#(and the way aziraphale-as-crowley doesn't do it)

[vidavalor]

Great Balls of Fire

Ok, I've got a Final 15 theory on the kiss and the elevator and... pie?

This is for-- and in thanks to-- @indigovigilance, @ineffablelunatics and @somehow-a-human, as their metas reminded me of the idea of something in Aziraphale's mouth after the kiss and their talk of ball bearings and The Bullet Catch has eaten my brain alive and so here we are. Thanks also to @kayleefansposts for drawing my attention to 2/3rds of the metas. 🤗

What, exactly, happened in The Final 15? Maybe this...

As observed by many of us and discussed in the metas of the people I mentioned above, Aziraphale visibly has something in his mouth when he pulls back from the kiss. We also see him move the object around in his mouth-- or, we do, if his expression doesn't distract us first.

Because it's on his tongue, this isn't just light being weird or showing a filling or something. This is, clearly, a piece of metallic-colored something in Aziraphale's mouth. @indigovigilance pointed out how aspects of this parallel aspects of The Bullet Catch and I would agree with that. @ineffablelunatics, off of @somehow-a-human's post on the object, said it looked like a ball bearing and that's actually when I realized that I think the show might have subtly told us over the first two seasons what it is. And if it is what I think it is? The object is the reason for Aziraphale's reaction after the kiss-- not the kiss itself.

So, what is it?

To explain that, we have to start with two scenes, one from each season: 1601 and Crowley in Heaven with Muriel in 2.06.

In the 1601 scene, we learned that Crowley & Aziraphale experimented with their powers after they got tired of canceling each other out and that they discovered Heaven's dirty little secret in the process. That secret is that basically the only differences between them are the colors of their feathers and the lack of immunity to hellfire/holy water. Heaven has been telling everyone that some magic was "demonic" and that angels couldn't do it and they also had told everyone that demons no longer possessed angelic powers. Crowley & Aziraphale realized that this was bullshit-- Aziraphale could do temptations and Crowley could still do blessings. It's this discovery that allowed them to start fulfilling each other's assignments. They didn't tell a soul because of the danger of admitting they knew, especially because admitting it would be acknowledging that they had worked together to figure it out. This means that, with the exception of holy water being dangerous to him since he fell, Crowley is effectively still an angel in terms of the power he possesses.

This would mean he can magically make just about anything he could make when he was an angel. It's relevant because Crowley, as we'll see, made the object he slipped into Aziraphale's mouth during the kiss.

When Crowley is in Heaven with Muriel in 2.06, he opens the file on Gabriel's trial, which we are told can only be accessed by "a throne, or a dominion, or above"-- further showing that the truth is that Heaven actually can't strip angels of their power to do miracles. They're just simply telling them that they have done so as a form of social control and casting some to Hell to use them as way to discourage rebellion. This scene also reminds us of Crowley's awareness of this and shows him using his "angelic" powers to get information to help Gabriel.

The same scene with Muriel and Crowley that showed us that Crowley still retains his angelic powers reminds us again of the rank of throne/dominion in Heaven. (I say "throne/dominion" because Muriel's verbal commas and the way the sentence is structured-- along with the scene in S1 when Crowley goes from his throne to dominate his plants lol-- suggests that it is possible to be both ranks of angel at once, which is another topic so we won't go too far into that right now.) Crowley was undoubtedly a throne/dominion-- and it's not even just the fact that he had that hilariously tacky throne in S1. It's relevant here because of ties of throne-related things to what it is that Crowley made and slipped into Aziraphale's mouth.

Thrones are apparently God's chariots. They are concerned with justice and reside in the areas of space "where matter originates"-- which feels very Before the Beginning, right? They are symbolized by big wheels that rotate and by eyes that change color.

Yes, by wheels and eyes that change color... seems very Crowley, no?

The eyes repeat on the symbolic wheels and are in the position of what we on Earth would call ball bearings, apparently looking kind of like this:

...and remember the interconnected, turning wheels in the scroll that Crowley had Aziraphale hold in the moment they met, at the start of 2.01?...

It could be said that Crowley... a throne, a polymath, a scientist, an inventor... a being whose signature thing is the sexiest old car on four wheels... could make ball bearings from his body when he was an angel and, since we know that he still has basically everything but the ability to make holy water from his angel days, it means that he still can make those ball bearings...

...but we also know what else he can make from his body since he's also a demon-- and not just from his hands but from his mouth...

...hellfire.

Yes, I'm saying that it really was a ball bearing in Aziraphale's mouth-- but it was not hollow or empty. Not by a long shot. It was full of hellfire. It wasn't for Aziraphale's memories as Crowley didn't think that Aziraphale had time or opportunity left to extract them.

It was a suicide pill.

The story was calling back to The Original Ineffable Divorce in 1862...

Think about what Crowley saw when he was up in Heaven in S2...

Crowley is the one who put together what happened to Gabriel. He watched the video of Gabriel's sham "trial" and he saw The Metatron basically order Gabriel killed and cast down through the ranks and he knows that Gabriel only evaded Hell because of how it would have diminished the power of the institution of Heaven to send him there. Crowley knows that Aziraphale does not have this same amount of political power. He knows that The Metatron is a shifty motherfucker and that Michael cannot be counted on. He knows how much danger Aziraphale is in.

So, he takes a page from Lord Beezlebub after seeing that they protected Gabriel with the fly... only it's not exactly the same thing.

Beez's fly was given to Gabriel to help save him. It was a place to store his memories to help protect him long enough to keep him safe until they could make sure he was safe and intact. It worked because Beez and Gabriel had time to make a plan together. By the time Crowley is in Heaven watching the video of what happened to Gabriel and then getting back to the bookshop to sort it all out, there's no time for he and Aziraphale to make a plan. They are not alone again until after "The Metatron" has already shown up and, by then, Aziraphale is already on his way to being lost.

Beez is actually the first character we ever see make their signature thing on-screen and when they do? I mean...

Evocative of a kiss, with that big closeup on Beez's mouth. We watch them push the fly gently out of their mouth with their tongue. It foreshadows Crowley making something in his mouth and ties delivery of it to the kiss. We know that Crowley knows that he can make a single object that is of aspects of both Heaven and Hell combined-- like a ball of hellfire tempered, unless consumed, by a ball bearing.

