‘Good Omens’ Season 2 is Both Devilishly Fun and Tragically Flat

This article contains spoilers for Amazon Prime’s “Good Omens.”

A 6,000-year-old slow-burn romance has ended in divorce — at least, that’s what it feels like.

“Good Omens” is a fantasy comedy series directed by Douglas Mackinnon based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s 1990 novel of the same name.

The first season of the series follows the book dutifully, exploring an angel and a demon’s attempts to stop Armageddon — a battle of heaven versus hell. The second season creates its own narrative throughout six episodes. Both, however, are centered around the relationship between the fictional angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant)

After stopping Armageddon in season 1, Aziraphale and Crowley now enjoy the peaceful existences carved for themselves on Earth — until a naked, amnesiac archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) shows up on the steps of Aziraphale’s bookshop.

Aziraphale and Crowley find themselves to be the new babysitters of the Archangel, hiding him from the forces of heaven and hell under the pseudonym “Jim.”

Season 2 bounces between past and present, contrasting historical scenes with modern ones. The audience witnesses the hilarious banter between Crowley and Aziraphale from 1827 Edinburgh, Scotland to 1941 London and even back to the biblical times of Job. 

It’s exceedingly amusing to watch the pair stumble through bizarre predicaments in history together, from attempting to put on a magic show on a West End stage to grave robbing — and doing so in intricate, period-appropriate outfits. 

The costume design of “Good Omens” is stellar. The outfits for each era are distinctly accurate for the time while still appealing to the pair’s personalities and divine positions. Aziraphale tends to recreate the same off-white outfit with subtle changes to match the stylistic differences between centuries. Crowley’s black looks drastically change to fit the epitomical outfits of the eras. Their time in Edinburgh is particularly fun in terms of costuming. Both Aziraphale and Crowley are chicly dressed in typical Regency-style overcoats. 

Aziraphale looks dashingly affluent in a beige surtout with ocean-colored accents and three short capes layered overtop. Crowley dons a black demi-surtout, cutting a severely angular silhouette. Aziraphale is soft, rich and warm, while Crowley is sharp, dark and mysterious — an angel and a demon, truly. 

Given the charming humor of their history, season 2 ends with a comparatively devastating parallel to season 1. In an effort to preserve their current existences on Earth and to avoid the clashes between heaven and hell, Crowley begs Aziraphale to run away with him while Aziraphale is stuck in his confidence that heaven will fix the conflicts. 

In the final minutes of the last episode “Every Day,” Aziraphale announces his plan to return to heaven and take over Gabriel’s position. He asks Crowley to join him as his second-in-command and be reinstated as an angel.

Crowley is appalled. In typical “Good Omens” fashion, the morality of heaven and hell are brought into play — the subtle cruelty and apathy of heaven are contrasted by hell’s inanity. 

As Aziraphale dwells on heaven being the side of truth, light and good, Crowley becomes furious.

“When heaven ends life here on Earth, it’ll be just as dead as if hell ended it,” Crowley emphasizes to Aziraphale.

In a final act of desperation to get Aziraphale to stay, Crowley kisses him, to which Aziraphale replies, “I forgive you.”

It’s heartbreaking but understandable. It’s how their two characters have eternally existed — Aziraphale waiting on heaven hand and foot and Crowley desperate to break free. There wasn’t going to be another ending for them. 

While the main plot between Crowley and Aziraphale is as engaging and excellent as the first season, the side characters leave much to be desired. 

Though Gabriel delivers fantastic comic relief in his bumbling, newborn worldview, his character development is unimpressive. 

After regaining his memories in the final episode, it’s revealed that Gabriel has established a romantic relationship with Beelzebub, prince of hell. The episode skips through three of the pair’s clandestine meetings where they discuss preventing a second Armageddon. This is then deemed enough exposition to justify an archangel and a prince of hell falling in love, abandoning their posts to be together. 

It feels more like an appeasement to the fan-favorite pairing between Gabriel and Beelzebub known as the “Ineffable Bureaucracy” than any real development — especially considering its hasty explanation and happy ending.

Another couple in the show receives the same clumsy development — Nina and Maggie, two shopkeepers near Aziraphale’s bookshop.

After lying about performing a miracle to make Nina and Maggie fall in love, Aziraphale is tasked with actually making it happen. Though it’s made clear Maggie has a crush on Nina, the two have no chemistry past that. 

Nina is already involved in an unhealthy relationship with her partner Lindsay, which is displayed awkwardly through angry and paranoid text messages written across the screen. Just by comparison, Maggie makes a much more appealing lover.

But that’s just it. That’s the only indication the two would pair well. Not much else is revealed about Nina and Maggie, and it seems they’ve only been coupled due to the celestial meddling of Aziraphale. 

Though the supporting plot lines are not as remarkable as they ought to be, Crowley and Aziraphale carry the season to an exemplary ending. For fans of the show, dissatisfaction is doubtful.

Season 2 of “Good Omens” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Featured image courtesy of Prime Video.