justhereforthemeta

[justhereforthemeta]

One thing that really gets me about the opening with angel Crowley is that he's not just excited by how beautiful his stars are, or how fun the process of creation is, or how impressed he's made Aziraphale. He’s not in it for the glory or the aesthetics. He’s actually horrified by the idea that the universe will just be "fancy wallpaper" in the future, even though Aziraphale assures him that humans will "marvel" at his creations.

What Crowley loves about his stars is their potential. He is building, essentially, a nursery. Most of the universe's stars, he explains to Aziraphale, will come pre-aged--but his are just starting out! After they're given time to grow, who knows what could happen! Good or bad, black holes or new constellations—there are so many possible futures ahead of them, and Crowley can’t wait to see what happens.

And then Aziraphale tells him that he knows what will happen: those stars will never grow up. They will never shine or burn out or implode or become anything new. They’ll be destroyed before they get the chance.

"You can't kill kids."

“Whose side are you on?” “God’s, of course!” “Same God that wants me to whack the kids?”

"People die." "They do, don't they?"

“Great pustulant mangled bollocks to the Great blasted Plan!”

"Don't test them to destruction."

"It's always too late."

"Nothing lasts forever." "No, I don't suppose it does."

This fear has been chasing Crowley since before the beginning. It’s what caused his first doubts, put the first traces of gray in his wings. He’s been raging at the futility of watching beautiful, complex things be damned or destroyed for his entire existence, and that’s why he seems to the audience and to Aziraphale to be a mess of contradictions.

He loves to follow the trends of the times, but he clings to his classic car in an era of planned obsolescence for vehicles. He lives in an ultra-modern flat, but finds his greatest comfort in the unchanging security of aziraphale’s old shop. He hates the idea of killing children, but is willing to see a child die if it preserves the rest of the universe and foils the Great Plan. He “goes too fast,” but his most unique and notable power is that he’s learned to stop time.

Crowley hates predestination. He hates divine intervention and the removal of agency. Crowley, the architect of free will, is constantly torn between his love of change and choice and potential and his terror that everything will be destroyed by an unstoppable, incomprehensible higher power. That’s his driving conflict in the way that Aziraphale’s is learning to find his own path without following Heaven’s rules, and I am fascinated to see how it resolves.

#good omens #crowley #good omens meta #good omens 2 #aziraphale

[justhereforthemeta]

Independent Embassy

What machinations did Aziraphale do to make it an Independent Embassy. What does he mean. Demons can't come in but nor do angels in S2. They ask if they can come in. Az knows, insists it's a safe space. Why? He wants to believe he can protect Crowley and Jim and everyone.

He's trying SO HARD to make it a perfect evening, for everyone to have a great time.

He walks away from Crowley and Nina in a hurry, looking worried, but with a plan. The plan is apparently to get EVERYONE into his bookshop. By any means. Bribery. Temptations.

He knows Shax is on his tail, he kinda messed up in the car. But what is his plan? To keep everyone safe for the evening? In case Shax shows up? And what then?

#good omens meta #good omens 2 #aziraphale #the bookshop #good omens

[justhereforthemeta]

so. what has been bothering me A LOT about aziraphale's face in the final 15. and THAT smile.

You know the one.

It does not look like his face. at all.

It isn't how he holds his face when he smiles, he doesn't normally close his lips like that. His eyes aren't shaped like that. That's why it is so uncanny valley. It's not him to me. I may be bonkers. (That's always possible.) But that's why it looks so unhinged, so disturbing, besides the most devastating timing.

But you know who does hold their mouth that way when they smile? You know whose eyes look a bit more like that when they smile?

I'm effin' breathing into a paper back right now. It's CREEPY.

But you know how there was that post where Neil talked about what an insanely good mimic Michael Sheen is? And how he turned to look because he thought it was David Tennant slagging off Aziraphale, and it was MICHAEL SHEEN doing an impression? [found it, thank you @fuckyeahgoodomens!]

And also, how excellent Michael was in the appearance swap in Season 1?

Do you also remember/have you seen the theories that Aziraphale mouths "we need help" when he's speaking to Crowley in the final fifteen? ["We need help" final 15 post. h/t @somehow-a-human]

Who would they have to help them now? Not heaven. Not hell. Not each other, this is too big now. But who might be powerful enough? Who was holding their hands when they performed the 25 Lazarii miracle whoopsie?? Who no longer has any allegiance to heaven? Who did AZIRAPHALE JUST HELP PROTECTING FROM HEAVEN???

GuYSs. Could...it be?

This is all in my brain because someone wrote up a thing about the line "books are like people but portable" (aeeugh I can't find any of these right now, I'll go back to find the links) [edit: okay this one is here. thank you, @tossyouforedinburgh] right before the final 15? and "who is the book"? who has been ORGANISING ALL THE BOOKS? Could the memories of Aziraphale/Aziraphale HIMSELF have been saved into a book? The only person they could learn this from is Gabriel, because he knows how. He put himself into a fly.

I have not been thinking about this long, so it may be easily dismissible, but I have been thinking about it long enough I had to say something. I almost didn't post.

But...look at the FACES. It's WEIRD.

sorry for all the edits. 😮‍💨

#I'm not sold on this one #but it's fun to think about #good omens #aziraphale #gabriel #the final fifteen #good omens 2 #good omens meta

[justhereforthemeta]

As a film person, this is the most f*cked up thing that happened in all of Good Omens

Forget about the final 15. If there's anything that should convince you that there's something really wack going on in season 2 of Good Omens it should be this cut. I literally gasped when I saw it for the first time. It's SO BAD from a technical perspective. Because you've probably been watching TV and movies your whole life, you might instinctively feel there's something weird happening with this cut, but not be able to put your finger on what it is.

