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@thefilmobservatory
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3.5/5
Fantasy/Comedy
The angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant) team up to prevent the explosive end of the world, as the forces of heaven and hell scramble to locate the Antichrist.
Good Omens is based on the novel ‘Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch’, that was written by the famous comedy and fantasy writers Terry Pratchett (Rest In Peace) and Neil Gaiman. Both writers have proved themselves to be very talented, but I’m not sure about how well the story translates to the medium of TV. Despite its super high stakes and potential worldwide consequences, Good Omens works best when it’s simply focusing on its central dynamic between Aziraphale and Crowley. Michael Sheen and David Tennant clearly have a lot of fun in these roles and it rubs off on the audience – it’s difficult not to smile at Sheen’s literal purity and innocence, and grin at Tennant’s, again, quite literal, devilish snarls and dry sarcasm. While I am interested in the second season of Good Omens that’s hopefully soon to come, Season 1 suffers when it moves away from their relationship, due to pacing issues, some underdeveloped characters, and a few showcases of seriously mediocre-bad acting. However, it’s undeniably faithful to its source material, mostly succeeds at being what it’s trying to be, and it pulls through to be charming and entertaining enough to have a good time with.
One of my favourite parts of the show was the cast. Everybody seems to be having a blast – from Jon Hamm playing the angel Gabriel, to Frances McDormand serving as the voice of God. Small appearances from actors like Nick Offerman and The Umbrella Academy alumnus Yusuf Gatewood are nice surprises that make you feel like Leo in that DiCaprio meme of him noticing something and proudly pointing at it from the sofa. There’s an especially enjoyable episode detailing Aziraphale and Crowley’s journey through time, as they bump into each other in the middle ages, at a Shakespeare play, during the French Revolution, and more. Good Omens demonstrates an irreverent and witty sense of Monty Python-esque humour, with its seemingly random specificity (at one point, God explains that the Earth was created in 4004BC on 21st October at 9:15 in the morning), and its exploration of the true meanings of things that humans may have misinterpreted throughout history (God also explains that dinosaurs are a joke that palaeontologists haven’t discovered yet).
This criticism can be light-heartedly funny, but the misinterpretations of religious groups throughout history has caused things like discrimination and genocide. For example, some Christians in the past have somehow managed to twist the message of the Bible into a homophobic one, which is terrible and if a God really existed, they would love everyone and would never intend that. Interestingly enough, it’s difficult to tell whether Good Omens applies to religion or not, as it’s largely about heaven and hell and angels and demons. However, God and these transcendent things are kind of meant to be, well, transcendent. Religion thrives on faith without proof, and it’s not meant to be possible to truly depict things like God and their angels, so is the attempted depiction offensive? Not for me personally, but there’s some food for thought.
I apologise for the slightly random direction that that paragraph took, so let’s get back to the series. Sheen and Tennant are very good in the show, and they save Good Omens from some of its flaws. They’re both such watchable actors with great chemistry, and it absolutely shines here. The dynamic is practically the definition of ‘opposites attract’, and their relationship is smartly written and played out, with the classic couple’s quarrels, but enough mutual affection for the audience to understand why it works well. There is a fun Romeo-and-Juliet-type aspect to it, and there’s a fantastic, and seemingly deliberate, LGBTQ+ subtext that I’m excited to see further play out in the future of the show.
Another thing I really liked was the main theme. The theme song is so catchy! I’ve been humming it, in my head and audibly, while writing this very review, and it suits the plot and the tone brilliantly. However, I can’t solely appreciate the music here – the artwork that plays out during the theme is extremely stylistic and detailed, and I thoroughly enjoyed trying to find something new in it, each episode. The vibe of the title theme was the kind of style and tone that I wish that the rest of the show maintained, because, unfortunately, there were some things holding Good Omens Season 1 back from being great.
While the previously established cast members are all good and sufficiently charismatic, it’s the unknowns that let the season down. It’s always really important to showcase new talent, and it especially works to mix it with that of well-known performers. However, there’s such an immense disparity between the brilliance of Tennant and Sheen, and, for example, the child actors, who seem to be new to the scene. The young actors are not very good in the show, so chuck in some cheesy dialogue, that cringeworthily sounds like what studio snobs assume that kids sound like, then some extremely ropy CGI, and we subsequently have to spend so much of the season with inexperienced performers who are dealing with a tediously mediocre script. I’m sure that these young cast members can be good, but they weren’t a wise pick for Good Omens. Jack Whitehall is in the show, but he felt out of place to me, as if he didn’t quite suit the energy and tone of the season. The structure of Good Omens is centred around the concept of countless storylines that seem to be individual but cleverly interlope towards the end, and this is executed well, but the overall build-up doesn’t really work. I often found myself wondering what we’re doing at certain parts of the season, and why we were with certain, sometimes seemingly inconsequential characters. This would work if the individual scenes had important character moments, constant humour, and some stakes.
Those things are often necessary to keep an audience hooked, so going against these conventions makes parts of episodes feel a little messy at points. There’s that clash between traditional story structures for film and TV, and the sprawling, yet interesting, method that authors can took with books, because they aren’t limited to that 2-hour mark, or that 1-hour mark in the case of (long) TV episodes. It feels like Good Omens isn’t suited to being in a medium other than in its origination, however, I’m hoping that the second season will prove otherwise. My final qualm was to do with the fact that Good Omens is funny, but it’s not really my style of comedy, which is quite a major factor in whether a series of this genre works or not. Parts of it feel parodic but the season doesn’t fully lean into this, making it difficult to discern whether scenes are trying to be genuine, and consequently whether the audience is meant to be feeling for certain characters or not. It can come down to a bit of a preference-kind-of-thing, so I can understand why others, who particularly enjoy the oddball, matter-of-fact, sharply witty sense of humour, would find Good Omens more appealing.
The cinematography in the series is quite a strong aspect – there seemed to have been a fairly high budget for it, and it’s put to good use. It doesn’t feel totally distinctive but it mostly looks pretty, and vivid. The costume design is wonderful, and Aziraphale and Crowley’s outfits are stylish, and share an effective contrast. Good Omens doesn’t try to avert stereotypical interpretations of the afterlife – for example, visually, heaven is light, and hell is dark – however, this works to the advantage of the series, as part of what is funny is that these kinds of established beliefs, that would seem ridiculous to some people, are being brought to life, and obviously serve a major contrast to the human world. Another nice touch is the recurring use of the irresistible music of Queen, that suits the tone well and elevates certain scenes. The iconic riffs and vocal talent of Freddie Mercury immaculately fit the vibe of Crowley, in particular, and contribute to an element of classic classiness (that’s a fun phrase).
Overall, Good Omens has prominent pacing issues and didn’t manage to hold my interest the whole way through but it’s definitely a good time. There’s style aplenty and Sheen and Tennant are on form, so you should watch the series for them and their chemistry, if for nothing else. I’ll check out season 2, and I do think that the first season sets up inventive concepts that offer some ground for more stories in this world. I recommend Good Omens Season 1 to fans of Monty Python-esque comedy, Sheen and Tennant, and those who like fantastical, conceptual adventures.
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