Anyone else done a full 180 on Good Omens Finale opinions?
Everywhere I look online, it‘s posts full of hate or posts full of love, but was wondering if anyone had experienced a similar thing to me. So when I first finished Good Omens season 3 after much excitement, I went upstairs and cried. Like a complete emotional breakdown. I was so angry and so full of hatred for that terrible ending.
I honestly just wanted someone to pinch me, because for so long i still thought i must be dreaming. Well I kept hearing all this ’their ineffable love endures’. I called bullshit. I mean, their love doesn’t endure. They die. They are quite literally erased from existence. Then we have a little 13 billion year time skip and two humans who look like them get together. But it’s not them. It could never be them. There’s no history, no 6,000 years of memories, no end of the world that forced them to realise how much they meant to each other. Just two humans who are a ghost of something ineffable that has expired.
Just two humans with no knowledge of their forbidden love, life saving, incredible bond and Crowley’s final and desperate vulnerable confession and the aftermath of his heartbreak and living on the streets. There was no confession of love, no kiss, no happy ending. I thought a well-written sad ending was one thing, but to frame this as happy? Just because in an alternate universe their lookalikes got it on?
Not to mention the huge plot holes, specifically regarding the book of life, as well as the fact that Jesus had no involvement to the plot and that for some reason that God let them create a universe with no God? Final half an hour plot, since Crowley’s question, I had thought was shocking, and I‘d felt the deep thematic links which had not been previously expressed felt rushed and random. Not to mention that Aziraphale never actually apologised.
Besides, none of GO ever happened, so what was even the point? I thought it was a lazy attempt at an ending, and predictability is better than a creative ending which is simply unsatisfying. That ending means so much to me because it’s canon. That’s their story, I can’t just read an au fanfiction, because that’s what happened. They didn’t end up together. It had honestly ruined a series that mattered so much to me, when I’d been telling everyone it was the most important day of the year and we’d had a mini party!
But in hindsight, I was wrong. The next day, I watched it again two more times, and again the day after. Have you ever listened to an album and just hated it on a first listen and it’s then grown to be your favourite album of all time? That was my experience with TTPD. And I feel like this is similar. Because a lot of Good Omens is lighthearted and funny, I wanted to keep that tone. But we should’ve known from the final fifteen of S2 – heartbreaking, but one of the best acted and written scenes of all time – that this wasn’t going to be a happy ending. I just think it was so beautiful. Because, as much as we want to disagree, Crowley and Az would always have picked the world over each other. It boils down to their dinner at the Ritz. They didn‘t say ‘to us,’ they said ‘to the world.’
Crowley betrayed God because he wanted better for humanity, desperately tried to stop the Antichrist, and constantly interfered with Satan’s orders for the sake of humans, such as sparing Job’s family. Aziraphale was willing to leave Crowley behind just for a chance to make things better for people. The whole of S1 especially was focused on these two – an angel and a demon – bound by their love for the world and their disapproval of the system. I think it’s so beautiful that they were ultimately willing to give up everything so that people could have free will, which in hindsight is an incredible ending. They were so selfless, that they chose to die, in order for people to have true lives, free will. What a phenomenal concept.
And, as they grew closer, love came from that. Aziraphale and Crowley’s love was such an incredible thing and I still would love to do Crowley and Az cosplay if I ever got a boyfriend/girlfriend, purely because I see them as one of the most incredible couples of all time. I’ve read loads of Aziracrow smut and yes, I wanted a kiss, honestly, I wanted a sex scene.
But that is such a human thing and honestly, I truly believe that Crowley and Aziraphale’s love transcends that. There‘s something so precious about the way they simply hold hands as they say goodbye forever. They know what they meant to each other. They don’t want to make this goodbye any harder.
And then there’s Asa and Anthony. Oh my God, what a creative and unique idea. They’re not Crowley and Az, of course they aren’t, it’s a heartbreaking tribute to their death, but such a wonderful one. The time after time scene brought me to absolute tears. I mean, without angels or demons, under any names, in any circumstance, in another life, their love is so powerful that they would be together.
It’s a separate story, but that music sequence is so incredible and just brings me to tears. And then ‘I have the universe out there and you here. I have everything I’ve ever wanted.’ Tell me that’s not one of the most heart-wrenchingly amazing final lines of a show.
It‘s not a typical sad ending, like the final of HDM, which instantly hit as depressing but brilliant, it’s more of a slow burn. I think the mistake we made was expecting a happy ending, and I’m just annoyed because I wanted it for them so much. Is it a perfect film? No. Is it actually really good? I think so! I actually love the whole Jesus bit, in how all he ever did was kindness and yet he was sacrificed again, and contrary to most, I really enjoyed the whole gangster plot. I think I didn’t really understand the plot until I rewatched, which is often the case for me.
Ultimately, I think that it was miserable. An utterly miserable ending, and yet completely brilliant. They never got to be together, which breaks my heart, but I think it was such a fragile and powerful ending to an incredible story. I don’t know whether I would have preferred a basic happy ever after, I mean maybe. Thinking about it does make me happy. But instead we saw an aftermath of heartbreak – homelessness, addiction, death – paired with a deep philosophical story about human nature. I’m going to go watch it again, because I cannot believe that I’ve changed my mind because I swore I never would, but I’ve grown to love it in a bittersweet way.
I just think that David and Michael did such an incredible job and they’re clearly so proud, and for them to see all this hate must be heartbreaking. Hopefully they understand that it’s just a tribute to how much we love Az and Crowley. I think people need to realise that this isn’t just a basic love story, and it never was meant to be. It wasn’t built on selfish romanticism, but a rebellious love for humanity. What an unexpected finale, but what an emotional gift.