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humbledragon669 · 20 days ago

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S2E1 - The Arrival Write Up P7 - the Present Day from Crowley’s departure from the bookshop to his return to it

Let’s see if we can plough through this next section to take us up to the Apology Dance, shall we? Because that seems like a pretty decent place to place a marker and hopefully finish up the episode from there.

There are some minor points I want to pick up on in the scene depicting Crowley’s departure from Soho, largely around this line of script:

CROWLEY: Just breathe, that’s what humans do. Then they count to ten before they do anything stupid.

Perhaps he just says this because it’s something that he’s learned about humans during his time on Earth, but I find this one interesting because it surfaces the possibility that he consciously engages in actions that would make him more humanlike. We saw quite a bit of symbolism in the first season to suggest that his non-physical assets (morals, ethics, emotions, etc.) were more closely aligned with human values, but I don’t think that was a conscious decision on his behalf. The soundtrack gives us some extra layering here in the reflexive growls emanating from the demon, which are distinctly not humanlike, but clearly not something he’s really able to control. And talking of doing things that are not in his control, his anger is having quite the effect on the area around him – check out the sky in the background here:

The whole sky (which, prior to his entry into the bookshop, was clear and bright blue) is filled with rolling, red-tinted clouds. The light in the whole street has darkened and developed that same red tinge. This is quite the tantrum! I do love the fact that he’s so furious he can’t even perform the act that’s supposed to be calming him down (counting) but seems to feel the need to include a token element of his attempted actions by simply screaming the goal number as he reigns unholy fire into the street. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry after an argument with a friend that I feel like I could have invoked this atmospheric change. My husband on the other hand…

Possible Easter egg in this scene – the music playing in the coffee shop as Maggie and Nina watch Crowley smoking outside has reverted to Bohemian Rhapsody. Here are the lyrics that would be playing (in the non-instrumental version) as Crowley summons his fury storm:

I see a little silhouetto of a man Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me

Sorry, did I say possible Easter egg? Who am I kidding?!

One last musing on this scene: is it really possible that Aziraphale missed everything that was going on outside here? Yes, he was in the back room as Crowley stormed out, but I can’t help but think that he would have felt something was amiss.

I don’t think I have much to say subtext- or hidden meaning-wise about the scene in Heaven, but here are a couple of little titbits of information that are dropped into the dialogue that are perhaps worth noting:

There are no plans to replace the Supreme Archangel as far as Michael is concerned at this point in time.

The position of Supreme Archangel is always supposed to be filled.

The formal stance at this point is that Gabriel is “absent” from Heaven.

Muriel’s position is a 37th order scrivener (or no-one as they term it, which is a little bit heartbreaking).

Muriel appears to be incapable or unable to say the word “Earth”, choosing instead to say “down”. It is not clear whether this is because they don’t want to say the word, is afraid to use it, or if their understanding is that it shouldn’t be used around higher-order angels.

Returning to something I touched on in an earlier write up, we’re introduced to another tartan-wearing angel in Saraqael. Her tartan touches are subtler (and of a different pattern) than Muriel’s, but evident nonetheless.

The matchbox has been identified as a “material object”, which apparently is impossible in Heaven, and the angels are all clearly uncomfortable with its presence.

I had pondered about how we distinguish between the matchbox being a material object and the other apparent material objects in this scene (Muriel’s files or Saraqael’s chair for instance. Or all of their clothes…), but Uriel later refers to it as an “earthly object”, which might explain that one (the matchbox being the only one of those items that originated on Earth).

There is one question that screams out in my mind when we see Crowley returning to his car, and it’s this: where has he been since storming out of the bookshop? It’s full dark in this supposed back street of Edinburgh London (it must be London, you can see The Shard and The Gherkin all lit up in the background 😉), but when he left Soho, it was full daylight. And when I think about it, he left Soho walking down the road away from the Bentley, which you can see was still parked outside the coffee shop here:

All of which means he must have returned to Soho at some point, if for no other reason than to pick up the Bentley (which would have been in full view of the bookshop for Aziraphale to see that he was or wasn’t still in the area). And yet, when we see him enter this scene, he hasn’t just arrived at his little parking spot because at the beginning of the shot we see him approaching the car. It’s probably nothing, just convenience of stage directions to get him from one place to another, but it just makes me wonder. Wherever he’s been, it’s clear he’s not angry anymore:

He just looks exhausted and sad, bless his little cotton socks. What we can also see here is that there is a fly already on the car windshield as he gets into the Bentley. Not only that, the plants in the rear seat appear to be trembling ever so slightly. It says a lot to me that he doesn’t pick up on either of these things, because if he had, he might have known that Beelzebub was already waiting for him to return. And she makes an interesting observation almost immediately in this next scene – Crowley can try to invoke their so-called “generalised understanding” as much as he wants, but it’s in her power to renege on it at any time she chooses. It makes me wonder why it is that she hasn’t done so already, or why Heaven haven’t done something similar to Aziraphale, but ultimately I’m of a mind that they just thought their existences were better off without a wayward angel and/or demon in them.

We had some subtextual reminders of the winged forms of both Aziraphale and Crowley in the bookshop scene previously, but this scene has a similar subtle reminder of how Crowley is perceived in Hell – as a demon.

Just like with the coffee shop music earlier in the episode, I can’t believe that this prop and this camera angle are coincidental. Nor do I believe that Crowley’s repositioning of himself is anything short of a deliberate attempt to disassociate himself from that image.

I just want to make a quick note about an odd little facial expression we see from Crowley immediately after Beelzebub says Gabriel has gone missing.

It happens pretty quickly, so the gif has been slowed down. I’ve seen some theories arguing that this is potentially Crowley catching a fly and storing it in his cheek, which in fairness has a lovely symmetry with the bullet catch trick. I don’t think I buy that theory for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I can’t see or hear a fly/the cessation of a buzzing fly that would tie in with one being secreted somewhere. Given that every time a fly has been a Clue in this episode up to now, its presence has been marked by a buzzing in the soundtrack, so that wouldn’t be in keeping. Secondly, for Crowley to do this would require him to know that one of Beelzebub’s flies can be used to keep memories in, something which I don’t think we get any hint of. For my money, I think this is just a tic – he’s reacting to something that’s been said that makes him nervous, anxious even (that woman screaming in the background probably doesn’t help). I know, I know - my interpretation is a lot more mundane and less interesting, sorry! I just didn’t want that little moment to go by unmentioned. With all of that said, there are a couple of other interesting facial expressions we see whilst Beelzebub is making her pleas:

I’m still of the mind that these are nervous tics, but please feel free to try and convince me otherwise 😊

I have just a couple more things to say about this scene, but they’re all fairly minor:

Crowley looks away when Beelzebub tells him he can name his price. It feels odd to me that he does this – perhaps this is just a subconscious way of saying that what he wants more than anything at this point is to get out of Hell?

The sound of the woman screaming in the background seems very deliberate in its timing to me. It usually kicks in just after Beelzebub has delivered some sort of blow about how terrible the situation is with Gabriel’s disappearance, so it makes me feel like this might be an aural representation of Crowley emotional state of mind at those points.

Beelzebub initially asks Crowley to help “us” (i.e. Hell) to find Gabriel, but changes to the first person singular when she doesn’t get what she wants – it’s a pretty obvious Freudian slip out of desperation.

The situation with Gabriel is referred to by Beelzebub as “this affair”. Lovely little word trick at play there.

Beelzebub finishes their discussion with an insistence that Crowley go to her specifically (not Hell, or another demonic officer of Hell) before anybody else if he hears anything.

Here is where we have our first reference to the Book of Life, and how it features into the storyline. On my scant Googling, I learnt that this is an actual tenet of Christianity. Interestingly (again, SCANT research – apologies if this is incorrect and/of causes offence to anyone) it contains the names of people who have put their faith in Jesus, so I think we could put a tick against Aziraphale’s name on that count. More interesting than that though is that, according to the scripture, Jesus himself made a promise that names already in the Book of Life would never be able to be fully removed from it. Blotted out, yes, but not fully erased. And so, we have a couple of options to consider here: either the GO Book of Life performs a different function than that written in Christian scripture, or somebody in Heaven is trying to undo Jesus’s promise (and the fact that Beelzebub uses this as a threat to Crowley suggests that she, and Heaven, know a lot more about what’s going on than they’re making out). I think it’s probably the former – it certainly won’t be the first time in the show that the finer details of the plot take a slightly different path to the real-life templates that they’re based on. Insofar as how this new development relates to our plot, I think it’s interesting to see that Crowley, who clearly has heard of the Book of Life before, believes this be a big bluff, and I actually don’t think Beelzebub is convinced of her own reply that it’s a real thing. What I don’t think we can argue with is the panic on Crowley’s face when he realises the consequences that could be in store for Aziraphale (and the demon himself) if they continue to help Gabriel.

I don’t know what’s going on with the character setup for Nina and Maggie – does anybody else feel like we’re really not given a lot of opportunity to like them? I’ve been pretty vocal about my initial feelings about Nina, which is definitely not helped by this scene, where she clearly judges Maggie for her life choice not to drink, disses her record store (again) and criticises her partner for what seems like a very sensible attitude towards someone they care about (asking for an update when she’s going to be late). OK, I know this last one turns out to be a bit more complicated, but at this point in the storyline, that’s not something we, the audience, have knowledge of. So yeah, I found plenty more opportunity to culture my dislike Nina in this scene. I also found a couple of odd little things that start to skew my assessment of Maggie though, and I’m not OK with that. For instance, what’s with that sickly sweet condescending tone when she tells Nina there’s “no judgement” for her having a tiny cup of wine? It’s almost holier-than-thou. And did she leave the door to her record shop not only unlocked, but also wide open? I mean, WTAF? I know Whickber Street is portrayed as a little sanctuary for its residents, but this is still central London. Nobody would do that. So all of that to say (once again) that I find the character set up for these guys… what’s the word… disappointing? Frustrating? They do turn out to be fairly major characters after all. I just feel like they deserve better, perhaps something more consistent. I could go off into a rant about what this suggests about the creator’s ability to create strong female characters, but I think I’ve already covered that ground.

Little personal note about me – the choice of music used for Bentley’s 110+mph drive across London was the very first hidden meaning thing I picked up on. That’s not to say I didn’t love all of season one, or anything about this episode before this scene, it was just the first time I had a little light bulb go off in my head. And look where that got me. 150K+ words and counting. And for all the credit I give this little moment, it’s actually a pretty obvious piece of subtext – I feel like using Queen’s “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” as a background track for Crowley racing across London to get back to Aziraphale is somewhat akin to using a massive billboard to state that the lover boy in question is Crowley himself. I think my brain melted a bit when I realised that at the time. What I really love about this though is that this thing has layers. The lyrics themselves have references to a saloon car, dancing together, and loving phone calls, as well as dining at the Ritz. The last of those is suspiciously missing from this playing; I’ve seen some speculation that is in itself a bit of foreshadowing, because that scenario is absent from this season, and I have to say I’m not averse to that interpretation because the music actually cuts out very suddenly in the scene right before those lyrics should begin, leaving Crowley in the car in silence.

Very quick Easter egg (only spotted whilst taking the screen grab for this write up): both speedometers in the Bentley have numbers made entirely of 6s.

And a quick point of note from the next bit of conversation between Nina and Maggie (who finally seems to soften about the beloved record store): the record shop used to be actually inside the book shop. Seems like a strange thing for Aziraphale to allow – surely that would have occupied valuable space where there should have been books? I’d actually quite like to know a bit more about Maggie’s grandmother, not for any particular reason, just because I think there’s probably a sweet little story there somewhere (not least because that would have been during a time when our hero couple weren’t talking).

That song just keeps giving, doesn’t it? Check out the specific lyrics playing as Crowley arrives at the bookshop:

Driving back in style in my saloon will do quite nicely.

So literal. Absolutely nothing coincidental about this song choice or these particular lyrics at all as far as I’m concerned. I do love that Crowley parks in the same spot that he always parks in, despite then having to walk down the street to get to the bookshop. Given the insane speeds he’s been driving at to get here in the first place, you’d think he’d park as close to the door as possible, but no, he parks in the same place he always does. That’s his space. He also stays on that side of the street instead of crossing directly to the door. That’s probably a convenience of filming thing, seeing as he needs to be able to see Maggie and Nina locked in the coffee shop, but I think it also speaks to the ingrained muscle memory he has being in this location. As a final point of interest for this section, we’re treated to a miracle noise as Crowley turns on the power in Maggie’s shop. This one has that brushed cymbal effect, and what sounds like a choir on an ascending note – that’s another one for the memory bank to be called on later.

