This article contains spoilers for Good Omens season 2.
As a love story spanning thousands of years, Good Omens is full of sweet moments. We see Aziraphale and Crowley protect each other from rain and falling stars with an outstretched wing. We see Aziraphale’s reaction when Gabriel asks if he’s ever known things would be better if he were with one particular person. We Crowley’s flustered stammers when Nina asks him how long he and Aziraphale have been together. And, of course, there are the overtly romantic moments in season 2, like the dancing scenes and the season finale.
But there’s one season 2 moment in particular that, to me, distills Crowley’s feelings for Aziraphale.
To recap: way back in the season 1 finale, Crowley and Aziraphale switch bodies in order to avoid being executed for thwarting the apocalypse. Just as the witch Agnes Nutter predicted, they’re both dragged off to Heaven and Hell, where “Crowley” is dunked in holy water and “Aziraphale” is ordered to stand in hellfire. Since each is secretly the other, though, they both emerge unharmed.
Skip forward to season 2, episode 5, when Crowley has a chance to confront Gabriel about the execution. Crowley tells Gabriel that he’s really angry about something Gabriel said: “Shut your stupid mouth and die.” Aziraphale never heard the insult first hand, of course, since he was busy bathing in holy water down in Hell, but Crowley heard it, and he’s still pissed.
I love all the layers of Crowley’s character that come out in this scene. Back in Heaven, he couldn’t let on how angry he was at what Gabriel was doing to his closest friend—he had to keep up the act, and respond the way Aziraphale would respond. Both Crowley and Aziraphale were facing the possibility of death, but it’s significant that Crowley is angrier about what almost happened to Aziraphale than he is about his own narrow escape. Crowley can’t abide the callousness and cruelty of the way Gabriel treated Aziraphale, and he’s obviously been stewing over it ever since season 1. The fact that Aziraphale is now risking his existence to protect Gabriel makes it all so much worse.
At the end of the scene, Crowley gets the apology that he’s no doubt been craving on Aziraphale’s behalf all this time, and he even gets a chance at revenge, when he tells Gabriel to jump out the window. He can’t bring himself to make Gabriel go through with it, though, which shows how good he is at heart. (Or maybe it just shows how unsatisfying it would be, considering Gabriel’s memory loss.)
Of course, after everything that goes down in the season finale, we’ll have to hope that Crowley is selective with his grudges. In episode 5, though, he’s a big ol’ softie, just looking out for his angel.
(featured image: Prime Video)
