The final chapter of Good Omens dropped last month. Based on a novel of the same name by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, the series focuses on the unlikely friendship between a demon, Crowley (David Tennant), and an angel, Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), and their uncommon affinity for human beings.
It is striking just how much richness the series finale packed into one 90-minute episode. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Good Omens was supposed to have a proper season three with six episodes, but well-documented allegations of sexual assault by Neil Gaiman led to the abbreviated ending. This strikes me as the right decision, given the seriousness of the accusations. It also makes me wonder whether we should or even can apply the same judgment to the show’s source material—scripture.
The final episode features a botched rollout of the second coming. While the original intent is for Jesus to come to earth to usher in a reign of peace, everything seems to go wrong. That’s bad for heaven but plenty of fun for the viewer, as we get to watch Jesus, played by Bilal Hasna, come back to earth to try out his parables on a generally unreceptive audience.