Plus, earlier in the season, there's Gabriel tying The Fly-- which came about as a result of Beez trying to help him manage his depression by helping him to feel safer-- to metaphorical suicide when he spends the scene where the angels show up chasing it around the bookshop, trying to kill it with one of Aziraphale's Bibles, symbolizing just what Heaven is doing to everyone's mental health here...

But this is just where this possibility starts, really... because why else do I think it's a hellfire-full ball bearing suicide capsule that Crowley gave Aziraphale?

Well, for starters, there is all the holy water that is all over this plot at the end of S2... At the end, Crowley stands in Whickber Street outside The Bentley right across from The Dirty Donkey in a nod to-- among other scenes-- the 1967 scene, when Aziraphale brought Crowley the holy water.

Aziraphale knew that Crowley also secretly wanted holy water as a last resort and Aziraphale initially couldn't handle the idea of losing Crowley and reacted badly before eventually coming around to the idea that maybe Crowley needed to have some supernatural cyanide at his disposal in order to feel safer and that he should have that option. Based on the holy water story, Crowley, then, would be the first person to think that Aziraphale needed a suicide pill as an option if he found himself in trouble he couldn't get out of.

In 2.06, Crowley knows how likely it is that Aziraphale could be harmed by the angels and/or sent to Hell-- which is the domain of Crowley's assailant, who is literally Satan, and who hates both of them for, among other things, turning Adam against him. Crowley knows Aziraphale is a good person who wants to believe the best is possible but he also knows how unlikely it is that this is going to go well for Aziraphale. Crowley can't stand the thought of Aziraphale suffering so he gives him a way out as an act of love because Crowley would sooner lose Aziraphale for eternity than see him suffer.

When it becomes clear that Aziraphale is going with "The Metatron" and Crowley is out of ways to convince him not to, he sees Aziraphale look away and start to cry. Crowley goes back and kisses him as a last resort but Aziraphale is initially resistant-- not because this is their first kiss and not even just because they're upset (though that's part of it) but because to kiss Crowley then would be to let him in... (after all of those symbolic doors and "let me in"s happening in the story)... when Aziraphale making the mistake of trying to shut him out.

Aziraphale eventually, though, can't help but let Crowley in a little...

...because, ya know, it's Crowley...

...and, when he does, he opens up a little, and Crowley slips a suicide pill into Aziraphale's mouth.

It's also definitely worth noting that one of the reasons-- the primary reason, even-- why Crowley kisses Aziraphale is because he needs a cover to both make and give the fireball to Aziraphale without being noticed-- and to do so in such a way that Aziraphale would be assured of the ability to have it on his person when he got to Heaven-- even if he lost his clothes in the process, as like what happened to Gabriel when he was cast out. It has to go in Aziraphale's mouth for easy consumption for it to work and kissing him is the only way to do that. What's really worth noting, though?

Crowley's plan hinged on Aziraphale eventually giving in and kissing him back. He couldn't tongue the fireball into Aziraphale's mouth without Aziraphale parting his lips and Crowley knew he would... because he always does. Not that they're regularly trying to kiss while being super miserable lol but mah point is that Crowley knows that Aziraphale can't ever not kiss him. That's not indicative of this being a first kiss-- that's indicative of the complete opposite of that.

Anyway...

Aziraphale knows what Crowley can make and what it is that he just gave him and that's why this is his reaction after the kiss:

The devastation isn't over the kiss itself. It's because Aziraphale trusts Crowley's interpretations of things more than his own sometimes and, by secretly slipping Aziraphale a suicide capsule out of fear and love and delivered in a kiss, it really hits home for Aziraphale that Crowley thinks they are now in a situation where there probably isn't going to be another way out. It's not because it's a first kiss-- it's because it's likely a last one-- and things are so dire that it came with supernatural cyanide.

It's the realization that Crowley really thinks Aziraphale has been fooled and Aziraphale can't bear it because he knows, deep down, that Crowley is probably right and he's embarrassed. 'Pride goeth before a fall' and all that... Aziraphale is lovely-- an absolute poppet-- but he's imperfect, just like us all. One of his worst traits is that he doubles down when he's been embarrassed as a way of trying to save face and retain pride. It's maybe his worse flaw and it gets very dangerous for him here. Crowley is no stranger to trying to stop situations where it could happen, like this paralleling time in 1941:

Some other reasons why it's a fireball suicide pill before we get to what then happened in the elevator...

There's the fact that the show had a scene set in S2 in The Dirty Donkey-- where the elevator is. (As the start of the scene, Crowley & Aziraphale even walk through the door where the elevator will materialize at the end of S2.) Part of their conversation is very possibly Crowley recounting their first kiss-- at minimum, it's about kissing-- and then Aziraphale makes it also about balls, combining the two to, among other things, foreshadow The Final 15:

The wordplay here is already threefold in this scene off of Crowley's joke that follows Aziraphale remembering Jane Austen's balls: balls (testicles), the phrase that x person "has balls" (is badass), and balls (of the cotillion/dancing variety). This continues into the meeting that Aziraphale hosts-- the disaster of a ball that goes straight into the end game of the season. Here's Aziraphale making yet another ball-related wordplay joke-- this one, during The Meeting Ball:

"We're having a ball" as in they're literally having a ball-- a party-- but also the idiom "we're having a ball" meaning "we're having a great time." We are now up to four different meanings of the word 'ball' in S2, stretched across different scenes, emphasizing the importance of it. One of the missing ones still needed here to complete this idea is a literal ball-- and the ball bearing would not only meet this idea but would then make all of the ball-related wordplay have had the purpose of building towards it. We think it's building towards The Meeting Ball-- and it is-- but all of it, including The Meeting Ball, would actually then be building towards the hellfire ball, which is the actual ending of S2.

Then, there's what this all has to do with the eccles cakes...

Yes, eccles cakes lol... Eccles cakes, as a lot of us already know, are popularly referred to as "fly cakes", off of how the currents sometimes look in them, but the significant thing here is that, despite their name, eccles cakes are not actually cakes at all-- they are really pies.

Ball bearings are also used in Good Omens' favorite metaphor of food to weigh down dough when baking pie crust. Pie weights and ball bearings are basically the same things, just put to different use. It means you literally cannot make eccles cakes from scratch without a jar of pie weights... which are just, structurally, the same thing as ball bearings... and Crowley can make them. You also make pie dough by first rolling it into a ball.

