How much have we lost!
Specifically – a chance to see David Tennant in the role of "a cross-dressing, cocaine-snorting therapist", OMFG.
"Screenwriter Paula Milne, who wrote The Politician's Husband, says Tennant can convey "a kind of damaged humanity… although he may not have been that likeable you felt he had gone on a journey where he became that person".
"Sometimes when you write a very tough, muscular character the actor says, 'yes, but will they like me?' That is a question he never asked. He took it on and delivered it."
She previously discussed another project with Tennant, about a "cross-dressing, cocaine-snorting therapist". Despite his enthusiasm, it proved "too out there" for the BBC or Channel 4, Milne recalls. "He was up for it. He read it and said he would love to do it." Perhaps, in a parallel universe, he still will.”
If only I could go and get a glimpse into this parallel universe!
I love The Politician's Husband – it's definitely in my personal top of things DT has done for television. It provides a gripping and poignant insight into the psyche of an essentially decent human being, whose chain of decisions becomes a downhill slide that irrevocably ruins his life, his family, burns him out – and literally kills someone he loves. Heartbreaking stuff.
BTW, I'm actually quite surprised that anything is really "too out there" for Channel 4. Reminds me of the scene from Life Of Mars where Sam Tyler, during the raid on the porn studio, casually remarks: "Hardcore? I've seen worse on Channel 4". And that was a decade earlier!
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/nov/14/david-tennant-profile
genuinely something about the first four seasons of doctor who that I really love is the theme of everything having its time. it's explored in different ways - with 9 & the bad wolf arc, it's ultimately hopeful. there's death but then there's life, things end and then they begin, the universe moves forward; with 10, it's ultimately tragic, he obeys this simple law over and over again, bending until he breaks & can't anymore. the mortality of things, even things built to last forever, the endless hope for better, for kinder, for newer... it's real & raw & gets me every time
“This one’s dedicated to you, pal”
Even after the master craftsmanship of Season 1, I am STILL blown away by all the little things they put into this show.
S2E1 -- Crowley and Aziraphale's argument about what to do with Gabiel. Look at this imagery.... wings behind Aziraphale and the dichotomy of colors in the background.
And Then.....
Crowley in Hell, meeting with Beelzebub. In THESE chairs, which make horns.
Such beautiful touches
Well, I suspected there was something off...
First, thank you so much for everything in season 2! It's wonderful, I'm still feeling it.
But second, can you tell me pretty please, is this subtitle from episode 5 correct? Cuz it sounds more like Crowley says "Nice one, us", but I wanted to double check-
It should be "Nice one, us" and "Excuse me Mr Fell".
The thing is. What happened to Crowley and Aziraphale at the end of ep6 is what happens when people aren't free. And Aziraphale and Crowley are not, as demonstrated by the events of s2, free. They do not have autonomy. Crowley can be taken to hell in a swarm of flies at a Duke's whim. Aziraphale can be "erased" from existence with a book.
They do not own themselves.
All other freedoms are forfeit if you do not own yourself.
So no, I don't think "give me coffee or give me death" necessarily means anything other than:
A choice between anything and death is not actually a choice.
I think what really happened to Crowley and Aziraphale, and why they couldn't be together anymore, is that there was no choice for either of them to make that would have kept them together. Because choosing to tell heaven and hell to f*ck off so they can stay together is the secret third option that neither of them brings up in the final fifteen because guess what? They know they aren't free. They know.
the worst part about the ending of season 2 is that it's actually very well written. it makes perfect sense and it's a very realistic conflict which makes it hurt even more. but i do have hope because this conflict IS solvable. and also, there is absolutely no way neil is going to give aziraphale and crowley a bad ending.
