Hogan Reviews

The first season of Good Omens was my 2019 TV Series/Season of the year so it’s no surprise to hear I was eagerly anticipating this return and thankfully it didn’t disappoint! While I’d say it was slightly weaker than the first season, though given how highly I rated that it means Season 2 was still extremely enjoyable. This is mostly thanks to the endlessly charismatic duo of Michael Sheen and David Tennant, not to do a disservice to the other actors or the writing itself! So let’s take another dive into the world of Good Omens, shall we?

The core concept of Season 2 (or just “Good Omens 2” as its stylised) is that Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) arrives on the doorstep of Aziraphale’s (Michael Sheen) bookshop stark naked and with no memory of who or what he is, all he knows is that Aziraphale will help him, which he does. Az doesn’t contact Heaven though, given he’s still on the outs with them, instead he calls on Crowley (David Tennant) his old demon pal from the past few millennia. Initially reluctant to help what is technically his kind’s greatest enemy Crowley changes his mind when both his replacement as Hell’s London rep Shax (Miranda Richardson) and Beelzebub (Shelley Conn) intimate that anyone found hiding Gabriel will be wiped from existence by “those above” and a similar fate will befall Crowley should he be helping his old pal. Not wanting Aziraphale to be destroyed Crowley returns to the bookshop and together they perform a “tiny miracle” that means nobody from either Heaven or Hell will be able to recognise Gabriel as anyone other than “Jim” the bookshop worker.

An awkward job interview.

Sadly for them though their combined might meant the miracle’s power was so great it was easily picked up by the various angels up in Heaven, so to try and cover their tracks Az claims the miracle was to make nearby coffee shop owner Nina (Nina Sosanya) fall in love with nearby record shop owner Maggie (Maggie Service). This means Aziraphale and Crowley now have to make two humans fall for each other in order to get away with their lie. So sorting out what happened to Gabriel while also trying to make two humans fall in love is what they have to deal with in the present day, but like last time there are some really funny flashbacks to Crowley and Aziraphale’s times together: my two favourites were the opening one set at the creation of the universe where the two meet for the first time and Crowley expresses displeasure about the universe’s short lifespan and how only Earth will have life on it (and presumably gets cast down due to it) and one “adapting” the story of Job (played by Peter Davison), poking fun at the idea of God taking everything from him, including his children, as a test of his faith.

Three angels head to Earth… can’t remember any of their names, but they’re heading to Earth alright!

Everything in the season is second place to Sheen and Tennant’s amazing chemistry and in fact the core plot beyond Gabriel and the two shop owners is Aziraphale and Crowley realising they have feelings for each other beyond friendship, oddly something the demon realises first, and due to their acting chops it all works so, so well. That’s not a disservice to the rest of the acting on display either, well with the possible exception of Miranda Richardson’s Shax, whose intentional over-the-top performance doesn’t quite work, something about the tone of her voice just being… off. Still, wasn’t too distracting, and people like Jon Hamm and his naïve child-like human version of Gabriel more than made up for it. I also have to praise Derek Jacobi (as I do often on this site…) as he appears as the Metatron (God’s spokesperson, basically) in the final Episode and does such a pitch-perfect job that he nearly steals the scenes from Sheen and Tennant, and that’s saying something.

Overall Thoughts:

Crowley is pissed, which given he’s a Demon oddly doesn’t happen that often…

While Good Omens 2 may not be quite as great as Season 1 (though that might just be because I knew what to expect this time) but it does tell a great story focused entirely on Michael Sheen and David Tennant being an amazing double act while surrounded by an equally fun and varied cast. A good, simple plot surrounded by great flashbacks and some interesting set up for the third and apparently final season means I can’t really fault this one. Another 5 for Good Omens!

In the end Shax manages to assemble an army of lesser demons to attack the bookshop just as Aziraphale is hosting a local shop keepers meeting with the intention of using it to get Nina and Maggie to hook up with each other. Crowley manages to get everyone out minus Nina and Maggie, who stay with Az in order to find out what the hell’s going on. The confrontation gets heated until Az uses his halo to dispel the demons and knock Shax out, possibly starting a war between Heaven and Hell in the process. Sure enough representatives from both above and below arrive and its here Az and Crowley come clean and reveal Gabriel, thanks to the latter poking around in Heaven and finding out where the former archangel hid his memories: in a fly. Beelzebub unlocks Gabriel’s memories for him and we see that it was all thanks to the two becoming something of an item, to the point where Gabriel opted out on the proposed idea of an apocalypse thanks to an agreement the two made.

Shax is thrilled with the chance to badly over-act on a grander scale!

Metatron decides to bust Gabriel down to regular angel with his memories erased, which is why he hid his memories before they could be taken (the fly was a gift from Beelzebub) Gabriel and Beelzebub escape together, angering both sides, before Metatron appears and dismisses everyone apart from Aziraphale, who he takes outside for a chat. Meanwhile Nina and Maggie tell Crowley to reveal his own feelings to Az instead of poking around in their lives, but tragically just as the demon is about to do just that Aziraphale reveals he’s been made the new archangel and head of Heaven’s armies by the Metatron and has been given permission to restore Crowley back as an angel. That’s the last thing he wants mind you and he gets angry that Aziraphale would want to go back to Heaven after everything that happened, gives him a good long kiss and then leaves as a single tear rolls down the Angel’s cheek. The series ends with Crowley driving off in a huff while Aziraphale travels up to heave with Metatron…