Which is likely why this hilarious moment exists:

Please hold The Cake-Pies of Symbolism, my pie (and Pi)-loving dear...

Crowley's face at having to stand there holding some little pies 😂...

The eccles cakes-that-are-really-pies go along with this theory as well because look how the show presented the forthcoming apocalypse to us back in 2.01:

The horse is Crowley, the rider is Aziraphale, and they're headed for Armageddon-like mental health disaster-- all ushered in by the four eccles cakes, representing Gabriel, Beez, Nina (who suggested & gave them the eccles cakes) and Maggie.

Presumably, The Lords of the Flies are the two eccles cakes that are already canoodling on the back of the plate while Maggie and Nina are the two in the foreground who are aligned but not yet together. Crowley's S2 plot is largely working at the behest of these wonderfully rebellious pies. He looks after Gabriel, finds out what happened to him and connects it all to Beez... and this is after he spent the season on his vavoomy Operation Lovebirds to get Maggie and Nina together. He's responsible for the pie crust-- the containers of the eccles cakes-- in a show obsessed with containers. Crowley is, symbolically, a jar of pie weights in being form by way of his actions-- which is suggestive of the fact that he can probably physically make them. (There's also: "Just a few million years to bake," which Crowley said of his stars-- which he made-- in the opening scene of the season.)

"Nina, what do you sell that calms people down?"

Calm is from the Greek kauma, which means the heat of the day. Heat, as in slang for a weapon. Heat, as in hellfire. Heat, as in what's needed to bake. Heat, as in passion. Heat, as in "bringing the heat." The heat of the day-- the sunny daylight of The Final 15. Eccles cakes-- really: pies-- calm people down... they bring them heat, in every possible way, and it sets them on a path down-- to Hell.

Then, there's Agnes Nutter...

When The Witchfinder Army came to kill Agnes, she hid gunpowder (a weapon) and roofing nails (the construction-related metal that enabled it) in her dress. Agnes blew up-- she became a literal. fireball. Crowley wasn't necessarily suggesting that Aziraphale turn himself into an Agnes-like bomb in Heaven when he gave him the capsule but he was giving him a weapon involving fire with which he could kill himself if he had no other way out.

Then, there's the theme of suicide in examples from earlier in the season:

Crowley saving Elspeth (on the night Crowley was dragged to Hell)... The bit when Aziraphale then calls Crowley from Edinburgh in the present and tells him that he's read that Dalrymple left in disgrace and killed himself... "The Bananafish" being a short story about trauma by J.D. Salinger which ends with a traumatized man suddenly killing himself... Crowley setting Gabriel up to jump from the window and then stopping him from doing it...

There's also the fact that the end of S1 was Heaven and Hell forcing Crowley and Aziraphale into forms of suicide (getting into hellfire/holy water) and the "Aziraphale" in the Heaven part of it was Crowley spitting hellfire-- at Gabriel, no less, whose story is what jumpstarts S2.

Then, there's that the song that is The Clue to everything in S2 is "Everyday", the significance of which is that it's a foundational song of American rock 'n roll. Rock 'n roll is a blend of musical styles that actually wouldn't exist without first the big band/swing that Aziraphale loves that came before it-- symbolizing how Crowley & Aziraphale paved the way for Gabriel & Beez. There's another song, though, that, like "Everyday", is from the pivotal rock year of 1957 that is equally influential and is enormously Good Omens-y, in the sense that it cleverly uses wordplay to the effect of barely disguising sexual euphemisms and often through amusingly church-y language:

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain/Too much love drives a man insane/You broke my will/But what a thrill...

Goodness gracious... great balls of fire...

[Also: less part of the theory and more just a possible nod but... "The Metatron" brought Aziraphale a coffee, there's a threat of non-existence, and Aziraphale might have gotten a 'kiss of death' from a being who is, essentially, a cherry pie lol... so, those of you who know that other greatest television show to ever television show might see a bit of a nod to Twin Peaks in here as well.]

Speaking of kisses of death... the film that popularized the word "vavoom"-- and which GO S2 is homaging all over the place-- is called 'Kiss Me Deadly.'..

So, after the kiss, Aziraphale gets the capsule and keeps it tucked into his mouth and he's gone too far with the conversation and doesn't want to admit that maybe he's wrong and Crowley is right. Crowley goes out, "The Metatron" comes back in, and Aziraphale keeps looking at Crowley staying by the car out the window and he's a bit more nervous now ("what about, um, my bookshop?"). Even if he still wants to be right, he's beginning to doubt even more that he is.

He almost tells "The Metatron" to go. He almost goes to Crowley. We see him start to say that he thinks he made a mistake but he doesn't go through with it. He's too embarrassed. Fraulein Maria can't face The Captain and is trying to run back to The Abbey over here.

Aziraphale goes out with "The Metatron" and the significant moment is this revelation: "We call it 'The Second Coming'."

This is the moment that Aziraphale realizes for sure that he's been tricked and there is no Supreme Archangel job for him. The Metatron doesn't want to change Heaven or save anybody-- he wants to destroy the world, same as he always has-- and there's no way that he'd ever trust Aziraphale to carry that out when Aziraphale is who stopped the first round. Heaven will never admit they did wrong by Crowley-- to do so would be to collapse the system because then every demon would want to appeal their own status and demand justice and the Heaven/Hell regime would fall, in the sense that their little supernatural empire would crumble. The Metatron would never allow that and Aziraphale realizes in this moment for sure that he has been played for a sucker.

It's still possible that, at this moment, Aziraphale might still believe that this being who has tempted him with the possibility of the justice he wants for Crowley more than Crowley actually wants for himself-- and with false reassurances that he and Crowley could be together forever-- actually is The Metatron. Or, Aziraphale might be starting to get the sense of what's actually happening but, either way, he now knows that he's been fooled. He knows now that while he and Crowley both got some things wrong (suggesting they run off and proposing suddenly were not great moves on Crowley's part)... about this bit anyway? About being in danger if he believes the being who came to the door? Crowley was right.

So, Aziraphale has a choice: does he go to Crowley or does he get in the elevator, knowing now that to do so is to go to a form of death?

