#THE BRAINS {bentley}

[the-apology-dance]

MY TWO BRAIN CELLS JUST STARTED WORKING AND I NEED TO SHARE THIS.

The Bentley is parked outside the coffee shop the ENTIRE TIME Aziraphale and the Metatron were having that conversation Crowley nor the audience heard.

BUT OH BOY THERE COULD A HINT IN PLAIN SIGHT.

THE BENTLEY.

An EXTENSION of the man himself, who didn't hear what Azi talked about. It is parked outside of the shop called “Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death.”

Aziraphale was GIVEN coffee by the Metatron.

But nobody ever asks for death. Right?

That's because it would be GIVEN to them. Without a choice.

What I am saying is one person would be given death unknowingly without asking for it.

Crowley.

Metatron was going to kill the one thing he held dear. His connection to Aziraphale.

That conversation most likely included a death threat towards Crowley.

I could be wrong but it seems Aziraphale is going to be made to think Crowley is dead. Just as Crowley believed Aziraphale was in Season 1.

So the book shop went up in flames and Crowley believed it was hellfire….

What could be the one thing that could scare Aziraphale? Crowley and Holy Water.

Where did we see that? Oh yeah.

IN THE BENTLEY.

Foreshadowing, perhaps? That Aziraphale will see what it feels like to lose Crowley via Holy Water inside something he knows he holds dear.

His Bentley.

Furthermore, if Crowley can FEEL what happens with The Bentley, does it know something Crowley doesn't? How would it get his attention? THE SONG IN THE CAR.

A reminder of Aziraphale. Trying to tell Crowley to go after him. Only until Crowley shuts off the radio.

Please let me know what you all think of the heartbreaking S3 theory…..i’m going to go cry now.

[ikarakie]

i’m seeing them… everywhere…

[goddess-of-silvers]

From first impressions one can immediately infer while watching season two that Maggie and Nina were stands in for Aziraphale and Crowley respectively because of their personalities. But, after rewatching I can’t help associating Maggie with Crowley and Nina with Aziraphale instead which doesn’t seem like the more obvious paring until you consider that Maggie runs a godforsaken Record Store, selling/using an outdated form of technology to listen to music *cough cough THE BENTLEY* while Nina is literally running a coffee shop, supplying people with food and sustenance *cough cough AZIRAPHALE*

[decadefox]

Theory that the reason a nightingale sang in Berkeley square played when Crowley got in the Bentley was a message from Aziraphale that it would be alright and to just give him time. Crowley May or may not have understood this, because he still looked ultra depressed driving off, but this would explain Aziraphales WEIRD ASS smile at the end of the credits.

[theonevoice]

Keys

Just thinking of these two ineffable idiots giving each other the literal keys to their respective living spaces this season: Crowley dramatically hands over the car keys to Aziraphale and Aziraphale leaves him with the bookshop keys which he later uses to lock Gabriel in when Shax shows up (something which I don't remember ever seeing in s1 - when they come back from their first Tadfield trip, with Agnes' book, the front door of the shop appears to be open - but is prominently shown in s2 ep1 after the coffee shop moment).

And given how everything in this show is intentional and carefully planned, this is like saying that they are as close as a vows exchange / unspoken almost-marriage as it gets (at least for them).

They were so, SO nearly there...

In conclusion, to hell with the Metatron, I hate him.

[camellcat]

dunno if it really fits them but the thought won't leave my brain so here's a doodle

[hermitbubble]

Hi ,yes, I've been thinking about this and I NEED to talk about it even if it may sound a bit dumb in some parts (my brain still isn't working properly ahah) :

I don't think the Metatron did anything to the coffee to manipulate him, which doesn’t mean he DID NOT manipulate him, just not necessarily with magic and miracles.

So i’m pretty sure we all noticed that the discussion between Aziraphale and the Metatron was weird, but I wanted to analyze it as much as I can.

SO... I do think the Metatron manipulated Aziraphale, and he did this by making him think he had a choice in the matter. This happens four times. The first time being,,, with the coffee, like I said I don't think he did something to the coffee (which doesn't mean I completely rule out the possibility) but I do think the coffee is rather some kind of metaphor or just, represent the Metatron manipulations. As far as we know Aziraphale drinks tea and hot cocoa, not coffee, yet the Metatron bring him coffee, something he doesn't want/like, tells him it’s for him, that he should drink it, he doesn’t outright force him, but it’s implied he wants him to do it.

The second time it happens is right after (well technically before AND after), when the Metatron tells Azi they have things to talk about. Aziraphale clearly says he doesn’t have anything to say, yet the Metatron doesn't hear him and right after the little coffee thing takes him to take a little stroll, to talk, he didn’t give Aziraphale the choice to refuse.