And here we are, arrived at a very obvious place to wrap this section up. I have to say I really enjoyed doing this chunk, despite it being less detailed than previous parts. We’ve seen so much relationship establishment for Crowley and Aziraphale in the episode up to this part, it was almost refreshing to visit other character interactions. I am looking forward to taking a look at that Apology Dance though – I am under no illusions that there will be a lot of gifs and screenshots! For now though, and as always: questions, comments, discussion are always welcome. See you for the next one!

#good omens #episode analysis #good omens season 2 #aziracrow #ineffable idiots #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #head canon #crowley loves aziraphale #good omens nina #good omens maggie #good omens beelzebub #crowley's driving #crowley's bentley

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melishade · 5 months ago

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Hey, have you seen that AOT animatic where the squad was singing Bohemian Rhapsody? I was wondering, if in the TFP kids AU, one of the kids let the 104th hear the song, do you think they would sing it? What do you think?

Clearly you haven't seen drinkyourfuckingmilk's comic on Levi, Hanji, and Erwin banging out to Bohemian Rhapsody. Speaking of which. Here an old thing I wrote way back when based on the chaos of the comic.

“We sang that!” Hanji exclaimed, “Or we tried too!”

Miko and Jack looked at each other before looking back at the Commander.

“You sang ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?” Jack asked.

“You know ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?” Miko asked in disbelief.

“Yes!” Hanji smiled, “Well, not the whole thing! Just that part before the guitar! Me, Erwin, and Levi got really drunk one night and started saying the nonsense! We didn’t even know what it was! We even wrote it down! We started singing about Galeleeo-,”

“Galileo,” Erwin corrected.

“Busy Bee-,”

“Beelzebub,”

“And a silhouette of a man?” Hanji guessed.

“Holy shit! You guys know ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’!” Miko smiled, “You gotta sing with us!”

“Fuck that,” Levi stated.

“Yes!” Hanji smiled.

Erwin merely shrugged.

“This should be fun,” Jean remarked as the younger Corp members watched.

“Raf! Rewind before the guitar solo!” Miko told him.

Rafael rewound the song and the piano began to play.

“I see a little silhouette-to of a man!” Miko sang.

“Scaramouch! Scaramouch will you do the Fandango!” Hanji joined in.

“Thunderbolts of lightening! Very, very frightening me!” they both sang as Miko played the guitar.

“Galileo,” Jack joined for the fun of it.

“Galileo,” Miko smiled.

“Galileo,” Hanji sang.

“Galileo Figaro!” they sang together.

“Magnificoooo!” Rafael joined in.

“I’m just a poor boy. Nobody loves me,” Erwin sang.

“No!” Levi exclaimed.

“He’s just a poor boy! From a poor family! Spare him his life from this monstrosity!” they all sang.

“How did we get here?” Jean asked.

“Hell if I know!” Connie exclaimed.

“I’m leaving,” Levi declared as he prepared to walk away.

“No! We will not let you go!” Hanji sang as she pulled Levi back.

“Let me go!” Levi shouted.

“Bismillah!”Jack and Miko sang.

“We will not let you go!” Rafael and Erwin sang.

“Let me-no!” Levi shouted as he realized he was saying the lyrics. He wasn’t sure if it was on accident or on purpose.

Armin felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Megatron along with Optimus behind him, looking incredulously at the sight.

“I really don’t know,” Armin answered.

“Well the dwarf is suffering, so I’ll see where this leads.” Megatron proclaimed.

“No!” Levi shouted as he covered his ears.

“No! No!No!No!No!NO!” they practically shouted.

“Oh, Mama Mia! Mama Mia!” Jack sang.

“Mama Mia, let me go!” All of them sang, “Beelzebub, has a devil put aside for me!”

Hanji appeared on Levi’s left.

“For meee!”Erwin appeared on his right.

Rafael intentionally stopped the music as all eyes turned to Levi. Levi glared at them and grumbled to himself.

“I really fucking hate you all,” Levi declared.

They all raised their ears expectantly.

“…For ME!” Levi sang really well, shocking the younger Survey Corps there.

“Whoo!” Miko cheered as she jumped and played the guitar solo.

(I guess this counts at an alternative scene lol.)

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loycspotting · 6 months ago

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10. Ewan McGregor Movie Review: Nightwatch (1997)

New year, new movies! In 1997, Ewan starred in three movies and all of them had some pretty bizarre plots lol. Let's start at the beginning with "Nightwatch"!

Genre: Horror/Mystery

Rating: R

Director: Ole Bornedal

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Nick Nolte, Josh Brolin

Synopsis: "Nightwatch" follows Martin Bells, a college student, who takes a job as the new night watchman at a morgue at the same time a serial rapist/murderer is on the loose. As the police hunt for the criminal, and more evidence is brought to light, Martin comes to the terrifying realization that he is their prime suspect!

Ewan Review: Ewan plays the main character Martin Bells. Martin is in college as a law student and is best friends with a mean, sexist, and inconsiderate (the list could go on) prick. Ewan has a female love interest and they have a couple kissing scenes as well as a really tender moment early in the movie. He speaks with an American English accent which isn't too shabby except when he gets scared and then he pretty much drops it lol. Speaking of scared, he spends a lot of the movie screaming, and crying. He has a bathing scene with no real nudity but if you pause at just the right time it's possible to see his package from afar. He also gets a public handjob, beat up, bit, and bound. In other words, you get a slew of very weak, vulnerable, and submissive Ewan content.

Screentime Percentage: Ewan is on screen for a grand total of 52/102 minutes making his SP 51%.

To Ewan or not to Ewan: Is the movie worth watching for Ewan content? Yes. Is the movie worth watching in general? Yes. Caveat: if you wish to be entertained then the movie will entertain you. But it espouses such harmful views of women that you might not be able to look past it and enjoy the story.

Warning before Watching: there is a violent murder within the first 3 minutes of the movie and another towards the end. There are close ups of mutilated, naked, dead bodies and lots and lots of blood. The movie is also incredibly sexist and revels in cruelty against women.

Where to Watch: You can stream the movie for free on Pluto TV or soap2day. It's available for rent on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play Movies, and Fandango at Home.

Closing Thoughts: This movie is in the horror genre seemingly because of the gore and suspense. The true horror of this film is the misogyny and general treatment of women. I was more disturbed and disgusted by the way the male characters interacted with the female characters. Mind you, this movie is not a cautionary tale. It is not about the pitfalls of sexism. The male characters do not receive comeuppance for their behavior. It is treated as natural. It is celebrated. We are to understand and sympathize with these chauvinists. We are to find humor in their hatred and charm in their cruelty. The funny thing is, you could (and I did) read a homoerotic subtext within the relationship of the two male best friends because they truly only love each other while their female love interests are just an afterthought. This movie is gross for all the wrong reasons and I will not be watching it again.

#ewan mcgregor #film review #movie review #ewan mcgregor movie review #ewan mcgregor characters #90s movies #josh brolin #horror movies #nightwatch #ewan mcgregor screentime percentage #emsp

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trivialbob · 9 months ago

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During our vacation Sheila hired a guide to take us to really local places to try some food and drink. Ours was a walking tour. Golf cart and bike tours are available too. Next year I want to try the bike version.

We started the evening taking a taxi from our place at the north end of Isla Mujeres to the La Gloria neighborhood. We met up with our guide, Jose.

(much more after the cut)

First stop: Dessert! Jose explained that people were getting too full by the end of the tours and skipping dessert. So now he likes to start with that. I don't like sweets and desserts a lot, so this was definitely the way for me to eat some -- on an empty stomach.

We entered a small courtyard in front of a home. There was a stove and griddle and one four-top table under a tin roof. Our hosts served us flan. It was excellent. This is probably the first time I've finished any dessert in years.

Second stop: This was at a food cart parked in the street. A handwritten sign said "Hay Tamales," which I think means "Here are tamales."

We were served elote, a Mexican street corn salad. The portion was decent-sized and the elote was like comfort food. Had Sheila or I made this at home, it would be the sort of thing I would have left on the stove so I could snack on it all night long.

Had there not been five local people waiting in line, I probably would have broken open the foam cup to lick the bottom after I'd spooned out everything else.

Third stop: Panaderia Emmanuel Bakery. Jose explained that Mexican bakeries are open in the evening, unlike the American ones that open early in the morning. We had our choice of various fresh buns, donuts, and pastries. Sheila and I each selected an item. They were tasty and large. Thank goodness we were able to take home what we couldn't eat. Had we finished the bakery items, we would have been too full to go to the next four stops. (Here is the bakery in a Google Maps picture.)

Fourth stop: This was at a small, outdoor kitchen under a canvas roof. Two women were cooking food. We were served pork carnitas on a fresh bakery roll. I really liked this place. The sandwich was huge, and for real I started to wonder if I could keep eating at the remaining sites. I brought home half of the carnitas that night.

Fifth stop: We entered a small, private bar. It was beautiful inside; my phone just didn't capture a decent shot of it. The pandemic killed business here. The place now is open only for small, special events.

We were here for a mezcal tasting. First we sipped Fandango, accompanied by lime and salt. I loved it. Next we sampled some house mezcal, infused with honey, vanilla, and cinnamon. Here's where things get more interesting. We drank this one with some pinches of a mixture of black pepper, salt, and crickets.

Some might think eating crickets would require a healthy dose of mezcal first. But our drink portions weren't of a size that could make me abandon all caution and agree to something like bungee jumping or swimming with great white sharks. Sheila and I didn't hesitate to try the black, powdery mix.

I would have been fine ending the tour right here, assuming I could keep drinking mezcal with the sides, including the non-vegan one.

Sixth stop: This was at a small, yet traditional bar and restaurant named Chile & maíz. The night we did our tour was the start of Carnival. Many people had gone to the north end of the island for the celebration, leaving this restaurant empty for the evening.

The cook prepared for us chicken tinga sopes. Could the food keep getting better that night? So far, yes. The chicken stew on a fried tortilla was delicious. And filling. Sheila and I got a to-go box for some of it.

Apparently Chile & maíz is fairly new. I checked Google Maps to get a daylight picture (below). The logs that will eventually support a sloped roof are visible, but nothing else indicating a restaurant is being constructed. What we saw last night was very well done.

Seventh stop: Jose brought us to Daria's Delivery. The chef is staring up a new business. So far it is a kitchen on the second floor of a building. There is a commercial cook top, a table with four chairs, and one green bird in a birdcage. As we entered, the chef's adorable young daughter (maybe 4-years-old) came out from the living quarters right behind the table and greeted us with a big smile.

Our final dish of the night was chile relleno which is one of my favorite Mexican foods. Daria's didn't let me down. Very tasty.

During the tour we got to know more about Jose, his restaurant experiences, and his family. At the end he walked with us for a bit. He explained how the food tour supports the local cooks.

The tour was really fun because there's no way at all Sheila and I would have found all these small places on our own. It's not like they all had neon signs.

We ended up quite full. Walking around the La Gloria neighborhood helped burn off a few of those calories. I'm sure I'll return to Isla at some time, and this will be on my to-do list.

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 3 months ago

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Jennifer Lee, CCO of Walt Disney Animation Studios, via an interview for Fandango... On FROZEN III and IV being made back to back...

“We’re working in a room where this half is FROZEN III, this half is FROZEN IV, we’re standing in the middle going back & forth”

For many observers, this is recalling the grueling production of ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE and how Sony made it seem - up until last year's strikes and that story on alleged animator crunch - that BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE would debut less than a year later. ACROSS debuted June 2, 2023, and BEYOND was meant for March 29, 2024...

And yet, they were nowhere near getting that picture off the ground, and it remains date-less. Which is good, but it should've never been given the 3/29/2024 date to begin with if it was nowhere near leaving the station... And I've said before that these dates are really just announced to whet the appetites of investors and shareholders, but... Here's the thing...

After guesting on a podcast recently and talking about all the eras of Disney Feature Animation, I've come to suspect something about Jennifer Lee's tenure as WDAS leader...

And I think it all goes back to her feature directorial debut, the original FROZEN...

FROZEN was changed dramatically within a year of its release. Like as late as June 2013, when its teaser was out... The movie was released in November 2013...

Now, luckily for everyone involved, the film was a critical hit, an Oscar winner, and a financial explosion. Me? I think the film has always been something of a mess, seemingly hastily thrown together and it was evident to me that stuff was being worked on at last minute... But I'm not the rest of the world, who went gaga for the movie. There are parts of it that really work on their own, but I feel it needed another year in the works to really come together as a grand slam.

Every once in a while, an animated movie is taken apart and put back together way too close to release date. Infamously, Pixar's TOY STORY 2 was dramatically overhauled within a year of release, and few feel that that film is anything less than great. But that's a sort-of an "okay, phew, we made it, but NEVER again" thing. TOY STORY 2 is a rare instance where they worked way too hard under such immense pressure, and delivered something really good.

And it should've never happened on FROZEN. I know that the studios "have" to meet these release dates and not miss those scheduled promotional tie-ins (see MINIONS 2 merchandise and early MARIO MOVIE Happy Meal toys, for starters), but this isn't it... Especially when you're seemingly doing it again and again and again.

