Pt II Good Omens But I've Still Never Watched It

David Tennant genuinely has the amazing ability to be both devastatingly sexy and also believably completely lacking of rizz at the same time

sometimes im just going about my day walking out in public, living my life to whatever extent i want to and i remember how good omens 2 ended and i have the urge to fall to my knees and grieve like i just found out i accidentally dropped my wallet down a drain pipe

y’all season 2 of good omens was like having a nice relaxing bubble bath with scented candles and bath bombs and shit and you’re just enjoying it so euphorically that it leaves you super vulnerable for when someone throws A FUCKIN TOASTER IN

go2 still feels like a fever dream. Hello is anybody out there? The chest rub, the you were right dance, the ox ribs??, aim for my mouth but shoot past my ear?, they fucking danced?! I need you??? no nightingales??????

wait I forgot they kissed?????! They kissed on the mouth!!!!!!!? absolute insanity can anyone hear me

my only request for good omens season three is that michael sheen gets to use his welsh accent like david tennant got to use his scottish one

Doomed by the narrative?

(aka, how will our hero survive?)

I know, it might seem like I chose violence today, but before you start to yell at me, know that I don't even have a proper theory here. It's basically me seeing foreshadowings of Crowley’s (almost?) death in every single frame and needing some sort of reassurance that this is a comedy and that it should end happily.

Right?

The tragedy of the Starmaker.

I think there is no need to remind how Crowley's character is steeped in tragedy since before the beginning. The Starmaker was a happy angel, full of imagination, who literally bursts with joy for the creation. Innocent. Naïve. And then this precious being was grabbed and thrown down into a pool of sulfur. His innocence was stripped away from him, his nature was changed by force. Did he feel his wings burning? Did he feel like he was on fire, his skin burning and sizzling, while he was immersed in that pool of sulfur?

We don't even know the Starmaker's real name – we know literally nothing about him, other than his love for creation, we don’t know his place among the angels – but we already know that he's fallen. In the opening sequence we already know that his joy is destined to disappear. This means being “doomed by the narrative”.

I know that, for some reason, this is controversial in the fandom, but I believe that the memory of the Fall still haunts Crowley, that the trauma left him with scars that still haven't healed.

And all this could happen again.

Danse Macabre, the Book of Life.

The classical music that stays classical music that Aziraphale listens in the Bentley is the Danse Macabre. It tells of a personification of the death, who animates and evokes corpses, so that they can all dance around the graves. It’s an allegory, a memento mori, to remind people of the fragility of life. But, taken literally, it’s about the dead being resurrected. Remember this quote from Jimbriel?

“There will come a tempest, then darkness, and great storms. And the dead will leave their graves and walk the earth once more. And there will be great lamentations. Every day it’s getting closer.”

I believe this is a reference to Revelation 20, the twentieth chapter of the Book of Revelation: it talks about how the dead are resurrected after Jesus’ second coming, and how they are subjected to judgment.

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”

The Book of Life contains information about everyone: those who are judged properly good by Heaven's standards will be fine. Everyone else ends up in a lake of fire. Whoever does not appear in the Book of Life still ends up in the lake of fire. And the demons? They get “thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”.

Heaven really likes to throw beings into this pool of sulfur, huh? Now imagine Crowley forced to go through the ordeal that made him a demon, again.

Pierced to the heart, not just metaphorically.

I’ve already talked here about this theory. In the paintball scene, Aziraphale is shot in the back (backstabbed?) and Crowley is shot in the heart.

And here, once again, three swords appear to stab Aziraphale in the back but, if Aziraphale moves, they hit Crowley and two of them hit him straight in the heart. If this is foreshadowing, someone might betray Aziraphale and try to backstab him, but it will be Crowley who gets hit. Or Crowley could step in to try to save Aziraphale somehow and get hurt. It wouldn’t be unlikely.

Heroic self sacrifice.

I really try not to see any foreshadowing here. It's not as if Crowley had identified with Nina other times...

Oh wait, he did. Crowley is brave. Crowley calls himself a hero (he is). Crowley cares about the Earth and the humanity, he led a group of humans out of the bookshop among the demons. Could he decide, under tragic circumstances, to stay behind to save lives? Even if he is not able to perform miracles, because someone is using some device like the miracle blocker? Come on, we know he could.

And, consequently…

I won’t leave you on your own.

Famous last words. It always ends well when a character says that, right?