It starts with him in heaven, an angel with a deep love and reverence for God and her creations, a love that he then pours into his work to bring Her vision of the stars to life. But just as he begun his work, he is given a message from God through Aziraphale that can be effectively summed up to “nothing lasts forever”. The physical manifestations of Crowley’s passion and love will be erased in, what is to an angel, a blink of the eye. For forever God has always been the designer and Crowley, as an angel, has always been there to simply carry out Her plans. But it is here that Crowley begins to question and strain this unspoken relationship, desiring change.
So despite being warned, Crowley dares to test his relationship with God and questions the unspoken, only to be rejected and abandoned by her in the most visceral way imaginable. It was here that Crowley began his fall.
As a demon, Crowley comes to love Aziraphale and, just as he did with God, he expresses this intense love through acts of service. He takes him out to eat, he saves him, he bends at every whim to keep him happy and safe, and yet nothing is ever explicitly said. Instead they dance around each other and communicate in code, and so Crowley is left to assume.
But then just as with God, Crowley pushes his luck and says too much, asks for too much. He questions the comfortable unspoken dance they’ve been doing for centuries and asks for something more. In response, Aziraphale parrots what he had said in the very beginning, except this time it’s his own words: “nothing lasts forever”. Not the stars, not the bookshop, not love.
So despite being warned, Crowley kisses Aziraphale, posing his most desperate question. In return, he is rejected and abandoned by Aziraphale in the most visceral way imaginable.
Aziraphale’s “I forgive you” is a very loaded response, and while it rings as an attempt to call back to his and Crowley’s old unspoken routine, it also reminds me a lot of God. Crowley falls in act of sin, and while God punished Crowley, She also forgives him for being a sinner because God forgives all sin. So Aziraphale forgives Crowley because again he has sinned. Again he has fallen.
At this point we realize Crowley did not just fall, that’s past tense. Rather, Crowley is falling. He continues to love, dares to show it, and thus suffers the consequences.
When Crowley orders six shots of espresso, Aziraphale considerately asks for something that "calms people down". Nina then suggests him to get Eccles cakes.
Now the word, "Eccles" originally means "The church". It foreshadowed the season finale where Aziraphale asks Crowley to join heaven. It is a callback to Crowley being the (sauntered-vaguely-downwards) fallen angel. Crowley was given a choice to join heaven again. To eat the Eccles cake. But he doesn't. He doesn't want to be calmed down and hushed. He has found his voice, his own side. He knows the truth about Heaven and Hell and God.
The Eccles cake is also called the "squashed fly cake' because the inside is filled with black currants. This could be a metaphor for hell. How Crowley was also asked back to hell and he said no.
Aziraphale ordering Eccles cakes shows the inner struggle that he is facing. He cares for Crowley. He wants to be there for him. But at the same time, he believes whole heartedly in heaven. He still thinks of God's plan as ineffable. As indubitable. He believes that Crowley and he will be happier in Heaven. He fails to see that even if heaven seems to be the side of "truth and light", on the inside it's all squashed flies. It's just as bad as hell. That when heaven ends life on earth it will be just as dead as hell ended it.
That is SO beautifully done...
you need nerves of steel. and a hand as steady as the rock of gibraltar.
It might be an unpopular view but I don't want Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship to have been part of the ineffable plan. I don't want their love for each other to have been just another chess piece on God's board, destined, since their creation to fall in love. They deserve better than that.
If anything, I want their love to be in spite of the plan. For, just like their sense of right and wrong, their emotional growth together to be hard fought and all their own. I love the idea that it flies in the face of what is expected from an angel and a demon.
I don't want them to love each other because they are supposed to. That would be so diminutive. I want Aziraphale to love Crowley because he's Crowley and Crowley to love Aziraphale because he's Aziraphale. Divine plans and prophecies be damned. Being part of the ineffable plan would erase the agency and beauty from it. Their love is theirs.
Doctor Who, Good Omens and basically everything DT is in | Not a shipper per se, but feel rather partial to tensimm f***ed-up dynamics. Some other stuff as well - Classic Rock (mostly British), Art Deco, etc
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