Before I go on, yes, John Lasseter also did similar stuff. FROZEN was a movie he oversaw after all. ZOOTOPIA saw a protagonist swap and a massive overhaul about a year and a few months away from its release date. One character was rewritten and redesigned for MOANA, with another one's presence dialed down significantly... But only after some merchandise was made. It wasn't as common under Lasseter as it is now, though. Lasseter tended to break stuff apart and boot directors off of movies well before they came out. The issue with Lasseter was that he wanted directors to make the movie HE wanted to make, but he usually got the dirty work out of the way earlier. Not... Less than 5 months away from release!

I get the sense that FROZEN director-writer Lee - upon becoming the CCO of Disney Animation following Lasseter's prolonged exit - thinks you can just do that with any animation production willy-nilly and it'll turn out just fine in the end.

FROZEN II had a whole Disney+ documentary admitting to this, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON had a massive director change about a year away from release, STRANGE WORLD and WISH felt similarly thrown together. MOANA 2 was a Disney+ show first, and became a movie... Seemingly not too long ago. Many directors left under Lee, much like they did under Lasseter. Don Hall left, as did Carlos Lopez Estrada. It seems like no progress has been made on whatever it is Suzi Yoonessi and Josie Trinidad are/were working on.

From my outside perspective, Lee's WDAS doesn't lock a picture a year in advance, making tiny revisions along the way, and hoping for the best when the thing is completed. To me, it seems like they needlessly change and rearrange huge vital chunks of their movies so close to completion, no doubt a strain on the crews and no doubt a reason why some - myself included, as I try to be fair - are a little underwhelmed with their recent work. And then they take too much advice from focus groups, or one of the crew's kids, and then go and re-do whole things because of that... Like, what's going on over there? And it's equally wrong that at Sony Animation, Phil Lord seemed to have kept changing things on ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE to the point where at least more than one version was rolling in theaters...

You just gotta lock the damn thing a year away from release. Novel concept, I guess. If it really isn't working, then delay it. That's what Pixar did with GOOD DINOSAUR and ELIO. Disney Animation did that with THE LION KING... But I guess that's a lot to ask for.

Also, there's your answer as to why WDAS will likely not make any 2D movies anytime soon. Sorry y'all, but Donald Duck's appearance on HOT ONES isn't the sign of a full-on mainstream 2D feature comeback. The studio heads and clout-loaded producers can micromanage these CG films a lot easier, without all that pesky stuff with lead animators and the whole 2D process/pipeline getting in their way, in their attempts to get the "story" right whilst keeping the assembly line going.

And ya wonder why an animation strike is currently underway...

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little-nugget-writes-stufff · 2 years ago

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If only we could spend more time together

Our beloved creator

Part 3 :D

(Little warning

I used characters who i have high/low Friendship bonds with. Also im pretty sure i made some spelling mistakes wich im srry for. English is NOT my first language)

You can barely open your eyes. When you do, you find yourself surrounded by aranara's and ofcourse, Nahida. "Hello creator" she says in her sweet child voice. "Please call me Y/n, i cant bare hearing that title". She looks a bit suprised but nods her head anyways. "But you said something about rivalry between the people?" You ask. She nods. "Yes. If i may ask you to follow me towards 2 people?"

Your mood changed within a second. She was already getting you to put an end on it. To make them fear you? No that couldnt be possible. Right? She must've read your mind bc she answered in a more calm tone "Y/n im talking about Tighnari and cyno. If there would be people absolutely not joining in this little thing it would be them, you dont need to fear them"

So you ended up following her towards them. I mean she was right, if there were people who wouldnt harm you it would be them. Now that you think about it there are more people who wouldnt but right now they are the most useful.

"So you actually got them here"? Cyno asked. "Im glad you trust us" Tighnari said. You were taken by suprise."Collei also seemed to enter the chaos" cyno said. This suprised Tighnari. Wait. Did that mean most of the characters you already had were doing the most damage?! "Most people who had the luck to get into the ritual called "coming home" seem to be the damage dealers" Nahida said. Oh god that sounded familiar. "Oh shit" you mumbled. "Luckily there are not many in sumeru who got into that ritual, so.. Y/n as far as i know you will be safe here" She hesitated when saying your name. You could understand that tho.

"If im not mistaken your here to stop this chaos and leave right?" Tighnari asked. At this moment you didn't know. Life in sumeru seemed nice. Or atleast how you could live in peace. At home you also didn't have that so. "I dont know, but i will think about it all" there was a small smile on Nahida's face. "If im right Mondstadt and Liyue seem to be the worst" She said. "Wait most people of the Knights of favonius and Qixing got into this ritual, so" you said. This could get alot harder then expected.

So you guys spend the next couple of days planning. Thats when it hit you though. THE FRIENDSHIP BONDS! The higher it was the more rebelious they were. Bleh kinda like yandere's. "Well it would be best to stay away from the Qixing for now" you said. There was a confused look on their faces. "Oh god how do i explain this.. ehm the people who got into this ritual and fighted alongside the traveler alot.. might be more of a challenge then people who didn't fight much alongside them, is that understandable??" You said in a nervous tone. They nodded. "So the Qixing fights alongside the traveler alot"? Cyno asked. You nod. "Oh and they might be stronger then normal.. hehe" thinking back to your lvl 90 Keqing and lvl 80 Ganyu.

"but then what would be the safest option? The Knights of favonius?" You shake your head at Tighnari's question. U ofcourse had most of the Knights so. If you thought about it Inazuma would seem safer. No Scratch that the shogun is there wich IS already a challenge herself so that would NOT work. "Maybe starting small in sumeru with the people who are like that would be the safest option, and then think about were we head next?" They all nodded their head in agreement.

"I have to go for a little while to take care of someone" Nahida said. And your love for the little man doin the fandango got the best of you. "THE WANDERER?!" you squeked out. Nahida gave a small nod. Oh wait im divine i dont think thats appropriate.. "i didn't mean it like that ehh.. since the Wanderer hates Gods (idk for sure) i dont think he would participate in this bs" You explained. In reality you'd be over the moon to meet the smal man. Nahida seemed to get your point.

So you guys went to scaramouche. Or atleast, you and Nahida. To your suprise, he was awake. And man you had to hold yourself back not to become the gremlin you are and hug him. "The divine creator?" He said in a confused tone. You nodded, a smile appeared on your face. "But please call me Y/n". He looked suprised. Why did it seem like such a crime for people to just call you by your name?? "What are they doing here" he asked. You knew that he wouldnt be very fond of you, and you cant really blame him for it.

"They are here to fix some things and-" oh she didn't know what to say next, oh well better say it yourself then. "And to see you ofcourse' you said with a smile. Why would the crea- Y/n want to see me. He thought. "And i know your not very fond of Gods and to be honest i can understand that. But at the moment it would be nice to have ur help" you explained. Wich only made scara more confused. Why would the creator, god of everything need his help?!

"Listen i can understand this is confusing, but- wait is this the first time your awake again after your fall??!" He nodded. Ohhh so thats why he didn't understand. Nahida explained the situation and all that has happened so far. "So let me get this straight, the archons did NOT see the difference between an imposter and the real god, killed an innocent person, allowed the imposter to Stab the crea- y/n and now they're fighting eachother over the fact that they didn't speak to those who hurt them?" You only nod.

And thats it for part 3

I hope you guys like this part :D

Idk when im starting on the next so this one is longer than expected.

#genshin sagau #genshin impact #genshin tighnari #genshin cyno #genshin nahida #tighnari #cyno #nahida

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hjertetssunnegalskap1 · 1 year ago

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"(...) imagine a figure, half angel, half devil, all human ...

Slouching hopefully towards Tadfield. ... for ever."

Were the authors of Good Omen hinting at someone being Nephilim, then? The Nephilim were said to be half angel and half human, so I don't quite know how that all fits. But someone is slouching hopefully towards Tadfield, it seems.

If you wonder, yes I have reached the phase in my Good Omen- interest where I over-analyze and make wild theories about all kinds of details. Well, I reached that phase a while ago, but it's still going strong. You see, I have a feeling that this quote from the book could mean something. And we know that there still are strange things going on back in Tadfield, because Crowley reads about Tadfield being "the best village in England" with "entirely perfect weather" in his paper (could be an old newapaper, but still, it's interesting). And we know from the ending of season 1 that Adam still has some powers.

Oh, and I just noticed that the whispers Adam heard from the deep of him, right before the big finale, were: "You can make it all better." And: "It's getting closer," and "It's getting stronger."

What's getting closer?

I guess you can really say that music "contains information in a tuneful way!" JJust like flies can contain memories, apparently. I just can't help thinking that it means something that Beelzebub loves "Every day," the song with those same exact words. Still, Gabriel had suggested that they should drop the whole Armageddon thing, and Beelzebub had agreed. So what did it mean?

To be honest, I'm very curious about Gabriel's sudden motivation to drop it all. It came out of the blue, in a way, and it's all very strange. I have no good theories about it yet. All I know is that now, "everything's getting closer," and everything id The Second Coming, I suppose.

I can't wait for season 3.

By the way, here are some other lyrics saying that time has come, and it's about facing the truth, and Beelzebub is there, and there's something about magnifying Jesus Christ (Galileo Figaro, Magnifico), therre's thunderbolt and lightning, and it's Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, of course. One of the few song lyrics that I know by heart, actually:

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low Any 'way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me

Mama, just killed a man Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead Mama, life had just begun But now I've gone and thrown it all away Mama, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry If I'm not back again this time tomorrow Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Too late, my time has come Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth Mama, ooh (any way the wind blows) I don't wanna die I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all

I see a little silhouetto of a man Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me (Galileo) Galileo, (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro, magnifico But I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me He's just a poor boy from a poor family Spare him his life from this monstrosity

No, we will not let you go (let him go) Bismillah! We will not let you go (let him go) Bismillah! We will not let you go (let me go) Will not let you go (let me go) Never, never, never, never let me go No, no, no, no, no, no, no

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye? So you think you can love me and leave me to die? Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here

Ooh Ooh, yeah, ooh, yeah

Nothing really matters, anyone can see Nothing really matters Nothing really matters to me

#meta #good omens #good omens season 2 spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens spoilers #bohemian rhapsody by queen #i have so many thoughts but this ended up a bit strange #mine

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lavelled · 4 months ago

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the trickster three.

Prince Hurst:

In the strange logic of your cyber-hopscotch, normalizing rape and underage female ownership, at least you’re unable to play victim now.

I’m sad about Shannen.

She presented herself as steely and composed, but to me she was a fragile young woman taken suddenly and in too much pain. If I glance at any artificial cancer campaign that I feel demeans real patients or preys on the public’s humiliations, I’ll call you out.

A Kate caption: “She’s gone through something awful.” Yes, marrying into the House of Windsor. Anything you insensitive superficial blokes wish to say to Michael Strahan? Why not? You’re both well-versed on apathy, and an easier life, might you shed light on cycles of chemo?

A headline: “Tyler Perry, godfather…” Except. He’s not. You don’t have Hollywood friends. Nobody likes the unvirtuous Rachel Rosa Shirley Henry Marty Luther imposters, living apart. I wrote of A Few Good Men in Washington, DC, that’s why. As if I wasn’t erased, gone, at all.

To complete the unobstructed view: Indigenous Peruvian tribe, Mashco-Piro, risked disease and violence days ago to emerge from the rainforest. The most uncontacted, most reclusive, most withdrawn tribe in the world knows me. Hello! Peruse a tribe called quest. Google: Mashco-Piro asks for food August 20, 2013 BBC. Video of hand on hair pose, elbows-out, asking villagers for bananas. Get them bananas! (just bananas?) Traditional plant-based food! They detest you.

In Xaviour Twitter, we’ve lifted digital camouflaging on Archillect, Murat Pak, Elon Musk, and Piers Morgan. The snitching is Minor 101. Cyber users spy your regalia. I want the amplification of your unremorseful felon admissions with a high chance of pedophile rapist to destroy any label of boyish humanitarian aid worker, so that you don’t get that award—even in irony—no Netflix series, no podcasting series, no prime-time interviews, no meetings with dignitaries, minimizing your godforsaken earthly imprint after four decades of calculated family pedophilia.

Minority Report. Tom’s in a technological nightmare. Clairvoyant humanoids, one female and two males, in a pool, visualize future crimes for a government organization. The rival boss is played by Ireland’s Colin Farrell. There’s this weird disconnect. In every scene, he chews gum. You’d think the movie’s integrity would be more important than Trident—wait. He’s warning a little girl of rapey pedos. No wonder you left California: Steven Spielberg knows what you did.