I am here to tell you: they sacrificed continuity of action to *change the main character of the shot in the middle of the scene*. I won't do a full theory course on filmmaking here, but basically, when you want a fluid-feeling sequence of shots, especially when there's quite a lot of movement on screen, you have to conserve the direction and intention of that action to feel like it's all one take, and time is moving forward like we're used to in real life. Here, Crowley, Maggie and Nina all leave the Bookshop together, with Crowley and Maggie flanking Nina, who is centred in the shot. They are moving towards the camera as the camera is walking backwards, but at a slight curve camera-left. Crowley even turns his head and swings his arm left, making us feel like the camera will keep Nina center, and pan left or even cut wider to see more of the left of the street to watch them cross.

Well SURPRISE, idiots!

Forget everything you learned in film school because we're cutting immediately to a second medium length shot of the 3 characters from a slightly more camera-right perspective for no reason whatsoever, in the *opposite* direction of where the action is going, WHILE THAT ACTOR IS SPEAKING A LINE. This is so counterintuitive to the blocking of the scene that Maggie literally gets shoved out of frame while we're supposed to be reading her reaction to Crowley's dialogue. I can't stress enough how weird it is on a fundamental level. When a camera is moving and a character is talking, conserving continuity of action is THE ONE thing you don't sacrifice. It pulls people out of the moment, and makes it extra obvious that multiple takes have been stitched together. Which leads me to think that this is intentional, and sets up what I hinted to at the beginning of this whole "The More You Know" moment : Nina is the main character of the scene we're watching, until, suddenly, Crowley is. If you separated those two moments before and after the cut and watch them as two different scenes, you can see the camera following Nina and keeping her center before, but directly following Crowley and keeping him center *after* the cut. We've switched narrators in this moment. And to top it all off, they're making it pretty obvious that, while Nina is listening and reacting to both Crowley and Maggie, Crowley does not give a rat's ass about the two humans (not either not really in frame, or cut off behind him).

#good omens 2 #good omens meta #good omens #crowley #nina and maggie

[justhereforthemeta]

The biggest Easter egg yet

I’ve been meaning to address this for a while now, but @camdenleisurepirates gave me the final push after reading my piece on Gabriel’s cross. Huge thanks for that morsel of motivation, my ADHD brain loves you.

This is going to be yet another long read, although not as extensive as my bookshop statues meta. Still, better get yourself some hot chocolate or another drink of your choice and make sure you’re comfortable!

Now, remember the X-Ray interview with Peter Anderson on Easter Eggs in the opening animation he created for the second season? Forget red herrings, apparently our fandom has a literal red phone box! I’m convinced that this whole scene is a one big — the biggest, actually — Easter Egg, and I’ll explain why step-by-step.

The red phone box Crowley used to warn Aziraphale about the Antichrist and the following Armageddon in S1, the exact one where he left change for an emergency call, seems important enough in terms of the future S3 plot, but there’s so much more going on in this frame. Not only the lift.

The angels

At the very start of this sequence we can see a fragment of an elaborate bridge guarded by cherubs sitting on two columns, maybe globes, leading to a distant structure built over a literal mountain of trash — all elements of the S1 and S2 openings which were consciously picked out by the animators and put together in a very ominous pile.

Ready for some scavenging?

In the Gabriel’s cross meta, I already mentioned the importance of Ponte Sant’Angelo in relation to the ex-Archangel’s statue. Now it’s time to widen our perspective and focus on the full picture — quite literally. Apparently the bridge from the opening sequence has ten statues of angels, exactly as the Italian historical monument.

First things first though: the two big cherubs guarding the entry to the bridge might seem familiar to some of you. While they’re obviously not copies of the same statue, a very similar pair of brass cherubs is placed in Aziraphale’s bookshop to symbolize Aziraphale and Crowley. And looking at the screenshot above and the way they sleep or sulk with their backs turned on each other, they are most certainly not talking. The addition of more than one set of eyes is a lovely reference to biblically accurate angel memes though.

If we assume the traditional left-right positioning of the characters, Aziraphale is on the left and Crowley is on the right. Directly behind Aziraphale we can see a ship named “Good Traits”, but in reverse — kinda sorta confirmed by the animator Peter Anderson to be connected to the concept of the seven deadly sins on Twitter. Same that was mentioned recently by Neil in one of his asks.

The presence of Gabriel — a renegade Archangel wielding a broken cross — on the right, Crowley’s side, seems to match this theory. It could also support one of the possible interpretations of the very last bookshop shot in the S2 finale.

Out of all ten statues, Angel Carrying the Cross by Ercole Ferrata is considered inferior to the others on the bridge in that it appears to be a two-dimensional relief sculpture rather than an unbounded three-dimensional artwork, which seems to match Gabriel’s first impression as a character.

The inscription on the statue reads, “Dominion rests on his shoulders" — that is the weight of the cross that Christ was forced to carry through Jerusalem before being crucified. Even though Gabriel’s burden partially disappeared, the whole bridge and its environment is covered with crosses. It’s clear that we’re looking at a direct parallel of Via Crucis, the Way of Sorrows.

Towering over the Italian bridge, at the very top of Castel Sant’Angelo, is a statue of Archangel Michael, seen as the golden angel on the top left part of the trash pile. Aziraphale’s side, perhaps as his assistant, perhaps a rival? Legends of the Jews mention Michael as the chief of a band of angels who questioned God's decision to create man on Earth. The entire band of angels, except for Michael, was condemned to Fall — which could explain why they have such a good access to the Grapevine That Obviously Doesn’t Exist. And whatever’s going on between Michael and Dagon, perhaps.

