#neil gaiman you mad genius

[flameraven]

Pride and Prejudice

Y'all.

Y'ALL! My friend pointed this out and now I can't unsee it. It's Pride and Prejudice. S2 is just Pride and Prejudice. Aziraphale is Darcy. He confesses his feelings by telling Elizabeth "I love you, despite the fact that your family is terrible and you're totally beneath me, but I'm willing to overlook that and elevate you to my position and we can live together in this perfect fantasy world (that I control.)" Crowley is Elizabeth. Who rightfully responds to Darcy's confession by saying "WOW, you are such an arrogant asshole, really?? You think you know everything and you're that much better than me, but you'll deign to marry me anyway?? Get out of here." BUT. BUT. THEY ARE BOTH WRONG and are blinded by their existing prejudices. Darcy goes back and he acknowledges Elizabeth's points, and he corrects his mistakes. He realizes he was being an arrogant asshole, he makes amends, and then he comes back and apologizes and says "I still love you, will you still have me?" And Elizabeth realizes that she was wrong too, Darcy WAS arrogant but he does genuinely care, and she was letting her preconceptions of him blind her to his true intentions. And she apologizes too, and they get their happy ending. That is the plot. That is S2. Aziraphale makes his confession and he tells Crowley, I love you and I need you (despite you being a demon and inherently less than me), but come with me and I'll restore you to being an angel, we can be happy together in literal Heaven. I was so, so angry at Aziraphale when he pulls the "I forgive you" line after the kiss-- it's such a condescending thing to say. Crowley has made himself open and vulnerable in a way we've never seen before, but he's also telling Aziraphale no, he won't go to Heaven, and Aziraphale responds with "I forgive you" (for being a demon who just isn't Good enough to understand my perfect vision). And Crowley is (rightfully) pissed off at Aziraphale's arrogance here, as well as angry that Aziraphale has misjudged him so badly. He doesn't want to be in Heaven. He just wants to be together, and how dare Aziraphale think he can only be good enough if he's an angel again?? But we're still only in Act 2. They have Act 3 to figure it out, and to realize they misjudged each other, and to forgive each other. And the next time, instead of one or the other doing the silly Apology Dance, they'll both do it. And get their happy ending.