The avec moi politician I grew up with is also chewing gum in his video. It’s titled: 18 Year-Old Trudeau on Quebec Sovereignty. I’m 17. You’re 5. Which means the no-life, no-choice, rape clause in the crayon-kinship philandering legalese was already in place. Normal dad.

Details are vague, but back in twitter’s profile, I was wrapped in an old, old, red, looped Where’s Waldo scarf. Thrifty. Yes. One of the most iconic fashion designers knew me, read emails, published essays and Twit doodling, waited, and, I think, was disappointed I hadn’t yet realized you were certifiably evil. Seventeen days after your ivory wedding, Kate Spade hung herself with her signature red scarf in her Park Avenue apartment.

Then, Bed Bath & Beyond CFO, Gustavo Arnal jumped in NYC.

Then, Fandango founder, J. Michael Cline jumped in NYC.

Overly educated. Overly successful. With loving families.

But for now, we have you etching puerile algae about orifices and winning. As you do. On Piers Morgan’s son, Spencer Morgan’s Twitter page.

Three years after September 11, you staged a folly paparazzi scuffle in London to confuse people. Judging from the way you’re held back by guards, you’re mad. At that older brute for leashing a young love like a prized pet, so cruelly and prolonged, it ignited global pain and suffering. You did that. Why not embrace it? Google: 9 Cringe-Worthy Prince Harry Scandals We’ve All Conveniently Forgotten About. 2017 article. Number 5. Kennel Club.

I know your dad was equestrian-minded when I was younger than a teenager. I just don’t ink it on billboarded, televised, mural canvas. You and I won’t meet.

#reading #books

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markmonlux · 1 year ago

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The Weekly Dose of Mark

Sunday, July 30th 2023 • 07/30/23

Allen Gladfelter drove both Greg Spence Wolf and me to Freelance Fandango. We arrived at the Red Elm Café to find a notice on the door that they were closed today due to staff shortage. I checked my phone, and sure enough, there was a voicemail from the owner telling me this. Somehow I missed it. So Greg left a sign on the door that Freelance Fandango will be held at our backup Corina’s Bakery. As Allen drove us over, I sent texts to Jennevieve, Stowe, Corry, and Anique. I asked if I had forgotten anyone. Don’t forget Nori! I sent Nori a text. Only later, when Stan strolled in and gave me a stern look, I forgot to text him. He teased me about it. Who do you forget to text? The one guy who is always at this thing. Allen asked me as the meeting ended what I would include in my write-up on the meeting. Will it be Nori’s gift to me of Japanese stamps and the stories of his visit with his mother there? Would it be Stan’s graphic novel that he received as a Kickstarter reward? Or would it be Stowe telling us about his daughter’s wonderful time at the Taylor Swift concert? How the wristbands were electronic and lit up creating patterns in the crowd to go with the music. I looked over at him, and he saw it in my eye. You’re going to write up the venue change, aren’t you? Yes, Allen. Yes, I am.

Wednesday night, I was enjoying dinner with Krista. I’d rescheduled The Grand Drawing Room live drawing event to begin at 6:30 rather than 6:00 just to have a non-rushed dinner. But, at 5:50, I got an email from Payton DeSanta, our model for the evening. She was letting me know that she’d arrived and that others were also showing up. So I sent her a text saying I was on my way. I quickly finished the few bites left on my plate and rushed out the door. I thanked everyone who showed up early for having the drawing session as a regular habit and encouraged them to attend at the new time. I’ll have to make a point of stressing the new time during the next wave of announcements. We had fifteen artists show up. In my correspondence with Payton, I’d encouraged her to go with a lighter, thinner costume because of the heat. She was very proud of her armor and wanted to show it off. She got a little woozy and had to take a break at one point. As she got back into position, I cheerfully mumbled in a mom’s tone. “Why don’t you wear the green costume? I asked. It might be better in case that space gets hot. But, no. You wanted to show off the armor.” Peyoton turned her head coyly at me and, with a surgery grin lacking any sweetness, said, “When you’re right. You’re right.” I zipped my lip, then. No need to say anything more about it. At least not without her whacking me over the head with some of that foam armor.

Saturday was very full. First up was Vince and Kim Kurter’s party at Farm 12 in Puyallup. The catered room was very large and not part of the main restaurant. There were easily fifty people there. The idea was to have this as their wedding reception, 60th birthday party, and all the other stuff they would have done with friends during the pandemic. I met Vince through the Pythians. But we had lots of mutual connections from his time working at newspapers. Breakfast was delicious. There was a fun little art project happening on the side involving rulers, scrabble pieces, glue, and stickers. I met people who were involved in the Tacoma writing scene, specifically Creative Coloquoly.

I’ve recently done illustrations for their anthologies. When the party began to wind down there, I said goodbye to Vince and Kim and went home. I did stop briefly at the fruit stand I parked close to and picked up a half flat of raspberries and blueberries. The next party I went to was a gathering at Greg Wolfe’s house. This was a smaller affair of about ten people. I took over some blackberries I picked in the yard. I had some salt and pepper potato chips and two of the three fruit salads people brought. We were hanging out in Greg and Paulet’s yard in event chairs under an apple tree. I got a call from Krista asking me where the funnel was hiding. She was busy taking the berries I brought home and turning them into berry syrup. The recipe called for a lot more sugar than she was willing to put into the syrup. But I wasn’t going to tell her to add more. Her instincts for cooking are far better than mine. So I went home, a mere four-block walk, and located the funnel for her so she could keep on task. Our plan was to go to the Bon Festival at the Buddist Temple together. But apparently, all the work in the kitchen had tired her out. She had been planning on going right up to the moment when she wasn’t. I went down to the temple to give the Buddist Temple some support by buying their Strawberry Mochi, which Krista loves. The food line stretched down the block. I got in line and enjoyed running into Nori and his daughters. Sweat Pea was there selling books on Buddhism. But I didn’t see any other familiar faces. By the time I got inside the building, I’d decided I was going to pick up some roasted eel. I wanted to see if it was better than the roasted eel I found in the freezer at Paldo and H Mart. I texted Krista and asked if she wanted some and picked up both of our dinners for the evening. I stuck around long enough to watch some of the drumming. Then it was home to eat eel.

Alley News

I went on a walk with Pat this week. The afternoon was cooler, and I’ve been trying to walk twice each day. There is a new feature on Pokemon Go called Routes. There should be a way to use them and to create them. However, it’s a new feature, and we complained about not being able to locate it on the app. I did some research online and found that it flat out wasn’t working for a lot of people. In the meantime, Pat sends me texts showing the photos of all the new Pokemon he’s catching. I have most, but he’s been catching a couple not in my collections.

A squirrel mocks me as it sits next to and on top of the squirrel trap. Krista reports that she saw the orange cat with white feet run across our backyard with a mouse in its mouth. Kill honing those skills, killer. Greg, who lives a couple of blocks down and across the street, has been catching feral cats and kittens. One of the kittens is orange with white feet. I meant to ask Greg about his feral cat catching at his party but forgot.

My neighbor, Button, called out to me as I was walking home earlier this week. The extension of her house comes right up to my property line. She asked if I would remove the tree next to her house because she was worried about it rubbing against the paint. The “tree” was a large native fern I’ve been encouraging for decades. These ferns don’t transplant well. I told Buttons I would build a trellis to keep it away from her house. But Krista said that wouldn’t work and I should remove it. I managed to transplant a fern once before successfully. It was over at my parent’s house. I’d also successfully transplanted a trillium. So I’ve dug up the fern. I should have prepared a hole for it before I pulled it out to the ground. But the day was getting warm, and I was overheating. I think I know just the spot that will be perfect for it. It will have the same amount of shade as before. And if it takes, it will look good. I think Buttons will be a lot happier now once she sees that the plant is gone.

Zucchini, beans, and cucumbers are being harvested daily from our garden. Krista has been busy making Lemon zucchini bread. She just tried an experiment with blueberry lemon bread. She said it had a bit of a blowout when she took it out to the pan. The blowout tasted delicious. Her next batch will be chocolate Zucchini bread. It was only earlier this month that we finished eating all of the frozen Zucchini bread from last year. Maybe our friends, family and neighbors will end up with some again.

Here are some of my dreams:

July 24

#IDreamt Michael McMurphy and I were investigating strange goings on at a campsite. I went in undercover and got a job as a busboy at a diner adjacent to the campsite.

July 25

#IDreamt I was a wizard sent back to 1950 to observe. But I got drunk and created a poorly CAD-rendered starship Enterprise, about seven feet long, to randomly fly around town. I was going to be in trouble when it hit the timeline.

July 26

#IDreamt new internet portals emerged. Yale University was rivaling Netflix. Their slogan: “When you need to post, post-Yale.”

July 27

I must have died again. #IDreamt I was in a waiting room with Sinead O’Connor designing an album cover. The title was “Derick is Dead.” Our conversation: “The revolver should be near the corner.” “Obviously.”

July 28

#IDreamt While waiting for Mick Jagger to arrive, I was examining an odd hibachi grill designed by John Denver. A maid told me the sushi arrived. I wonder why, if there was a maid, I’d been assigned to change the sheets?

It’s been well over a month since I mentioned the audiobooks I’ve enjoyed. I’m way behind on writing reviews for them on GoodReads. Most of the last couple of months have been escapist fantasies or memoirs. If you are curious about my reading history, you can check out my GoodReads account: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1127263-mark

“Winter in Paradise” by Elin Hilderbrand, June 18, Rating: 7

“The Daughters of Isdihar” By Hadeer Eisbai, Jun 22, Rating: 6

“Throne of Glass” Sara J. Maas, Jun 29, Rating: 5

“Ninth House” by Leigh Bardugo, June 29, Rating: 7

“Nettle and Bone” by T. Kingfisher, July, Rating: 7

“The Warded Man” by Peter V Brett, July 3, Rating: 5

“The Hollow Places” by T. Kingfisher, July 8, Rating: 6

“The Memory Thief” by Lauren Mansy, July 14, Rating: 4

“Carnival of Snackery” by David Sedaris July 19, Rating: 8

“Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner July 24, Rating: 5

“Calypso” by David Sedaris July 29, Rating: 8

“The Children on the Hill” by Jennifer McMahon, July 29, Rating 6

This book reminds me of some of the horror books I would read back in the ’80s. It’s set up horror, where little hints are presented, and he sees if you can guess where the writer is going. Will the story go to the left or to the right? Will a guess turn out to be correct, or did we extend our assumptions too far? The innocence of children is volleyed back and forth with the cruelty of a tennis match that doesn’t worry about the wear of the ball. Checked out from the library on an application called Libby.

68.

July 22

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) Rating: 6

As I went to the Friday Night Frights showing at the Blue Mouse Theater, I wondered if I’d seen this movie before. Allen Gladfelter picked me up, and then we picked up Mark Brill, who’d created the poster for this showing of the movie, before carpooling to the destination. It was the first kill in the movie that reminded me I’d seen it, probably on VHS with a rented machine back in the ’80s when you’d through your lot in with a bunch of strangers to do a marathon of rentals overnight before returning the machine the next day. This time I was in an audience that loves trashy, dated films like these. I sell bingo cards with horror tropes on them. My friends were calling out tropes from memory as we tried to keep a body count. This exploitation slasher pleased everyone. Maybe it will take me another forty years to forget the details.

69.

July 22

Oppenheimer (2023) Rating: 8

I’m suffering from movie afterglow. I wasn’t expecting much from this film and was completely blown away. There are multiple plot lines that weave together so skilfully that you don’t realize the overall big picture is a rope of a plotline. All the actors gave high performances. Allen Gladfelter treated me to this movie at the Grand Cinema.

70.

July 23

Bird Box Barcelona (2023) Rating: 7

This is not a sequel to “Bird Box,” which came out in 2018. Rather it is a story told in the same world, at a different location in the world. The story dives a bit deeper into madness, treachery, and perception. I was going to give it a slightly lower score than the first film in the franchise, but I gave it an extra point for having a dog with a name. I watched it on Netflix.

71.

July 29

Saw (2004) Rating: 6

I can’t believe it took me nearly twenty years to get around to watching this movie. At least now I’ll feel better about watching the rest of the franchise. I couldn’t have helped to see clips, parodies, and spoilers in those long years. Still, it holds up fairly well, and I’m curious to see if the writing will be as tight as in the rest of the franchise. I can also see how this film influenced others that followed. I watched it on a DVD from Netflix.

#cosplay #journal #weeklydose #movie review #dreams #reading

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vidavalor · 1 month ago

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Hi @kayleefansposts! Thanks for reading & for this very interesting info! I didn't know that the Phantom musical no one ever asked for lol had this "Devil Takes the Hindmost" song when I mused about (very loose) allusions to The Phantom of the Opera in the meta you're talking about and now I'm emerging from the very thought-provoking and enjoyable rabbit hole you sent me down about this omfg really awful musical... 😂 (The two clips you linked to were the best parts, imo.) Good Frances, I can see why this never went anywhere...