In Roman Catholic teachings, Michael has four main roles or offices. Their first role is the leader of the Army of God and the leader of Heaven's forces in the final triumph over the powers of Hell. Viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the spiritual warrior, their conflict with evil taken as the battle within. The second and third roles of Michael deal with death. Their second role is that of an angel of death, carrying the souls of Christians to Heaven. Michael descends at the hour of death and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing; thus throwing the devil and his minions into consternation. In their third role, Michael weights souls on perfectly balanced scales they are often depicted with as their attribute. In their fourth role, Michael appears as the guardian of the Church. Might be the reason why they’re the closest to the building on top of the mountain.

It looks like Michael lost their sword though, just like Gabriel lost a part of the cross he was supposed to carry. The sword in question was supposed to be used to slay the dragon — Satan, the Adversary — according to John of Patmos and his Book of Revelations.

Speak of the devil: interestingly, there are two copies of an anonymous variation of the Angel of Light statue appearing twice on both sides of the bridge. Both the title as well as the statue itself seem like obvious references to one (former) angel literally called the Lightbringer, Lucifer. Perhaps one of them is representing his son, the Antichrist, instead, with the both of them helping out the Ineffables on two opposing — or perhaps only parallel — sides of the bridge?

The light carried by Lucifer appears to be green, a color used in the series as a visual representation of Hell, but on the intertextual level might also serve as a reference to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby and the green light at the end of the Daisy’s dock symbolizing the undying love, desperation, and longing for an unattainable dream. In the story, the color represents the limitations of power and money. Not surprisingly, the novel appears on Jim’s bookshelf and is part of the Good Omens book club — a list of personal recommendations from Neil Gaiman and Douglas Mackinnon for the fans to catch up on before the next series.

Last but not least, the possible connection to Libertas as the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty, shown multiple times in S2 as a foreshadowing of our character’s trip to America in S3. The related quote of Patrick Henry “Give me liberty or give me death” becomes even more relevant if we consider how the motto of the French Revolution was sometimes written as Liberté, égalité, fraternité ou la mort (“Liberty, equality, fraternity or death”). A lesson surely learnt by a certain angel back in 1793, when he was held prisoner for the last time before being forcefully taken Upstairs in the Final Fifteen.

The bridge and the castle

Okay, these are the basic observations. Now a brief historical overview and we will reach the fun bit in a jiffy.

Have you ever wondered about the meaning of this whole complex? It wasn’t always angelic, but named after a Roman noble dynasty. The Aelian bridge was built by the Emperor Hadrian in 134 AD to span River Tiber from the city center to his mausoleum. With time, the remains of more emperors were put to rest in there, until it was plundered and destroyed in a war. Then the remaining structure was transformed into a military fortress and a castle serving as the papal residence in times of war.

The Papal State also used Sant'Angelo as a prison; the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno was imprisoned there for six years. Executions of the inmates were performed in the small inner courtyard, but they weren’t the only deaths in the area. On the other side of the bridge, in the adjoining Piazza del Ponte, under the watchful eyes of the stone likenesses of two saints, the public executions were held, and the heads of the criminals were brought onto the bridge and exposed to public view there.

As a prison, the former mausoleum is also the setting for the third act of Giacomo Puccini's 1900 opera Tosca. Long story short, the eponymous heroine convinces her lover to feign death so that they can flee together. Unfortunately, they are betrayed and the firing squad shoots at him with real bullets instead of blanks. Tosca believes in the quality of his acting performance rather than the truth, and when the realization hits her, she leaps to her death from the Castel’s ramparts.

After Nero’s bridge was destroyed, the travelers were forced to cross this bridge as the only direct route to the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica, earning it the nickname “the bridge of Saint Peter”. That’s why in the 16th century Pope Clement VII erected statues of Saints Peter and Paul at the ends of the bridge, guarding it as they are supposed to protect the entry to Heaven.

In 1688 the bridge was embellished with ten angel statues, five on each side of the bridge, carrying Arma Christi, the Instruments of the Passion. The Good Omens characters represented by those statues in the opening sequence might be other instruments of Christ’s suffering as parts of the system that needs to be overthrown or replaced.

One angel appears particularly important in the context of both the bridge and the Second Coming — Saint Michael the Archangel.

Legend holds that the Archangel Michael appeared atop Hadrian’s mausoleum, sheathing their sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus lending the castle its present name. A less charitable yet more apt elaboration of the legend, given the militant disposition of this particular Archangel, was heard by the 15th-century traveler who saw an angel statue on the castle roof. He recounts that during a prolonged season of the plague, Pope Gregory I heard that the populace, even Christians, had begun revering a pagan idol at the church of Santa Agata in Suburra. A vision urged the Pope to lead a procession to the church. Upon arriving, the idol miraculously fell apart with a clap of thunder. Returning to St Peter's by the Aelian Bridge, the Pope had another vision of an angel atop the castle, wiping the blood from his sword on his mantle, and then sheathing it. While the Pope interpreted this as a sign that God was appeased, this did not prevent Gregory from destroying more sites of pagan worship in Rome. In honor of the vision and Michael, the bridge was renamed in their name.

What if the procession from the opening sequence was meant to imitate the procession led by the Pope from the legend? What if Aziraphale, now officially a Supreme Archangel, Commander of the Heavenly Host, is the one actually leading it, with Crowley finally at his side as his partner and second in command, just like it was proposed by him in the Final Fifteen?*

What if by some reason, maybe personal ambition, maybe just a tragic coincidence or situational necessity, there really was an impostor in Heaven, and Metatron — the so called Voice of God who seemingly doesn’t speak up for Herself since Job’s test — has been playing a winged version of the Wizard of Oz all along?

It would make just the perfect sense if not for one tiny detail. The procession we see on the bridge is actually led by Crowley, which doesn’t fit the parallel at all — unless it’s actually a proof of an ongoing body swap, as the mismatched names of the actors could also suggest?

