#tl;dr give Aziraphale a little more credit!

[joycrispy]

I have a tiny sequel to my bigass Biblical GO meta that I meant to write and then thought, "meh, I probably don't need to wax poetic about that" but actually I think I just might.

[bebop-station]

Shostakovich and Aziraphale

I was thinking (and talking to @balance-of-probability endlessly) about the choice to have Shostakovich's fifth symphony feature so heavily in S2 ep 1, and how it struck me as a little odd as there are a bunch of composers Aziraphale loves mentioned in the book and Shostakovich isn't amongst them.

Backstory: In 1934, Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtensk premiered to huge popular acclaim, which was very briskly walked back in 1936 after the Stalinist newspaper Pravda published an article denouncing it.

Actually more than denouncing it, condemning it. It wasn’t credited but was authored by a guy called David Zaslavsky who was almost definitely scribing for Stalin himself. Lady Macbeth was banned in the USSR until 1961.

Anyway by 1936 Shostakovich had written his fourth symphony, which he withdrew from public performance until 1961 because it was more of the same thing that had made the Soviet leadership cancel Lady Macbeth – it was unconventional, anti-patriotic, and indicated that Shostakovich was a “bourgeois formalist”.

So he shelved it and started working on Symphony No. 5 which is, on the surface at least, Soviet as fuck. And that’s what we hear Aziraphale listening to in S2E1.

(Sidebar this story is told in Julian Barnes’ The Noise of Time which is either a literary wank soup or a masterpiece depending on how cranky you are when you first read it)

So basically what Dmitri Shostakovich did in those years between the fourth and fifth symphonies was something that might be familiar to S2E6 enjoyers/agonisers: he decided to toe the party line.

Kind of.

Listening to the finale of the fifth symphony (and if you want to listen along it’s the recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic, it’ll be called something like Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47; iv. Allegro non troppo) without the context of the rest of the symphony or in fact Shostakovich’s life is like ah yes that’s a bit of a Soviet battle anthem let’s march into Leningrad or whatever.

But it is, as critics have increasingly understood in the years since Shostakovich demurely described it as “a Soviet artist's no-nonsense response to fair criticism”, dripping with irony. This man reviled the Stalinist line on art and life – he takes the Soviet anthem and turns it into a sort of fucked up evil clown march. The whole thing gives me this vibe:

(gif from @goodomensedit)

There’s a lot of stuff about that time in Shostakovich’s life that is extremely hard to verify. There’s a “memoir” which is for sure at least partially fabricated called Testimony in which there’s an alleged quote from our man saying that final movement is a parody, that “it's as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, "Your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing", and you rise, shaky, and go marching off, muttering, "Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing"."

Whether or not Shostakovich said that (some of his friends who outlived him support that reading, including Rostropovich who conducted a bunch of his work) you can definitely hear it in the piece and you can definitely see how it gives us a clue into the decision Aziraphale makes at the end of the season.

What Shostakovich had to decide back in the 1930s was whether he would a) flee to somewhere like the US, where many other artists targeted by Stalin went; b) stay and become a public nuisance, leading almost definitely to an off-the-books execution; or c) become a party-approved Soviet Artist and hope for change. Even nudge it along in a subtle way. Even get on the inside and work to bring it down. We don’t know how true that was for old mate Dmitri and we don’t yet know exactly what Aziraphale has planned. But yeah:

tl;dr: Shostakovich 🤝 Aziraphale

          Staying inside a rancid and destructive militarised culture in the hope that it can change

[blkholeinfinity]

All of Us vs. All of Them, Post-Canon Headcanon

So at the end, Crowley posited that the next Armageddon will be “all of us against all of them”: all of Heaven and Hell against all of humanity. I think 90% of the fandom agrees that Aziraphale and Crowley will be siding with humanity, with the 10% torn between the two of them somehow rejoining the side of the celestials or running off to the stars to avoid losing each other to the war. This headcanon will be supposing that they stay and fight on behalf of humanity... but also that they won’t be the only celestials to do so.

I can’t find the original post(s) talking about the Earth surveillance team of angels who took the photos of Aziraphale and Crowley hanging out, but I like what the OP theorized: that this team of angels shipped them and so purposely hid the evidence from the Archangels/never reported it. (If someone could link me that post, please let me know so I can give the OP the proper credit; I saw the post only last night but this fandom moves too fast for me, Crowley.) I also like to think that they were unhappy with how Heaven was being run, but being angels, weren’t inclined to rebel, because look what happened the last time.

While I believe that one of the big reasons why Aziraphale never Fell and will never Fall is because God is fond of him/approves of what he’s doing (link to my own headcanon post about Her Ineffable Plan), I’m inclined to also believe that these angels never reporting his activities is another factor, too. They look up to him, in their own way, but they’re too scared to do or say anything beyond this tiny rebellion that they’re hoping that “incompetence” or “look, we’ve got a lot of work to do, so sorry that this didn’t ring any alarms for us, we don’t know what all the demons look like, there was something Bigger and More Important going on at the time anyway, etc.” will be a sufficient enough defense.

