#the magic trick theory

[ariaste]

Added an addendum to the “The Magic Trick You Didn’t See" google document; just to save you time from having to go open up the whole document again, I’ll put the addition under the cut here as well:

Addendum:

Goddammit I knew I should have looked up the Shostakovich symphony. Thank you to the person who emailed me to tell me to look it up.

From Wikipedia:

“The Symphony quotes Shostakovich's song Vozrozhdenije (Op. 46 No. 1, composed in 1936–37), most notably in the last movement; the song is a setting of a poem by Alexander Pushkin (find text and a translation here) that deals with the matter of rebirth. This song is by some considered to be a vital clue to the interpretation and understanding of the whole symphony.”

The poem by Pushkin:

An artist-barbarian with his lazy brush Blackens the painting of a genius And senselessly he covers it with His own illegitimate drawing.

But with the passing years, the alien colours Fall off like threadbare scales; The creation of the genius emerges before us in its former beauty

Thus vanish the illusions From my tormented soul And in it appear visions Of original and innocent times.

(Translation from Russian by Tom Kennedy)

WELP........ don’t know what to do with that. ok.

[mxstixdraws]

So I read @ariaste 's fantastic Magic Trick Theory about Good Omens 2 and now I'm fully down the theory rabbit hole. I've been doing a rewatch and I wanted to share a few things I noticed that seem to relate to the theory.

Re: Maggie being a character inserted by the Metatron

In Episode 2, one of the texts Nina gets from Lindsay says: "I AM A REAL PERSON. I MATTER. WHY DON'T YOU CARE?" The "real person" is emphasized with a double underline and it is one of the texts we see next to Maggie. It also strikes me as a very weird thing for Lindsay to say.

Re: The Job Flashback looking fake

In the opening bit where Crowley is about to zap the goats, it seems like the clouds in the scene remain static for the whole scene, like a matte painting backdrop. Here are a couple full screenshots, one from the beginning of the scene were Crowley is alone with the goats and another where Aziraphale and Crowley are both there and Crowley is throwing the fireballs at the goats.

Zooming in:

The camera position and/or field of view has changed a bit, so the second image has a bit more of squashed look and the lighting is different (presumably due to the giant fireball), but the cloud shapes don't appear to have changed.

We don't return to this sky backdrop, so I can't say for sure that it's not just an extremely still scene or that Aziraphale and Crowley's conversation is too short for the clouds to move.

On an unrelated note, you can see some of the goats-turned-crows flying away behind Crowley after they get fireball-blasted. Nice touch.

[this-cult-of-dionysus]

I’ve just read The Magic Trick You Didn’t See (Good Omens theory—highly suggest a read, it’s incredible)

Holy hell. A million thanks to @ariaste for that gorgeous discourse. It made me emotional! An *essay* made me *emotional* — I’m still in awe.

Anyway, it inspired me to do a (slightly conspiratorial) rewatch. I’ve hit pause so many times already, and I’m not even past the episode one intro 💀

However I happened to notice something in the intro that made me even more sure that The Magic Trick really is onto something. The whole idea is that Neil’s been 1) pulling a “disappearing trick” throughout season two—leading us away from the truth and ultimate “payoff” via distraction and 2) hiding things in plain sight. You know what that sounds like? A red herring. And what do I find in the intro? A whole bucket of ‘em. Quite literally.

I truly believe that everything in this show—especially the intro, as beautiful as it is—is done for a reason. The attention to detail thus far has been insane (much like myself, at present), and I don’t see why that wouldn’t continue into season two. If the Magic Trick—or a similar theory—turns out to be true, you’d best believe the crew’s left clues all over the place. And I’d call this a Clue with a capital C.

[pipariperho]

So how comes Maggie's shop is not getting any buyers?

[heretherebegaydragons]

One of the best parts of Bildad the Shuhite in the Magic Trick You Didn't See theory is that Metatron just had to make Crowley less hot. Like, Aziraphale is not gonna stop thirsting if all his memories of his husband look Like That, so let's just give him a silly beard

[codeword-art]

So as I'm jumping back and forth between two fandoms right now, I wanna sort of put this out here before I explode. This is a reference to the Good Omens "Essay Theory" by Ariaste (I'm not directly linking them, as I dont want to bother them. They've discussed wanting to take a break from theorizing.) However, here is the link to said theory: https://docs.google.com/document/d/193IXS11XN46lziHRb6eUpM17yK0BQkRqke1Wh64A_e0/edit?usp=drivesdk

Now, we just recently got the released behind the scenes footage and images of season 2. One of them immediately caught my eye.

