Good Omens Finale Is Bad Fanfiction Brought To Life

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 15 seconds ago

When Good Omens first graced Prime Video with its presence, it felt a bit like a gift from God himself. Not only was it a very solid adaptation of the original Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman book, but its central duo was perfectly cast.

David Tennant plays a dastardly demon with a heart of gold, and Michael Sheen plays a natty angel who loves nothing more than tea and a good book. Their unexpected friendship is at the very heart of what makes Good Omens work, and Tennant and Sheen have the perfect amount of quirky chemistry to bring this unconventional relationship to life.

Good Omens later had something of a fall from grace. Season 2 went beyond the confines of the source material, and it was generally beloved thanks to guest stars like Jon Hamm and narrative input from co-showrunner Neil Gaiman. Unfortunately, Gaiman got canceled amid a slew of truly horrific allegations and was reduced from showrunner to co-writer.

It seemed like the right call, as a major association with a disgraced writer would be an albatross around this popular series’ neck. But in the absence of Gaiman’s more overt influence, the Good Omens’ finale became a cluttered mess of an unsalvageable story that feels like bad fanfiction. 

Ready For Final Judgment

The Good Omens finale picks up more or less where Season 2 left off. Michael Sheen’s Aziraphale is now running the show in Heaven and trying to prepare the Earth for a kinder, gentler Second Coming. David Tennant’s Crowley, however, is now destitute and living in an alley. Rejected by Hell and personally rejected by Heaven (Aziraphale previously freaked out when the demon kissed him), Crowley eeks out a meager life that is all about getting his car back. Their plots intersect when a reborn Jesus begins wandering the Earth, kicking off a manhunt whose outcome may very well lead to the end of the world.

I walked into the Good Omens finale with a very open mind. I really enjoyed the first two seasons, and I was already a huge fan of the two leads. David Tennant is buoyantly funny and charismatically compelling in Doctor Who, and he almost single-handedly breathed new life into that aging sci-fi franchise. Michael Sheen, meanwhile, really blew me away in Masters of Sex, a show in which his character is defined by quiet dignity and barely restrained passion. In short, these actors represent two great tastes on their own, and in the first two seasons of Good Omens, they most certainly tasted great together (get your heads out of the gutter, demons!).

Heaven Help The Fans

Sadly, the breezy chemistry between Tennant and Sheen is pretty much the only thing the Good Omens finale has going for it. Early on, the plot gestures at some neat ideas, including a resurrected Jesus (played wonderfully by Bilal Hasna) trying to find his purpose in the brave new world that is Earth.

Jesus gets some of the best scenes in this finale and is nominally important to the plot because Aziraphale and Crowley must team up to find him. But his entire storyline is rendered meaningless by a rushed ending that (without giving any spoilers) quite literally renders everyone else’s plots completely meaningless.

Before the accusations against Neil Gaiman came to light, Good Omens was going to have a full third season, but everything got condensed into a single double-episode-length finale. I’m not sure what the hell the writers and producers were planning to do with a whole season. As is, there’s barely enough plot to hold this finale together.

We spend a weird amount of screen time watching an angel gamble to get his car back and Jesus scrambling to learn the meaning of life. It’s just marking time, and even major plot points about the Book of Life being stolen are just excuses to awkwardly jam our two lead characters back together.

All Puzzles, No Answers

David Tennant and Michael Sheen are doing their absolute best with this sloppy script, and watching their very different energies bounce off each other is always great fun. Unfortunately, the Good Omens finale is proof that you can’t make great television on fun vibes alone.

These two spend plenty of time bantering because, frankly, they have little else to do. The closest thing to character development is them coming to terms with their feelings for each other in such an oddly chaste way that it’s guaranteed to piss off those who hated the decision to make these characters gay and those who wanted to see more of a passionate, full-blooded romance. 

The poor handling of their relationship is a microcosm of everything wrong with the Good Omens finale, currently streaming on Prime Video. From its meandering plots to its nonsensical conclusion, and to every annoying whimsy in between (including some distractingly stupid visual effects), this finale episode feels like nothing more than fanfiction.

As such, it has plenty of fan service but no actual substance, which is sure to disappoint fans praying for this show to stick the landing. Unfortunately, the Good Omens finale offers all who pray a rather bleak reminder: sometimes, the answer to your prayers is a firm “no.”

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