Good Omens

A hybrid of all the unharmonious and unmixable. Writers keep adding things in the bowl, and every element repels one another and overflows the cup.

Episode 1.1 -1.4. Solid eight. The foundation of the story is strong, and the motif itself is such a genius idea. An angel and a demon working together and building friendship, solidarity, and love. You know? It's most romantic when it's subtly romantic. Aziraphale and Crowly against the world or the whole universe. It's such a great adventure and romantic as heck. Of course, Sheen, Tennant, and Hamm's acting is fabulous.

Episode 1.5 - 2.6. Everything is so easy and convenient that the audience feels belittled. EVERYTHING happens by luck. There isn't any logic and steps to the problem-solving process. Especially toward the Armageddon, climax of the whole season, it ends so ridiculously in all parts: Adam's friends fighting four horsemen, Aziraphale and Crowly, our two protagonists, standing there doing nothing, Anathema and Pulsifier ending missile launch by just touching the computer. One or two conicidents are comical and can be such a laugh, but when eighty percent of the whole plots, especially with the ones that need most tension and meticulousness, lack effort, the audience should be pissed.

Season 2 is such a mess. The whole plot arc is incoherent and spreads all over the place. It lacks organization and branches out without any direction. Writers bring Zombies, Jane Austen, and memory loss just to fill up sixty minutes of one episode. They are so random, easy, and trite tropes. Writers really need to put even just a spoonful of passion to their writings. It looks as if they are just doing what they are paid to do and then go home. If you don't want to write this show, give it to people who really want it.

39 years ago I went to a SF convention in Birmingham, UK and, somehow, with a group of close friends, ended up having dinner with Neil Gaimen. During dinner he mentioned the new book he was writing with Terry Pratchett, called "Good Omens". He described it as "an apocalyptic story with comedic overtones". Several months later I was privileged to be at a small private reading of the book prior to its official release and ended up with a signed copy. I read it from cover to cover, many, many times and often wondered if a film would ever be made of it. I was worried that no-one would do it justice.

Tonight, I have just watched all six episodes and all I can say is "Wow". To make this as a film would have been a colossal mistake. To make it as a six part series was the best decision ever made.

The casting was inspirational. Adria Arjona as Anathema Device was brilliant. She matched the character perfectly. David Tenant and Michael Sheen as Crowley and Aziraphale were just inspirational and Jack Whitehall as Newton Pulsifer was brilliant. As for the rest of the cast, no-one could have done better.

The direction was awesome, the camera work was amazing and I loved how the the book's footnotes were worked into the script (bit of a trademark of Mr Pratchett).

Whether or not you will enjoy "Good Omens" depends on your sense of humour. If it leans towards slapstick or visual you may not. If it leans towards finding humour in dark situations you probably will. It also helps if you understand the trials and tribulations of driving on the M25, the London Orbital Motorway.

I will ask only one thing: Please, please, please, don't let anyone attempt to do a sequel.

So good, that it amazes me to find any negative comments or reviews at all. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea (what is?), to think some actually found something negative to critique or give a bad rating to, is baffling.

The acting is top-notch, the story is fantastic, the writing superb, the delivery mostly quirky and fun, so in a time where other television series run together and merge and meld in their unoriginality, to give this fun, very intelligently done series anything less than a nine, would be a sin.

In a nutshell: it is very cute. Although the themes of good and evil, heaven and hell, are rather epic and grand, this at heart just a small, gentle story of two men who hang out in a bookshop together, go to the pub together, pretend not to like each other, but secretly adore each other beyond the telling.

For me, it verged sometimes on schmaltzy. Whimsy is nice. Absurd is nice. But as an English person, with these things I can't always quite shake the feeling that it's a version of England and Englishness being sold shamelessly to Americans. The cuteness of it, like a little decorative teacup, is charming for sure, but I missed a bit of bite too. There are moments when it could almost bite, but then it seems to get scared and back down fast. For all that, Sheen and Tenant are extremely experienced actors who make it fun, watchable, and easy, ably supported by John Hamm (another highly professional actor), who seems to be having the time of his life with this relatively simple, comedic part.

I just now finally got around to watching Good Omens and have to say I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. First of all it stars three fantastic actors in David Tennant, Michael Sheen and Jon Hamm. What can be said about those three that haven't already? They're all incredible actors and the chemistry between Tennant and Sheen is some of the best I've seen on tv this year. It's about an unlikely friendship from an Angel named Aziraphale (Sheen) and a demon named Crowley (Tennant) as they team up to stop Armageddon. This show is clever in the way it makes you think about what is right and wrong and the sometimes fine like between them. For a show about the end of times, it sure does make you laugh.