This sequel is actually full of the reasons why I have so many issues with both of these musicals. The number of people who romanticize The Phantom is terrifying to me. "Oh, he's misunderstood!" Tell that to Piangi, ffs. The Phantom has a body count. He's a *serial killer.* You'd be safer fucking Sweeney Todd! 😂 Yes, Raoul is a feckless bore but, Christine, c'mon... you can choose yourself, if you want. It's an option lol... Anyway, sorry to rant! *breathes* Right, rational thoughts... 😊

As you are showing with finding connections now to Brigadoon as well? We're kind of awash in references to musicals. Brigadoon and Into the Woods are two musicals with which I'm less familiar so I'm glad you know more about them. Your mention of the Brigadoon tie being that water is something that couldn't be crossed for demons, witches, ghosts, etc... It made me think of The Main Entrance scene in S1. Aziraphale "walking on water" and crossing it to get into Heaven and Crowley sinking beneath it.

I like the Burns poem you brought up and we have Danse Macabre in S2 as Aziraphale is listening to Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre on the Edinburgh trip. The Devil and The Dance of Death is quite the reference for them to be throwing in there for probably *casual* no particular reason *giggles*. (Somehow, I had not yet brought Danse Macabre up, despite being on what is probably Meta #478 on how it's Satan and not The Metatron with the coffee lol?) Just a smidgen of a hint, that. 😉

It's also about the dead rising from their graves to dance for The Devil. The scene of... whatever the fuck is happening to Gabriel here:

One thing about the Danse Macabre scene that also gave me the chills a bit when it popped up in S2 was that it did while Aziraphale was driving The Bentley alone at night and one part of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that is playing when Crowley is attacked by Satan in the car in 1.01 is the "scaramouche/scaramouche/will you do the fandango?" bit. Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre in the fandango and bolero family. Lloyd Webber's "Devil Takes the Hindmost" has some similar musical elements as well. It's all also an element of the two "deaths" that we were talking about before at play there. (Crowley'd rather die, Lucifer, thanks.)

What I like about Good Omens' potential allusions to The Phantom of the Opera is that they are doing so in a way that is referencing the fact that it's a horror story about a woman being targeted and hunted by a violent predator. I'm very okay with The Phantom-is-The-Devil-- in Good Omens and also people who see the Phantom story that way-- because he's supposed to be terrifying. In terms of maybe some allusions added in with the sequel clips you mentioned above and Love Never Dies as a whole: Raoul telling Madame Giry that he wasn't afraid of The Phantom and that he should come speak to his face was a bit Maggie, yeah? "The Beauty Underneath" feels very temptation-y. The kid screaming in terror when he sees the truth of what's underneath The Phantom (even considering the ending of the musical) feels along the lines of the recognition theme in S2. Raoul and The Phantom's bet is Final 15-ish, if not consciously on Crowley's part. (He has no idea that Satan is there and is fixated on The Book of Life.)

I'm not sure the extent to which they were doing this consciously as, honestly, the same allusions that we're suggesting are Phantom-esque are also very similar to some the stuff we were looking at with Hades and Persephone that are running through the Satan and Crowley stuff. I've mainly thought the Phantom stuff, though, is interesting to toss into Good Omens because of the possession/Christine's voice aspect and appreciate your info on the story! Would love to hear what you think about how some of musical maps to characters and anything else your clever mind wants to share, as time permits, of course. 💕

The Devil Takes The Hindmost

The Big Damn Post I've promised for ages on all the stuff suggesting that what we're watching in S2 is Aziraphale's mental health crisis leading to his fall...

...with a focus on a religious concept that intersects with secular ideas about mental health-- The Devil Takes The Hindmost-- that was unintentionally mentioned by Mrs. Sandwich and might be what's going on in The Final 15.

Plus, a look at the possible purpose of The Whickber Street Shopkeepers and Traders Association in the story and a dive into the symbolic role in Aziraphale's story played by Muriel... the most adorable Angel of Death anyone's ever seen.

@ao3cassandraic @komorezuki @kayleefansposts @masnadies -- This is basically what I was starting to talk about the other night, if you're interested. @ochre-sunflower -- the meta I mentioned.

TWs: suicide; depression; PTSD; negative self-thoughts... It's optimistic by the end but it's a look at some darker stuff in the story so please take care.

In GO S2, we have a lot of stressors building and overlapping for Aziraphale, with each episode adding new ones, all boiling hotter and hotter until we reach the The Meeting Ball. There, everything stops for the arrival of Shax at the door.

When she turns up, all the other plots cease to be relevant in the moment because the whole story's stakes upon her arrival now come down to a single, pivotal question:

Are these demons going to get into the bookshop?

On the surface, in our plot, Shax, Eric and the smallest number of completely ineffectual demons that a redemptive Furfur could get away with sending without looking like a traitor 😉 are interrupting Aziraphale having turned his first pass at hosting the monthly meeting of The Whickber Street Shopkeepers & Traders Association into a party.

Why is he doing that? For a dizzying number of reasons. So he can try to protect Gabriel by getting Maggie and Nina together and try to be part of his community by using the party to get Maggie and Nina together which is also so he can protect Gabriel... but, let's be real, it's really all so he can dance with Crowley...

Our heads are spinning as much as Aziraphale's is by this point and it's exhausting just to try to recap everything he's dealing with by The Meeting Ball... which is why it probably isn't surprising that all of that story just stops when the brick goes through the window and Shax is at the door. Because, symbolically...

...this is an anxiety attack.

Shax and the demons are Aziraphale's inner demons and they're trying to force their way past the threshold to take control of the bookshop the way that darkness can consume a person...

...as they're trying to take control of the bookshop that is what, symbolically?

Aziraphale, yes.

Aziraphale and Crowley. (And, as we looked at recently, also Maggie, on account of her family's history with it.)

Why this bookshop attack that is a metaphorical anxiety attack at this point in the story?

Because a lot of what Aziraphale wants out of life was happening before the demons that represent his inner demons showed up at the party.

For the first time ever, Aziraphale was no longer compartmentalizing his worlds and hiding parts of his life from people. He had Maggie and Gabriel under the same roof-- his human and angel families together. He had neighbors over and felt brave enough to call himself one of them by hosting the meeting. He was impacting the society around him in a big way by unifying Whickber Street's black market with its "legitimate" front by inviting Mrs. Sandwich to join the group. He was helping Maggie and Nina fall in love.

Most importantly, there was what the whole thing was really for: having all that happen with Crowley there, too, and everyone knowing they are together. Being able to dance with him and be a couple openly like everyone else. This Jane Austen cotillion coming out ball for ladies Maggie and Nina is really a coming out party of sorts for Crowley and Aziraphale. This is like the Christmas party of Aziraphale's dreams here. The one he's never, ever been able to have.

It's a wonderful thing when people who are in a great deal of emotional pain decide they've just had enough and want to break free of their misery and allow themselves to work towards being happier.

It's just a very delicate period because it can go either way, in a hurry. One minute a person can be thinking they're on top of the world and starting to live the life they've been dreaming of but the next minute find themselves freefalling emotionally. This is especially true of people who feel they have to present as cheerful and optimistic for everyone else and who hide their pain behind a smile.

They are some of the most at risk of their lives becoming like the Salinger short story about trauma and suicide referenced in S2-- "A Perfect Day for Bananafish"-- in which a man suffering from PTSD is believed to be fine by himself and those around him, has a nice day at the sea and chats with a symbolic daughter-like character and then, unceremoniously, goes to his hotel room and shoots himself dead.

As Maggie shows us during The Meeting Ball when she parallels Aziraphale's struggle, people get tired of being afraid and want to live-- want Nina, who is coffee, which is freedom-- but they can overdo it, if they're not careful, and wind up taking steps backwards.

Sometimes, the thrill of feeling like they might be on the edge of something good can cause someone to go too far, too fast, and, without the right support, they can find themselves going faster than a rollercoaster-- and right off a cliff as a result.

These people might look at their inner demons and think they're fine, now, actually, and that the darkness doesn't frighten them at all and they're all over their negative stuff-- all good now. No problems here.

Problem is that, sometimes, in the process, they might realize they're lying to themselves when they suddenly tell those inner demons that they can come in and say all that pathetic shit to their face... before they're really ready for that. Maggie, paralleling Aziraphale here, shows that with Shax during the bookshop attack. Not the best way to deal with inner demons, that.

And one person's inner demons can be an unintentional trigger for others, which is one of the things that started off Aziraphale's mental health crisis boiling up into a breakdown earlier in the season.

Aziraphale was already having a terrible week and then he projected his own issues all over his adopted goddaughter when she was having a moment and wound up accidentally saying something about himself that she took to mean about her and that came out sounding incredibly hurtful in a way that Aziraphale didn't mean for it to be. He then sought to make it up to her by finding a way to make her romantic dreams come true but was, all the while, silently berating himself for not having handled it flawlessly in the first place.

And when that got mixed in with trying to *checks Aziraphale's S2 list*... Jesus...

...recover from PTSD, manage all the anxiety and depression that comes along with it, deal with the fallout of his relationships with his abusive family, save his losing it brother from a religious cult/fascist regime trying to kill him and figure out why he's lost his memory, assuage his guilt over the memory-wiped angel that he feels he failed to save that showed up at the door, figure out wtf to do with the bookshop/embassy he's never wanted to run but that has become the M-25 that he's built and is now stuck in and that just reminds him that he hasn't any family to pass it onto, and, most importantly?

Tell his partner that he would like to live openly with him in the a little cottage by the sea in the South Downs...

I mean, by the time Mr. Vacuum showed up and suggested that Aziraphale add to the list that this week also be the first time he's ever hosted the monthly meeting of the business organization of the street he's basically founded but doesn't let himself really feel like he belongs to?

Sure, Mr. Carpet. Sure. Bring it on. Why not, at this point?

But Mr. Vacuum's idea actually caused Aziraphale to think he had the perfect solution-- continue to do what he was doing all week and combine this shit together! Protect Gabriel by tying him to Maggie and Nina and solve Maggie and Nina through the Whickber Street meeting and, well, if he's going to make it romantic for Maggie and Nina, well...

...maybe this is how Aziraphale can solve his biggest problem-- finding more of a way to just be forever near that one, particular person who makes everything okay.

So, by the time we get to The Meeting Ball? Aziraphale is pretty much losing his damn mind.

The heebie jeebies that Crowley gets in the street? It's not the low-rent demons. He knows what they feel like. He can't identify it but the thing that is really, really wrong is Aziraphale himself, in a dark reverse of Aziraphale feeling Crowley's love in S1.

Thousands of years of feeling a lack of enough control over his life have basically led Aziraphale to snap. Parts of it are very funny. Gabriel dressed up as Liberace circling with temptation trays of vol-au-vents is as hilarious as it is loony. Miracling the room so that everyone speaks like it's the 19th century causes a lot of humorous scenes, especially with Mrs. Sandwich... but is also a horror show. Justine loses her ability to speak English well and others have trouble understanding one another. It's like a zanier, more comedic version of Aziraphale's parallel antichrist, Adam, taking over The Them and deciding how, when, and if at all, they could speak.

It's a person in Aziraphale, who is normally very kind to others but not really to themselves, whose pain and anger have built within them to a breaking point and caused them to take that out on others and become, for a moment, almost the exact kind of person from whom he tries to protect others.

During this part of the season, Mrs. Cheng and Mrs. Sandwich have some dialogue that I think might be the whole rest of the season's plot in a nutshell. It happens here:

Mrs. Sandwich being unaware that "seamstress" is a 19th century-era euphemism for a sex worker means that she doesn't realize that she actually is, on one level, telling Mrs. Cheng what she does for a living. Her frustration is coming from the fact that Mrs. Cheng also doesn't know this euphemism and so thinks Mrs. Sandwich is a literal seamstress-- someone who sews and mends clothes-- and not a figurative/euphemistic one. While that and the rest of this scene is worth a whole deep dive in and of itself, it's not the bit I want to focus on here. That bit is what Mrs. Sandwich says as she gets increasingly upset.

Keep in mind as we look at this that the person who is the literal seamstress in this scene is not Mrs. Sandwich. It's the person whose magic is inhibiting her speech-- so, who is speaking, in a roundabout way, through her-- and who is the one changing everyone's outfits as they come through the door.

The seamstress really of note here is Aziraphale.

In the midst of her frustration, Mrs. Sandwich is trying to curse in 2023 terms but they are coming out in 19th century-era equivalents and this means that she says the following things when cursing:

She insists that she's not a godforsaken (abandoned by God; left to Satan) seamstress, that she's not a benighted (taken by darkness) seamstress, and, finally... while probably trying to say "what the hell"... winds up saying the whole season's plot in response to Mrs. Cheng asking her the also rather meta question of "what, in short" the problem is in that moment.