Third time is when the Metatron asks Aziraphale for recommendation for an archangel. Aziraphale does give some recommendations but in the end the Metatron doesn't hear it, and just tells him that he should be the one, once again, the choice was already made, he wanted Aziraphale to think he wasn’t being forced into this (i’ll come back to it later)

Fourth time is right at the end of their chat, when Metatron tells him that he doesn’t have to answer immediately and to take all the time he needs to think about this. Right after Aziraphale says “I dont know what to say” the Metatron tells him to go tell his friend the good news, about them becoming angel, even thought a few seconds earlier he had told Aziraphale he didn’t had to agree to it yet and that he could think about it before.

Now I also want to talk about the Metatron and Crowley, I think it’s very clear that the Metatron doesnt like Crowley (just see the look he gave him before leaving the bookshop) and its safe to assume that he knew Crowley wasn’t going to agree to any of this (see the “So predictable” line he says to Nina earlier), so why would he tells Aziraphale to tell Crowley the “good news”. First of all, because if he had just left with Aziraphale, Crowley would have most likely thought that Azi had been kidnapped again (not far from the truth tbh), OR if he had forced Aziraphale to be the supreme archangel Crowley would have known it too, and would have probably tried (and succeeded) to help Aziraphale (we know how much he loves saving him). The Metatron needed them to break up, he needed Crowley to think that everything was over, that Aziraphale had made his choice, and that he DIDNT need saving, AND he can’t have them together, because we saw how strong the miracle they made together was, who know what else they can accomplish together. SO on top of that, the Metatron needs Aziraphale, not bc of his capacity as a leader (which,,, he doesn’t really have honestly), but because he’s easy to manipulate, he still believes in heaven being good and he still believes he can fix it. They saw what happened with Gabriel, who gave up on heaven and armageddon 2.0 because of Beelzebub (which I DID NOT see coming lmao), and they can’t have that happen again

[totally-correct-shenanigans]

alright guys. it's that time of Major wants to Fuck Around.

[just-a-local-lunatic]

we're going insane tonight (aka thinking about my little characters)

[goodfemalecharacters]

currently listening to the other side of the door and thinking about the ineffable divorce

[hisfearlesshaz]

The Blues Brothers (1980) // Good Omens (2019)

Anyone? No? Okay :(

[sodascribbles]

watch as my sly 2 rewrite spirals OUT OF MY HANDS. what started out as just a thievius raccoonus recording of the events of chapters 4, 5, 6, and possibly 7 has spiralled into a full on rewrite of pOSSIBLY THE ENTIRE GAME. and the breaks between episodes...

for now my goal is to start at the beginning of episode 3 to at least ease into the canon divergence (and it is heavy on the canon divergence) which'll start after the rajan fight. ok technically itll be canon compliant until they bust Murray out, but itll be a little more heavy on the missed scenes or whateva?? im in the beginning process of this wip here bear w me

who wants some lore/ooc spoilers!! i have some

5 and 6 have both been made into 'solo missions' a la bentleys stuff in e4 w sly and Murray respectively bc im gay your honor

as of rn only 4 of the betweens have names

the post Predator Awakens, which went from The Jail Interlude -> The Bentley Interlude -> The Cotton Candy Interlude

the post jailbreak: The Sly Interlude -> The Cosmo & Wanda Interlude

the post Tangled Web: The Murray Interlude -> The Mike & Sulley Interlude

originally the interludes were gonna be the getaway of sorts of the last episodes, with the 'main' characters on their own and how they were dealing w the loss of the others

and then i realized i wanted to explore what was happening w the other two more and the duo interludes were born

i think the Cosmo & Wanda interlude will be the shortest and the Cotton Candy Interlude will probably be the longest. and the whumpiest wink wonk

i think my plan is to assign each 'episode' a song bc again, im gay your honor. as of now jailbreak's is angle by emma harner; anatomy for disaster's is one little slip by barenaked ladies, because i think that's hilarious

i thiiink the breaks will get the song of the episode that comes after it? so the cotton candy interlude would get a line from Angle and the epilogue would be something from one little slip. but that's very WIP dont take that at face value

[maddiemuu]

would love to actually name furry bernadette bernyadette. but i sort of want to give her siblings fursonas too and i can't come up with that many cat puns i don't think.