But after the failed Apocalypse, they get braver. It takes decades, perhaps centuries, or perhaps the last second before Heaven and Hell make their move against humans, but this team of angels will join the side of humanity with Aziraphale and Crowley. And they might be able to convince a handful of others to do so, too.

However, the first person to join their ranks will be one Disposable Demon, or Bunny Demon, or Eric. Let’s call him Eric, shall we? This is based off of this headcanon by @ineffably-in-love, who made wonderful observations and headcanons based off the little screentime he gets in the show. I like to think that he looks up to Crowley even before the failed Apocalypse, but kept it under wraps because demons aren’t supposed to care about one another, not even look up to each other. They aren’t supposed to even trust each other. But Eric (a name he chose for himself, inspired by Crowley choosing his own name) wishes he could be like Crowley, but with his own style. Because this demon certainly has his own style.

So some time after Armageddon, be it weeks/months/years, it’s Eric who seeks out Crowley, defying Hell, not only because he admires Crowley but because he feels like no demon will get him like the Serpent does. There’s a steep learning curve since while loves and appreciate human culture in the same way that Crowley and Aziraphale do, he hasn’t learned to love humanity itself yet, but don’t worry, once Crowley and Aziraphale learn that they can trust him, that he’s not part of some trap or scheme laid by Hell in retaliation, they get him there.

Because really, that’s the other thing, isn’t it? It’s one thing for these angels and Eric to want to join Aziraphale and Crowley’s side, it’s another thing for Aziraphale and Crowley to trust them. I imagine that they’ll get there - eventually - but it’ll take quite a bit of time and a LOT of convincing considering everything that went down. I also like to think that they use these angels and demon(s) before they become friends with them, too: for information about what Heaven and Hell are up to (since they probably wouldn’t openly defect, not at first), and with plans in place in case it is a trap. Eventually, they learn to trust them almost (but not quite) as they do each other, but it’s a process. The angels understand, and while Eric doesn’t 100% get it, he’s nothing if not optimistically persistent.

Also, another reason Aziraphale and Crowley would resist these new followers is because a) they don’t believe they’re equipped to handle leadership responsibilities and b) they don’t want to assume any leadership responsibilities. They just want to live their lives. But over the course of the next few decades/centuries, as the next War grows closer, they reluctantly fall into the roles - and they discover that they aren’t half bad at it, actually. But they still don’t necessarily like it and will actively avoid it until and unless they have no choice but to do so.

Eric won’t be the only demon, of course; other demons would join too, either because Eric is keeping an ear to the ground to find others who might sympathize, or because Eric wasn’t the only one. Same with the team of surveillance angels. But they’re careful about who they actually recruit to the cause - but in the end, at the Final Battle For Real This Time, everyone’s true colors will show. Angels and demons no one ever thought would join up on the side of humanity will, and maybe there was a traitor in the midst of humanity’s side all along. And maybe some humans join up with the side of Heaven and/or Hell because they were coerced into it, or because they legit hate humanity or they think of themselves as Better, etc.

So maybe “all of us vs. all of them” isn’t so much “all of Heaven and Hell against all of humanity” but “all of God’s creations against each other.”

Tl;dr - Aziraphale and Crowley caused a bigger revolution against Heaven and Hell than they realize, and they won’t be alone in the Next Big One.

[vaguely-concerned]

SO I DID GET TO SEE GOOD OMENS AND TL;DR IT WAS EXCELLENT, I AM EUPHORIC

more thoughts and spoilers under the cut!

the FUCK YEEEEEEEAAAAAHs:

- mr gaiman you did it you made it even gayer I never even believed it was possible what is this 6000 years pining slowburn nonsense 

*ahem* to be more serious about it I loved that the show takes the emotional throughlines from the book and somehow both heightens and deepens them. 

- it really is phenomenally faithful to the book and the stuff it adds is mostly a m a z i n g. it kept me perfectly engaged despite me knowing what like 75% of the dialogue was going to be

- david tennant doesn’t quite go for the same energy as how I imagine crowley in the book -- in my head he’s more... idk how to explain it but the vibe is more someone grinning a bright fixed ‘this is totally my suave face’ grin while clearly continually going ‘oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck’ internally haha, to me he’s slightly less... mercurial? trying to play his cards closer to the chest? but you know what show!crowley is fucking hilarious too and I do like what they’ve done with him being less of an optimist at the core and more enjoying the world through his connection with aziraphale -- the sense of underlying loneliness you get in some places in the book has really been dialed up, he just wants a friend :( (which incidentally seems to be part of the reason he fe -- sauntered vaguely downwards too; he mostly wanted to hang out with someone, and today he still doesn’t really fit in with either the angels or the demons) 

- I can’t believe they managed to capture the feeling of ‘Under the ash and soot that flaked his face, he looked very tired, and very pale, and very scared’ on screen; it’s one of the moments of the book that really stuck with me and it worked so well here too, especially since the fallout of the situation stays with him longer

