More Good Omens shenanigans are almost upon us, with the second season of Prime Video’s adaptation of the 1990 novel of the same name—co-written by British authors Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett—set to release on July 28.
A second season wasn’t exactly a given, considering how the novel’s original plot is covered throughout the six episodes of the show’s first season, so fans everywhere are understandably excited—enough to get over all possible bad news, like a pretty significant leak from June.
Now that the wait for new and un-leaked Good Omens content is almost over, it’s the perfect time to revisit what happened during its first season, so that we can all freshen up on the story of Aziraphale and Crowley and their cast of supporting characters, both human and supernatural.
So what is Good Omens about?
Good Omens is the story of an angel named Aziraphale and a demon named Crowley, portrayed in the show by Michael Sheen and David Tennant respectively.
Both have lived on Earth since the creation of humanity and have actually always had pretty close dealings with it—what with Crowley being the Serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and Aziraphale being the angel that gave Adam his flaming sword so that he could protect himself and Eve once they were expelled from the Garden.
While they’re meant to be working their good and evil deeds during their permanent residence on Earth, Aziraphale and Crowley keep running into each other throughout the centuries as they very much do not complete all the tasks they tell their respective head office about.
The two develop an unlikely friendship—which everyone and their mothers can see is actually a beautiful and heart-wrenching romance—and a particular affection for human pleasures, including rock music, fine dining, old cars, and antique books.
Which is why Aziraphale and Crowley are understandably upset when they find out that the Antichrist is being born and that his presence on Earth is going to bring about Armageddon, complete with the Four Horsemen, the final war between Heaven and Hell, and the destruction of life as they know it. So after a bit of convincing on Crowley’s part, he and Aziraphale decide that they’re going to do all that they can to stop said Armageddon from happening.
Who are the characters in the first season of Good Omens?
The first step of their plan would technically include finding said Antichrist—who has of course been misplaced and is not with his intended family according to the grand demonic plan for the end of the world. The Antichrist is growing up as Adam Young in the English countryside, with a group of friends of which he is the undisputed leader—and with many more supernatural entities after him than just Crowley and Aziraphale.
There are also the forces of Heaven and Hell led by the archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) and the Prince of Hell, Beelzebub (Anna Maxwell Martin, who will be replaced by Shelley Conn in season 2), who would very much like the apocalypse to continue on as scheduled.
Then there’s Anathema Device (Adria Arjona), an occultist descended from Agnes Nutter, the 17th-century witch who actually predicted Armageddon and who is looking for the Antichrist. She will eventually team up and fall in love with Jack Whitehall’s apprentice witchfinder Newton Pulsifer, himself descended from the witchfinder who actually tried to burn Agnes Nutter at the stake. Of course, Agnes beats him to it by making herself and the crowd of onlookers—including witchfinder Pulsifer—blow up.
What happened during the first season of Good Omens?
As much as Aziraphale and Crowley would love to stop Armageddon before it even starts, the plans are set in motion when Adam “the Antichrist” Young meets and names the infernal hellhound meant for him—except that he names it “Dog” and turns it into a terrier rather than a fearsome beast of nightmares.
Still, that’s the beginning of the apocalypse. The Four Horsemen are summoned, and Heaven and Hell both realize that Aziraphale and Crowley have been playing their own game for a while—even if the two of argue over whether messing with the divine plan is a good thing. Through a series of wacky situations, Aziraphale ends up discorporating into Heaven and Crowley performs a spectacular bluff with holy water to his fellow demons.
Everything eventually comes to a boiling point at an airfield near Adam’s village, where the boy and his friends face off against the Four Horsemen as well as Aziraphale and Crowley—one discorporated and currently taking possession of a medium’s body, the other sauntering out of a flaming Bentley blasting Queen music.
Armageddon is averted, but that doesn’t mean the danger is over for Aziraphale and Crowley. Both Heaven and Hell condemn them to death for treason, forcing Aziraphale to step into hellfire and Crowley to enter a tub filled with holy water—a feat which the two incredibly survive by switching bodies.
Of course, their superiors have no idea the switch took place and they’re left quite distraught at their supposed new abilities. So they decide to leave the two of them alone and back to their lives on Earth—which Aziraphale and Crowley promptly do, dining at their London favorite restaurant while raising a toast to the world.
Good Omens’ first season is filled with clever jokes and incredible amounts of Britishness, all narrated by the voice of God (who just happens to be Frances McDormand), and with a healthy dose of millennia-long yearning and romance—from Crowley learning of Aziraphale’s first disobedience in the Garden of Eden, to Aziraphale realizing that Crowley saved him (and his precious antique books) during the World War II bombings of London. I highly recommend a rewatch if for nothing else than the compelling acting choices made by both Michael Sheen and David Tennant.
It’s all truly the stuff of dreams, with more to come in season 2. Armageddon may have been avoided, but Heaven and Hell are not about to leave Crowley and Aziraphale to live in peace.
(featured image: Prime Video)