He can't face Crowley. He knows Crowley would forgive him and just wants him to be safe but, in the moment, Aziraphale is too ashamed and too embarrassed to admit that he was fooled and to deal with how awfully he just behaved. He's also exhausted from being hounded by the weight of his halo and Heaven for thousands of years. Negative thought cycles in overdrive-- he's never truly believed that he deserves Crowley and he has convinced himself that maybe Crowley might be better off without him. Maybe they just don't get a happy ending and maybe Aziraphale is so tired and can't run and hide anymore and just wants it to end.

Imagine spending thousands of years in service of an organization that also doubles as family and who abused you and abandoned you and who now wants to kill you... and you so hoped that change was possible that you clung to the idea beyond a point of reason-- to the point of hurting the one you love, with whom you have the only real love you've ever known. And you know he'd forgive you in a heartbeat because he loves you and he just wants you to be safe but you can't face him because you can't yet face yourself... that's Aziraphale deciding between Crowley and the elevator.

Aziraphale can barely glance over at Crowley and when, he does, it's also The Bentley he's looking at because he's telling the car to play Crowley their song. Crowley said "no nightingales" but Aziraphale says, in response: "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square." His last moment on Earth and he uses it to basically leave a suicide note for Crowley that says nothing but I'm sorry. I love you.

Their song plays when Crowley starts the engine of The Bentley, which calls back to the first time they met in the Before the Beginning scene that began the season and showed how they started the engine of the universe together.

Aziraphale might be trying to warn Crowley about Armageddon by sending an "engine trouble"-type of message or he might be calling back to when they first met or, as I suspect, he might be doing both but the show, at least, is referencing Before the Beginning here with this, whether or not Aziraphale intentionally is.

So, Aziraphale? He makes his choice. He gets into the elevator...

...and he swallows the fireball. Which we can see him do here:

Or, as this was foreshadowed in S1 by the being whose own fall and subsequent arrival at the bookshop door set all the events in this season into motion:

(The eerieness of the fake grin on Gabriel after seeing how it foreshadows S2 ending with Aziraphale's mad grin...)

Because, when all is said and done, this poor bastard really would have a death-by-swallowing-something story over here, wouldn't he? Can they just hurry up and destroy the Heaven/Hell system so Aziraphale can have food and sex in peace already, please? 😄

Aziraphale knew he'd been played and he didn't want to go through whatever came next. He didn't want to reach the top floor of Heaven because he knows that only forms of death await him there. They'll take his memories. They'll cast him to Hell. Being a demon is no picnic and Aziraphale has seen that in being with Crowley for so long. Satan is not exactly the biggest fan of Aziraphale and Aziraphale, better than most, knows what Satan is capable of. He doesn't want any part of that. He ingested a suicide pill to avoid being captured by the enemy.

Crowley gave him the pill because angels are not immune to hellfire. That's what made it a suicide capsule, right? It was supposed to kill him within seconds. It was supposed to be quick and relatively painless-- a way to escape the horrors that might await him. Even when Aziraphale is at his worst-- as Aziraphale was in their last scene in bookshop-- he is still a pure-of-heart, lovely being to Crowley because Crowley loves Aziraphale as he is-- imperfect. Just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing. It never occurred to Crowley that the capsule might fail. Why? Because Aziraphale is, always and forever, his angel.

Both Crowley and Aziraphale thought the fireball should have protected Aziraphale from pain and suffering by killing him almost instantly once he ingested it.

By that measure, Aziraphale should have burst into flames in the elevator, seconds after he swallowed the pill just after stepping inside.

But he did not.

We watch as the seconds start to tick by... and we see the realization play out on Aziraphale's face as each second that passes is another one where he's still here...

...the look gets more and more unhinged as the elevator keeps climbing until we get the slightly mad dark grin as the last shot of him before a fade to a deathly black... with Aziraphale having spent the final splitscreen since he got into the elevator on the other side of Crowley, symbolizing what's happened.

In the elevator scene, we are watching the dawning realization play out on Aziraphale's face as the fireball doesn't work and there's only one reason why it wouldn't-- because he's no longer an angel.

Aziraphale has been sauntering vaguely downward for the season and maybe for awhile before then. He's been letting the darkness in, more and more, throughout all of S2. We have been watching his fall happen. The 'falling from a great height into a pit of boiling sulphur' part of falling? Ceremonial. An aftermath of sorts-- an additional punishment. It awaits Aziraphale when he gets off the elevator in Heaven but it's something we likely don't really need to see and never have seen in the show yet because that's not actually the main point of a fall. By the time you're literally falling from a great height, you've actually already fallen.

Aziraphale's determined-- but also just really half-mad-- final grim smile in the elevator over his understanding of what's happened is both the pain of thousands of years of religious trauma and abuse-related misery and a bit of completely unhinged I'm gonna burn this place to the fucking ground fury.

Aziraphale swallowing the capsule also parallels Gabriel having to "consume" The Fly to open it. The Fly went through Gabriel's eye and allowed him to "see"-- it give him realization and understanding by returning his memories to him. For Aziraphale, he swallows the fireball and it also gives him a kind of sight-- realization and understanding of what's happened and what's to come... all of this also in the moments before his memories (and, so, his sense of self/his life) will likely be taken from him.

(For a time-- he'll be fine eventually. *mantras* South Downs Cottage, South Downs Cottage...)

"And from his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out." The Job quote on the matchbox. The matchbox contained the fly-- it's the equivalent to the ball bearing containing hellfire. Works now on several different levels but one of them then is: And from his mouth (Crowley's mouth/the kiss/the fireball/Aziraphale swallowing the fireball)...

...go burning lamps (the light that goes out in the bookshop when Aziraphale is in the elevator)...

...and sparks of fire leap out. Several meanings:

Literal sparks-- in that Aziraphale can now spit hellfire, like how Crowley did in his body in Heaven in S1.

Sparks of fire leaping out, in the sense that Aziraphale has made the leap-- he is a demon now.

Lastly, though... sparks of fire leap out... as in, Hell (and Heaven) hath no fury like this very, very, very pissed off Angel of the Eastern Gate whose whole thing is freeing those imprisoned by corrupt systems...

