Before all the hype surrounding the July 4 premiere of season three of Netflix's Stranger Things explodes in a couple of weeks, let me urge you to devote six hours of your summer to one of the more delightful offerings online, Amazon Prime's Good Omens. The six-part series follows the adventures of Aziraphale, the angel who guards the entrance to Eden with a flaming sword, and Crowley, the demon who convinces Eve to eat that pernicious apple. Their unlikely friendship begins at the creation of human history and pits them each against their assumed allies in the preparation for Armageddon and the end of the world.
At the heart of the series is that friendship, highlighted by the marvelous performances by Michael Sheen as Aziraphale and David Tennant as Crowley. Both creatures find themselves on Earth for the duration of human life, and each falls in love with humanity in his own way. Aziraphale loves old books and fine dining; Crowley amuses himself with the simplicity with which humans can foul up their lives with nothing more than a small nudge. But when faced with the Apocalypse and the end of all humanity, both join forces (not for the first time, we eventually find out) to thwart the plans of God and Satan alike.
Along for the adventure is Anathema Device (Adria Arjona), the descendant of a witch who wrote a 100 percent accurate book of prophecy, Newton Pulsifer (Jack Whitehall), whose ancestor burned the aforementioned witch at the stake, a demented witch-hunter played by Michael McKean with a spot-on Scottish accent, and Miranda Richardson, his prostitute/psychic next-door neighbor. Representing Hell is a cast of ghoulish demons; for Heaven, a no-less-ghoulish archangel Gabriel played by Jon Hamm.
The story centers on the advent of the antichrist, an 11-year-old boy who seems perfectly delightful until his demonic parentage begins to manifest itself, much to the horror of his three best friends. Aziraphale and Crowley plot behind the scenes to stop the spiritual forces set in motion, and much of the humor in the series comes from their well-intentioned but quite unsuccessful machinations. The other humans follow in kind with good intentions but less-than-desired results.
The deeper message to be found in this wonderfully devious series has to do with the nature of God's will; if it is God's will to destroy the Earth, should Aziraphale try to stop it? And if Satan's triumph is found through the power of the Antichrist, why would Crowley try to stand in the way? Tennant truly shines in the role of the reluctant demon, whose fall from grace seems to be more circumstantial than rebellious. His idea of winning souls for Satan is shutting down London's cell phone network or constructing a highway around London for the purpose of making traffic worse.
In the final analysis, both angel and demon find themselves choosing the side of the humans they were supposed to be fighting about for millennia. They each reject the mindless desire for war that both sides, Heaven and Hell, are determined to carry out, not for any real purpose other than to win. The irony is that neither side finds the same value in humanity that drives Aziraphale and Crowley; humans are nothing more than pawns to be sacrificed in the name of war. Like Huck Finn, both angel and demon accept the consequences of choosing the human side over either Heaven or Hell.
The script for the series was written by Neil Gaiman, the author behind Coraline, American Gods, and The Sandman, from a collaboration with writer Terry Pratchett. It definitely has the feel of Monty Python crossed with the sensibility of irreverence found in such works as Beetlejuice and Death Becomes Her. The writing is always wicked sharp, and the acting performances all rise to the quality of the words. The series also makes excellent use of several well-known Queen singles as part of its soundtrack.
Typically, a handful of addle-pated American evangelicals are stirring up noise about protests, once again missing the point in the same way their Puritan forebears got all ginned up anytime someone shouted "witch!" (Another ironic coincidence...) What they miss in the light of their fanaticism is the fact that this show highlights the reality that humans have an inherent value in and of ourselves because we all have a bit of the light and a bit of the darkness in us all. Aziraphale and Crowley show us that we don't have to choose one or the other to be on the right side. Being both is what makes us uniquely human.
Good Omens is another outstanding offering from Amazon Prime. Along with two-day shipping and a free Audible membership, that annual membership fee is still looking like a smart investment for my entertainment dollar.