[ineffable-hyperfixation]

Istg (quite literally) the universe just loves fucking with me

So I got in my car and was like:

Aw ya know what I haven't listened to my Queen playlist in forever! I'mma put that on...I mean Good Ol Fashion Lover Boy's been stuck in my head for months now so might as well....I'm just gonna shuffle it, I don't care what comes up first *cue loading/blue screen in my brain because*

Seriously

[captainfantasticalright]

In 1985, one of the only persons interested in an interview with a “new” writer called Terry Pratchett, after his publication of the Colour of Magic, was one Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman was writing for Space Voyager at the time. "The Colour of Pratchett" was the name given here:

It ran exactly one page inside the June/July issue of that year. The interview took place in a Chinese restaurant in London.

Here is Neil many years later holding that issue. You can see it here if you want. Warning: extremely emotional video.

Neil arrived wearing a grey homburg hat. “Sort of like the ones Humphrey Bogart wears in movies” he later wrote. (Before saying that in fact he did not look like him, but like someone wearing a grown-up’s hat). Terry Pratchett, photo courtesy of one @neil-gaiman, was in a Lenin-style leather cap and a harlequin-patterned pullover. At this point, Terry was already a hat person, although not that hat.

Terry offered Neil this : "An interview needn't last more than 15 minutes. A good quote for the beginning, a good quote for the end, and the rest you make up back at the office"*. (Terry Pratchett had worked many years in journalism by this point ).

But the meeting went terribly well. The two of them realized they had "the same sort of brains". So well indeed, that in 1985, Neil had shown Terry a file containing 5282 words, exploring a scenario in which Richmal Crompton's William Brown had somehow become the Antichrist. Was a collaboration in the cards as of that moment? Not really. But Terry found in Neil someone to whom he could send disks of work in progress and to whom he could pick up the phone sometimes when he hit a brick in the road of his writing.

Terry loved it and the concept stayed in his mind. A couple of years later, he rang Neil to ask him if he had done any more work on it. Neil had been busy with The Sandman, he had not really given it another thought. Terry said, "Well I know what happens next, so either you sell me the idea or we can write it together". **

On collaborating together:

Here is a video of Sir Terry saying why he chose to collaborate with Neil, another video talking about the technical difficulties of writing a book when the two of them where miles apart ,and some pages from Interzone Magazine Issue 207 published December 2006:

An Interview with Sir Terry Pratchett and his works- and Neil Gaiman, where he shortly addresses the process of writing Good Omens.

Terry shortly mentions,

“Neil doesn't rule out another book with me and he was good to write with...yep, it could happen. With anyone else? I don't know, but probably not.?”

Neil says,

"Terry took that initial 5,000 words of mine and ran it through the computer (because I’d lost the files in a computer crash) and made it the first 10,000 words, and it was definitely Good Omens at that point. Neither one thing nor the other, but a third thing.”

"I think Terry could do a very good impersonation of me if he needed to, and I could do a very good impersonation of him; so we knew the area of the Venn diagram in which we were working. But mostly the book found its own voice very quickly. It helped that we were both scarred by the William books when we were kids...”

And as you know, unless you’ve been living in Alpha Centauri, the rest is history. That was the beginning of what would become William the Antichrist and later would get the name Good Omens:The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. (Title provided by Neil Gaiman and subtitle by Terry Pratchett).

More about the writing process:

Terry took the first 5,000 words and typed them into his word processor, and by the time he had finished they were the first 10,000 words. Terry had borrowed all the things about me that he thought were amusing, like my tendency back then to wear sunglasses even when it wasn't sunny, and given them, along with a vintage Bentley, to Crawleigh, who had now become Crowley. The Satanic Nurses were Satanic Nuns.

The book was under way.

We wrote the first draft in about nine weeks. Nine weeks of gloriously long phone calls, in which we would read each other what we'd written, and try to make the other one laugh. We'd plot, delightedly, and then hurry off the phone, determined to get to the next good bit before the other one could. We'd rewrite each other, footnote each other's pages, sometimes even footnote each other's footnotes. We would throw characters in, hand them off when we got stuck. We finished the book and decided we would only tell people a little about the writing process - we would tell them that Agnes Nutter was Terry's, and the Four Horsemen (and the Other Four Motorcyclists) were mine.

From the introduction to William the Antichrist:

“In the summer of 1987 several odd ideas came together: (..)I found myself imagining a book called William the Antichrist, in which a hapless demon was going to be responsible for swapping the wrong baby over, and the son of the US Ambassador would be completely undemonic, while William Brown would grow up to be the Antichrist, and the demon would need to stop him ending the world. The unfortunate demon, whom I called Crawleigh, because Crawley was a nearby town with an unfortunate name, would have to sort it all out as best he could.

It felt like a story with legs.