Visually paralleling the elevator with a grey wall behind him and light/darkness alternately striping Aziraphale is the 'Aziraphale and God' scene in 1.03, setting up its sister elevator scene in 2.06, where Aziraphale realizes that he has been tempted by Satan and has fallen. (Ironically, a realization about having fallen that happens while going Up in an elevator.)

God: "Aziraphale. (dryly) Angel of the Eastern Gate. Where is the flaming sword I gave you, Aziraphale?"

Aziraphale, unintentionally foreshadowing the fuck out of the plot:

"...must have put it down here somewhere."

Yeah. 😉 Give 'em hell, Aziraphale.

Bonuses:

The awning of a new age/Dawning of a New Age joke. An understanding/a daybreak that begins a new era...

"Oh, listen, I think it's about to happen-- the 'awning' of a new age." Yes, indeed, Crowley. A dawning of a new age was imminent...

...and, finally, if you substitute 'Aziraphale' for his parallel of 'Job' in these sentences, Bildaddy summarized the season endgame quite nicely in 2.02:

#ineffable husbands #good omens #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #good omens 2 #good omens theory #aziracrow #good omens speculation #good omens clues #good omens analysis #good omens parallels #long post but worth it #tw suicide #tw depression

[somehow-a-human]

Good Omens & Visual Tarot - Part 1

I have been fiddling with a few different posts that are going to take a while longer still to complete. In the meantime I decided to do a little bit of a Good Omens Tarot visual analysis.

*Disclaimer* I am not a tarot expert, I am using visuals simply to equate these scenes to the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. Most of the limited meaning and analysis have been pulled from various tarot websites.

I hope you enjoy looking through these! They are not super deep or intensive but were very fun to put together :) They are ordered first by Major Arcana, then Minor Arcana, and finally Court Cards.

THE FOOL

The Fool represents the willingness to take risks, being inexperienced, improvisation and beginners luck. Aziraphale and the 1941 magic debacle are very fitting for the fool card. He doesn't know he's just endangered Crowley in front of Hell, doesn't know about the miracle blocker, and what they are about to face. Teetering dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Yet, they've just somehow successfully escaped the stage unscathed.

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THE MAGICIAN

The Magician represents one's potential, and capability to harness one's potential, especially in a situation where transformation is needed. It brings to mind the change that's needed in Heaven, the work Aziraphale needs to do to fix a broken system.

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THE EMPEROR

The Emperor sits on a throne, flanked by dual rams heads. This card represents leadership, power, authority, courage, and intelligence. The Emperor is considered to be someone who is very powerful. Crowley's powers and past angelic identity are still somewhat of a mystery to us, and we have good reason to believe he was indeed a powerful figure. Could this be foreshadowing as well?

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THE LOVERS

While The Lovers in modern decks often has a romantic reading, traditionally this card represented a crossroads in a relationship. Choices between life paths, and commitment. Aziraphale and Crowley choosing their side at the end of season one reflects this crossroads and decision very well.

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THE CHARIOT

The Chariot represents overcoming conflict and moving forward, but the charioteer is warned to be wary of the way ahead. Crowley rushing back to Aziraphale after the Book of Life threat is ready to move past their earlier conflict and move forward. But danger might lie ahead.

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THE HERMIT

The Hermit represents the ability to recognize a 'teacher in a humble disguise', wisdom and enlightenment. Though it takes Aziraphale millenia, I think he eventually does recognize Crowley is a teacher or a guide in disguise for him, helping him sort through the abyss of human morality.

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THE WHEEL OF (MIS)FORTUNE

The Wheel of Fortune card reminds us that life is ever changing and moving, we cannot stand on top of the wheel indefinitely, where we think we finally may see and understand things clearly, it will always turn. Looking at the Good Omens Wheel of Misfortune, it has interesting items like "going abroad" - a nod to season 3 possibly being set at least somewhat in New York?

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THE TOWER

The Tower represents disaster, distress, and upheaval. There is an unforeseen catastrophe that will need to be weathered. I believe Aziraphale's emotional journey in the Job minisode exemplifies this perfectly. His realization that he has reached a turning point in his beliefs, his willingness to fall to save Jobs children and defy the Almighty... The path going forward will be difficult.

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PART 2 (coming soon)

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens meta #aziraphale #michael sheen #david tennant #crowley #crowley x aziraphale #good omens theories #good omens clues #good omens tarot #tarot #tarot cards #rider waite tarot

[averageanonymous]

Summary: Crowley reflects on all the things he can not say.

TW: very brief (less than a sentence) mention of abuse.

☆•☆•☆•☆•☆

Sitting alone in his flat, surrounded by his plants, Crowley thinks that he could drown beneath the weight of all the things he doesn't say.

He tries not to dwell on it.

After all, what good does it do?

But sometimes, in the dark and the quiet, he finds himself reflecting, suffocated by solitude, caught in the realization that his entire existence is built upon an amalgamation of half-truths tangled in an increasingly complex web of lies. Their weight rests heavy on his shoulders, every false word leaving a bitter taste on his tongue.

Meanwhile, every true thing he has ever thought or felt is kept on a leash, chained to his heart and left to starve.

It's exhausting.

The way he pretends he gives a single shit about Hell, or Satan - he doesn't. He must play his role, though, and play it well, crafting whatever narrative is required to ensure he will never be required to take up a position back in the dark, stinking Pit. So he does, taking credit for so much of the awfulness that humans inflict upon themselves. Immersing himself in their cruelty, their wickedness, reporting on it as though it were his own cruelty made manifest, and all the while wondering, questioning in silence, how God could have created something with the capacity for such evil.

But he must never speak his loathing for the devil, for damnation, for Heaven and Hell and the Plan, the Great bloody Plan, and never admit the way the suffering of the world and all the people in it hurts him.

And it does hurt.

It hurts every time Heaven turns a blind eye to a hungry child, refuses the prayers of a beaten woman, denies the pleas of a prodigal son.

It shouldn't though. Not for him.

He's a demon, after all, stripped of Grace, damned by God Herself. He had Fallen, burned alive in boiling sulfur, been changed into this cursed shadow of himself. Hadn't that been punishment enough?

It wasn't, apparently. More penance must be owed because he, an immortal being, must watch these humans in their misery, and it hurts. What's worse is that Crowley does not understand Why.