What, in short, is the plot?, asks Mrs. Cheng, on a meta level.

What the fuck is going on in this story?

To which Mrs. Sandwich replies:

"The Devil take it."

The curse "The Devil take it"-- meaning you give so little about something or someone that Satan can have it-- comes from a religious teaching (that works very well from a secular perspective, too) known as "The Devil Takes the Hindmost". It's this teaching that I think is extremely important to S2 and is arguably around what the story is structured.

This teaching argues that people who are excessively self-sacrificing are putting themselves at risk of being taken by darkness/Satan because of the cumulative effects of the anger, anxiety and depression that comes of denying that they are people with wants and needs of their own for too long.

It's about the people who go beyond kindness. It's about those who don't see themselves as part of the pack of people and think that the world isn't for them. They believe that their needs and wants don't matter as much as the need to prove to themselves that they aren't a horrible person-- which they do, in their minds, by denying themselves a full life of their own.

Sound familiar? It should. It's Aziraphale to a T.

Why are these people in "The Hindmost" for Satan to take when they're not terrible people?

Because they fall to the back of the pack of humanity.

Because they are left open to the darkness because they do not allow themselves to have what they work so hard to help others make for themselves.

The pain of that eventually renders them as bad off emotionally as those they counsel, or worse. The more they deny themselves, the more that pain builds and it can push them down dark paths.

They're in "The Hindmost" not because anyone left them behind, exactly, but because they've shut out the people around them.

They aren't letting people in.

It's about here that we can bring up that Good Omens is built around doors and all of S2 is basically about getting in the bookshop that is Aziraphale. It's here that we can mention Shax-- the darkness-- repeating demands to Aziraphale, to Crowley, to Beez to be let in. It's here we can mention The Final 15 and the world's most depressing kiss-- the literal embodiment of "let me in" as a theme-- and the horribleness that followed.

So, if S2 is The Devil Takes the Hindmost and he's headed Aziraphale's way the whole season with a large oat milk latte with a hefty jigger or dash or whatever of almond syrup and the job (the Job...) offer from Hell to tempt him, then we're watching (for now) the last days of the angel Aziraphale because a fall is a form of death.

It doesn't mean it's the end entirely because, as Gabriel discovered, everything goes down but flies? They go up.

Flies are the product of letting someone in and not shutting out the love and care you need. That can only be done through accepting, at least for a little while, that you are allowed to be a person and deserve to be cared for the way you care for others. If a person does that, they can fall but they'll have what they need to get back up and to help them stave off future falls.

Letting people in and talking to people about how you feel-- figuratively: feeding your fellow ducks your frozen peas and listening to theirs--- is how we all defeat the darkness together and make it so that Satan never shows up at any of our doors.

Yes, it is, Crowley. Would have been helpful if you had mentioned any of your own Hell-and-Book-of-Life frozen peas at all to anyone but the audience all S2 but this meta isn't really directly about you so you get a pass for now 😂 Back to your partner...

So, this The Devil Takes The Hindmost stuff? Almost immediately after Mrs. Sandwich says it, the story begins to have the characters literally act it out.

Shax is The Devil in that she's a devout diabolical minister of Satan so she's representing Satan at the door.

First up? Gabriel.

Gabriel mirrors Aziraphale's excessive self-sacrificing. It doesn't matter to him that he just met most of the people in the bookshop an hour or something ago. If that angry mob outside wants him for who fucking knows what reason as this poor bastard can't remember anything 😂 then Gabriel is happy to throw himself on his sword for them.

In reality, no one in the shop should have let Gabriel go out there alone. The whole point of "The Devil Takes The Hindmost" is that if everyone looks after each other the best that they can?

There won't *be* any hindmost.

There will just a pack of people who are all keeping each other safe from the darkness.

Jim is ultimately fine to tussle with Shax, though, because that is the part of the teaching that he exemplifies.

Gabriel has been protected. He's not completely fine-- who ever is, really?-- and he's still not really over this current bout of depression but he's safe from Satan and the darkness.

He's safe because he has Beez, Aziraphale, Crowley, and his new friends on Whickber Street.

Gabriel has a pack and is allowing himself to be part of it. As such?

The Devil can't touch him. Shax can't recognize him and sends him back inside. Gabriel is not in The Hindmost because he's been hidden, safely, by his group.

Gabriel goes back to the middle of the pack where he spends the rest of the attack, helping Aziraphale fight off his metaphorical inner demons by way of aiding Maggie and Nina to save the bookshop.

It's the next to the door, though, who is not so lucky, and gets to be the first example of The Hindmost.

From the way, way back of the pack that has formed of the humans, Gabriel, Crowley and Aziraphale in the middle of the bookshop pushes forward our beloved Mr. Brown of Brown's World of Carpets.

The President of The Whickber Street Shopkeepers and Traders Association-- the Gabriel of the humans-- feels it's his job to sort out this mess... only he has even less clue as to what's going on than Gabriel did... and he's much, much more vulnerable.

Mr. Brown tells Shax that he doesn't know why she is "interfering" with the people in the shop, unknowingly using the word used in religious circles to talk about The Devil coming after people. Mr. Brown is a guy at real risk here. Going into the circle and getting discorporated if you're not prepared? Facing The Devil at the door without preparation is the same, terrible thing. Mr. Carpet has no idea wtf he's up against here and his motivations for going to the door are the heart of The Devil Takes The Hindmost.

What does our lionhearted Mr. Brown do for a living? What is he, symbolically?

He sells carpets, right? What are carpets?

Well, they're rugs, for one thing. They're found in every business and home in existence. They are necessary for living and also an example of having comfort in your life. (They're also walked on and taken for granted, like our Mr. Brown is quite a bit.) You pick out carpets on your own or with the people with whom you are making a life-- and they tend to symbolize that life.

We see, in 2.06, the shot highlighting the lotus flower carpet that Crowley and Aziraphale have in the bookshop, that they use to cover up the Heavenly circle in the floor-- the one they put Gabriel on to do the protection miracle. It symbolizes the life Crowley and Aziraphale have made together to which they've now let Gabriel in.

What else are carpets? In Good Omens' use of language, they're also cars and pets. Rugs, cars and pets... three of the most common things owned by people living a life on Earth, with the word own itself in Mr. Brown's name.

Brown's *World* of *Carpets*... this dude is, symbolically, everyone.

He's life itself.

That's why it's Mr. Brown who gets taken by the demons and, later, saved by Crowley and left in the care of Mutt, who is human magic-- the character who symbolizes the wonder and mystery and joys of being alive.

Mr. Brown-- an extremely common name for a man whose pain is extremely common. He's lonely. He's overlooked. He's the president of this group of apostrophe and Christmas lights-obsessed, irritating and wonderful, typical, human people because he's unflappable and no one else wants to do it. No one else will do all the boring work and hear all the complaints the way he will and he's made that his role and he hates it. In that way, he's the Beez of Whickber Street-- as desperate for appreciation as Aziraphale. He's Burbage and Shakespeare, wanting an audience that isn't sleeping, drunk, or flirting their way through Hamlet. He's Crowley and Aziraphale:

Mmm, good job... Oh, do you really think so?

Mr. Brown of Brown's World of Carpets is a professional carpet salesman. He spends his days selling everyone what they need to make lives of their own but his own life is far lonelier and smaller than he would like it to be. He doesn't have a partner or true friends, just the people of the group into which he's struggled to really fit, despite running it. He's nerdy and awkward. His over-the-top, affected manner of speaking belies the fact that he feels like he's jiggery pokery, through and through. If I took Mr. Brown's name and profession out of this paragraph, I could be describing Aziraphale just as easily, but for the fact that Aziraphale does have Crowley, if not in the open way he wishes for. Because of that, Mr. Brown being taken by The Devil is also foreshadowing the end of S2 for Aziraphale.

Like most, Mr. Vacuum has got some surprising resolve-- some unexpected moxie-- but, fundamentally, this man has spent S2 showing that he is one more papercut away from a nervous breakdown.

So, when he tries to prove his worth to the group by putting himself at risk, it's excessively self-sacrificing. While there are some titters of alarm and warnings to him not to leave the pack, the one who objects the most is Crowley. Mr. Brown, though, doesn't let Crowley in. He doesn't recognize him because it's partially to look good in front of Aziraphale that Mr. Brown has jumped to the front of the pack. It's his loneliness, his lack of his own life, his need to be part of the group and appreciated. His need to be the hero.

Only, Mr. Vacuum is what happens when you aren't prepared for the darkness and you haven't let anyone in to help you. Shax, realizing that Crowley has been lying to her about the threshold by the way that all the humans have been backed into the living room, tests the theory and Mr. Vacuum gets taken by The Devil.

The Devil Takes The Hindmost.

Mr. Brown went from the literal hindmost of the pack inside of the bookshop up to the front to self-sacrifice excessively, got taken by Satan, and then, in a darkly amusing turn, got tossed back through to the hindmost of the pack of demons outside. He's also near the back of the line for coffee the next morning at Nina's.

If The Devil can come for Mr. Carpet, we see, he can come for anybody. Now this lingering and malignant sense of unease we've been feeling throughout The Meeting Ball tips here into real horror.

Crowley is up next to evacuate the rest of the humans in the shop. He's going to walk them all in a pack past The Devil. They go out in mini-groups within a larger pack. He tells them that they need to all stick together and mind each other, not the demons.

If they do that, they live. If they don't, they won't.

It becomes that simple because it is that simple.

Crowley doesn't just tell The Whickbers how to do this, though-- he leads them out. Because he's one of them, too... but really also because this is all a metaphor for Aziraphale's mental health breakdown getting going and what happens when you are having an anxiety attack or a depression episode?

What goes out the door?

The things that keep you alive, right? The good stuff in life. That is defined differently for everyone but a lot of it overlaps for many of us. Many of those things are what The Whickber Street group characters stand for in the story. Aziraphale owns the land for most of Whickber Street so, in addition to being characters in their own right, all of the members of The Whickber Street group represent Aziraphale.

They're all the things he loves the most-- his reasons for living, and what helps keep the darkness away for him. This is really why, symbolically, neither they nor Crowley (symbolically, love) can be present in the shop when Aziraphale is melting down at his worst.

Crowley leads the pack out with Mrs. Sandwich up front. He is allowing himself to be part of the pack here. He might be supernatural and the group human but it doesn't matter. They're all people and there's more to it than miracles. Crowley can't face the darkness on his own-- and neither can Mrs. Sandwich. Neither of them should have to. So, they don't. They choose to be each other's friends and let each other in and they're both better for it and so is the rest of the pack. This is an example of how to deal with darkness in a positive way.

Crowley trusts Mrs. Sandwich in general but for this task, in particular, because who knows best how to deal with the darkness?

Survivors of prior run-ins with darkness, that's who. His fellow "fallen woman", Mrs. Sandwich, has got her hat pin and his back and Crowley has hers.

So, out the door of the bookshop that is Aziraphale goes love, friendship, sex, romance, healthy communication, human magic, community, food, music, and so much more... because not taking care with our mental health issues rob us of what we love.

Left in the shop? Maggie and Gabriel-- Aziraphale's past and his family... and Nina-- the possibility of freedom (her American-themed coffee shop) and what's left of Aziraphale's hope for the future. Nina's decision to stay symbolizes Aziraphale hanging onto some hope.

After Crowley and The Whickbers leave and Maggie accidentally lets in Shax, the demons have gotten in and are advancing. Without those who are no longer in the shop and with Crowley missing, Aziraphale's anxiety ratchets up and the demons-- his inner demons-- gain ground. The goal becomes keeping them from getting into the residence floor upstairs-- to the place to which Aziraphale has let hardly anyone in. The parts of himself that are not public-facing or for acquaintances but only for those he allowed himself to get close to. Maggie and Nina can be on the landing up there. Gabriel can stay in the guest room. They're family. Only Crowley is allowed free reign in the whole of the bookshop.

For the first time, we have an angel not named Aziraphale teaming up with humans to fight for a place on Earth. The start of the 'all of us versus all of them' that Crowley foreshadowed as still to come at the end of S1? It isn't some big battle for the planet. It is a battle for the life of a single person in Aziraphale because every person matters.

It's The Commander of The Heavenly Host rooting around the upstairs rooms of the bookshop collecting all the fire extinguishers bought to help Crowley deal with his trauma that he can find to supply his troops-- the human Maggie and Nina-- on the front lines.

It's Aziraphale's loved ones coming together to fight to save the bookshop that is, symbolically, Aziraphale himself.

Ultimately, though? Crowley, Gabriel, Maggie and Nina can help hold off the demons that are symbolically Aziraphale's inner demons but it's ultimately going to come down to Aziraphale and Aziraphale alone whether or not these demons are going to overrun the bookshop.

We reach the point where Aziraphale has to choose-- is he going to let the demons take him over or is he going to send them back? He decides, in this moment, to blow up his halo.