- this version of aziraphale is just. so lovely. so so good, literal precious angel who almost got his head cut off for crepes, I totally see why crowley persevered through the ages and his own intimacy issues, good call my friend. thank you michael sheen, every time this character showed up on screen I was filled with joy and delight

- I’m completely undone by how incredibly mutual their friendship is in this -- despite crowley being the more active in asking for connection it’s obvious all the way through how much aziraphale genuinely adores him and enjoys his company (even though he knows he shouldn’t and so continually needs to give himself some plausible deniability)

when aziraphale’s voice breaks as he’s like ‘don’t go’ after they’ve argued in the park and he’s just tried to pretend they’re not even friends? hahahahahahaha ouch my fucking heart

- sister mary loquacious was the most endearing thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life, give that actress all the roles she’s got the charisma of the gods

- “not only a southern pansy, sergeant -- the southern pansy” got through and it was glorious (ditto shadwell’s naming schemes, I for sure thought that wouldn’t be mentioned but it’s so incredibly funny)

- crowley repeatedly and openly just... begging aziraphale to go off to the stars with him what the fick-freckedy-fuck

- Of the horsemen Pollution was my absolute fave (so cool and unsettling and nonbinary rep!!!!!!! also they feel like the youngest horseman in such a deep way, every credit to the actress that was great) and I really enjoyed the twist on Famine, making him seem more intense and hungry himself as part of his nature as opposed to in the book where he’s basically like... diet vetinari lol

- G A B R I E L  he was so perfectly awful... absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever he’s just a piece of shit all the way through and John Hamm was clearly having the time of his life with it and I too was living 

- crowley crying in the bar because he lost his best friend and there’s no point to even try to run away anymore if he’s alone, he’s just waiting for the end of the world ;____________________________________________________; what an addition, such a thoughtful way to steer his character arc, wonderful, spectacular

in the book it’s more about him finding his way through the fear and desperation and having lost everything back to his core ‘actually... fuck this there’s no situation I can’t snake my way out of let’s goooooooooo’ self, which is admittedly really cool and satisfying, but it feels like a shallower thing than finally reaching a point where he can no longer pretend he doesn’t care or doesn’t want things. (also... the way his will to live reignites the moment aziraphale needs him fjskadlfhaskdhfksldhfslkahdf “I’ll come find you” INDEED fjksdafhsdlfhsdalfh) 

- also a nice tiny change: the implication that reason he can drive the bentley through the flames is that he loves that car so fucking much, he’s invested so much of himself and his emotions in it over many years, like a sort of microcosm of how he feels about the actual world (and specifically humanity’s presence in it) that produced it

- the child actors were uniformly precious, and the kid who played adam got me right in the feelings. the sort of comedic sociopathy of kids thing going on in the book is downplayed, which means I was feeling all the more protective of this sweet sweet kid who just loves his dog and his friends and fjsdfklasjkh

- *sigh* my embarrassing crush on david tennant has been lying dormant these last few years, simply waiting for its chance to rise from the depths like a kraken yet again, and I am slightly unsettled that what really made it surface this time was him dressed up as evil Mary Poppins + the bathing suit, socks included. ah well the heart uh wants what it wants I guess 

- crowley is awfully quick to suggest child murder for someone who’s blatantly not willing to harm a hair on a kid’s head himself lawl the two of them just juggling the ‘but maybe you could like... quickly murder him so we could avoid all this???’ ball back and forth before madame tracy finally knocks some sense into them 

- the actress for madame tracy did such an amazing job that I literally forgot aziraphale wasn’t actually possessing her, ART

- fellas... is it gay to blow up a bunch of nazis for your ~*best friend*~ and save his books while actualfax romantic music swells in the background... asking for a friend 

- “anywhere you want to go” :):):):) oh no

- to be Sad at you for a second here... why the fuck did aziraphale immediately assume crowley wanted the holy water to use it on himself? is there like. a story here we don’t know. is this the fallout of going to check wtf the spanish inquisition was all about. I’m almost afraid to ask

- to be even Sadder: that ‘For Terry’ made me cry and I’m not ashamed to admit it

the awwww... okay I guess you can’t have EVERYTHINGs:

- the scene where crowley and aziraphale get wasted together after the antichrist is delivered is not quite as funny as it is in my head, but then I don’t think anything in the physical world could be as funny as the way I imagine them just like somberly leaning over the table at each other with little regard for personal space and drunkenly expounding on dolphins, so I’ll forgive it

- CGI satan was completely unnecessary and not even very well designed *shrug emoji* the whole point of that scene is that we never get to see him, just the mounting dread as he’s getting closer, and then the wordless reveal of who Adam considers to be his dad and that’s all that matters and even the devil is powerless against it... loved the ~*godfathers*~ giving a little literal angel/devil on my shoulder pep talk, tho, that was incredibly sweet

- ...the maggots huh neil. couldn’t leave them out huh. what a world it would be if we didn’t get to see a bunch of people get eaten by a writhing roomful of maggots huh. 

- ETA: actually one more: I refuse to accept this version of DEATH, hashtag not my reaper