WiC Watches: Good Omens

Episode 3: “Hard Times”

This is the least eventful episode of Good Omens yet, but it’s also the best because it drills down on the millennia-long friendship between Aziraphale and Crowley.

“Hard Times” checks in on their relationship as it develops over the centuries: the two of them watching Jesus’ crucifixion at Golgotha (Crowley: “That’s got to hurt” — honestly, making light of the crucifixion is pretty ballsy even today, and I appreciate it), Aziraphale tempting Crowley into trying oysters and then crepes in ancient Rome and later in Paris during the Reign of Terror; Crowley saving saving Aziraphale from German spies during the Blitz (I loved David Tennant dancing on the church floor, consecrated ground being difficult for a demon, like he was walking on hot coals) and Aziraphale returning the favor in the ’60s by getting Crowley a thermos of holy water, which he can use to commit demon suicide if the bigwigs down in hell ever discovers the extent of their partnership.

All of this takes place before the (excellent) opening credits even roll. Usually, that space is reserved for a throwaway teaser of what’s to come, but this stroll through time is vital to enjoying the show. We learn to see Aziraphale and Crowley as more than just a biblical odd couple; they care about each other, so the later scene where Aziraphale refuses to tell Crowley the location of the Antichrist — essentially their breakup scene — has real weight.

And also all the history references and period costumes are fun.

If I’ve had a complaint about Good Omens so far it’s that it was too much quirk and not enough substance. By putting Aziraphale and Crowley’s friendship at stake, we have something to be invested in beyond the small matter of the end of the world.

Although that’s coming along, too. It ends up that both Aziraphale and Crowley, completely unaware of what the other is doing, are employing Shadwell and his witchfinder “army” to find the Antichrist in the village of Tadwell. Anathema Device is already there, cursing herself for losing her copy of The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch  and befriending Adam the Antichrist without realizing who she’s talking to. Apparently, Anathema is something of a new age crusader, big into saving the whales and eliminating nuclear power and stuff like that. It’s a fun enough turn, but I wish actor Adria Arjona would go broader with her performance. Or maybe they should have updated her agenda to include stuff like cleaning up social media and taking down big pharma? Her complaints felt a little 1990.

Anathema has convinced Adam, though. The episode ends with him replacing a nuclear reactor with a lemon candy, in his sleep without meaning to. The Antichrist’s power is on the rise.