This is the worst possible outcome. This would mean that every single action Aziraphale might have taken during season 3 to protect Crowley still wouldn't have been enough. Their future together was dead before the story even began. I can't even imagine a situation where Aziraphale realizes that he is all alone, that he will never have Crowley by his side again. That he will no longer have the chance to tell him that he loves him, because by now it is too late.

Aziraphale’s arc.

Speaking of Aziraphale. If a life-or-death situation were to arise, it’s likely to happen towards the end of the series. And, in this case, I'm sure Aziraphale will already snapped against Heaven. On the other hand, I can't imagine anything that would unleash Aziraphale's combative and fiercely protective side to its fullest potential like seeing the love of his eternal life in danger. I like the potential angst of the scenario… but only as long as we get a happy ending.

So, feel free to tell me that everything will be fine.

A quick doodle

Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton: A Tempestuous Triple Feature by Kimberly Lindbergs

Decades before high-profile celebrity couples like Kimye and Brangelina dominated the spotlight, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton ruled the red carpet. The two actors made headlines around the world after their extramarital affair on the set of CLEOPATRA (’63) ignited a flurry of scandalous news reports. Taylor and Burton eventually married, but during their turbulent 12-year relationship they were hounded by the paparazzi wherever they went. Liz and Dick, as they were often referred to in the press, graced countless magazine covers and every move they made was analyzed by gossip columnists and overzealous fans. Audiences loved seeing them on screen and the two actors enjoyed collaborating so it’s not surprising that they starred in 11 movies together before their relationship ended.

FilmStruck currently has three of the films Taylor and Burton appeared in available to stream. If you’re unfamiliar with their work or are just eager to see two acting legends go head-to-head, this triple feature provides a peek at one of Hollywood’s most glamourous, tempestuous and talented couples.

THE V.I.P.S (’63)

THE V.I.P.S centers around a group of wealthy jet-setters whose flights have been grounded due to foggy weather. It also features an all-star cast including Orson Welles, Maggie Smith, Rod Taylor and Louis Jourdan. The central story focuses on an actress, played by Taylor, who is fleeing her wealthy husband (Burton) to run off with her lover (Jourdan). This glossy melodrama borrows heavily from GRAND HOTEL (’32), which you can also view on FilmStruck, and is one of two portmanteau films directed by Anthony Asquith and written by Terence Rattigan. Slight and soapy, THE V.I.P.S is not one of Liz and Dick’s most memorable outings but Taylor does look stunning in her Pierre Cardin costumes and luxurious jewelry, which was mostly owned by the actress herself thanks to the generosity of wealthy paramours including Burton as well as previous husband, producer Mike Todd.

THE COMEDIANS (‘67)

Based on Graham Greene’s political thriller of the same name and boasting a screenplay by the author, THE COMEDIANS offers a harrowing look at Haiti during the repressive reign of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, who ruled the nation from 1957 to 1971. Much like THE V.I.P.S, THE COMEDIANS features another star-studded cast that includes Lillian Gish, Peter Ustinov, Cicely Tyson and future STAR WARS costars Alec Guinness and James Earl Jones. Taylor plays the discontented wife of the Uruguayan ambassador to Haiti (Ustinov), who is having an affair with a pessimistic hotel owner (Burton) under a looming cloud of government intrigue and upheaval. Like many political films of its ilk, THE COMEDIANS is rather slow-moving and talky, but it does contain some stunning cinematography provided by Henri Decaë. Taylor and Burton deliver surprisingly lowkey and effective performances and the background players, which include talented black actors such as Roscoe Lee Browne, Gloria Foster, Raymond St. Jacques, Zakes Mokae and Georg Stanford Brown, are uniformly good and lend the film much of its emotional gravitas.

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (’66)

Much has been written about this award-winning film directed by Mike Nichols and based on the critically acclaimed play by Edward Albee. Despite its notoriety, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA? still packs an emotional wallop for the uninitiated. Taylor and Burton star as a discontented middle-aged married couple named George and Martha. George is an associate professor of history at a New England college and Martha is the daughter of the university president. Following a colleague cocktail party, the booze laden twosome invites a much younger couple (Sandy Dennis and George Segal) over for more drinks and small talk. But the get together begins to unravel when George and Martha engage in a verbal sparring match intended to berate and belittle one another. Taylor and Burton brought much of their own personal conflict to this shockingly frank and fearless film that literary analyst Christopher William Edgar Bigsby rightly called an attack on “the false optimism and myopic confidence of modern society.” Taylor and Burton, along with their costars, are in top form and deliver two of the most powerful performances of their careers in this grim, gloomy and deeply moving portrait of an American marriage in disarray.

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