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the-magician-kitten · 9 months

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GO Meta: On the subject of Payment

So there's a thing that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I first sat down to watch season 2 of Good Omens: Why does no one EVER pay for their bloody coffee?

This is a long one, and I'm not 100% certain yet where I'm going with it, but I needed to put it out there. What follows is everything I noticed, the two theories I have about it, a potential tie-in to @ariaste's existing meta, and a long list of evidence at the very end. Have fun!

On my third rewatch, I skipped through to all the coffee shop scenes and NO ONE EVER pays for their coffee. No one. At least not that we see. So I paid attention to all the scenes outside the coffee shop as well. Here is what I noticed:

No one in the present pays for ANYTHING in Season 2.

Maggie doesn't pay her rent.

Aziraphale doesn't pay for the records (and forgives Maggie the rent).

Aziraphale and Crowley don't pay for the coffee and cake. NO ONE is seen paying for their coffee.

We never see Crowley pay for the drinks in the pub and we don't see him pay for the bottle of red wine he takes from the French restaurant either (he might have paid when ordering, but that is rather uncommon when sitting down at a table in a restaurant - and we definitely didn't see it happen).

Crowley doesn't pay his bills and Hell refuses to pay them for him.

Aziraphale offers people books and then doesn't follow through (though Mr Arnold is seen taking the Dr Who Annual with him).

Mrs Sandwich has a sign on her door explicitly telling people not to pay a guy with blue glasses.

We never see the Metatron paying for the coffee.

(more of these in the Evidence section at the bottom)

I discussed this with my writing Discord group, who pointed out that Aziraphale and Crowley never really pay for anything. So I did what everyone else would do: I went through Seasons 1 and 2 and checked for everything that included money to prove them wrong. I watched all of Season 1 and looked for transactions and guess what? Aziraphale pays for grapes at the Globe, both Aziraphale and Crowley are said to be paying Shadwell annually, we see Crowley count out wads of cash for his heist crew in 1967. They even pay for ice cream during the body swap!

And it's not just them. Other characters pay for things as well. Agnes Nutter paid for her book to be stored and looked after and then had another gold coin included for Mr Baddicombe upon delivering it. Newt pays for Shadwell's tea and crisps. Madame Tracy's seance guests pay as well (we see them reaching for their pockets as she asks for donations). There's even a background character in Rome paying for his drinks at the tavern!

And yet in all of S2, there is not a single instance in the present where anyone pays anyone anything, despite there being PLENTY of opportunities.

In fact, all the payments happen in the past:

The entire Job story is all about payment for what you have done and we are told he will be paid back twice as much as he lost (see also my mini-meta about how we, the fandom, are Job).

Elspeth first fails to get any money for the soup body, then gets less than she was told she would get for Morag's body. And in the end, Crowley makes Aziraphale give her 90 guineas (an insane amount of money at the time).

We get a REALLY elaborate story with a weird focus on how Aziraphale and Crowley pay for the magic trick in the shop and Crowley pays 20 pounds more than the shopkeeper asked for.

I am drawing two (seemingly?) unrelated theories from this:

Theory 1:

If @ariaste is right in their meta and someone (Metatron?) is messing with the Book of Life, I propose the theory that this might be TWO someones: one person meddling with the past and one with the present. And the person meddling with the present is most likely an angel because THEY DO NOT KNOW MONEY EXISTS.

Why do I think that?

Because every transaction in the present time in Season 2 is based on barter or people simply don't pay (see list above). As for the barter: Aziraphale is bribing people by offering them some of his rare, precious books (to look at or borrow, in one case actually to TAKE, which we all know he would never do under normal circumstances) in exchange for them doing something he wants (come to the meeting). Beelzebub wants Crowley's help in finding Gabriel and offers him his job back and a promotion on top and then goes so far as to offer him whatever he wants. Metatron wants Aziraphale to take charge in Heaven and offers him forgiveness for Crowley (and a cup of coffee that may or may not have been spiked).

Angels are notorious for not knowing shit about Earth. So are demons, but they understand money because it's the root of all evil, as the saying goes. And they get Crowley's bills. But the angels don't engage with Earth and Humanity. They rarely come to Earth, and never stay for long. They don't have material objects. So if a high-ranking angel was messing with the Book of Life and editing things, I would assume that angel was last on Earth when humans were still bartering because money hadn't been invented yet.