This is a sort of collaged concept photo for Aziraphale's halo, which reminded me of something.

This scene in the Job episode. At first I thought this oval shaped thing was a portal that Aziraphale was stepping out of, but it's clearly not. He does just randomly manifest on the cliff, but as he recognizes Crowley, this spikey aura fades off, then returns when he goes back to avaunting Crowley. It wouldnt return if it was just a portal up to the cliffside. It looks like a simplified version of the concept halo. You can even see where some of the spikes make an arch around Aziraphale's head in particular, then another layer trails down the silhouette of his body.

The concept is entirely different then what we see in episode 6.

Which is a much simpler and stereotypical angels halo, that seeimgly comes out of nowhere. Its not previously referenced at all, as the theory suggests. Also why would Aziraphale effortlessly be able to summon this golden spiked aura but not be able to pull his halo out without a struggle? Its a bomb isnt it? You'd think an angel would need to quickly get ahold of such a weapon in a battle scenario.

So its either a matter of the spikey aura being its own thing, which in that scene is the only time we see at all. If it is, what is it then? Just some sort angelic light meant to ward off demons or look intimidating? Why didn't he use it against Shax if thats the case? I think its Aziraphale's real halo, and the one we see in the finale episode is some made up version that someone wants us to believe is Aziraphale's halo.

My only hesitance with this thought is, wouldn't Metatron know what an angels halo looks like? Unless he is something different than an angel, so he may not be aware of even his own people's characteristics (which let's be honest wouldn't be surprising).

Either way, if you believe in this theory or not, the images are still quite interesting regardless, and I think are worth discussing. At least a little bit.

[rijl]

I wrote a lil response to the Good Omens "Magic Trick Theory." If you're interested in that theory and the answers to some of the questions it poses, or you just enjoy learning more about the religious references in Good Omens like I do, check it out.

[right-across-the-moonlit-hall]

Rewatching 2nd season of Good Omens in light of a certain Theory.

Still can't get over the fact that one of the zombies gets a ring from the magic shop that's similar to the one Furfur gave him, puts it on his other hand, and the ring proceeds to be of no significance whatsoever.

I was fully expecting to see a mixup/fake-out involving the two rings, and i get an enormous dopamine crash from the fact it hasn't happened like that in the story.

But what... But what if it actually did 🤔 if a certain someone was indeed manipulating Zira's recollections 🤔 now, i don't have the brain power to figure out the alternative/true version of events. Or why the fake-out would be at all necessary to the story.

Just my wishful thinking 😔 so unsatisfying to me, the setup-no-payoff thing

[abastardworthknowing]

Hey guys

What if whoever is editing the book of life (the metatron or not) had convinced everyone it was Aziraphale and Crowley's magic that did it...

When they were actually pooling from Gabriel's power as an archangel..? This is probably not a new discovery, but I personally just put two and two together

Although I'd love for it to be because of the Power Of Love but to add to the drama it would be funny/interesting

[thesefuckinggaypirates]

So, I've had a little time to process Good Omens S2 and I'm so grateful for the lovely dissertation by @ariaste because it helped me organize my thoughts a little better. Much of my own document of ramblings matched up perfectly with theirs, though I am not as skilled a magician ;) So it was indeed just unconnected thoughts and stray question marks.

When I watched S2, I was horribly ill and I wasn't sure if I was reading things wrong. Every time something unusual or horrible happened, I just turned to my partner and said "I trust Neil". But honestly, so very little of the entire season felt like truth to me. Even Ineffable bureaucracy becoming canon so quickly doesn't feel real. Is it possible that Metatron was practicing/doing research for his big Ineffable husbands fanfic? I'm going to have a re-watch when I feel better and perhaps organize my own pin board with red string.

Also, Has Neil addressed the casting change for beelzebub? Because if Crowley's memory hasn't been tampered with as much, him noticing the new face and then everyone reassuring that they've had that face for a while...

[azfellandco]

The real reason I like that Magic Trick Theory so much is because in the four years since s1 I read Homestuck for the first time.

[mxstixdraws]

I was rewatching Episode 4 and I realized that there IS a tiny payoff for the joke ring that looks like Furfur's summoning ring. The zombies outside pantomime to the in-shop zombie to summon Furfur. But when he twists the ring, he twists the wrong ring and gets ink splattered in his face. This happens about 24 minutes in, I included a couple of screenshots below.

