Fans of Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett’s “Good Omens” have been shipping its two main characters ever since the religious comedy novel first hit shelves in 1990. Considering how the demon Crowley and the angel Aziraphale embody a divine enemies-to-lovers narrative arc in everything but explicit words, it wasn’t much of a stretch. What’s more, Gaiman not only agrees that the two leads are in love, he also encourages his fan base to write fan fiction about the pair. From creator to audience, it’s literally a match made in Heaven.
Except Gaiman also likes to tease, and Season 2 of Prime Video’s live-action adaptation of “Good Omens,” an adaptation that Gaiman himself is in charge of, intentionally subverts expectations. He knew what fans wanted and was delightfully prepared to not give it to them. Not yet anyway. In Season 2, Episode 6, Crowley (David Tennant) confesses his love for Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and kisses the angel. And instead of Aziraphale swooning into the demon’s arms, he recoils … and the pair, who were so close to solidifying the love Gaiman himself agrees they share, go their separate ways.
And, perhaps understandably, fans are losing their minds. It’s bad everywhere, but it’s especially bad on Tumblr, where Gaiman often directly interacts with his fan base.
Good Omens Season 2 breaks Crowley’s heart to save Aziraphale’s zealotry
Tumblr users @vantesa and @emily84 kept their observations brief and quippy, with the former sharing a meme of a mortified turtle to express their feelings about the ending and the latter saying, “Hey @neil-gaiman can you turn on your location real quick I just want to talk.” @damnedcrowley lamented the kiss, or rather they lamented Aziraphale’s reaction to Crowley’s kiss.
@church-of-lillith left with a different reason for her depression. “That nightingale line is seriously gonna haunt my dreams forever,” she said. “Absolutely devastating s*** whoever came up with that one. And then to have the Bentley start playing it? Ouch.” For clarity, both the 1990 novel and Season 1 reference the classic British song “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square” as part of their respective sendoffs for Aziraphale and Crowley. In Season 2, after Aziraphale rejects Crowley, the demon says, “Listen. Do you hear that? … No nightingales. You idiot. We could’ve been us.”
@cramopener took it another direction by diving into the implications of Aziraphale rejecting Crowley’s confession. “Aziraphale is basically saying … that he doesn’t love [Crowley] as he is, the demon that … has gone out of his way for Aziraphale time and time again … he wants the Crowley that is ‘good’ by default, uncomplicated and easy to love …” And they might not be wrong, here, because Aziraphale, with the Metatron’s (Derek Jacobi) permission, offers to reinstate Crowley as an angel. He explicitly states that there is no other end goal half as desirable and seems shocked when Crowley disagrees.
Did Aziraphale almost say I love you to Crowley?
Tumblr might be the loudest community to suffer from the fallout of Neil Gaiman’s emotionally gutting cliffhanger but it’s by no means the only online group deeply entrenched in his divine fantasy. Redditor u/Schroedingers_Dragon set the mood on r/neilgaiman by saying, “I bawled my eyes out. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for Az to [realize] his mistake and go back to Crowley. Like, it literally started so well … and for what? FOR WHAT?”
u/DriftingInLifesRiver took that devastation one step further by sharing how they screamed at their television because of Aziraphale’s willfully ignorant decisions. They hoped that the angel would come to his senses because that’s what Crowley was doing, too. “Crowley waited. HE WAITED,” they said. “That last bit of hope, that last bit of faith that Aziraphale would [realize] he’s making a mistake … and he watched Aziraphale walk away.” It’s true, the demon waits for his angel, even after he’s spurned by him. There’s a moment, just before the final credits roll, where Crowley stands outside of the bookshop and watches Aziraphale ascend to Heaven. It’s only then that he finally accepts his new reality.
On Twitter, @isolatedbug described the final few seconds, where the credits roll as both Crowley and Aziraphale leave their familiar lives behind, as “the most awfully devastating closing sequence in the history of television.” Perhaps the most shattering takeaway, however, comes from @ineffablefoxy, whose account is private. As shared by @TGoodomens, they believe that Aziraphale almost said “I love you” instead of “I forgive you.” She shared the necessary footage, too, and it does sound like the angel starts to utter a word beginning with the letter “L” before switching tact.