He thinks he will never understand, and isn't sure he wants to.

And even if he could give voice to this pain, this confusion, who would hear him? God's ways are Ineffable, and all the while, Satan laughs. There is no one, no one, who sees, who cares, not the way he is compelled to see and to care.

No one, except perhaps...

Aziraphale.

The sense of drowning begins to become unbearable, sinking deeper, reaching farther. All of the pain of hiding from Hell, of cursing Heaven, of seeing the beauty of humanity dragged through the mud again and again and again by its own fallibility, it is all amplified by the agony of the lie that consumes him most of all: the facade he crafts each and every day as he forces himself to act as though he - a demon - is not entirely devoted, black heart and broken soul, to an angel.

He loves him.

A plain, simple truth.

And it is a torture to pretend as though he doesn't; as though he hasn't loved that angel for over six thousand years. To pretend that the angel is not beautiful, and precious to him beyond imagining. To pretend he isn't a balm against Crowley's brokenness, soothing his pain, easing his confusion, bringing him some semblance of peace.

But in loving him, the web of lies only ties itself tighter, and the loneliness only grows. Crowley knows, he knows, he must not reveal this truth, for both their sakes. And so he forces himself to let the years pass, not seek the angel out too often, not contact him needlessly, not ask him to go to dinner, get a drink, go for a walk, do anything, anything at all, so long as they do it together.

Oh, the way his entire being vibrates with the desire to be near him, though, near him always, his every cell and atom yearning towards him like a light-starved flower towards the sun.

The way he has to physically restrain himself from touching him when they are together: his hair, his face, a brush of fingers or legs or lips.

The way he has to hide his eyes for fear they'll give away the truth in his soul, that he would do anything, give anything, be anything, for him.

The way he cherishes every smile, every laugh, every glance, collecting them like flowers, pressed between the pages of his memories.

The way he dreams of an impossible future where they are together.

Together.

Just the two of them.

Away from all this; from Heaven, from Hell, from God and the devil, from humanity and all its suffering.

He sits in his flat, head in his hands, his plants leaning toward him as though they can sense his loneliness, as though they could help.

In the quiet and the dark, he loves, and he loathes, choking upon his silence, crushed beneath millennia upon millennia of dammed emotions, a reservoir held within the fragile walls of his heart, the pressure building, demanding release, begging for relief, but he will find no catharsis and he knows this.

He knows it

and he drowns,

and drowns,

and drowns.

☆•☆•☆•☆•☆

Thanks for reading 🖤🤍

I imagine this "scene" would happen sometime in the years prior to the Armageddon that wasn't. And yeah, it's literally the opposite of "Because, underneath it all, Crowley was an optimist." But know what? I'm in my feels today, so Crowley gets to be too, and that's that.

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale x crowley #aziracrow #fanfic #good omens fanfiction #good omens angst #angst #introspective #ineffable husbands #my words

[the-fell-family]

how do you get the courage to ask someone to be your partner?

Don't ask us, it took us 6000 years. - Crowley

I don't think there's one way to do it, truthfully... Everyone is different, and there's so many ways to go about it. I wouldn't like to recommend one way in case it doesn't work for you, my dear. - Aziraphale

#good omens #ask blog #good omens ask blog #aziraphale #crowley #aziracrow #ineffable husbands #ineffable spouses #good omens 2

[impishtubist]

The Bentley behaving so nicely for Aziraphale and doing what he asks and following him like a puppy dog is cute and all, but it also makes me really sad??? Because who chooses Crowley???? His plants are terrified of him, his car prefers Aziraphale, his flat no longer belongs to him, the love of his eternal life leaves him for a job promotion--

WHO CHOOSES CROWLEY???

#good omens #crowley #this is why i need muriel and the shopkeepers to all adopt crowley #for once i want someone to choose him and put him first! #i know aziraphale was actually doing that in his own way but crowley doesn't realize this

[astrhae]

Do I look like I run a bookshop?

Anthony J. Crowley, aka The Co. to A.Z. Fell and Co.

#crowley doesn't just know where things are #he didn't bother to miracle aziraphale's chair back in place #he put it back properly by himself in a very very human way #do you sometimes think that #the first time aziraphale saw crowley #crowley had a book with him #granted it was a book about how to make a nebula #but it was a book nonetheless #crowley and his imagination and enjoying a good story #as much if not more than the next person #and aziraphale admitting they both get enough use from the bookshop #that angel knew what he was doing #when he added 'and Co.' to the bookshop name #my edits #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #goodomensedit

[ingravinoveritas]

Michael Sheen as Aziraphale giving the gayest of gay once-overs.

| GO Season 1 vs. GO Season 2.

#good omens 2 #good omens #aziraphale #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #crowley #jon hamm #gabriel #no way he doesn't know exactly what he is doing #overwhelmed with The Gay #i love one (1) hedonistic angel #who can't not look at cock to save his celestial life #god bless Michael Sheen and his Acting™ #let me live please #can't wait for the second season #gif by me

[lenaellsi]

i've mentioned this before and it's a Hot Take maybe but. i don't think it's fair at all to characterize crowley's "you and me, what do you say?" speech from s2 as being equivalent to "fuck the earth run away with me to the stars right now" a la season 1

i guess i can see why it might come off that way, with gabriel and beelzebub having just left and crowley drawing the comparison to them, but a lot of people have sort of extrapolated from that this dichotomy where suddenly aziraphale is the one who cares about saving the world and crowley only cares about himself and aziraphale. and while i think crowley certainly prioritizes their mutual safety and is more likely to get spooked when faced with threats from heaven (i wonder why) crowley also loves earth?? he talks about it all the time.

the last time there was an apocalypse, crowley was the one who proposed saving the world, and he had to talk aziraphale into it. and like...he was planning breakfast at the ritz, wasn't he? he didn't want to leave. obviously "you can't leave this bookshop" meant "you can't leave me," but it also LITTLE bit meant the bookshop, and earth.

the circumstances of s1 were very different than the end of s2. crowley only wanted to run in s1 when 1) the end was about 4 hours away, 2) from his POV he and aziraphale had no idea where the antichrist was, so they wouldn't be able to stop anything even if they did stay to die with the humans, 3) aziraphale was about to Talk To Heaven the same way crowley tried to before the Fall, 4) demons were actively pursuing him for purposes of torture and annihilation. and in the end, he STILL stayed.