So, the ring setup is paid off in the same scene. It feels kind of meh compared to if the payoff was later during the bullet catch trick on stage.

[pipariperho]

Did you notice when Aziraphale goes to invite the shopkeepers to the ball he has a list of them all in an alphabetical order, and he visits them in that order. Now speaking as a lazy person that it's not how I would be going on with it and I am willing to bet most people wouldn't do it either. The French restaurant is right by Arnold's but Aziraphale goes there after inviting like 5 other shopkeepers first. He has a list and he marks everyone off of it when he has invited them, so there's no need to go jumping from place to place like that. Also why even use a list, just walk down the street one side and up the other and visit the places in that order.

[currymanganese]

GUYS, I CAN'T ACTUALLY BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS, BUT WHAT IF THEY ACTUALLY HAD A GOOD REASON FOR JOHN CENA BEING CAST AS SAMMY FAK?

please bear with me (pun intended) and let me know what you think of my speculation under the cut~

In a mind-boggling case of a seemingly big-lipped alligator moment in season 3 - John Cena appears in a bizarrely over the top (even by the tonal comedic standards set previously by The Bear e.g. Ecto Cooler punch at a kid's birthday party getting spiked with Xanax in Season One) and jarring scene that stretches on and on as he obnoxiously squabbles, blathers and exchanges nonsensical rapid-fire quips with his brothers Neil and Ted Fak as they buff polish The Bear's dining area before a food photographer from The Chicago Tribune arrives to take a photo for a review of The Bear.

In this scene, he also intimidates and threatens to 'haunt' (in a Fak family tradition ( that even the Faks find annoying) - that involves pranking and being an unrestrained nuisance to their loved ones especially when they least expect it) his brother Ted for, "stealing his SD cards"......

This scene and the increased screen presence of the seemingly plot-irrelevant Faks this season is currently being eviscerated by plenty of fans and critics alike.

Edit:

I now strongly suspect that John Cena's role was always in the works ever since S1

..................................

But what if there's a (debatable, but) really good reason for this scene and the increased involvement in Seasons 2 and 3 of the massive numbered siblings family of Carmy's pseudo cousins, the Faks?

See Exhibit A:

In season 2, episode 3, Sundae - after Carmy has already asked Sydney out to Kasama, a husband and wife owned restaurant run by Tim Flores, and Genie Kwon*, ostensibly just to brainstorm and gain inspiration for planning for the new menu, and after Sydney has already gone home and freshened up and changed her clothes, then arrived to Kasama early, despite the meeting only being scheduled for an hour after she last spoke to Carmy at his apartment, Claire calls and interrupts the whole hypothetical shebang with Syd and Carmy at Kasama (the Tagalog WORD FOR TOGETHER) with the words,

"Did you mean to give me a fake number? You do know that I know your entire family [translation: she must know Donna too and Claire assumes that Carmy's folks approve of her - and she's proven to be technically right throughout Seasons 2 and 3 ], right? And I know ALL the Faks! [translation: tee hee! they're bigger than you - to quote Neil and Ted with their Uncle, "We Faks do have a particular shape, don't we?😇" - and they outnumber you, you scrawny punk, slay!😉✨]"

Claire then proceeds to playfully threaten to have said "massive numbered siblings" Faks, which includes Sammy Fak, played by John Cena (a professional wrestler, from an industry that is mixes both bawdy over the top theatre, a performance art that values Kayfabe (legerdemain/slight of hand anyone?) and comedy, and an athletic discipline) that is TALL. BUILT. HENCH. AND BUFF AF.....Claire 'playfully' threatens to have THESE FAKS, beat up Carmy, who is short in stature and cannot fight well from all the previous physical confrontations we've seen him be involved in, despite supposedly being a former high-school wrestler, and who has already been seriously physically abused thrice in the series run thus far (not counting him play fighting or trying to fight with Richie) after being JUMPED by a GROUP of assailants, not once, but TWICE in season one, by the Ballbreaker nerds in the pilot, and the Bachelor Party attendees in the season finale (the first season started and ended with Carmy being beaten tf up, Holy Shit! 🤯); AND AFTER BEING SLAPPED IN THE FACE IN SEASON 2 BY HIS OWN MOTHER, DONNA.

Notice the way Carmy goes from being lost in his thoughts but being completely relaxed after his menu planning session with Sydney, and in anticipation of seeing her on their would be inspiration seeking meet-up (definitely not a date, no Sir! 👀) at Kasama, to being tense and jittery and apprehensive when Claire calls him (after going behind his back and getting his number from Fak).

