Good Omens Review
Sep. 25th, 2023 11:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFinished watching Good Omens S2 last night. And now, I understand all the mixed reviews that I'd seen of it online.
Character-wise the story works. The plot, eh, it kind of caters too much to romantic "ships" for its own good, and as a result commits some of the same errors that fanfic often does, or is very fanficcy (no offense to the fanfic writers on my correspondence list - yours may be fine).
Gaiman is not the best plotter on the planet. He's much better at world-building, theme and quirky characters. But his plots tend to meander and don't make a lot of sense. One does not read or watch Gaiman for the plotting.
This plot made none whatsoever.
The plot was basically Gabriel loses his memory and ends up on Arizaphale's doorstep. No one knows why. Heaven and Hell are hunting for Gabriel.
Arizaphal performs a miracle that makes Gabriel invisible to Heaven and Hell. They can look directly at him, he can tell them he is Gabriel and they won't believe him. Meanwhile, Arizaphale wants to perform another miracle to convince Heaven that he wasn't performing one to hide Gabriel.
So there has to be one to happen spontaneously - such as the local coffee owner, and the local record shop owner falling in love and spontaneously kissing. Crowly just wants to figure out why Gabriel is with them and get rid of the problem. (Of the two, Crowly is the brighter and less egotistical. Arizaphale gets on my nerves - he's dumb and has a savior complex. Gaiman has basically subverted the trope and made Crowly the more heroic of the two characters, and the more invested in a relationship and less egotistical.)
Anyhow, there's quite a few farcial moments plus a lot of flashbacks, that kind of explain where Crowly and Arizaphale's relationship is headed. From get-go, Arizaphale's need to "do good" and be "honorable" and basically his "savior" complex is going to doom it. Crowly questions everything, even Arizaphale.
It's Crowly who figures out what is happening and why Gabriel is there.
Turns out Gabriel and Beezlebub were more or less doing the same thing that Crowly and Arizaphale were. And had grown tired of waging war on each other - and just wanted to fly off into their own happily ever after.
Crowly wants that for him and Arizaphale, but alas, the PTB in the guise of Metrotone (Derek Jacobi - who is apparently still alive and acting) has other plans. Metrotone gives Arizaphale a deal that he can't refuse. Become the head-honcho, and better yet, appoint Crowly as his second in command - raising Crowly back to Angel status.
Shame Arizaphale hadn't thought to check it out with Crowly first.
Meanwhile, Crowly is getting up the nerve to tell Arizphale how he feels about him.
And well when they meet up, things go down pretty much as you'd expect.
They part ways, and neither are happy about it.
Arizaphale is kind of dumb, which is why he was appointed to Gabriel's position.
So basically we have three love relationships in the story, and only two have a happy ending or potential one. Maggie and Nina, and Gabriel and Beezlebub. Mainly because neither wants power, and they both want the same things. Crowly and Arizaphale are kind of at cross purposes, or at different levels. Arizphale still sees things as very black and white. Crowley sees the grays.
With the exception of the plot, and the fact that some of the flashbacks kind of drug, it was enjoyable. I'm not sure why they felt the need for the flashbacks - unless it was to get across that over a millenium, Arizaphale was still a goody-two-shoes dingbat. (In which case? One would have been more than enough - we kind of already know that.) Albeit an amusing and seemingly innocent one. Crowly keeps saving Arizaphale from his own stupidity.
I'd say it was a fun bit of fluff. The banter is fun. And there's some fun farcical moments in there with the demons and angels. But other than that? Fell kind of flat.
Character-wise the story works. The plot, eh, it kind of caters too much to romantic "ships" for its own good, and as a result commits some of the same errors that fanfic often does, or is very fanficcy (no offense to the fanfic writers on my correspondence list - yours may be fine).
Gaiman is not the best plotter on the planet. He's much better at world-building, theme and quirky characters. But his plots tend to meander and don't make a lot of sense. One does not read or watch Gaiman for the plotting.
This plot made none whatsoever.
The plot was basically Gabriel loses his memory and ends up on Arizaphale's doorstep. No one knows why. Heaven and Hell are hunting for Gabriel.
Arizaphal performs a miracle that makes Gabriel invisible to Heaven and Hell. They can look directly at him, he can tell them he is Gabriel and they won't believe him. Meanwhile, Arizaphale wants to perform another miracle to convince Heaven that he wasn't performing one to hide Gabriel.
So there has to be one to happen spontaneously - such as the local coffee owner, and the local record shop owner falling in love and spontaneously kissing. Crowly just wants to figure out why Gabriel is with them and get rid of the problem. (Of the two, Crowly is the brighter and less egotistical. Arizaphale gets on my nerves - he's dumb and has a savior complex. Gaiman has basically subverted the trope and made Crowly the more heroic of the two characters, and the more invested in a relationship and less egotistical.)
Anyhow, there's quite a few farcial moments plus a lot of flashbacks, that kind of explain where Crowly and Arizaphale's relationship is headed. From get-go, Arizaphale's need to "do good" and be "honorable" and basically his "savior" complex is going to doom it. Crowly questions everything, even Arizaphale.
It's Crowly who figures out what is happening and why Gabriel is there.
Turns out Gabriel and Beezlebub were more or less doing the same thing that Crowly and Arizaphale were. And had grown tired of waging war on each other - and just wanted to fly off into their own happily ever after.
Crowly wants that for him and Arizaphale, but alas, the PTB in the guise of Metrotone (Derek Jacobi - who is apparently still alive and acting) has other plans. Metrotone gives Arizaphale a deal that he can't refuse. Become the head-honcho, and better yet, appoint Crowly as his second in command - raising Crowly back to Angel status.
Shame Arizaphale hadn't thought to check it out with Crowly first.
Meanwhile, Crowly is getting up the nerve to tell Arizphale how he feels about him.
And well when they meet up, things go down pretty much as you'd expect.
They part ways, and neither are happy about it.
Arizaphale is kind of dumb, which is why he was appointed to Gabriel's position.
So basically we have three love relationships in the story, and only two have a happy ending or potential one. Maggie and Nina, and Gabriel and Beezlebub. Mainly because neither wants power, and they both want the same things. Crowly and Arizaphale are kind of at cross purposes, or at different levels. Arizphale still sees things as very black and white. Crowley sees the grays.
With the exception of the plot, and the fact that some of the flashbacks kind of drug, it was enjoyable. I'm not sure why they felt the need for the flashbacks - unless it was to get across that over a millenium, Arizaphale was still a goody-two-shoes dingbat. (In which case? One would have been more than enough - we kind of already know that.) Albeit an amusing and seemingly innocent one. Crowly keeps saving Arizaphale from his own stupidity.
I'd say it was a fun bit of fluff. The banter is fun. And there's some fun farcical moments in there with the demons and angels. But other than that? Fell kind of flat.