idk. if we're going to give aziraphale the benefit of the doubt for the Many Things he said in that convo, then i think we can afford to give crowley the benefit of the doubt that "we need to get away from them" and "go off together" might mean something more along the lines of "please don't go back to heaven, stay with me, it can be the two of us against them all." THAT was what crowley's emotional arc this season was leading to, with the flashbacks and his big revelation in ep 5, the same way aziraphale's was leading to leaving. every single one of the flashbacks had crowley choosing to help someone else at great personal risk--why would that lead to the conclusion that he actually wants to leave without trying to help? (of course, he did want to abandon gabriel. but I don't think that was even a little bit irrational after aziraphale's failed execution. walking away from the heavenly host who has done nothing but hurt both of them is not the same as walking away from earth. it's still a problem--ignoring heaven and hell will not, ultimately, fix anything--but again, it's not the same as abandoning humanity on a whim.)

TL;DR I don't think it's a fair reading to say that crowley's proposed solution to The Heaven And Hell Problem is "fuck humanity, let's give up." i think he was proposing working together against heaven and hell with the option of an exit strategy if everything went wrong, which is what he ALWAYS tries to do. (see: arrangement + holy water.) his need for an escape route and his tendency to prepare for the worst is something that is definitely hindering him in, for example, his relationship with aziraphale, but it also makes sense. because, you know. the last time he tried doing anything about heaven he got his wings lit on fire. so.

#good omens #good omens season 2 #gos2 spoilers #crowley #good omens meta #call me a crowley stan but it's not fair to him to say that he doesn't care about anything but himself and aziraphale. he cares so much. #he didn't have to help job's kids. he didn't have to help elspeth. but he did #even though hell punished him for it when he got caught in edinburgh #he went back up and continued to do things his own way #but he also asked aziraphale for insurance. that's how crowley operates #push and push and push until you cross the line #and then run like hell to try to get out of the fire

[mwagneto]

like i think it's a lot easier for the audience to relate to and sympathise with Crowley coz he's way more human in a way we can understand but it's not like this was easy for Aziraphale either, he feels just as much and he's just as hurt, like from his point of view he's the one that got rejected it's just not as obvious to us since he's the one that's choosing to leave everything behind, but to him it was the only option and he was literally begging crowley to come with him but he refused. like i think it's clear and understandable why ppl view this as crowley being the only victim because "i confessed my love to someone to get them to stay and they left anyway" is a way more human feeling than "i am an angel from like the actual bible and i have to go and help heaven run better" but i think both their chocies make perfect sense to who they are

#and also bc like we as viewers understand that az cant fix anything and the whole thing is just q #a* way to tear the two of them apart but az doesn't know that!! he's fully convinced he's #doing the right thing and that c knows it's the right thing but is refusing him anyway!!!! like man cmon! #i just think it's so cool to engage w their choices in a non black and white way coz like they both #messed up. c messed up way less dgmw but they're both going thru their gay little agonies it sucks for both of them!! hhhh #good omens #gomens #go meta #crowley #aziraphale #crowley x aziraphale #inefifable husbands #crowzira

[doomedlemur]

I need more "oblivious of his own feelings" Crowley in my life.

I want this snake to have been besotted since the walls of Eden but in 6000 years never analyzed or connected the dots of his feelings to be "what humans do."

Where is my "never thought about what calling him 'angel' implied to other people until he choked on the word in front of Nina" Crowley

The "really thought Aziraphale was criticizing his driving" Crowley

The "thinks the way they look at each other is just normal friends things" Crowley

Where??

(I could, and maybe will, write a whole meta about how firmly I believe in this headcanon.)

#never forget that these supernatural beings are fundamentally dumbasses (affectionate) #probably this is also “ace but not sex-repulsed would do anything for his angel” Crowley #the “oblivious Crowley” tag on ao3 seems to be mostly “doesn't realize Aziraphale feels the same way” Crowley :( #any fic recs? #good omens #crowley #anthony j crowley #anthony janthony crowley #ineffable idiots #good omens headcanons #good omens hc #you go too fast for me crowley

[shortcutohappiness]

it's so funny to me how crowley chose a first name AND a second name for himself while aziraphale just kept his own and then only out of need and on the spot he took the last part('s pronunciation) of said name to use it ALSO as his surname

#one tried too hard and the other didn't try at all #a creative snake and a lazy b*tch #which is funny considering that crowley doesn't really do anything for hell (techincally his job) #except finding ways to avoid doing any work #while aziraphale kinda cares about how things are done (ok mostly because he fears his superiors) #when he said you know what to do do it with style #bro has a motto #fratm #good omens #good omens season 2 #david tennant #crowley #good omens 2 #neil gaiman #aziraphale #micheal sheen #ineffable husbands #names #anthony j crowley #mr fell mcfell #who didn't even fall

[gunpowder-gemini]

FINALLY have wrestled my brain into sitting down and watching Good Omens and it is, in fact, very good!! Incredibly good!! Absolutely in love with it ♥️♥️♥️

It does, however, hurt terribly

#as a queer with hella religious trauma fucking OW 😭😭😭 #Aziraphale is exactly who I used to be #and Crowly is so much like who I am now #'I only ever asked questions' yeah me too 😭 #i really thought i'd kinda made peace with my religious trauma but it turns out i very much have not 🙃🙃🙃🙃 #i'm like 2 eps into season 2 currently but i do know generally what happens and I DO know how it ends #and it breaks my fucking heart bc I'm going to be so upset with Aziraphale but I'm gonna understand him better than I want to #bc fuck if I didn't think I could fix heaven once #i really hope that when that line of thinking comes crashing down around him spectacularly #it doesn't do so in a way that kills any hope and makes him act apathetic as a defense mechanism to pretend it doesn't hurt #bc Crowley and I are already here and I want Aziraphale to avoid that #and it sucks and Aziraphale is too good to end up like this I want him to be ok 🥺 #Crowley was too good to end up like this too but he's already here so I just hope he can heal better than I apparently haven't #idk I'm in love with this show and these middle-aged gay men but I'm also incredibly fucking triggered lmao #like ow mr gaiman good job but also kinda fuck you but also please I'm trusting you to give this a good end