The mountain of trash and the bookshop

The symbolic mountain of trash we can see Aziraphale and Crowley climb is a reference in itself. To an actual mount called Zion, believed to be the place where Yahweh, the God of Israel, dwells (Isaiah 8:18; Psalm 74:2), the place where God is king (Isaiah 24:23) and where God has installed king David on his throne (Psalm 2:6).

In a literal sense, it’s a hill in Jerusalem, although the sources refer to three different locations in different contexts — although for the purpose of this meta the Upper Eastern Hill (Temple Mount) makes the most sense. Its highest part became the site of Solomon's Temple. The same King Solomon the rituals in Freemasonry refer to. Masonic buildings, where lodges and their members meet, are sometimes called "temples" specifically as an allegoric reference to King Solomon's Temple, not actual places of worship. And Aziraphale’s bookshop is built around Solomon’s Magic Circle.

In a metaphysical sense, and especially in the context of the Christian New Testament, it is also believed to be a part of Heaven — the heavenly Jerusalem, God's Holy, eternal city. Christians are said to have “(…) come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Hebrews 12:22-23 cf. Revelation 14:1). Just like the procession were following in the opening sequence.

There’s been some speculation whether the lift on top of the mountain could symbolize Aziraphale’s bookshop, or, more specifically, the oculus in its centre. If you look closely at the enhanced screenshot, you can see that the dome isn’t made of glass and that it looks like a tower (a church’s bell tower, perhaps) more than a whole building.

And there is an actual doorway in there — not like the modern lift doors — opening up towards the source of that white, heavenly light. And what kind of enlightenment can you usually find up in the skies or heavens?

We’re welcomed to crack open the doors to the Heavenly Sanctuary — the Most Holy place, Sanctum Sanctorum, the Holy of Holies — to undraw the final curtain and finally stand eye to eye with God. Who knows, maybe even ask some questions or listen to some answers.

Or, at the very least, to meet one of Her forms known as Jesus Christ. Because that’s precisely where he serves as our (humanity’s) Mediator and the Holy Priest after his Ascension to Heaven. The structure at the top reminds of some temple architecture seen in Antiquity and Christianity.

The Catholic Church considers the Church tabernacle or its location (traditionally at the rear of the sanctuary) as the symbolic equivalent of the Holy of Holies, due to the storage of consecrated hosts in that vessel and their meaning as the Body of Christ. Tabernacle is commonly marked with a red light turned on and off depending on His presence or lack if it.

Looks like He’s already in the area, one way or another, keeping eye on some things.

Are we following a procession of believers happy to embrace their one and true Savior? Or are they actually protesters on their way to dethrone the authority and the system?

Guess we will have to wait and see.

#good omens meta #good omens 2 #ponte sant’angelo #good omens #crowley #aziraphale

[justhereforthemeta]

have any of the angels directly interacted with the metatron, even in heaven? ive seen a couple of posts asking how crowley and saraqael recognise the metatron, and why aziraphale and the others don't. seems like aziraphale recognises the metatron purely based on crowley's description-

-as opposed to his memory being jogged, and him suddenly recognising the metatron for himself. as it is, we know that michael and uriel also do not recognise him without being told by aziraphale, so we can reliably deduct that there is some disconnect between the floating head 'true form' the metatron takes in heaven, and the humanoid form he's taking in the bookshop. aziraphale doesn't make the link, and neither do the archangels.

so why is crowley - and saraqael, if their nervous disposition when michael is chatting shit is anything to go by - able to recognise him in this form? how are they able to make the link between the true from, and this one? what is there to recognise?

i think that's potentially more the question - not why the others didn't recognise him, but instead why these two did. what is possibly in common between them, but not the others?

it might be that crowley recognises him by something other than sight (re: he can sense when aziraphale is on earth and when he isn't) but that again wouldn't make sense to me; why do the archangels not recognise him in the same way, from gabriel's trial that ostensibly only occurred a few days ago? unless it's a demon trait... but then that doesn't explain saraqael.

is it voice? unknown, possibly... but raises the same question of why the archangels and aziraphale didnt recognise him.

so idk, but my only thought/theory at this time is that it's linked to memory. as in; the physical capability of it. there may perhaps be something inherent about the metatron that ensures that angels can't remember him, or more specifically can't store the memory of him? or, alternatively, it's mandatory that after each interaction, this part of their memory is manually removed?

something that they wouldn't be able to do to crowley - a demon - or to saraqael because... well, someone seems to be in charge of erasing memories, right?

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens 2 #aziraphale #crowley #metatron #saraqael

[justhereforthemeta]

Finally! I've found the Holy Grail of all parallels!

#good omens #milky way #good omens parallels #good omens meta #crowley #madam tracy #aziraphale #good omens 1 #good omens 2

[justhereforthemeta]

Things that can be explained by POV switches

If you haven't read this analysis, you should start with that!

A list:

Crowley's hair and sideburns changing.

2. The Bentley changing. When it's Aziraphale's perspective, it's a four-door. From Crowley's it's two-door.

3. Gabriel's statue and the disappearing cross. From Gabriel's perspective, there's a cross. From Beelzebub's there is not. I wonder if it's because Gabriel sees himself as bearing some sort of burden?

4. Honolulu roast sign in Nina's shop. I wonder if that's because we switch to Nina's perspective, she knows the sign is there, she hung it. But someone notices it and someone doesn't.

5. Differing title/location cards? I bet they will give us a clue as to whose perspective we're about to see through if we pay attention to how they change.

6. The drawing of Gabriel being different when Aziraphale draws it versus when he shows it in the pub. When he draws it, we're seeing through his eyes, but when he shows it, we're seeing through Crowley's.

7. Possibly the Resurrectionist pub sign -- one of Mr. Dalrymple with a cleaver, one of him with a scalpel. Someone remembers him as a butcher, someone remembers him as a surgeon. I think we can tell who.