Terry took the 5,000 words, and rewrote them, calling me to tell me what he was doing and what he was planning to do. The biggest thing he was going to do, he told me, was split the hapless demon into two characters – a would-be-cool demon in dark glasses (which was, I think, Terry’s way of making fun of me, a never-actually- cool journalist in dark glasses) who had renamed himself Crowley, and a rare-book dealer and angel called Aziraphale, who would embody all the English awkwardness that either of us could conceive.”

William the Antichrist being a direct inspiration of the 1976 film The Omen. If the baby swap had just been a little bit messier and the kid had gone off somewhere else he would have grown up as somebody else. “And then there was a beat and I thought, I should write it, it will be called William the Antichrist” says Neil. ***

“The first draft of Good Omens was a William-book. It was absolutely in every way it could be a William book. It had Violet Elizabeth Bott, it had William and the Outlaws, it had Mr. Brown”.

Over time they realized that they would have more creative freedom if they in their own words filed off the serial numbers. William and the Outlaws becoming Adam and the Them.

But the spirit of Just William was never far away.

The joy for Neil was to construct “perfectly William sentences”. The one when Anathema tells Adam that she has lost the Book, and he tells her that he has written a book about a pirate who became a famous detective and it is 8 pages long… that’s “a William sentence”.

If you want to read more details about William The Antichrist, here are some slides I made.

Good Omens was also inspired by a particularly antisemitic moment in The Jew of Malta and John le Carre's spy novels. (Neil’s ask)

 Then I was reading The Jew of Malta by Kit Marlowe, and it has a bit where the three (cartoonishly evil) Jews compare notes on all the well-poisoning and suchlike they’d done that day, and as a Jew who never quite gets his act together, it occurred to me that if I were the third Jew I’d just be apologizing for having failed to poison a well… And suddenly I had the opening of a book. It would be called William the Antichrist. And it would begin with three Demons in a graveyard… (x).

“When we finished the book we estimated that the words were 60% Terry’s and 40% mine, and the plot, such as it was, was entirely ours.” -Neil Gaiman

"Neil and I had known each other since early 1985. Doing it was our idea, not a publisher's deal." "I think this is an honest account of the process of writing Good Omens. It was fairly easy to keep track of because of the way we sent discs to one another, and because I was Keeper of the Official Master Copy I can say that I wrote a bit over two thirds of Good Omens. However, we were on the phone to each other every day, at least once. If you have an idea during a brainstorming session with another guy, whose idea is it? One guy goes and writes 2,000 words after thirty minutes on the phone, what exactly is the process that's happening? I did most of the physical writing because: 1) I had to. Neil had to keep Sandman going -- I could take time off from the DW; 2) One person has to be overall editor, and do all the stitching and filling and slicing and, as I've said before, it was me by agreement -- if it had been a graphic novel, it would have been Neil taking the chair for exactly the same reasons it was me for a novel; 3) I'm a selfish bastard and tried to write ahead to get to the good bits before Neil. Initially, I did most of Adam and the Them and Neil did most of the Four Horsemen, and everything else kind of got done by whoever -- by the end, large sections were being done by a composite creature called Terryandneil, whoever was actually hitting the keys. By agreement, I am allowed to say that Agnes Nutter, her life and death, was completely and utterly mine. And Neil proudly claims responsibility for the maggots. Neil's had a major influence on the opening scenes, me on the ending. In the end, it was this book done by two guys, who shared the money equally and did it for fun and wouldn't do it again for a big clock." "Yes, the maggot reversal was by me, with a gun to Neil's head (although he understood the reasons, it's just that he likes maggots). There couldn't be blood on Adam's hands, even blood spilled by third parties. No-one should die because he was alive." -("Terry Pratchett : His World”)

(Here are some slides of mine where I go into some other details concerning the origins of Good Omens).

Another wonderful insight with Rob Wilkins in "The Worlds of Terry Pratchett".

*Quote: from Terry Pratchett A Life With Footnotes by Rob Wilkins, but said by Terry of course.

** All the quotes, facts listed here : see above.

***all other quotes by Neil Gaiman from various interviews and asks I’ll link.

[neil-gaiman]

dear mr. gaiman,

first of all i’d like to say how i loved s2 and how it doesn’t leave my brain for the last two days. but one question that really bothers me — why there weren’t many Queen songs included? thank you for good old-fashioned lover boy, of corse, but does it mean crowley bought new discs and they haven’t transformed in Best of Queen yet or does Bentley has a change of preferences? thank you in advance <3

p.s.: hope that love of my life or crazy little thing called love are planned to appear in s3

No, it means we didn't see Crowley driving the Bentley a lot. We saw Aziraphale driving the Bentley, but his musical relationship with the Bentley is uniquely his own.