I don't know why there would be different people messing with it, perhaps one person trying to undo the damage the other has caused, or two people splitting a task between them to be faster. Either way, something odd is going on here.

That is one theory. Granted, it's thin. Here is the other one:

Theory 2:

We already know Season 3 will be about the Second Coming, the Final Judgement. I propose that this will indeed be Humanity vs. Heaven and Hell, with Crowley and Aziraphale both ending up on the side of Humanity (eventually).

I believe this because, once again, the theme for all of Season 2 was PAYMENT.

It's all over the place. One of the first things we get to see is the note Maggie sent to Aziraphale, written on an invoice. Now, I subscribe to the Arwel Wyn Jones set design theory of "Anything visible on screen is meant to be looked at in a meaningful way". So – an invoice. Why not a notepad? Any random sheet of notepaper would have cost production NOTHING to procure. They probably had tons lying around. Hell, they could have bought an invoice notepad. But instead they went and mocked up an empty invoice. They even included the name of the record shop on it, so we know they didn't just go out and buy a random invoice notepad. That seems like a waste of time and money. And yet they did it.

So, based on this amount of effort, we already know payment is going to be an important theme this season. And then we got so very many scenes that are incredibly on the nose about how things aren't getting paid in the present: the rent, the coffee, Crowley's bills. Shax even tries to deliver some bills to Crowley as he evacuates the humans from the bookshop. We can clearly see the word "INVOICE" on one of the envelopes.

And, opposed to that, in the past, everything is getting haggled over and paid for.

In fact, in all of these three flashbacks, we can see them GROSSLY OVERPAYING. 90 guineas for Elspeth? Giving Job back his 3 real children, which are worth more to him and his wife than the ability to have 7 new ones? Crowley randomly paying an extra 20 pounds for the magic trick? It's VERY on the nose.

Actually, if we were keeping a running tally, we would notice that Crowley and Aziraphale have racked up quite a lot of credit over the years. And, notably, always with humans.

Where else have they given more than they got? How about in the beginning, when Aziraphale gave Adam and Eve the flaming sword? Or when Crowley gave them an apple and then worried that he had done the right thing by accident?

What I'm saying is that Crowley and Aziraphale have paid more than they owe.

And now it is time for the Second Coming, for Judgement Day, when you are judged based on your deeds. (Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrows but does not pay back.”)

So Season 3 will be Heaven and Hell versus all of Humanity, just as Crowley already predicted at the end of Season 1.

And, given where Season 2 left off, this will be a particularly interesting trial for Aziraphale, who will have to choose between Heaven on one side and Humanity (and Crowley) on the other. And in the end, they will be judged and found to have paid more than their dues - which means they are in for a great reward … perhaps even one worth more to them than twice as much as they used to have. And we, the audience, will also get back everything that was taken away from us and it will be restored to us just the way we love to see it (Crowley and Aziraphale together).

EVIDENCE (aka a write-up of all instances where we see someone pay, barter or NOT pay for something, sorted by episodes):

Payments in Season 1: S1E1: - Lunch date - Crowley says he owes Aziraphale one from Paris 1793, implying that Aziraphale paid that time. S1E2: - Shadwell makes Newt pay for his tea and crisps, takes his money and pays. - Crowley and Aziraphale discuss their operatives (i.e. Shadwell), whom they order to do stuff for them (such as look for the Antichrist). It is implied that these operatives are paid S1E3: - Rome: Crowley orders a drink, is told this costs two sesterces. We see him reach for his pocket for the money as Aziraphale approaches him. We see another patron pay in the background. - The Globe Theatre: Aziraphale buys some grapes, miracles a coin to pay. - London, 1967: Crowley pays his heist team with piles of cash. "100 now, 100 when the job's done, another 100 to keep schtumm." - Present time: We see Shadwell's pay ledger, listing all the money he's been getting from Aziraphale and Crowley over the years. - Crowley meets with Shadwell, assures him he'll pay 250 pounds in cash on Saturday, as always. - Aziraphale calls Shadwell, calls himself his sponsor (again implying payment). Shadwell thanks him for the extra 20 pounds for the "dead" member of the Witchfinder Army, says he'll be by to pick the annual dues next week. S1E4: - Madame Tracy hands Shadwell some cash for the train and a sandwich. - Shadwell goes to the bookshop to ask for his money. S1E5: - Madame Tracy asks for "donations", everyone reaches for their pockets. S1E6: - Sunday: Aziraphale and Crowley buy ice cream. We can see Aziraphale-as-Crowley hand money to the ice cream seller. - Past: Agnes makes sure the lawyer is paid a gold coin to look after the box and make sure it is delivered. - Present: Mr Baddicombe opens the crate and finds a florin inside along with a letter addressed to him. Payment and lack thereof in Season 2:

S2E1: - Maggie writes her letter to Aziraphale on an empty INVOICE, out of all the options in the world. Maggie has a really old till (not as old as Aziraphale's though) and at least two calculators lying next to it. Maggie has NOT paid the rent, Aziraphale does not pay for the records and calls them even. - Coffee shop: Crowley and Aziraphale order 1 cup with 6 espresso shots and some eccles cakes. They do not pay and take the cakes with them, put them on the table. - Maggie orders a coffee at Nina's shop, then Gabriel shows up and we never see her either get the coffee or pay for it. Inconclusive. - Evening: Maggie asks for tea at the shop - they get locked in, we later see her with the tea but no indication of whether she paid for it or not. Inconclusive.

S2E2: - The Dirty Donkey: Crowley orders Tallisker and a Sherry, we see him accepting the drinks in the background behind Aziraphale, but there are too many people to tell if he actually paid for them. - The whole story with Job is about payment (you get back twice that what you lost, payment for trusting in your god when things go bad for you)

S2E3: - Present - Mrs Sandwich gets her coffee and leaves. She's holding her wallet but we don't actually see her pay for her order. Past - Edinburgh: Elspeth mentions you can get good cash for a fresh body, seven or eight pounds. She only gets 5 pounds for Morag's body and then 90 Guineas from Aziraphale. Crowley gets pulled to hell - presumably being made to PAY for his good deed. - Present: Crowley threatens to start selling books unless Aziraphale changes the car back to black. Or he might even give them away for free. Aziraphale promptly speeds up. - Aziraphale doesn't buy any drinks at the pub or pay for anything else. The pub owner doesn't demand any money. This is weird, usually you're expected to buy something if you waste their time or use their facilities. He absolutely should have made Aziraphale buy a drink. - Aziraphale borrows a phone and then gives it back in much better state than it was in (again, overpaying, but not in money).

S2E4: - Shax makes a deal with Furfur (bartering) to help each other out. - Aziraphale offers Crowley something in return for saving him and the books. Crowley tells him to forget it - no deal is made. - The woman at the theatre putting on "Our Ladies of Camelot" says she paid Crowley for the alcohol and demands he delivers it, not just broken bottles. - Another deal: the zombie Nazis get to be free from Hell and Damnation if they find evidence that Crowley and Aziraphale are collaborating. - The Bullet Catcher costs 2.10 + 4.15 for the rifle (so 6.25 total). Aziraphale pays 7 pounds and five shillings (so he's already overpaying here). Crowley adds 20 pounds to it for no reason except to make the shopkeeper shut up.

S2E5: - Aziraphale bribes the shopkeepers to show up: Music shop guy - will get a Dr Who 1965 Annual - the only known proof copy. He will let him HAVE it. - Shax is trying to requisition demons, is haggled down to 70. - Magic shop, Aziraphale offers a first edition Expert at the Card Table book, signed, to LEND it to him. - Crowley takes the whole bottle of wine with him from the French restaurant. He hasn't paid. - Sign on Mrs Sandwich's door tells people NOT to pay the guy in the blue glasses, he doesn't work there. - Shax once again tries to deliver Crowley's mail. We can see an envelope that has "Invoice" printed on it. He still hasn't paid his bills (but also, what bills does he have?).

S2E6: - In the box Gabriel brought we see what looks like play scripts for "The Gold Diggers" and "Robin Hood", among others. Both are centered around money. - Gabriel pays for the drinks at the Pub. We clearly see him handing money to the pub owner. - We never see the Metatron or any of the other customers paying for the coffee.

Special thanks to @the-tomorrow-road, @ben-writes-stories, @stellucis and @carpenoctem-tharea for letting me rant about this at them and for throwing in helpful comments until all of this made sense in my head.

#good omens meta #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers

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