8. The vanishing/reappearing storefront signs in Whickber street. Someone knows exactly what shops are where, someone doesn't notice.

9. The streets and castle in Edinburgh when Aziraphale visits -- cobblestones versus paved; the castle in the background in every shot from every angle.

10. Several of the weird background noises can be explained by POV, but I don't think all of them.

11. Crowley's sunglasses changing? That one is iffy to me. Because they're silver for half the show, then black for the second half. If that were a POV switch, you'd think they'd change back and forth more often.

12. Crowley throwing books. And being nice to Jim. And wearing sleeve garters. He's telling Aziraphale on the phone what's going on, and we're seeing Aziraphale's image of it in his mind. That's almost certainly not what happened, but the gist is close enough.

13. Aziraphale's over-the-top reporter cosplay right after he is gently amused at Muriel's over-the-top constable cosplay. He's telling Crowley on the phone what's happening, and Crowley is imagining how it's going. Aziraphale's reporter persona is probably not as inconspicuous as he thinks, but it's probably not as cute and silly as Crowley imagines.

14. Gabriel not coming down the lift in the Dirty Donkey. Maggie and Nina see him first, they don't know about the lift, so they see him just walking down the street, not getting off a Heavenly elevator. He probably wasn't wandering around anywhere else -- but he does say he had to carry the box for soooo long, so maybe he was roaming around . . .

15. The high number of queer couples in the show. Both Crowley and Aziraphale are more highly tuned to humans who present as they do when in human form. It's probably not that there are more queer couples around, just that A and C take more note of them.

That's everything from my Murder Board that I think POV can explain. If anyone has other weird things that can be explained by seeing them through various character's eyes, I'd love to know!

And there is still PLENTY that can't be explained by POV. PLENTY. AND the POV changes mean we're not only seeing what they think is happening rather than what is, we're also NOT seeing anything they don't want known. We have to look where the furniture isn't.

#good omens #good omens 2 #crowley #aziraphale #good omens meta #whose pov is it anyway

[justhereforthemeta]

I would like this scene to be a foreshadowing of their picnic with everything present: Roses, plants, wine, a picnic blanket texture on the man's shirt and a smitten couple.

That man's shirt doesn't seem like a coincidence.

#good omens #good omens 2 #crowley #aziraphale #maybe we could go for a picnic #good omens meta

[justhereforthemeta]

Gif credit: @dancingcrowley

I think by now we can agree that the Job minisode and Crawley’s Bildad(dy) the Shuite is a crucial time for not only Crowley’s personal journey, but between him and Aziraphale. And at the risk of redundancy, I have to break this scene down because I think it’s critical to understanding them as a group of the two of them, as well as the fact that I think it’s a complete turning point in their relationship.

Aziraphale shows up, and seemingly gives a last ditch effort to thwart Crawley’s plan to destroy Job’s children. Crawley begins sowing seeds of doubt in Aziraphale, though I don’t believe he’s doing this to be cruel. This is the beginning of the “I go along as far as I can” mindset. Aziraphale states he gets to do what God wants, and Crawly counters it with “Like killing innocent children and winning a bet with Satan?”. Seed of doubt. Aziraphale at this point looks up towards heaven as though they’ll be overheard, and says he doesn’t believe that is what God wants. Now, this is where we can leave things up to guesswork because we don’t know what God ultimately wants. That’s not what’s important here. What’s important is that we’re establishing trust and faith, which I will get into momentarily.

Next, we get the very intimate back and forth where they’re almost nose to nose. Aziraphale asserting he doesn’t believe killing Job’s children is what Crawley really wants, and that he knows him. Aziraphale demands Crawley to tell him that he wants to do it (kill Job’s children) and Crawley removes his glasses. Let’s pause here. Crawley removed. his. glasses. At this point in history, he’s using them to cover his snake eyes. Of course Aziraphale already knows what his eyes look like, but to remove them here in this moment is a show of vulnerability. Typically we see him remove his glasses to be intimidating, but I don’t believe that’s what’s going on here. Especially to do so in such close quarters is just delicious to me.

Crawley: I want to. I long to destroy the blameless children of blameless Job just as I destroyed his blameless goats.

One of Crawley’s favorite things to say is “I’m a demon, I lied.” So what makes the statement above so powerful is that he didn’t lie. He told Aziraphale the truth. He wants to kill Job’s children just as much as he wanted to kill the goats. Which we will soon learn was not at all. He’s stealthily saying “I don’t want to kill his children just as I didn’t want to kill the goats”. Why didn’t he just lie?? He made a choice here to speak his truth (albeit in a covert way) when it would’ve been much more simple to lie to Aziraphale. But he didn’t want to.

Aziraphale, thinking he’s a killer of kids (both human and goat) responds with “May God forgive you” and begins to leave. Crawley could’ve left the conversation here and continued on with whatever plan he had to not actually kill the children. But Crawley doesn’t want God’s forgiveness. He wants Aziraphale’s.

Those crows did not start making goat noises on their own. Crawley did that. He needed Aziraphale to know that he’s not a monster. He, a demon, cares what an Angel thinks of him. This was such a gamble. I don’t think at this point they had a lot of history together to establish a semblance of trust and faith in one another. So Crawley showing his hand and revealing that he didn’t actually kill the goats is huge. This could’ve easily led to his destruction if Aziraphale told anyone the truth. But he put his faith in someone else (probably for the first time since he fell from Heaven) and who was there to catch him this time? His Angel.

I yield my time.

#good omens #good omens meta #good omens 2 #crowley #aziraphale #a companion to owls

[justhereforthemeta]

Thinking about my girl Anathema Device coming in to deus ex machina the shit out of s3. Because Agnes prophesied she was going to burn the book, and had a copy made. And you just know, with the way things went for Aziraphale, that Anathema is going to relapse, too...

