In 2019, in the pre-pandemic “Before Times,” Season 1 of “Good Omens” was refreshingly original with Michael Sheen (“The Queen”) as cheery angel Aziraphale and David Tennant (“Doctor Who”) as devious demon Crowley.
Four years later, viewers have probably forgotten everything that happened, so you might want to rewatch Season 1 before you start on Season 2, especially since Amazon Prime Video offers no “Previously On” primer.
Created by Neil Gaiman from his 1990 novel with Terry Pratchett, the British fantasy series follows Aziraphale and Crowley after they’ve been exiled from Heaven and Hell, forcing them to team up on Earth to encounter the Antichrist before Armageddon in Season 1. How the hell do you follow the End Times? Where do you go from there? Apparently, you invent a second season that drags with filler chapters for a cumbersome six episodes.
Co-writers Gaiman and John Finnemore offer an intriguing setup in Episode 1 (“The Arrival”), opening in the cosmos as Crowley and Aziraphale create our galaxy to be destroyed in 6,000 years. We then move to present day as Aziraphale runs a bookstore where archangel Gabriel (an amusingly against-type Jon Hamm) appears naked with his memory wiped, so they perform a miracle to hide his whereabouts, accidentally alerting Heaven and Hell.
Episode 2 (“The Clue”) cleverly plants a clue with Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” as Crowley and Aziraphale distract Heaven and Hell’s investigators by inventing a fake miracle of playing matchmaker between cafe owner Nina and record-shop owner Maggie. Thankfully, this episode devotes equal time to present day (“A” story) and the Biblical backstory of Job (“B” story), suggesting that each episode might show one current storyline and one flashback.
However, Episode 3 allows the flashbacks to dominate way too much, taking a tangent back to a Frankenstein backstory where grave robbers dig up bodies and deliver them to a mad scientist known as The Resurrectionist, who experiments for college research in 1827 Edinburgh. This so-called “minisode” completely distracts from the main story, so while the episode is titled “I Know Where I’m Going,” it really doesn’t seem like the writers do.
Episode 4 (“The Hitchhiker”) derails even more with another “minisode” called “Nazi Zombie Flesheaters,” flashing back to 1941 London during World War II as Aziraphale’s career as a magician is interrupted by three Nazis who come back from Hell as zombies. While director Douglas Mackinnon has visual fun, the script spends practically zero time on the A-story of Gabriel, Nina and Maggie, leaving us checking our watches as our eyes glaze over.
Many viewers will bail at this point, but Episode 5 (“The Ball”) corrects course because it’s mostly set in present day as Aziraphale throws a Jane Austen-style ball in his bookshop trying to bring Maggie and Nina together. Meanwhile, Shax (Miranda Richardson) gathers her demons outside the bookshop door, begging for Aziraphale to turn over Gabriel and telling the goofy Jon Hamm to shut up, not realizing it’s the very angel they’re looking for.
The Episode 6 finale (“Every Day”) is the best episode, answering our questions about Gabriel and offering juicy twists for Beelzebub (Shelley Conn). The final cliffhanger is wonderfully heartbreaking, showing a split screen of Crowley and Aziraphale over the end credits. How can Episode 6 be this good after such a cumbersome Episode 3 and 4? Alas, it confirms that this season would have made a solid four episodes instead of an overstuffed six.