Notice the way Carmy's voice shakes when he asks Claire if she really knows all of the Faks.....

Notice Carmy's defeated and annoyed reaction after he hangs up the phone.

No wonder Carmy is being so avoidant and conflict averse in his handling of Claire in both Season Two and Three, he has absolutely no faith in himself or his loved ones at present to defend himself should he assert the type of boundaries he may have been desiring to have with them for these past two seasons, after all - who can he count on to fully have his back even to the point of physically intervening for him if he gets into a scrape or is genuinely attacked, by the Faks on account of Claire taking offense at or misrepresenting his words and actions to them, e.g. Claire apparently twisting Carmy's self loathing stream of consciousness confession (that she eavesdropped on) and telling Tiff that they broke up because Carmy said that "Claire will ruin everything good for him?" while he was trapped in the fridge?

What if Carmy knows he has to rip the band-aid and call Claire and apologize for his part in the superficiality and disintegration of their dalliance, but is afraid to do so because he knows in so doing, if he is being fully honest with himself and with Claire, he never truly wanted to be with her in the first place?

And who knows how Claire will take that revelation - it probably won't be pretty will it?

And.....

to quote Neil Fak,

"Claire's the best."

"We love Claire."

"I did that." [setting Carmy and Claire up in Pop)

And.....

Claire. knows. all. the. Faks.....

TL;DR

They cast John Cena as Sammy Fak, and the Faks had a lot of screen-time this season because they are the physical manifestation of being haunted in their family's sense of the word:

and a satirical visualization of Carmy's desire for Syd being cock-blocked ; plus Claire is a Love-able Alpha Bitch, and Carmy is ambivalent towards her, and even a little scared to face her, because her henchmen are the Faks!

If you enjoyed this post, then thank you for reading and I'd recommend that you check out the following meta on the way Christopher Storer and Company have seemingly (and controversially) committed to sticking to the bit of lying to the audience and breaking the fourth wall throughout this entire season:

Richie and the viewer - by @whenmemorydies with my add-on in the reblogs about Richie, not Carmy, potentially being Christopher Storer's author avatar in this series (from a post originally written before season 3 premiered.

Fourth Wall being broken - by @brokenwinebox and @thoughtfulchaos773

Claire being a possible representation of addiction, being a habit that is hard to kick - by @thoughtfulchaos773 and my and @devisrina 's add-on speculating that Claire may also be meant to be interpreted or revealed as a bit of a mean girl, to reference TVTropes, she (and by extension Season 3) may be a deconstruction/ mashup /send-up / subversion of the: Girl Next Door, the Cute Bookworm, Nerds Are Sexy, MPDG, Yandere, Alpha Bitch, Loveable Apha Bitch, Childhood Friend Romance, High-School Sweethearts, Sickeningly Sweethearts, Getting Crap Past The Radar, Freeze Frame Bonus, Parental Bonus, Viewers Are Geniuses, Give Geeks A Chance, Even Nerds Have Standards, Beauty Equals Goodness, Face-Heel Turn, Cerebus Syndrome tropes etc.....and a subtler mirror version of Donna Berzatto.

Edit: See my reblog add on to @espumado 's thread on the recurrent 'haunting' theme this season and the possibility of the Claire x Carmy x Sydney love triangle being a Lilith x Adam x Eve allegory, and my webweaving about Syd x Carmy's Adam and Eve parallels. sidenote: Lilith is Adam's first wife apocryphally and in Jewish mysticism that left him, and became a she-demon / mother of demons after being impregnated by the archangel Samael - wait is 'Sammy' Fak a Samael allegory?!!

and another reblog add-on of mine to the thread linked above - on The Faks as the living embodiment of all that is fake in Carmy's life, C Storer's handy dandy tools for slight of hand,

you can't spell fake without FAK.

and please see

Clairecarmy as Ann Veal x GOB from Arrested Development

and with Richie's frustrated refrain of, "Who cares?!" whenever Claire and Claire and Carmy's breakup is brought up in 3 -

see the running gag of George Michael Bluth's (from Arrested Development) family's disdain for Ann and his relationship with her.

5. The parallels between The Bear and Burnt by @ambeauty - a post Season 2 post which was proven to be prescient and insightful given the Easter Egg inclusion of Bradley Cooper's character from Burnt on the photo wall of chefs at Ever in the Funeral dinner in the finale.

