It’s road trip time! This week on Good Omens 2, we’re headed to Scotland to dig up some graves. And possibly, a Clue! Inkslinger Aziraphale is on the road, hot on the tails of information about Gabriel’s mysterious jukebox. In the flashback part of the episode, Crowley goes full Alice in Wonderland.
Note: Each episode recap will include spoilers for that episode and the previous ones only. I have seen the entire season, but I will try to keep these reviews contained to the episodes as they proceed. If you want to watch Good Omens season two, I highly recommend avoiding spoilers if you can. Make your own judgments, people!
1. What’s All This, Then?
A cinnamon roll appears! In the first episode of this season, Aziraphale and Crowley performed a joint miracle to hide the memory-challenged Gabriel from Heaven and Hell. It worked a little too well. When questioned about it, Aziraphale lied, as he is wont to do, saying that he was trying to miraculously get fellow shopkeepers Nina and Maggie to fall in love. When the angel Muriel, the cutest “human police officer” you ever saw in your life, is sent to check up on that fact, our duo decides to play matchmakers and get the two humans together. Because if there were ever experts on successfully falling in love, these two are it. (I mean that both sarcastically and not sarcastically. They’re in love, your honor, but they’re not great at it.)
Muriel, as played by Quelin Sepulveda, is a ray of sunshine and my favorite new character introduced in season two. (Jemimah and her blue lizard dreams notwithstanding.) She exudes innocence and naivety. But instead of rolling your eyes at how fresh and green she is, you just want to protect the baby angel-slash-human-police-officer with your life. Muriel trusts implicitly and believes in the power of love. Awwwww.
2. Lessons in Grave Robbing, by Dr. McFell
Back in 1827, Crowley takes Aziraphale to Edinburgh to gawk at a statue of the archangel Gabriel located in a graveyard. The duo come upon a young woman digging up a body to sell for cash. Elspeth is starving, and grave robbing allows her and her friend wee Morag to eat. Crowley is unbothered by the practice, arguing that Elspeth has been dealt a terrible hand by being born into poverty. Thus, she can’t be expected to adhere to the same sort of lofty morality as the rich. Aziraphale, parroting his side’s official line, insists that being poor simply affords people more opportunities to rise above their circumstances and be good. This exchange is also found in the Good Omens novel, and provides a clear example of Aziraphale and Crowley’s differing moral philosophies.
Convinced that grave robbing is wrong, Aziraphale decides to teach her a moral lesson. But when he and Crowley visit the surgeon (not doctor) that Elspeth is selling bodies to, Aziraphale discovers that a lack of fresh cadavers is holding back medical advances that may save lives. He switches sides, agreeing to help Elspeth find more bodies. But when they go back to the graveyard, wee Morag is shot with a grave gun and dies. Distraught, Elspeth tries to commit suicide but Crowley takes her lethal laudanum dose instead. After drug-induced shenanigans, Aziraphale gives the young woman all his money and she agrees to be good from that point forward.
3. I Spy With My Little Eye…Something Yellow
Back in the present day, Aziraphale is driving. This may not seem so surprising, considering other series featuring angels and classic cars (yes, I’m looking at you, Supernatural). But Crowley is so closely associated with his 1926 black Bentley that in season one, he had a minor breakdown over losing it to a ring of otherworldly fire. So we know that Crowley allowing Aziraphale to drive it is a big deal. And the angel is taking to the Bentley like a duck to water. He drives slowly, listens to classical music instead of Queen, and has even changed the car’s color to yellow. Is this an important detail to the plot of Good Omens 2? Perhaps not. But for fans invested in Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship (and fans of the iconic Bentley), it’s a fun development showing how close the pair have become, while also not entirely seeing eye to eye.
Continued belowWhile in Edinburgh, Aziraphale dons his best detecting outfit, poses as a newspaper man and gets to sleuthing. He finds out that Gabriel visited a pub on earth before his mysterious memory loss. And he wasn’t alone! What does it mean? We don’t know yet, but the plot is thickening.
4. Only Happy When it Rains
Back in London, Crowley is trying his hand at matchmaking. He summons a rainstorm just as Maggie and Nina are walking together down the street. Maggie still has a crush on Nina, but after being locked together in the coffee shop for hours in a previous episode, Nina ran into trouble with her partner. We’re getting the impression that Nina’s partner might be terrible, or at least that they don’t seem happy together. And although Maggie clearly likes her, Nina can’t seem to realize it. Just as it seems like they might share an emotional moment together, though, the awning above them breaks, drenching both. So much for Crowley’s “falling in love under a torrential downpour” theory.
5. Crowley in Wonderland. Or, a wee angry Scottish demon.
In the graveyard flashback, Crowley, high on laudanum, pulls an Alice in Wonderland by drinking a draught and shrinking, then growing to a great height. As a tiny Scottish creature, he resembles the “Nac Mac Feegle” of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. Then when he grows, the silly giant demon growls and snarls, but ultimately convinces Elspeth and Aziraphale to resolve their differences and move on. It’s … silly. David Tennant looks like he’s having a blast playing drunk Crowley, and although the resolution of the moral dilemma is a bit tidy, this “minisode” reminds viewers that although Good Omens is concerned with matters of faith, goodness, and ethics, it’s ultimately a comedy with silly characters who try to do their best.
While I was watching this episode for the first time, I had a grin on my face and couldn’t stop saying, “What in the world is happening?” Although this flashback provides us with the clue of the Gabriel statue and the argument about poverty found in the original book, I’m not entirely sure what else it really added to the overall season. But gosh, it was fun.
6. Bits and Bobs
- This episode is packed with references to Scotland and Scottish pop culture. Highlights include the title and tartan imagery taken from Powell and Pressburger’s I Know Where I’m Going!, Edinburgh Castle showing up in places it isn’t, and the variety of Scottish accents David Tennant puts on. (Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to use his own!) If you’re interested in the trivia behind this episode, the Amazon X-ray extras are well worth checking out.
- Amazon’s X-ray trivia also digs deep to give us the obscure fact that David Tennant has, at various points in his career, played a doctor. (Cue the “vworp vwrorp” sound.)
- Speaking of trivia and easter eggs, the title sequence for Good Omens 2 is just as creative, fun, and packed with little details as the intro for season one. Made by Peter Anderson Studio, the intro credits show little papercraft Aziraphales and Crowleys as they journey through heaven, hell, space, London, the theatre, and more. Each episode’s intro changes to fit the episode and there are so many easter eggs pointing to both season one and two (and, per Neil Gaiman, three!) that you could spend ages pausing the screen to find them. Paired with the jaunty theme by composer David Arnold, these aren’t credits I’m likely to skip.
- Switching back and forth between the present day and the past gets a little confusing in this episode and the next one. While I loved detective Aziraphale and the yellow car, plus giant Crowley, the actual plot relevance of both trips to Edinburgh wasn’t immediately clear until I rewatched the episode. Worth it for the way Tennant says “bodysnatchin’” though.
Are you hungry? Maybe put aside your dinner, because next week on Good Omens 2, Nazis return from the dead to eat brains and watch a magic show!