#good omens #good omens 3 speculation #anathema device #aziraphale #good omens meta #newton pulsifer

[justhereforthemeta]

In which God? Someone? shows their presence

I feel like your tomato and my tomato might mean different things.

This scene bugs me. Gabriel does his naked walk down Whickber Street from the garden.

And as he struts his strut on over to you the tomatoes roll from the stand across the street.

Gabriel's Arrival upset the apple cart, the tomato cart, the what?

Come with me as I explore ripe fruit, grammar and divine influence.

The word tomato comes from the Aztec “xitomatl,” or Mayan “tomatl.” The tomato was introduced to Europe as a result of Spanish conquest. It's Latin name is Solanum lycopersicum, which translates to Soothing Wolfpeach.

The French thought tomatoes could make you fall in love, called them pomme d'amour or love apples. Italians called them pomodoro or Golden Apple. The first apples tomatoes from South America weren't red, but yellow. 

Tomato is an apple, got it. And a peach.

This new food wasn't trusted. Some believed tomatoes were poisonous. Tomatoes are in the nightshade family, some of which are deadly. 

Then there was the misattributed lead poisoning. Wealthy Europeans used pewter plates and flatware. Acid from the tomatoes would interact with lead in the plates, poisoning them. The poor didn't have fancy plates and lived to eat more tomatoes. There was just a smidge of distrust over the fruit. 

In 1820, New Jersey colonel, Robert Johnson, tried to win over skeptics by eating a basket of tomatoes in public to show he wouldn't drop dead. 

"To help dispel the tall tales, the fantastic fables that you have been hearing ... And to prove to you that it is not poisonous I am going to eat one right now"... There was not a sound as the Col. dramatically brought the tomato to his lips and took a bite. A woman in the crowd screamed and fainted but no one paid her any attention; they were all watching Col. Johnson as he took one bite after another. ... He raised both his arms, and again bit into one and then the other. The crowd cheered and the firemen's band blared a song. ... "He's done it", they shouted. "He's still alive!"

All this misunderstanding and confusion about tomatoes.

Tomato is considered a fruit, the sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food.

So, you'd mix those apples and tomatoes and peaches in a nice fruit salad? Fruit salad, yummy yummy.

"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing you shouldn't put it in a fruit salad."

Wisdom and knowledge. Apples and tomatoes.

Which leads us to what is really going on. If you know, please tell me.

Upsetting the apple cart is an idiom which means to upset the status quo or to cause trouble.

But Gabriel's Arrival upsets the tomato cart.

Upsetting the tomato cart is a malaphor. Two figures of speech combined, a blend of a malapropism and metaphor.

Examples:

We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

It's not rocket surgery.

You opened that can of worms, now lie in it.

"Upsetting the apple cart" is combined with "tomayto, tomahto." Apples and tomatoes.

"You like potato and I like potato

You like tomato and I like tomato

Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto"

Line in the song "Let's call the whole thing off." From the 1937 film Shall we Dance.

"Tomayto, tomahto and potayto, potahto are two phrases that mean the difference between two things is trivial. The terms tomayto, tomahto and potayto, potahto may be used dismissively, for instance, when the speaker does not believe someone has a valid point or does not acknowledge the importance of his belief."

Edit: @onceuponathyme noted they thought about the song in connection to Crowley's "You say potato, I say excellent" line about body snatching. Now I say EXCELLENT!

Combining things you normally wouldn't. The difference is trivial.

You say demon and I say angel. 

No, really.

Demon, original Greek word daimōn, is divine power or spirit. It didn't have Hell attached yet.

Angel original Greek is angelos or messenger. Add Abrahamic religion and voilà - heavenly messenger. 

 Potato, potahto. Demon, angel.

So far we have a malaphor, ancient Greek and tomato puns.

Let's get to the meat and tomatoes. The double-meaning of Apple Cart.

The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza

Satirical play written by George Bernard Shaw

Did I read it? No, but I read several summaries. That's the literary equivalent of staying in the Holiday Inn. There is a movie, BBC Play of the month in 1975 starring Nigel Davenport and Helen Mirren, not currently available on any platforms.

Written in 1928, set in 1967, a fictional king fights with and outwits his prime minister and his cabinet who want to strip the monarchy of remaining political influence.

From the Harvard Crimson

"The Apple Cart is a treatise on the impossibility of any kind of government. Democracy, autocracy, and monarchy are all making the best of a bad situation, and none of them is doing very well. Shaw is no anarchist; he simply wants us to recognize, as King Magnus does, the invisible shackles that trip government and turn it into a farce.

Magnus, the imaginary English king who tries to beat the democrats at their own game, is the character who teaches Shaw's lesson... Magnus flatters, cajoles, and bullies his barnyards of ministers and then, like an ironic lemur, sits back to watch them do just what he intended all along."

And there we have it. The Apple Cart.

The players are God, Heaven, Hell and Humanity. And maybe three kids caught up in an occult baby swap.

Will the current system stay in place or will the apple cart be overturned?

Will someone stop the demons and angels who are so committed to The System they see no other path forward other than Armageddon? 

"Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto

Let's call the whole thing off"

Let's call the whole thing off. No Armageddon. No sides. Just choice.

I think Season 3 is going to show us how many demons and angels have already chosen to throw off their labels and just be on their own side. It's not just Gabriel and Beelzebub.

There's been signs.

Everything is meant.

Take some time and read through this fabulous meta by noneorother. I read it, sat staring in a daze at the wall for a while and then read it again. 

Neil and Company spent ALLOT OF TIME AND EFFORT making sure this code is embedded in Season 2.

From bird calls to bells, there is a pattern. It's not just really elaborate editing. I think it's also meant to be evidence of God.

