Good Omens 2 review: good first time!

Spoiler alert: if you haven’t seen the second season of Good Omens, this article inexorably incurs spoilers, for review purposes.

June 29, 2021 – Amazon Prime Video announced the second season of Good Omens, exactly one year and one month after the release of the first; today we will try to understand the meaning with an in-depth review. Even if the first time you went through the whole book of Neil Gaiman e Terry Pratchett “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch”, it was decided to bring a second season to the screens. The question we ask ourselves today is: did we need it? The answer is probably no.

Today we venture into the review of a product that is unique in itself, well made and faithful to the book. Good Omens stood out in scenography and in respect of Pratchett’s peculiar comedy, thanks also to some fabulous Tennant e Sheen. Let’s face it, we could have seen an entire episode where Aziraphale and Crowley went to buy ice cream, which would still have been fabulous. Biblical passages retraced in a comic key and with an ingenious reinterpretation of the situations, determined a suspense never seen before. We would have been happy with whatever ending was handed to us.

The problem lies in wanting more and more, in wanting to continue to please one’s fans; that’s where the real troubles always start. Mind you, Good Omens 2 is always on point in terms of technique and interpretations of characters who pierce the screen with immense charisma. What is missing is the plot, or at least a plot worthy of the first.

Good Omens 2: plot

Two years after the thwarted apocalypse, in Aziraphale’s library (Michael Sheen) Archangel Gabriel arrives (Jon Hamm) completely naked and with only a box in hand. Gabriele doesn’t remember anything, he doesn’t know who he is or where he comes from. Aziraphale e Crowley (David Tennant) but they know it well, so much so that the demon tries in vain to convince his friend to get rid of the archangel. What he gets, however, is only a negative response from the generous soul of Aziraphale. The two then perform a small miracle: they make Gabriele unrecognizable in the eyes of the two factions to try to understand what is really happening.

Good Omens 2: a lot of effort, but little substance

As we said above, let it be clear that in this review we want to define Good Omens 2 as a flowing product, always nice and fascinating. It is why that is not clear. The will of the fans? The will to continue drawing a world created by two brilliant friends, as well as the best comic pens of an entire generation? Years ago Gaiman and Pratchett had expressed the desire to create a film product for their novel, but the project did not continue. After Pratchett’s death in 2015, Gaiman then ruled out any possibility of continuing with the project. However, when a handwritten letter from his friend arrived, explicitly asking to do so, he decided to take up the idea again. Result: Good Omens part 1 and its inevitable success.

Conceived as a limited series, it had a more than conclusive and above all more than satisfactory ending. It is no coincidence that the confirmation of a sequel came only 2 years later. To then land on the screens another 2 years later. Good Omens 2 it is, as we said, a season that flows pleasantly. This thanks, as always, to a masterful David Tennant who brings back the demon Crowley, this time more mellowed but still rock and roll, and the generous angel Aziraphale rendered by an equally masterful Michael Sheen. On a technical level, nothing is missing: excellent photography, excellent screenplay (made under the signature of Gaiman), pleasant special effects (although cheap as always), as well as delicious and aseptic angelic settings as opposed to the disgusting abandoned infernal sheds.

How does the saying go? Lots of smoke and no roast, right! Unfortunately in some cases the second season of Good Omens mirrors this phrase. Not because it’s frivolous, we would never say that! More than anything for a conclusion that leaves us with a bitter taste in the mouth. All beautiful, both the platonic love story between Gabriel and Beelzebub (Shelley Conn), finally reconciled in the finale, and why not also the subplot on the love story between Nina and Maggie, except for the lack of big twists.

The problem lies in the inevitable comparison with the older brother. We go from having to avoid the apocalypse on earth, to a forgetful Archangel Gabriel in Aziraphale’s library. From an apocalyptic plot to one that always promises to do something and then ends simply with tarallucci and wine, with a lovely conversation between angels and demons. For all six episodes the plot makes us wait for something that isn’t there, it promises us an epic battle that doesn’t come, or at least not in the way we would like it to happen; basically we always wait for an epic plot twist that never comes. Gabriele’s secret seems to be something monumental, the little miracle of Edinburgh where in a Jukebox every song is transformed into “Everyday” by Buddy Holly and The Crickets, it is much more.

Good Omens 2: when Fanfiction makes a TV series

We want to be very short and concise. The final kiss between Crowley and Aziraphale was not to be. That was the result of many Fanfiction, written by teenagers in the throes of hormones, which spoke of love in the physical sense between the two friends. Our favorite angel and demon have known each other for millennia, and this season we also get to see how they first met, which sets the stage for Crowley’s fall into hell.

Both over the millennia, have learned to support each other, for better or for worse. They have overcome many obstacles, they have now become accustomed to the presence and sustenance of one and the other. Let’s say that one would not exist without the other. We are faced with a superior love, which has nothing to do with the human and carnal one. As in the novel from which the TV series is based, the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley is deliberately ambiguous, so much so that to the persevering questions of the fans about the relationship, Gaiman had always answered very clearly:

“Yes, the one between Aziraphale and Crowley is to all intents and purposes a love story, but we must consider that we are not dealing with two human males, but with two supernatural creatures who, by chance, have aesthetic traits that we traditionally attribute to men” .

It was therefore right to associate their relationship with the strongest love there is, but not to bind it to mere human love between two people or to the mere physical act deriving from it. After all though, at least this wants to leak out, we are all human beings, even if what created us is divine. We are always faced with a choice, and our instinct, love or whatever feeling is within us, will always be what guides us, whether we are mortal or immortal.

To conclude: Good Omens 2 is absolutely not to be advised against, we could also define it as a Buddy series that deepens this relationship deserving a full 7. Seven points for the reasons mentioned initially and for the perfect comic and scenic timing brought into the field by the two great protagonists. Three points less come from the plot, which never lead to failure. Albeit with difficulty, in fact, it manages to lay the foundations well for a decidedly more promising third season. We’re here now, we’ve seen a slightly weak second season yes, but we definitely deserve a third and don’t worry, because we at MovieBlog will be here with a new review of Good Omens.