Every day, just like a roller coaster: a review of Good Omens 2

Good Omens 2

Created by Neil Gaiman

Based on Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Written by Neil Gaiman and John Finnemore (series 2)

Directed by Douglas Mackinnon

Starring

Michael Sheen

David Tennant

Daniel Mays

Siân Brooke

Ned Dennehy

Ariyon Bakare

Nick Offerman

Anna Maxwell Martin

Nina Sosanya

Doon Mackichan

Sam Taylor Buck

Jon Hamm

Adria Arjona

Miranda Richardson

Michael McKean

Jack Whitehall

Mireille Enos

Bill Paterson

Yusuf Gatewood

Voices of

Brian Cox

Derek Jacobi

Benedict Cumberbatch

Narrated by Frances McDormand (series 1)

Music by David Arnold

First off, let’s just stipulate that there is no replacing Terry Pratchett. His was a wild, hilarious, and imaginative talent that was utterly unique. Neil Gaiman, himself one of the best writers in the English language, knew this and vowed, upon Pratchett’s passing, to never attempt to make a sequel to Good Omens without him. Their joint novel was fabulous, an instant classic, and the six part television series lived up to the impossibly high standards. Gaiman saw no reason to improve on perfection, especially without one of the main ingredients.

But then Gaiman got a posthumous letter from Pratchett, intended for Gaiman to read following his death. It said, in effect, “Sod it, just make the fucking sequel. You’ll do fine.”

Well, to replace Pratchett, start at the top and work your way down. So they asked England’s number one comedy writer, John Finnemore, if he would do it. Finnemore, who has won a raft of comedy awards, is best known for Cabin Pressure, Mitchell and Webb, and several eponymous radio shows. He recently won the Outstanding Contribution to Writing from the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. He had large shoes to fill, but luckily, he had large feet. Replacing Pratchett with him didn’t hurt the quality and wit of the show one bit. It’s still the funniest show on television, and one of the smartest.

The real magic, though, lies in the incredible chemistry between David Tennant (the demon Crowley) and Michael Sheet (the angel Aziraphale). Frenemies for six thousand years, they both developed a fondness for Earth, and found themselves on the outs with their respective home offices in Hell and Heaven after colluding to stymie Armageddon. Left to their own devices on Earth, and with their various angelic powers intact, their friendship deepens.

Season two begins in the heart of London, when a naked man holding an empty box shows up on the door stoop of Aziraphale’s book store (A.Z. Fell: No books sold since 1694). Well, the box isn’t completely empty, and the naked person is not a man. He is, in fact, the archangel Gabriel, effectively second-in-command of Heaven and head of the celestial bureaucracy. Crowley’s panicked-cat reaction to the sight of his most hated and feared enemy is by itself screamingly funny.

But Gabriel has lost his memory and presumably a goodly portion of his personality. In his place is Jim (short for James, short for Gabriel) who is effusively and dimly enthusiastic and friendly in an utterly gormless kind of way. His idea of being helpful is by rearranging all the books in the store by alphabetical order: the first letter in the first sentence of each book.

The angels (Crowley is an angel, albeit it a fallen, or at least badly tripped one) decide that Heaven is probably looking for The Boss, while Hell wouldn’t mind getting their claws on the Adversary’s top General. They decide to work a miracle to conceal Jim, but in so doing, attract the notice of Heaven and a vague suspicion from Hell. Thus the stage is set.

Zealots are going to hate this series, especially since its depiction of the events and characters of the Old Testament is frighteningly accurate. For the rest of us, though, it is an absolute lyrical delight.

The ending is a bit jarring, and screams for a third season since it presages massive changes in the existences of Crowley and Aziraphale. But until the work action by SAG/AFTRA is concluded, that will be on hold. Of course, the last time, Season two was on hold because of Pratchett’s death and the worldwide pandemic, and it survived that. So hopefully the unions will win their strike, and we won’t face the dismal prospect of AI-generated satire and ‘recreations’ of Tennant and Sheen.

But Season Two is here, it’s now, and it’s on Amazon and BBC2. Enjoy.