[p4nishers]

devotion as a chest wound

#she was literally wearing her heart on her sleeve she was SO READY im gonna kms #no cause the way they've been devoted to aziraphale since their fall like az was actually their very purpose since he knew anything at all #he wanted to talk to aziraphale and protect him and make him laugh and the fact that aziraphale rejected her hurt so much more when u #consider the fact that he's been hoping for thousands of years and aziraphale rejecting him and leaving for heaven means he'll no longer #have the person he devoted his existence to and he'll have to just make his way in the world without aziraphale which yes obviously #they've been doing but also they always knew aziraphale was somewhere in reach and now HE NO LONGER HAS THAT and his devotion will just rot #away in his chest or it'll choke him and the fact is she really thinks aziraphale just doesn't love her. bc they dont fucking communicate #and what crowley thought was aziraphale's way of saying he always wanted him when he was an angel more and not aziraphale in his eyes fm #finding a way for them to be together safely. like it's actually insane how much miscommunication is between them and i honestly dont know #what crowley will do next season and where he'll be emotionally #good omens #azicrow #good omens s2 #aziracrow #good omens season 2 #crowley #aziraphale #ineffable spouses #go s2

[hi-i-just]

Aziraphale has picked up a lot of hobbies and interests and knowledge throughout the years, he's pretty much a quilted patchwork of skills. He does a lot of things Angels don't really do like dance, bake, drive a car, draw etc. And he's got a skill for those things and Aziraphale is also interested in learning French despite being able to speak every language and magic despite being able to miracle the impossible, and he's terrible at them. In a weird way he's Bad at things he's Inherently Good at and he's Good at things he's not Inherently Good at. Like how he's supposed to be Inherently Good as an Angel but messes up a lot when it comes to it. Did I make sense

#Good omens #Aziraphale #Like I'd argue why Aziraphale struggles hard at learning French and magic bc he's already Naturally Capable of doing it #Like it's literally part of his make up. So he has to 'fight back' against that Inherentness while simultaneously #Learning those skills the hard way #So I just don't doubt he has to learn them twice as hard than he did w other skills #He really took into knowledge like duck to water #There's also the fact that Angels are supposed to be Inherently Good. But he messes up w that a lot too #Lile he makes a lot of mistakes. Stumbles through it like a newborn fawn w shaky legs #But he keeps getting back up and trying his hand at it again and again anyways. Even if he doesn't always get it right #I dont doubt that's why Crowley loves him for that #It's the fact that he tries anyway. That's waay more than what can be said on most angels #Go #Good omens spoilers #Go spoilers #Good omens 2 #Good omens meta

[cptnwynnieside]

hmmm.... hm...

yep. I'm gonna throw my self into the sea.

#like. okay we All knew that line was referring to Crowley. #but that desperate “I need you!” was absolutely the first time Aziraphale acknowledged that he felt that way about Crowley. #He feels like he knows nothing. All he understands is that he has an opportunity for things to be “like they were before.” #something he thought was simpler. Being an angel. Doing “good.” But this time he gets to have Crowley by his side. #Except he doesn't get that. He can't. Because Crowley doesn't want that. And that's completely understandable. #Aziraphale desperately needs him but he's not ready to give up heaven. He hasn't gotten past it. He's still stuck in that black and white. #And after thousands of years of abuse and brainwashing and religious trauma I can't blame him. #Even if he did make a mistake here. I understand where it came from. #this season ruined me #loved it though #good omens spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens 2 #good omens #aziraphale #crowley

[ingravinoveritas]

Hi

maybe I'm stupid, but could you explain what "i always wanted anthony" means? Is it a refference of some kind? Innuedno?

To me it means exactly what it says, but english isn't my 1st language...🤷🏻‍♂️

Hi there! You are not stupid at all, so please don't even think such a thing.

So for those who haven't seen it, this is referring to Michael's response to a tweet from this morning. Let's get the visual up first thing:

The screenshot in the OP is cut off because of Twitter's cropping, but the trivia question being asked was, "Who plays Crowley in Good Omens?" and there were four possible answer choices given, one of which was "Anthony."

It's interesting that you've asked me what this means, because already I've seen reference on Twitter to "creepy and delusional Michael/David shippers" reading too much into what Michael meant, despite the fact that this an incredibly ambiguous statement, and in all likelihood, Michael intended it to be that way.

But what did Michael mean, exactly? We know that "Anthony" is Crowley's human name in GO, so it seems to be an obvious reference to that. A lot of people in the comments appeared to think the same, as I saw numerous comments to the effect of, "Michael, did Aziraphale possess you and make you write this" and such. Yet when we look back at last week's Thin Dark Duke comment, it's equally as ambiguous, with Michael saying "it was me" in regard to the touching of Crowley/David's chest.

Did he mean it was him touching David, or Aziraphale touching Crowley? I still don't think we know for sure. Is "I always wanted Anthony" meant to refer to Aziraphale, or is it Michael referring to David? Both of these statements very acrobatically straddle that line between fiction and reality, character and actor, and Michael being who he is, I'm betting that is by design and extremely deliberate.

My personal interpretation (as "creepy" and "delusional" as some might see it, though I really don't give a damn what anyone thinks) is that this is another in a (very long line) of little ways Michael is telling us he wants/loves David. David in any iteration, any form--whether he's Crowley, Anthony, or just his lovely, gorgeous self. I don't think it's Michael speaking as Aziraphale because Michael doesn't need to speak as Aziraphale to make what he feels plain. If anything, this seems more like a continuation of what he has already been saying and feeling for the last four years.

So yes, those are my thoughts on "I always wanted Anthony." I will never tell anyone that their interpretation is incorrect, so it rather grates my cheese to have anti-RPF folks telling me I'm reading too much into it, especially when they turn around and do the same thing with the characters. We can each think what we want to think, and that's all that really matters. Whatever Michael means--and whether he was actually just trying to rile up the fandom yet again--we may never know for sure. I hope this helps to answer your question, though. Thanks for writing in! x

#electronic-chocolate #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #i think Michael has been telling us exactly who he is for a long time now #no way he doesn't know exactly what he is doing #Michael ships himself with David more than anyone else ever could #in and out of character #truth disguised as a joke #subtext that is rapidly becoming a text #thoughts #discourse