She is in Season 2 and She is everywhere. It's a literal perfect pairing. It's balance. It's ineffable. 

EVERYTHING is meant. There's no mistakes in what they created.

Every sideburn, every repeating extra, every continuity "error". No matter how many times things need reset, it's not error. It's design.

I think every reset of Soho has been God trying to get something Very Specific to happen. She's restacking the deck to break the bureaucracy. To upset the apple cart. It's the Ineffable plan. 

"Have we done anything wrong?" asks Uriel. "That remains to be seen," responds Metatron.

It seems like She is working against Someone, or Someones.

Metatron is pretty darn suspect.

I do wonder if it might also be Adam Young, acting on his own. Resetting Soho. Bringing people back from the dead. He's the only Occult Being who is shown to have the power to reset the world. There's also hints Death might be on unscheduled holiday through Season 2. Did Adam find a way?

GABRIEL

God does not play games with the universe!

Crowley and Aziraphale look at him with pity.

CROWLEY

Where have you been?

-Good Omens Script Book

The Ineffable Plan

Everything, every choice, every inconsistentincy has been to get Aziraphale on that elevator. Remember Metatron's sigh of relief?

He is the key to breaking the bureaucracy.

"We are here to lick some serious butt." Aziraphale / Madame Tracy, Good Omens Season 1

Original post and rb

"Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto

Let's call the whole thing off"

Let's call the whole thing off. No Armageddon. No sides anymore. No Heaven or Hell. Something in between with shades of grey.

Just choice. Just be an us.

What will Aziraphale say to Crowley when they reunite in Season 3?

"I love you from my head to-ma-toes."

#good omens meta #good omens #good omens 2 #aziraphale #crowley #gabriel

[justhereforthemeta]

I recently listened to the full cast audiobook version of Good Omens, which is delightful, and now I am reading the script book for season 1, and Neil's scene descriptions alone are so worth the read.

However, this far I have run across this:

Which is how Crowley describes what happens when a sudden rainstorm forces two people together under a canopy. That particular phrasing has me just perking my ears up.

Does God, in fact, ship these two as much as we do?? I sure think so.

Then there is this:

When the International Express man is delivering the final package to summon the final horseman, Death.

When Gabriel is trying to remember where his memory is when Crowley grills him, he says he took it out of a matchbox and now it's everywhere. A fly isn't really "everywhere," is it? But when Gabriel opens the fly to retrieve his memories, A. we see some things that he wasn't actually there for, really quickly mind, so couldn't be his memories. We also see B. a dark, hooded figure that sure looks like Death in a few super-fast clips.

I really think Gabriel put something else in the fly before he left Heaven.

My first instinct is to wonder if he somehow put Death in the fly. It wouldn't be the first story told about capturing Death and the trouble that ensues from such an action. But I don't know if I think that's what's going on. It almost hits my gut right, but not quite.

But then, what does Gabriel's memory being "everywhere" mean, if not that it's snuggled up next to Death for safe keeping in a container fly made by Beelzebub themself?

Things that make me go hmmmmmm . . .

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #gabriel #adam young #aziraphale #crowley

[justhereforthemeta]

idk im watching back ep4 for the thousandth time and like. crowley does look particularly perplexed and shocked as to how the bottles got smashed, gives up the feeble excuse of 'hmm maybe it was the bomb' etc.

but like. the bomb didn't affect the bentley. and when he carts the suitcase out of the boot, there is no liquid pouring out. he opens it, and the straw is still bloody dry. and he just admitted to aziraphale outside that they were there with what aziraphale would reliably surmise as being bootlegged liquor.

so idk man but i think this little fucker had something to do with it

#he's a menace to society and in particular crowley. this probably counts as a war crime #truly I cackled at this #good omens #good omens 1941 #good omens 2 #good omens meta #aziraphale #just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing #crowley

[justhereforthemeta]

Right to fear, wrong to believe

Just had a horrible realization and needed to meta it out.

How different they were before Edinburgh, when Crowley was sucked down into Hell.

Look at this flirty babygirl in the Bastille:

I mean could he climb that tree any faster?

(This is why I really like fics that place a more physical relationship here, pre-Bastille or just post-Bastille, because c'mon look at them. )

In S1 the next thing is 1862 and Crowley asking for insurance (with a cane ffs). And Aziraphale freaking out with his "fraternizing" BS. It's jarring, until we get 1827 filled in for us in S2.

@takeme-totheworld notes in this post:

Crowley sure went from "our respective head offices don't actually care how things get done" and "nobody ever has to know" to "walls have ears" FAST after Edinburgh. And Aziraphale went from looking at Crowley with hearts in his eyes to "I've been FrAtErNiZiNg" just as quickly. I'm more convinced than ever that Edinburgh was the first time Crowley ever actually got caught and punished for fucking around with Aziraphale/doing good deeds/whatever it was they yanked him back down to Hell for, and it scared the absolute shit out of both of them and changed the whole tone of their relationship after that.

Yes! - it's clear to me as well that the Edinburgh graveyard was a very bad turning point, where they both saw that Hell was listening and would intervene. And it did change their relationship drastically, for over a century and a half (really, until looming Armageddon loosened up the stakes for them).

But what about Heaven?

See the thing is, we know Azi's been worried about Heaven watching him for the past 6000 years.

But they haven't.

[GIFs posted by starrose17]

All this time, and Heaven had not seen them together. Hadn't noticed. Had not even LOOKED.

I want to mention what @starrose17 says about this here in this post:

What I love about this is her choice of words, “went back through the Earth Observation files.” This implies that these photos were already filed somewhere meaning somebody had to have been watching them which meant somewhere in the depths of the bureaucratic heaven there’s an underpaid angel clerk tasked with watching angels on Earth, and he’s been hording photos of his favourite Angel/Demon couple not reporting them to Michael because he wants to see what happens.