We learn that Aziraphale's halo isn't divinity floating atop his head-- it's a tight, hard band around his mind. It's mental health issues, in physical form. He is in visible pain and breathing shallowly as he struggles to take it off. If you took away the halo from the picture, it's visually very much like someone having an anxiety attack. He uses it to discorporate the demons-- to send his inner demons packing.

Well, almost all of them...

Shax, the one that voices his darkest inner thoughts, remains. She's unconscious for awhile, lying dormant on Crowley's couch.

Aziraphale tells Maggie and Nina that he thinks blowing up his halo might have "just started a war" and, symbolically, it did.

Because when you blow up your halo, it can work for awhile but if you still aren't able to address the underlying, fundamental issues at the root of why you have a halo in the first place, those dark thoughts will come back.

Those demons are coming back and, sure enough, Aziraphale's bookshop is full of plenty of voices by early the next morning. While he won The Battle of The Bookshop, he loses The Battle of The Bananafish the next morning.

While Aziraphale stopped the attack on the shop-- his anxiety attack-- with the halo, we learn the next morning that then something else happened the prior night that we didn't see that is affecting the rest of 2.06. We hear about it from Aziraphale after Satan shows up in this bit here:

What's this, now? Aziraphale doesn't want to chinwag with The Metatron because they already chatted the night before and our angel doesn't think there's anything left to be said. Our angel says he's made his position quite clear.

So, The Metatron got on the circle thing zoom after Aziraphale discorporated demons with it and blew up his halo and, by that point, Aziraphale had had enough.

Aziraphale told The Metatron, in so many words, to go fuck himself.

This is really what Aziraphale is trying to say when he tells Crowley that he "did the thing with The Halo." Yes, he literally blew up his halo to discorporate the demons and stop the bookshop attack but the halo is his the weight of all of his cumulative trauma from Heaven... which makes it also, symbolically, The Metatron. Aziraphale blew up his ties to Heaven by telling off The Metatron. He told off the floating head hanging over his head as part of blowing up the halo crushing his mind.

So, Aziraphale then spent the whole night assuming correctly that, if you yell at Head Office, he's going to tell Satan that you're fair game.

Aziraphale doesn't want to fall. He doesn't want to be a demon-- not because he thinks of them as lesser beings because he doesn't think of them that way. Because being a demon is a terrible existence and Aziraphale would rather not have his soul be owned for all eternity by his partner's assailant who is also, literally, The Devil. He's a hard pass on that and had a plan to have Crowley help him avoid it.

Satan and other events made sure that he and Crowley couldn't communicate what they were thinking and feeling to one another openly from the time that Crowley left the bookshop with The Whickbers through the end of S2. If they had been able to and if Crowley had any idea what was truly going on, things would have been very different. The story is Aziraphale's fall, though, so it has to be bad for now to improve in S3.

Because it's Satan at the door with the coffee, he uses Crowley to identify him as The Metatron to everyone else and, so, has convinced Crowley that he *is* The Metatron and that Satan is nowhere in sight. Crowley doesn't see Aziraphale's fall coming, as can be the case with many people-- even those who know of the mental health challenges of those close to them.

Crowley thinks that the biggest threat to Aziraphale in The Final 15 is The Book of Life-- and, I suppose, in a symbolic way, it is.

The Book of Life-- in the way that Crowley thinks it exists-- is not real. It's his and Beez's anxieties from when they were angels manifested as a ghost story to tell more impressionable angels. Yet, as a concept? It kind of is sort of exactly what Aziraphale goes through in S2. He feels erased into non-existence by Heaven already and he's fighting for his life.

Right, so, a hundred years ago lol, I mentioned that Muriel is key to this idea. Let's look at how their presence is highlighting Aziraphale's issues and ushering him closer to death/falling.

While two angels with memory issues show up at Aziraphale's door in S2, Gabriel is a tale of hope while Muriel is a cautionary tale.

If your memories are "all your you"-- your sense of self, formed through your history-- then, while Gabriel was preserved in The Fly, the example of what can happen without one?

The horror show of a total and complete, catastrophic loss of a sense of self? So... death?

That's Muriel.

There is an angel named Muriel in some Western Christian traditions who becomes a figure called The Abaddon, which is The Angel of Death. The Abaddon factors into different takes on Revelations and apocryphal Biblical stuff. There are several different ideas on who The Abaddon is, though my understanding is that their role as The Angel of Death who brings souls to their final judgement is pretty universal throughout.

In some traditions, The Abaddon is seen as the antichrist. In others, it's Satan. In S1, Good Omens played around with some characters seeing the role of The Abaddon in these ways during Armageddon: Round One through how the Satanic nuns referred to the antichrist baby and Satan as "The Angel of The Bottomless Pit", which is the descriptive phrase given to The Abaddon in multiple different religious writings.

In other religious traditions, though, The Abaddon is thought to be an angel of Heaven or a trio of angels of Heaven. It's these ideas that I think Good Omens is playing with in S2 with, I feel, the heavier emphasis on the true Abaddon being the one most frequently referred to that way-- Muriel. Also supporting the idea of Muriel as Death is that there is also that a character in Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" with that name. Muriel is the one set to inherit the main character's wealth and property after he kills himself at the end of the story.

So, how is our lovebug Muriel The Angel of Death?!

For that, we have to look at what a fall is.

Consider that The Metatron can tell Satan that an angel is fair game but, in order for that angel to actually fall to Hell, they have to fail to resist Satan's temptation. What the show is subtly saying is that every angel who is a demon is not just an angel who got caught out saying or doing something that threatened The Metatron's power but, also, an angel who was also already falling into despair and, so, couldn't resist Satan when he came to claim their soul.

The literal fall that happens-- the "freestyle dive into a pit of boiling sulphur", as Crowley called it-- is a symbolic thing that happens after an angel has been unable to resist Satan and, so, is now considered by Heaven and Hell to be a demon.

If you consider that the way the literal fall has been described-- going off a cliff; the parallels to Gabriel nearly jumping out a window-- all of these are images of ways that people sometimes kill themselves. Heaven and Hell come at angels and demons from a place of abuse that pushes them towards suicide. Even in S1, it wasn't straight out murder that Crowley and Aziraphale faced-- they were both forced into what, to Heaven and Hell, would have seen as committing forms of suicide. Crowley getting into a bath of holy water; Aziraphale stepping into hellfire.

So, we're saying that the physical fall happens after an angel has already fallen, and that, in order to fall to Hell, an angel has to have already first fallen into despair.

If the show wants Aziraphale to fall in the Heaven/Hell sense of it, he has to have a mental health breakdown and I'm reminded that the opening credits of this show are Crowley and Aziraphale walking the Earth with all of their history layering up behind them and following along with them and then they go up and up and up on a track in S2 and stop just prior to?

Falling off the edge. The literal fall is what we've stopped just short of but, all along so far, we've been watching the fall in progress build.

The reason why we've never been "shown a fall" on Good Omens is actually because the whole story to date is Aziraphale's fall. It doesn't even really start with S2-- it started long, long ago. It also, though, really kicked into gear just prior to the start of S2, as is noted a bit in this moment here:

Nina asks if everything being weird started the prior week when the power went out and Aziraphale replies:

Trauma is like that. It can be things that happened in your metaphorical 2500 BC that are coming back to bite you in your 2023 AD. It's cumulative. It builds and pushes. You can go and go and go and then, one day, your power just goes out. Your energy to fight is just gone and a storm is brewing. A series of events can push someone who is in an already vulnerable mental health state towards a full on fall into despair and that is what I think S2 is fundamentally about.

S2 is a suicide narrative. Our Clarence Aziraphale is going a bit George Bailey. Even as, on the one hand, he's taking big steps forward to claim more of the life he wants, it's the underlying trauma that he hasn't yet been able to fully deal with that is making him also, at the same time, begin to quietly wonder if those around him would be better off if he were not in their lives.

This is why the most dangerous character in S2 is not Satan or The Metatron.

It is, quietly, Muriel.

How so?

Because when people begin to have more frequent suicidal thoughts, their reasons for living that usually keep them going begin to change to being more of a list of obstacles that are preventing them from death. As a person falls into depression to a point that they begin to feel like maybe everyone around them would be better off if they weren't there, they begin in their minds to try to "solve" the problems that are keeping them from dying. They try-- not always super-consciously-- to set things up in such a way so as to convince themselves that their ties to the Earth will be neatly resolved with minimal bother for anyone else and, more importantly, that all their loved ones will be set up to be fine without them.

People in despair can-- and will-- come up with what are, objectively, absolutely bonkers rationales because, ultimately, they want coffee but they are in such despair that they thinking about ordering death.

Muriel's arrival means that Aziraphale then basically has a solution to every obstacle in his mind in such a way that he clears a path straight to taking his life. They help solve two of his "obstacles": Crowley and the problem of the bookshop.

Muriel is dangerous because they show up at the door with the same curious, upbeat, enthusiastic personality and sense of wonder at the magic of the world that Crowley both loves in Aziraphale and needs in his life.

Muriel is also who can take the bookshop. They're an angel who needs an escape and who loves books and Earth. They're perfect for it. Aziraphale is also horrified to realize that Muriel doesn't recognize him and what the implications of that are and he feels guilty about not having saved them somehow. They begin to represent his self-determined failures and giving them the shop would be, in his mind, making some of that right.

To Aziraphale, Muriel is the cheer and hope that Crowley needs in his life and they've taken to each other like ducks to water, which is then also coming after Aziraphale has subtly been pairing up his partner with the also-immortal-and-traumatized archangel with whom Crowley has much in common and whom we are told in S2 that Aziraphale knows that Crowley finds attractive.

Shax pops up throughout to help show some of Aziraphale's dark thoughts about himself.

What are you, Aziraphale? Crowley's emotional support angel? The one who went native? Do you need more big, human meals, Aziraphale?

The comments in Edinburgh that are not really about the car. It's really more like Aziraphale calling himself "an old piece of junk" and thinking Crowley deserves the chance to get an upgrade to someone better. Gabriel's good-looking and has been through much of the same as Crowley. Muriel is upbeat and makes Crowley smile. Crowley having friends who are supernatural is a great thing but, under the surface, it's also leading Aziraphale to create an inner narrative where he's telling himself that he's replaceable in parts by Gabriel and Muriel and that he wouldn't be leaving Crowley alone if he were to take his own life.

Aziraphale is telling himself that maybe the best way to love Crowley is to make it so that Crowley doesn't have to deal with him.

What did Crowley say about his stars once? The first time they met?

Six thousand years-- that's nothing.

Engine won't even have properly warmed up by then.

Crowley's borderline-immortal. He'll live forever. Six thousand years is a blink of the eye to them. He'll get over me, Aziraphale is telling himself, and find someone worth spending eternity with.

Aziraphale didn't see a path towards death until Muriel's arrival because he didn't fully have a solution to the bookshop and Crowley. That's what makes that adorable moppet of an angel the deadliest character in S2.

The reason why Muriel leapfrogs over every other character and makes it down to the last, pivotal minutes of Crowley and Aziraphale's story in The Final 15-- in a part of the story where even Gabriel is gone-- is because Muriel is death.

It's because this is all about whether or not Aziraphale is going to take the freedom of coffee from Mr. Six Shots of Espresso and live or whether he's going to take the false freedom of the lies he's telling himself from Satan and die.

Is he going to try to take his own life or is he going to find a way through this time, as he has before?

"It's just you and me, Aziraphale." What a statement that is.

It's both true and a complete lie.

Crowley and Muriel are both still in the room when Satan says that so, objectively, it's not really just him and Aziraphale... except that he is controlling Muriel and Crowley in different ways. In that way, it really is only Satan and Aziraphale left by this point. It's down, by that point, to just whether or not Aziraphale is going to live and since Satan is here for him, it's not looking great.

Satan is the embodiment of Aziraphale's life or death choice here and that choice, in many ways, is the only two other beings left in the shop at that point.

It's Crowley or Muriel. It's life or death.

Satan also as Aziraphale's darkest thoughts, really... as Aziraphale's internal dialogue playing out.

What about my bookshop? he asks himself.

Really: What about my life?

Muriel, replies Satan... replies the darkness... replies Aziraphale to himself.

You could entrust it to Muriel.

They need an escape. You'd be doing them a great favor. You'd be sacrificing yourself for them and redeeming yourself for failing to save them. It'd make what you're thinking of doing noble, actually. It'd make it okay. It'd make you a good person.

Aziraphale struggles, right? He almost doesn't do this. He almost says he thinks he's making a mistake because he knows he is. It's just that his every conflict has come up all at once and overwhelmed him.

