Good Omens Review: A Love Letter to the Original Novel and a Message That Matters
Amazon Prime’s Good Omens, an adaptation of the cult favorite novel from authors Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, is precisely the sort of story the world probably really needs to see right now.
Sure, it’s about the possible end of the world, which feels kind of on the nose at the moment. But it’s also a story about the fact that there’s more that unites us than divides us, and the idea that the things worth fighting for are the people we care about.
That said universal truths are largely delivered via the unlikely but amazing friendship between an angel and a demon is just the icing on the cake.
Good Omens follows the story of a bookish angel named Aziraphale, a posh demon named Crowley, and their multiple millennia of unorthodox friendship, even though they technically stand on opposite sides of a fairly Biblical ideological split.
Stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant utterly steal the show as the angel and the demon, respectively, having a blast in every scene they share and providing the heart at the center of the story Good Omens is trying to tell.
At the end of the day, it’s the ways in which we care for one another that will ultimately save the world. Love is the answer, and it always has been.
Whether that’s between a parent and the child that he doesn’t actually know isn’t his, a ragtag group of friends who refuse to let one of their number abandon them for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or an angel and a demon who choose each other rather than the rules they’ve been given to follow – they’re all their own sorts of miracles.
The only ones that really matter, anyway.
The two supernatural beings share a love for all things Earthly. Aziraphale is obsessed with rare books and crepes and good wine, while Crowley’s into cars, technology and (yes, really) plants.
But they’re both fascinated by people, and the capability they all carry for good and evil in equal measure.
Neither Crowley or Aziraphale thinks Armageddon is a great idea, necessarily. And neither understands why both Heaven and Hell are so eager to start a war that will benefit no one.
So they decide — in an extension of their original Arrangement that’s allowed them to work together for so long — to stop it.
In a slight detour from the novel, Good Omens takes a good half hour to show us the evolution of Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship, from professional chats alongside Noah’s Ark to real friendship during the Blitz.
This sequence, which occurs in the series’ third episode, is probably Good Omens’ strongest moment, as it not only lets us know that Crowley and Aziraphale don’t just not want to say goodbye to sushi and good wine.
They don’t want to lose each other, either.
The obvious and genuine affection between Crowley and Aziraphale is the linchpin around which the entire series hangs, and the strength of their friendship glosses over most of its other problems.
The main plot involves the search for a young Antichrist, a boy who is just about to come into his powers and usher in the end of the world.
There’s mistaken identity thanks to an incompetent group of Satanic nuns, a book of prophecies courtesy of the one witch in history apparently capable of actually seeing the future, and a Witchfinder army comprised of, at its current height, two people.
It’s kind of a lot to take in.
And that’s before we get to the confusing hierarchies of heavenly – and demonic – bureaucracies, involving Jon Hamm as the angel Gabriel, a.k.a. the world’s most aggressively obnoxious middle manager, and Anna Maxwell Martin as his counterpart Down Below, Beelzebub.
There are many characters to keep track of, and it’s easy to lose the thread of the story when Aziraphale and Crowley aren’t around to push it forward.
This is particularly true any time Anathema Device and/or Newton Pulsifer are onscreen, as the series’ subplot about witches, witchfinders and prophecies is…messy, at best.
But everything’s so light, fun and utterly gorgeous to look at, that you’ll find yourself pulled along by the story anyway. And sucked in by its big, open heart.
Good Omens‘ greatest achievement isn’t its hilarious story of the end of the world. It isn’t even Crowley and Aziraphale’s friendship, though both those things are true and make for great TV.
It’s the recognition that we’re all not that different, in the end.
Remember: Demons are just angels that Fell.
The story of Good Omens is a reminder that we are who we choose to be. Our roles, our selves are not written in stone or the stars.
And every day — Apocalypse or no — is a chance to make better choices.
Stray Thoughts and Observations
- Welcome to the family, new Aziraphale and Crowley shippers. Of course, you don’t have to believe these two idiots love each other, but wow this series is romantic as heck if you do.
- The post-Apocalypse sequence in which Crowley and Aziraphale switch bodies was added for the TV series and does not appear in the novel. This bit further underlines the series’ idea that Good and Evil are often a matter of perspective, as both the angel and the demon are able to successfully imitate the other, with none of their superiors the wiser.
- Personally, I would have chosen to make Benedict Cumberbatch’s Satan painfully beautiful rather than hideously monstrous — Lucifer, after all, was once the Lightbringer — but I can’t deny his voice is perfect for that part.
- While I do feel that six episodes is about the right size for this story, part of me can’t help wishing we’d gotten a bit more interaction/backstory/anything with the Four Horsemen.
- As a lifelong Tori Amos fan, the shoutout to her song “The Waitress” pretty much made my life.
What did you think of Good Omens? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Good Omens is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
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Lacy Baugher
Lacy is a pop culture enthusiast and television critic who loves period dramas, epic fantasy, space adventures, and the female characters everyone says you're supposed to hate. Ninth Doctor enthusiast, Aziraphale girlie, and cat lady, she's a member of the Television Critics Association and Rotten Tomatoes-approved. Find her at LacyMB on all platforms.
One thought on “Good Omens Review: A Love Letter to the Original Novel and a Message That Matters”
This is a wonderful review of a show that surpassed all my hopes and expectations (and, as a long time devotee of the book, these were pretty high). My first reaction after pretty much binge-watching the six episodes, was that I hadn’t realised that the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley was such a love story. And I love the way you frame it in the review, that they “choose each other rather than the rules they’ve been given to follow”. The other thing that is remarkable about the series is that the love with which it was made, the deep admiration, affection and respect that Gaiman clearly felt for Sir Terry, quite simply lights up the screen in every single scene. I’m pushing 70 and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s brilliant and funny and most of all, it’s somehow redemptive. We’re all better off for watching it, have the prospect of being better people for having seen it.
Best TV I’ve ever seen.
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