And that's exactly what this fic covers!: Spying Omens by @ednav

(Give this a read, it's fabulous.)

While I am here for this being exactly how that happens, the other scenario is colder and worse - there's no one watching, at all. It's just filing automatically and never seen until some Scrivener is called to pull a file.

From @fuckyeahisawthatat's comment here :

I found this scene to be quite chilling, actually. Not only is the idea of Heaven as a surveillance state brilliant (way to make “God is always watching” sound way more ominous) but this is exactly how modern surveillance states work. They don’t actively watch everybody all the time. That’s not physically possible for humans, and even if it is metaphysically possible for Heaven, it’s not a very efficient use of resources. Surveillance states watch people they deem “suspicious.” And once you’ve been put in the category of “suspicious,” they have massive amounts of data that they can comb through to collect a lot of information about you–to retroactively build a case justifying why you’re suspicious, to collect information about where you go and who you associate with, etc.

Yes.

So we either have secret collusion in the rank and file, or we have a surveillance state that is constantly reinforced to its subjects for fear's sake, for control.

(Well, it obviously could be both.)

BUT my point is… Up until Edinburgh, Hell has not been watching (or caring at least). And up until near the end of Armageddon't, neither has Heaven.

Oh, my poor Angel. Thousands of years, of denying yourself, of pushing Crowley away, of carrying around a tension that is it's own constellation.

After 1827 you might have reason, but for the 5000+ years before that?

Thousands of years and Heaven was not watching nor cared.

You were right to fear. And you were wrong to believe.

And that just breaks my heart.

#good omens meta #good omens #good omens 2 #love your quotes and citations btw #crowley #aziraphale #surveillance

[justhereforthemeta]

Wild theory, hold on.

(Please do not take any of my theories to Neil himself! Don't do it!)

I've already hypothesized that Crowley and Aziraphale have been working on a plan since Armaggedidn't in season 1. Here's where I go off the rails a little bit. Come along.

Saraqael is part of the plan. She's in on it.

I have only hints and suspicions, not too much for Clues, but hear me out.

In this post, we see a weird movement between buildings behind Shax. Almost like . . . a person in a floating wheelchair coming around the corner? And Crowley is in his spy turtleneck. He's doing something spyish. Meeting an angel he's not supposed to have a connection to, perhaps? About something that maybe interests both of them? Like, not having a second end of the world?

And in this post, we see that Saraqael has opened a spy porthole onto the book shop -- but the picture in the apy porthole is in 2019.

I do not think for a moment that tiny, weenie half-a-miracle-each accidentally blew up into a 25 lazarii miracle. I think someone else at around the same time did a huge miracle, someone powerful, someone who no one is supposed to know about -- or at least, doing something no one is supposed to know about -- and Saraqael hid it the best she could.

Show the arc angels the book shop when Adam reset it. You know, after it burned in 2019. That would be some crazy big miracle energy.

Then go to Earth with the arc angels and nudge Aziraphale into taking responsibility for the miracle. He's good at lying to them, after all, he can come up with something quick. And who is it that says, "Don't tell me you did it?" Why, sarcastic Saraqael. Translation, "tell them you did it, or we're screwed." And Aziraphale jumps right in and says yes, I did that.

Then send someone who won't give back good reports to verify the miracle. Saraqael, why would you send Muriel? Muriel is so sweet and naive, she won't come up with anything she shouldn't.

Then when Crowley is searching around in Heaven, who does he run into but his (doesn't exist) contact? And she tries to give him a reason to recognize her, they worked on the Horsehead nebula together. And he laughs and says, I meet a lot of people. He doesn't need her cover story, he'll just play dumb. She kind of snorts and shakes her head, she tried to give him an out but he took his own way. Headstrong demon.

When the Metatron shows up, who recognizes him? No one but Crowley and Saraqael. Could be because they just watched the trial, could be because they've been actively working together against him for years now. Hard to say. Hard to say. I honestly didn't recognize him in a full human form for a hot minute, it's not like it's impossible to imagine no one would know him. But those two do. Feels important to me.

I don't know if I'm right, but I'm suspicious now. What are they hiding? Who was doing a big miracle that needed covering up? Whatever was the miracle for?

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #saraqael

[justhereforthemeta]

Starting this off with please do not tag or ask Neil***

I need to know if anyone out there has a theory/idea/speculation about the tomatoes in season 2.

This show does nothing without a reason behind it. And ever since my first watch through, I thought the tomatoes randomly falling in 02.01 when Gabriel walks by was so strange. Why do they fall? Why do we have to see them fall and land on the ground? Why does Gabriel notice and seemingly step on one? Is it just filler? What does it mean???

I pretty much let it go and assumed it was just a nice little cinematic detail but then.

One day I’m watching 02.02 during the Job throwback and what do I see?

Tomatoes.

Right as Aziraphale is working out that something is wrong with the kids goats, you can see a bowl of tomatoes sitting on the ground.

Coincidence? Perhaps.

But then I notice when Crawley and Aziraphale are having their dramatic standoff, the bowl of tomatoes is directly in the center of the shot and positioned perfectly between them.

I wish I had a theory to offer you all, but I don’t. All I have is an observation that I just cannot explain. Could it be absolutely nothing? Possibly. But the attention to detail in this show is on another level, and I’d love to hear if anyone else noticed this or has their own theory as to whether the tomatoes mean anything.

Of course I’ve tried diving into the significance of tomatoes (also known as love apples) and I’m not seeing anything that’s standing out to me in regards to our ineffable idiots. Even in the book, there is only a small mention of tomatoes and a footnote that mentions tomatoes/love apples, but neither scene is about our beloved angel and demon duo.

Please share your ideas!

#good omens meta #good omens 2 #tomatogate #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #jimbriel #gabriel