Even still, the darkness has him pretty solidly-- but not completely-- until this moment right here:

Aziraphale is no fool and he's questioned the idea that this is The Metatron; he's actually trying to tell Crowley that he thinks it's Satan for much of That Scene in the bookshop and to get Crowley to see it and help him, in case it is. Aziraphale hopes he's wrong, though, because he wants it to be The Metatron because he thinks that is the way to fix things but it's not and he knows it, deep down. He doubles down because he's embarrassed, because he feels foolish and afraid and like he has nothing to offer Crowley without the power he thinks he lacks.

Satan's temptation, though, ultimately works because of the final of the death by a thousand cuts here in the whole "Second Coming" moment.

After Satan gets Aziraphale to leave the shop with him to head to Heaven, he, as The Metatron, flatters Aziraphale a bit. He says the things that Aziraphale has always wanted someone in Heaven to say to him. He tells Aziraphale he's needed and that they specifically need and appreciate who he is-- an angel who knows how things are done on Earth. It's validating who Aziraphale is and who is he proud of being in the way that Aziraphale has always wished would happen.

Aziraphale is hurting so much that he starts to wonder if maybe he was wrong about all of this. He was pretty sure before but, maybe, just maybe, he was wrong and he wants to be wrong because then it means maybe that he'd know who he is. Maybe it would mean he would no longer have to be an angel who goes along with Heaven as far as he can because Heaven would be finally starting to see the light.

Maybe this isn't Satan. Maybe it really is The Metatron. Maybe all of this is real. Maybe he can go to Heaven and take this job and really have the power to protect Crowley and they won't have to be afraid anymore.

Then, Satan drops the bomb. He fires the killshot.

He lets Aziraphale hear him say "we call it 'The Second Coming'" while pretending he didn't mean for Aziraphale to hear it.

This is the moment that Aziraphale knows it was all a lie.

He knows for sure who that is now. He has gone from being 98% sure to a full 100%. He knows that it's not The Metatron but Satan holding open the elevator.

Satan had to tell him, as it's the only thing Satan has to do in some form at the end-- because it has to be Aziraphale's choice. Satan sure as fuck doesn't have to be fair about it-- and he definitely wasn't-- but it's at this moment that Aziraphale knows with absolute certainty that there isn't a job offer.

How could there be if The Second Coming is on the table? They'll never put Aziraphale in charge of Heaven with Armageddon as the agenda. He's the angel who stopped it the last time. It means that Aziraphale knows for sure that, if he gets into the elevator, he's effectively killing himself, because this is all to entrap and kill him, not to promote him.

Satan sets it up so that the final things Aziraphale is thinking about when he makes the choice are that there is no chance that Heaven will ever improve and that they're going to do Armageddon again and just keep doing it until it happens and it's all hopeless and Aziraphale will never have the power to protect Crowley and they're going to just keep living this nightmare forever and he's been doing this for thousands of years and he can't take it anymore.

People who are suicidal are stuck in cycles of their lives they feel they can't get out of and that's exactly what Aziraphale is reminded of in the moment before he gets into the elevator.

He doesn't want death-- he wants coffee.

He wants Crowley, standing appropriately in front of Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death, with the coffee art and the blues and greens of Earth all around him. The canopy plants in the backseat. This is what Aziraphale wants but he just doesn't know how to get there anymore and the darkness wins out. The villains always win a battle at this part of the story or else there's no plot left going forward and there is a forward because it's Aziraphale. There are ways back from this but that's for S3.

Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death, as we know, is substituting the word coffee for the word liberty in the original quote and that's exactly what happens in Aziraphale's decision to get into the elevator. The truth is revealed-- there is no job, which makes him feel like there is no way to ever be free while living. He's exhausted by fighting the same battles, over and over, with no way to escape in sight, and takes what he thinks is the freedom of not suffering anymore.

He chooses the false freedom of death over the true freedom of living-- Satan's coffee over Mr. Six Shots of Espresso in a Big Cup-- because Aziraphale loves that espresso more than anything but he struggles to love himself. He thinks, in that moment of despair, that the best way to love Crowley is to set him free by leaving life.

It's the Job minisode foreshadowing all of it and going back to the start of his story for the end.

It's nothing important, Aziraphale, don't worry...

Just your kids, your house, your businesses, your money, your neighbors, your street, your car, your books, your friends, your community, your Earth and the love of your life.

Just all the love and magic of the world.

Just all your you. Just your life...

When the first shot of the season was the skies sweeping down towards the front of the shop door... and the final shot of the shop in S2 is The Angel of Death-- Muriel-- entering it alone, claiming it and closing the door? When the light goes off in the bookshop window?

When Aziraphale-- after running around with a paralleling clipboard for half an episode-- leaves a note on the dash for his wife, like International Express Delivery Dude did in S1? When his "I love you, Maud" is the car playing Crowley "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"? That's when we can see why Death appeared to Aziraphale at the end of S1 and has been headed his way since.

Satan's temptation, yes, but executed with the help of The Angel of Death, who helped push Aziraphale into the lift with The Devil and not towards Crowley and The Bentley, where Aziraphale's love has always been willing to give him a lift, anywhere he wants to go.

In a show where people are symbolically what they profess that it is that they do-- midwifery/cobblering, conjuring, "seamstressing" and so on... all of those things are positive. They're about helping others and loving the world. With that in mind?

Go back and look at Muriel's arrival at the bookshop again...

What is adorable is, also, a fucking horror movie of a declaration:

Muriel is a human police officer.

Friends... that's Death.

Muriel is the only one with a horrible self-declared profession. They're not helping birth ideas and babies and art and mending everyone's pain. They're not a working, professional magician helping to develop the street. They're not a healing seamstress. They don't sell old films and records and books. They don't feed anyone at their restaurant or sell musical instruments to nourish their lives. They aren't the best guy on the block-- Mr. Brown and his World of Carpets, giving people what they need to outfit a life of their own. They're the not a member of The Whickber Street Shopkeepers and Traders Association-- like their paralleling Jim becomes as he begins to regain the will to live.

Crowley is worried about caring for Gabriel being too much for Aziraphale but it's really Muriel that is a walking trigger for him.

Gabriel is a character people think is a villain who is really a lovebug; Muriel is a character people think is a lovebug but who is, symbolically, the worst possible thing to ever show up on your doorstep.

Gabriel is saying books are keen and hot chocolate is amazing and live, live, live, live, Aziraphale...

He's the part of Aziraphale's mind that is trying to save himself while Muriel is the part that is luring him towards death.

Muriel is saying the best part of a cupperty is to look at it, Aziraphale.

It's not for you. You're an angel. You aren't supposed to want to live your own life. You aren't supposed to have wants and needs at all. Even if you go into that back room to be with Crowley alone and try to shut me out, I will break down the door and come after both of you before too long is up.

Muriel is cosplaying Earth's most invasive and violent profession and they're so sweet about it that it tends to bury the eeriness of their arrival. In Muriel, Aziraphale is confronted with his paralyzing perfectionism, his negative self-worth, his rampant imposter syndrome, and his excessive self-sacrificing-- all at once.

All his negative feelings are here at the door in the form of this fun house mirror version of himself-- a cheery and also clinically depressed angel, who is actually cosplaying humanity the way Aziraphale always feels like he is, even if he knows at the core that he's every bit as human as the billions on Earth.

The world is for the professional conjurers, for the humans, for everyone but Aziraphale, in his mind. He is supposed to be above needing any of it. He is supposed to never be angry, anxious, tired, depressed, hungry. He isn't supposed to need the home and books and music and food and sex and magic that he lives for. This angel isn't supposed to be a member of The Whickber Street Shopkeepers and Traders Association but he founded the street, let alone the group, and he'll die trying to host a meeting because nothing makes him feel more himself than when he lets himself be a part of the world.

Muriel's presence worsens his depression spiral, which we've seen is what happens when the negative thoughts get to be too much.

In S2, he goes a sherry-and-stomach-settling-drop diet. He doesn't eat the eccles cakes. He doesn't slow down and enjoy much of anything. Part of the joy of the ox rib scene is that Aziraphale isn't really enjoying himself that much in the present in S2 and it's the only thing like it in S2. Aziraphale, in S2, has put himself and his demon on half-rations and talks about his frozen peas to his fellow duck less. He goes back and forth between trying to self-care (Shostakovich and going to the Gabriel statue and brief moments of flirting with Crowley) and self-neglect (the entire rest of the season lol). Mix in too many additional stressors like what S2 had and it goes from the anxious period of fasting in 1967 to the cause for big time alarm that is S2.

Intellectually, Aziraphale knows that mindful human living is prescriptive. He saves Gabriel by starting to teach him what he knows about it. There's always been a little voice whispering at Aziraphale, though, that it might be right for others but that doesn't mean he's supposed to feel or need those things. He should be above it because that, apparently, would make him the good person that he doesn't often believe he is. His feelings aren't even about being an angel in the Heaven sense so much as in the human anxious perfectionist sense, in that he's excessively self-sacrificing because he doesn't fundamentally believe he's a good person.

There's nothing wrong with being as kind and generous to people as you can. It's when you're doing that while also not acknowledging that you are a person with wants and needs at the same time that you can self-sacrifice yourself right off a cliff as a way of trying to convince yourself that you're not a bad person.

You can deny yourself the life you want out of the excuse that it's your purpose only to care for everyone else but it's not really virtuous. It's a form of self-harm.

What hurts so much about S2 is 1941 because the minisode then gives us Crowley and Aziraphale slaying demons left and right. It gives us what a good day looks like in a whole season that is, otherwise, a series of bad days mixed with things that are also not within their control that then lead to the worst, possible ending.

We see, really, how good they are at caring for one another. The kiss scene is made infinitely more painful by us having seen in the 1941 minisode another conversation in the same spot in bookshop when Aziraphale was struggling with these same issues that went so very differently.

Crowley is very good at gently reminding Aziraphale that, not only is he wonderful, but that he's a person, too, and that everyone feels like they are jiggery-pokery sometimes. Everyone struggles with the voices of others and themselves trying to judge them and how that impacts a sense of self. That fighting through that to be able to live and love is, unfortunately, a pretty common experience of being a person.

This is not new for Aziraphale. It's so very old, stirred up hardcore in S2, now that it's been four years since Heaven contacted him. Aziraphale doesn't know that it's because Gabriel is trying to protect him. He thinks he's so inconsequential that Heaven couldn't even be assed to send someone to formally fire him and take the bookshop embassy that, despite being something of an albatross around Aziraphale's neck, he's also really proud of having built.

Aziraphale wants Heaven to fuck off but he also feels embarrassed by the fact that Heaven could fuck off so easily and that he feels like he doesn't have a friend there to speak of after thousands of years. He is ashamed of it needing to be Crowley who gets them a contact for info in Shax because he sees it as more dangerous for Crowley to need to be in contract with the demons and as a failure to protect him-- the thing that's at the core of Satan's temptation at the end of the season. (Also why Crowley is trying not to tell him about Shax taking his job and his conversation with Beez, which is a huge mistake but it's coming from a good place.)

Surely, Aziraphale thinks, if he hasn't fallen and he's still an angel... if he still is one, he's not really sure, as what is a non-working angel?... then, if he were good, there'd be some angel up there who would still be talking to him. He knows Heaven isn't good, exactly, but not all of the angels are terrible. As anyone who has ever had to go no contact with an abusive family knows, the illogical doubts that creep up can make a person think that maybe they're the wrong ones. At your worst, you can wonder: if the whole family thinks you're wrong, are you really right? Aziraphale knows he is right but it gets complicated.

Add to that the stress of worrying that something will happen to Crowley every time he goes out the door (part of Aziraphale's own trauma for millennia, made worse by 1827), and Crowley's PTSD exacerbated by the fire in S1, and Aziraphale's negative self-thoughts are being triggered even worse than usual. He's blaming himself for them not being safe, when that's not fully within his control... which, in Aziraphale's mind, is the whole problem and an example of how he is failing Crowley.

This is all long before Gabriel shows up at the door and the season gets started with a series of events that then worsen Aziraphale's state of mind. By the time Muriel shows up at the door, these negative kinds of thoughts out in full force in Aziraphale and Muriel represents them.

Muriel might be cute as a button and, as a character in their own right, being used left and right by Heaven, but it doesn't change the fact that Muriel is, symbolically, a mashup of the human and supernatural cops trying to kill them that Crowley and Aziraphale have been outrunning their whole lives.

The Angel of Death is a cop because of course they are, right? What other group of people has been existing to entrap, imprison, torture and kill people for eons?

From the book: If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boy and his dog and his friends. And a summer that never ends.

S1 was summer. It was the nightingales.

S2 is the lingering doom of preparations for Christmas lights. It's the days getting shorter and colder. The nightingales have flown to warmer climates. Because this is Good Omens so the season of Aziraphale's fall is set in the season of... well, the fall.

The good news is that, both literally and metaphorically?

Summer is always just around the corner.

#good omens #good omens meta #ineffable husbands #good omens theory #aziracrow #crowley #aziraphale #good omens 2

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