6. The parallels between The Bear and Boiling Point - a gritty film and mini-series set in a restaurant which features several plot elements and characters reminiscent of certain character archetypes and subplots present in The Bear - seriously think of this IP as The Bear's cynical, dramatic, older British cousin.

Decision to leave by @anderwater

This anon that recommended Boiling Point to me and wrote about its connections to The Bear.

The difference between The Bear and Boiling Point by @theblvckvenus

The similarities between The Bear and Boiling Point in this reblog add-on to @happylikeasadsong et. al's thread.

7. Claire/Carmy and the Walk In - my old post on the parallels between Strange Days (1995), Can't Hardly Wait (1998, and The Bear.

and @ambeauty 's meta on Claire as a representation of the fridge

8. My post on the possible connection between The Bear Season 3 and Andrei Tarkovsky's experimental, semi-autobiographical, psychological Oedipal drama film The Mirror (1975) - a film which was incredibly divisive upon its initial release, but has since gained wide acclaim and re-evaluation as a masterpiece, and that has had a legacy of subsequently inspiring multiple renowned filmmakers.

9. The Bear series' lead actress, and the director of Napkins, one of the only episodes of The Bear Season 3 to receive almost universal acclaim - Ayo Edebiri's trollish sense of humour and assertion that lying is the pinnacle of comedy.

10. And last but certainly not least with the inclusion of a Genie Kwon*'s, of Kasama fame, cameo in the season finale and the prominence of Kasama being key to Syd and Carmy's stymied relationship progression, courtesy Claire, see

The Kasama of it all by @gingerylangylang1979

@mod-doodles @lunasink @vacationship @chansoooo1-blog

@bioloyg @msmoiraine @nerdyblerd @ripley-stark @uncriticalbunny @prowitchazel @msmoiraine @mswyrr @anxietycroissant @turbulenthandholding @tvfantic87 @laryssamedeirss @tejidaepoque @angelica4equity @inalltheirgorgeouscolors @houseofevangelista @glitterslag

@uncriticalbunny @imliterallyjustablackgirl

@bioloyg and @ambeauty please don't say I told you so or welcome back, I'm flabbergasted that I wrote this, but I want to believe! 😭

P.S. If you're still reading this, do yourself a favour and read @brokenwinebox 's post

New Paradigm

and this follow up

Mocktail is a dirty word

and check out her #the magic trick tag!

and also check out these Sydcarmy and Rosalind x Orlando from Shakespeare's As You Like It parallels:

The Bear as a pastoral comedy

First Meetings

Fumbling with your crush

Separation, keepsakes and lovesickness

and also C Storer really did tell us in the music that this season would inspire

Mixed Emotions 🥴

[ineffable-aurelia]

I am convinced this is further proof of the Magic Trick Theory. (Summary: None of these flashbacks are real, or are twisted versions from the Metatron already messing with the Book of Life.) 

Things wrong with this:

- Why is there a well-lit theater in the middle of a bombing night? Blackouts were city wide, it didn’t matter where in the city you were. All outside lights, all windows, EVERYTHING was blacked out so planes wouldn’t know where to drop the bombs in the dark

- This is a show-girl theater for GI’s. Why the hell are there nuns backstage? Why the hell are there, specifically, Tadfield Satanic Nuns backstage? Why are they playing table tennis backstage at a show-girl theater? 

It literally DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE. And we know Neil is an insanely good and detailed storyteller. So, the only explanation is that it doesn’t make sense ON PURPOSE.  

I've just noticed a nun playing table tennis in the background, as Aziraphale and Crowley enter the theatre. It must be a Tuesday then !

[beebopboom]

yknow just watching the title sequence as you do and i might be a little late on this but…

that is not the magic trick we see

it has similar elements of trust and high stakes as the bullet catch but this wheel of death trick is performed by three people

(how the trick is performed here)

now why would they would they show an act performed by three people in a show about our iconic duo

i mean especially when one person is hidden away from everybody but also has to be in perfect sync with the knife thrower - while that person is performing a slight of hand

i just wanted to point this out (if it hasn’t already been) and the rest of this is just a few of the immediate ideas i had and might come back to expand on so take it with a grain of salt

so one it be a nod to what happens in the back room with Furfur - Aziraphale performing the slight of hand with the photograph, Furfur in the middle of them (on the target), Crowley in the back

or it could be a hint at a future magic trick they will have to perform with Aziraphale in Heaven and Crowley wherever he is - not able to see each other but perfectly in sync

edit: this has sparked a full on meta post here