this shot is the second one. I can barely tell you what is significant about this shot because I'm only starting to understand it. The way Crowley's stance is set up is that there are actually multiple closed pockets between him and the car. There is one notably bigger than the others between the door and the left side of his jacket. Eventually, a human passes by who does have their left hand in their pocket. Through the closed pocket between the jacket and the car, there is an illusionary vertex touch to Crowley's jacket, probably in a good position as well due to the arm lines up if Crowley actually were using a pocket.

As things tend to go in other pocket touches, the left thumb joint is supposed to make a vertex touch to Crowley's jacket, or do so with assistance from the watch. So, this vertex touch from the human, and Crowley's overall stance being what it is with where his hand and watch are, somehow gets the job done or whatever version of the job it's supposed to be for this different type of touch.

The scene moves back to Aziraphale with that miracle sound and his reaction. He slightly turns his head toward Crowley as best he can manage.

Now we get a third shot of Crowley.

This time, there are touches, but they aren't just any touches either.

It's mostly a front view of the edge of that door but that will suffice. Pocket touches heavily involve edges, and edges are thresholds.

The watch is touching the door.

There are three skin contact touches on the door. One of them is the skin between his watch and his sleeve. Another is the right side of his palm. The third is a triple with three digits of his fingers collectively together. Their fingertips are not visible; it's hard to tell even when zoomed in and checking a screenshot. His index finger is decidedly not part of the touch, and that fingertip is visible. That touch is ready to use the pocket touch to its full advantage. Crowley has a full visible set of digits for a hand.

I have not gone over what each piece of apparel does here because the main thing I know is that they are probably all doing something. The tie, the belt, the shirt, and the vest are positioned the way they are, and have been positioned the way they are, in each shot for this pocket touch to help the door touch.

If the hand does something like share the touch because of how each digit has been shown, which I do believe it does, the main thing he's touching, especially with his thumb, is his pants, which have the double touch due to the legs being crossed.

Altogether, that gives Crowley a triple skin contact touch, a double clothing touch, and a single accessory touch on the door.

That act, that set of touches, is The Door Trick, and those extra touches within are multipliers on it.

Another thing found when trying to figure out the pockets while still not fully getting there is that even though The Door Trick is done, it sort of shoots a chain of the pocket touch to Aziraphale. Then Aziraphale has to make specific moves of his own to get in the elevator and framed in the exact way he is along with the Metatron. The Metatron has his right hand fully in his pocket. One of the curious ways The Pocket Trick works is the obvious intent and extent of using puns to figure out the puzzles of the touches.

As such, I believe Aziraphale's part that follows Crowley's is supposed to be...The Door Catch. The name is inspired by the story's focus of The Bullet Catch in episode 4, and the fact that we're chained in from a Trick about a door, that took advantage of a pocket touch.

Despite so much depending on the pocket touch, those longest-length sideburns have been there.

The sideburns have been long without pocket touches, so one would guess it's not all about the pocket though the pocket still did a ton for the touch.

Speaking of sideburns, Crowley's sideburns don't change during all of this. At least, from what we can tell. The second two shots further away from him are still enough to tell us those sideburns are long.

Every shot had Crowley being still, like really, really still.

While that might be part of the pocket touch, he was also quite still in his first present day scene with no pockets involved.

I don't know what the stillness really does. As mentioned way back, maybe it helps him be sensed in this case since Aziraphale wasn't looking his way until that miracle sound happened, besides fulfilling pocket touch requirements.

Since Heaven was accessed explicitly when the supernatural-exclusive zone was active, if indeed such a zone existed, I do believe The Door Trick granted access. After that, Aziraphale still had to do his own part to get in with The Door Catch.

Please see the following if you want a more image-focused and simplified post about these things happening.

The Door Trick Visual Representation

After this Threshold Trick, there is only one left after Aziraphale leaves, which is The Window Trick.

Here is a link describing it:

The Window Trick

A lot of physical touching is avoided in being shown during that windows sequence. The song might have something going on too, but that type of analysis is beyond my capability with how it might link to sideburns, windows, and thresholds.

Short sideburns at long last appear before the end credits and with them are faint physical touches within the car once again.

The end. I update this post a lot as I reach new realizations, just FYI.

If you read only one of the rest of the links below, this one is probably best:

Crowley S2 Hair Post #10 (angry lightning walk)

More here if you really want to go deep into my findings, still being edited as I learn things:

Episode 1: The Arrival

Post #1 (meeting with Shax in St. James' Park)

Post #2 (meeting with Shax in the street)

Post #3 (phone call with Aziraphale in the Bentley)

Post #4 (entering the coffee shop)

Post #5 (revisiting park scene for zoom and blur weirdness)

Post #6 (being in the coffee shop)

Post #7 (crossing the street from the coffee shop to the bookshop)

Post #8 (finding out Gabriel is in the bookshop)

Post #9 (fragile existence)

Post #10 (angry lightning)

Post #11 (being summoned)

Post #12 (being in Hell)

Post #13 (before driving to the bookshop)

Post #14 (driving to the bookshop)

Post #15 (fixing coffee shop power)

Post #16 (hiding Gabriel)

Episode 2: The Clue

Post #17 (meeting with Shax in the car)

Post #18 (the pub)

Post #19 (crossing the street from the pub to the bookshop)

#crowley s2 hair project #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens s2 #david tennant #crowley #good omens meta #good omens analysis #good omens season 2 #Crowley's sideburns

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