Good Omens S2 Spoilers below the break AND IN THE TAGS BECAUSE I'M AN IDIOT
Okay I'm ready to share a few thoughts.
Season 3 is going to be immensely exciting in terms of character growth, maybe especially for Aziraphale but I'm certain that Crowley will also have some surprises in store.
S2 begins with a scene that really changed the way that I saw the back-and-forth between the two. In S1 it was established that they both love Earth and the universe and would prefer them to continue existing. Because they enjoy life here. Now we know that it was not god, but Crowley, who started the existence of the universe.
It seems to me that god was like "alright, you can do that - after all it will give me a massive ego boost. But I demand that you tear it all down and put your toys away before dinnertime." Crowley was heartbroken when Azi told him the news that everything would have to end after 6000 years. Which is nothing for celestial, eternal beings. This is an important reason for why Crowley started critically questioning god, which led to his fall.
He, however, made the best out of it. He wasn't about to just follow a new set of rules as arbitrated by hell. He loves the universe that he created, and he identifies as a part of it. And we know the way in which he likes to spend his existence in the universe.
There are two things that Crowley holds very dear to his heart: The universe, and the one soul he can share it with - Aziraphale.
I believr that this makes for two core wishes that Crowley pursues: The continued existence of life, earth and the cosmos, and the ability to share this all, in love, with Aziraphale.
Aziraphale loves the universe. Just look at his facial expression when Crowley speaks light into existence. It was a love at first sight moment. Aziraphale deeply adores Crowley's power to create beautiful things, and thus he has always enjoyed spending his existence amidst Crowley's creation, at Crowley's side.
But we must not forget that Aziraphale has never mustered the strength to truly question heaven. He's had more than a handful of experiences where he had to admit that heaven was orchestrating cruel, destructive things. But he is, at least to me, somewhat symbolic of an indoctrinated, blind follower. When heaven commits atrocities, he is bound to believe that there has to be a higher meaning to them, ultimately leading to a higher good. Admitting that heaven can be truly evil at all would shatter his whole understanding of existence. And he keeps on evading it. But it NEEDS to happen.
S1 and S2 both make it very clear that god is holding fast to her plans of Armageddon and the destruction of Earth. But Aziraphale, at the end of S2E6, has the bliss of ignorance. Crowley knows what heaven tried to do to Gabriel when he opposed Armageddon 2.0. Aziraphale is clueless. Therefore he holds fast to his idealism, believing that by taking Gabriel's place in heaven, he would truly be able to change things.
In my understanding, Aziraphale believes that he can change heaven in a way that would allow Earth and the cosmos to continue existing. But he wants to have his cake and also eat it - He wants Crowley by his side in this scenario, back as an angel.
Only Crowley is truly aware about the magnitude in which heaven still wants to bring forth Armageddon and the destruction of his beloved creation. He knows that heaven is toxic and manipulating of Azi, and that there is nothing Aziraphale can do to stop them. On top of that, Crowley will be rendered entirely unable of protecting Aziraphale when he returns to heaven.
I think that Crowley is bitter about Azi's ignorance. That after all the time and the wonders they have not only witnessed but also brought forth, Azi is still unable to leave heaven and its toxicity behind. And I think that that's the reason why he doesn't just break the news to Azi about the recordings that he saw in heaven. Aziraphale just witnessed the whole shebang with Gabriel and Beelzebub, yet he doesn't ask any questions. It's frustrating. It is right in front of his nose, and always has been, that heaven is NOT "the ineffable side of good, truth and light", that Azi so desperately believes it to be, even needs it to be.
Azi and Crowley are so powerful together that they form a bastion against the powers of heaven and hell. They give Earth a leverage against the celestial powers, that otherwise wouldn't be there. Azi defecting back to heaven breaks the bastion.
That significantly sets Crowley back. After all, even if he managed to build a life for himself (for the both of them) on earth, he had always been scraping by, only narrowly evading the wrath of hell and his destruction/finite death. Azi was in the same place before, but as long as they were together, they always managed to come out alive and on top.
That edge that they had is lost now. The power that they had through their bond when working together (consider the 27 Lazari when working "half a miracle"), is now broken. Azi is leaving Crowley to fend for himself when he accepts the Metatron's offer, but it's because he had a false sense of security in his new position of power.
You can see the sheer horror in his eyes when the Metatron tells him about the new Armageddon plans. But Azi still follows him. Because he cannot imagine his existence without heaven and he firmly, naïvely believes that he will be able to make it up to Crowley somehow, through his archangel position. Azi is forgetting that the only thing which stopped the first Armageddon to begin with, was that he and Crowley worked together. Now he is trying to do it all alone. And he will fail. Crowley knows that.
But Crowley also knows that Azi is not ready for the truth yet, and that he cannot be reasoned with. Azi needs to reach his conclusions on his own. And this might be the hardest thing Crowley has ever had to do, as he is rendered unable to protect and guide his beloved angel for the first time in history.
As much as he wishes to, Crowley is unable to protect Azi from himself. And in my POV, Crowley is wise enough to know that. But perhaps he also feels that this is the worst betrayal he has ever suffered, his beloved angel teaming up with the force that wants him dead the most.
In my opinion, Azi needs to learn (the hard way now) that heaven is not "broken", but inherently uncaring, selfish, and therefore just as evil as hell. Heaven doesn't care about love, about life, about beauty. Heaven only cares about the will of god. And god is not as ineffable as Aziraphale wants to believe. Heaven cannot be "fixed", but he believes it can. But heaven will never allow an angel and a demon to live happily together because the very definition of "angel" and "demon" is arbitrarily decided by whom god approves of and whom she doesn't. Also, heaven is so horribly bleak and lifeless! Clearly, god is completely unimaginative, and I suspect that she's even jealous of Crowley's creation. Because that one's got brains. That one's got class. That one's got creativity. That one's got love. All things that god lacks. And she must hate that.
Thanks for the heartbreak. This is phenomenal writing and I love it. S2 ended amazingly to me. This is such a good story and so chock full of drama, suspense, surprises and a true cornucopia of feels
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