I <3 my humanist show

[promethia_tenk]

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(The Eden Disorder, by Naumaxia on YouTube.)

I love everything about Good Omens, but if I had to choose one thing, one single thing, it would be that Crowley is the Serpent of Eden. The show means nothing without it.

Do you ever think about how Aziraphale is a huge fan of Crowley's work? The collective output of knowledge and creativity of the human race is the direct result of the Fall from Eden.


The bookshop is a sort of post-fall Eden. Of course it's a haven. It also has a world tree in its center, though the summoning circle on the floor up through the cupola:




And all the fruits of knowledge strewn everywhere, abundant. The newly innocent Gabriel, like a reverse Adam, comes instinctively to the bookshop. "Who told you I was naked?" he asks Aziraphale. (cf: God saying "Who told you you were naked?" in Genesis.) He loves the books, but does not understand them. Crowley nearly makes him fall too (out the window) before deciding he can't. The Serpent of Eden, everybody:



But, and here's the crucial bit: the bookshop doesn't exist if Crowley isn't a demon. "If you don't change [the Bentley] back right now, I'm going to start selling people books! In fact, I might even give some away!" he threatens Aziraphale. Crowley lost his demon shell after subverting the apocalypse: both the job itself and the foreboding flat that went with it. What he has left of that identity is the black, low-slung, speeding Bentley and his garden of emotional trauma in the back seat. (Notice how he keeps the plants away from Aziraphale, only taking them into the bookshop when Aziraphale is out. Of course they belong in the bookshop: what's an Eden without the garden? Or its snake.)

A number of people have noted the change in color grading this season, and its primary effect, besides being just generally gorgeous, seems to be to highlight the similarities between Crowley's coloring and that of the bookshop. Most take it as a commentary on Aziraphale's preferences which, of course, it is: here's an excellent meta on the season as nesting fic (!) with an extended analysis of the bookshop coloring. A week or two ago I was watching especially the scenes of Crowley minding the shop while Aziraphale is in Edinburg, appreciating how harmonious he looks there. But if I'm honest with myself, what I was thinking wasn't 'Crowley looks like he belongs in the bookshop.' It was that Crowley is the bookshop:








Or its animating spirit, perhaps?:



Aziraphale may match the antique style of the place, but in shot after shot, he stands out against it (not as harshly as Muriel in her stark white, but it's still a contrast), while Crowley melts into the background like warmed chocolate:



Here's the thing, though: Aziraphale was ready to give up the bookshop. He was ready to give up the bookshop to make Crowley an angel again. That is indeed the trade-off, though he misunderstood cause and effect: the bookshop doesn't exist if Crowley isn't a demon. Aziraphale thought, rather sensibly, that the books are, at the end of the day, just things. And nothing last forever. What he didn't realize is the bookshop is everything.

Comments

[promethia_tenk]

There's also something, I think, in the fact that Aziraphale keeps bringing people into the bookshop in what is, ultimately, an attempt to tie Crowley more firmly to it. He knows that Crowley's compassion will take over--

Fear not: you're perfectly safe.

(Books are like people, only portable.)

It's much the same as how he knows they cannot run away to the stars, but on a more intimate scale.

[owlboy]

aziraphale just wants a baby

[promethia_tenk]

They've got 7 billion: and then they accidentally humanity's parents.

[elisi]

True. But they're a little careless with them... (poor wee Morag. and others)

[promethia_tenk]

I mean, it's gotta be like those fish that lay 50,000 eggs in a go. Some are gonna die, some are gonna get eaten, and some you're gonna accidentally crush as part of your psychosocial posturing. You just need a critical mass of them to be viable.

[elisi]

"We'll start with a breeding pair"

ETA: Actually what I want is for you to write up your thoughts about 'The humans become bartering pieces in their morality arguments'. It's so good.

[promethia_tenk]

Actually what I want is for you to write up your thoughts about 'The humans become bartering pieces in their morality arguments'. It's so good.
Is it? It kind of felt like 'oh, well, that's all fairly obvious, moving on.' But I guess now that you mention it, it's not really anything I've seen discussed enough.

[elisi]

I think it's the way they condemn God in the Job episode- and then (much much later) do the same thing themselves.

Also, thinking about it, then I think Job and Scotland are linked, but 1941 is more of its own thing across seasons.

ETA: OK back where I can type properly.

Trying to think about it then.. Job and Scotland are specific turning points? The first time they work together to subvert Heaven & Hell (against a specific order) and then the time when they push it too far. And by the time they're in Edinburgh the moral game of 'How do humans behave in the maze we have constructed' is something they have become used to? Elspeth is their little lab rat, until everything goes wrong and wee Morag dies & Elspeth is going to follow her. And then the repercussions follow (for Crowley).

I guess they... they play games above their station, in one sense?

ANYWAY. Job to Scotland, that's almost like a closed loop.

But then 1941 seems to be a different thing again. This one is three parts, and we only have parts 1 and 2 so far. Obviously Everything Is Connected, but trying to look at the narrative strands, this makes sense to me.

[promethia_tenk]

I think it's the way they condemn God in the Job episode- and then (much much later) do the same thing themselves.
I'm tired and it took me a moment, but you mean they're testing the humans in their own way.

I guess they... they play games above their station, in one sense?
I guess that's true. Though that implies it's chill for God and Satan to do, which I don't think is the lesson here.

But then 1941 seems to be a different thing again. This one is three parts, and we only have parts 1 and 2 so far. Obviously Everything Is Connected, but trying to look at the narrative strands, this makes sense to me
*nods* I think that makes sense.

And Job and Edinburg both have this morality component to them, where 1941 is more about their bond and trusting each other. Though, that said, that's something else that doesn't make sense to me about 1941? At the end when Azirpahale is like 'if you really were as bad as you say, you would have walked away.' And then they have their toast to shades of gray. And I'm like?!?!? I don't see how this follows? Morality didn't really play into this--it was all your weird co-dependent human LARPing. You both should have walked away. The 'you said to trust you' / 'and you did' part of the conversation flows naturally out of what actually happened that night. The shades of gray stuff does not. Maybe that's the point!??! They make things about their angel/demon-ness that aren't really about that at all?