A 1990 collab
by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman Good
Omens has been described as un-filmable and had resisted previous efforts
to do so. Apparently due to a dying wish from Pratchett, Gaiman himself wrote
this miniseries adaptation which first appeared last May on Amazon, was then
released to buy and is now showing on BBC2. If, like me, you never read the
book, then it is an unexpected delight for the most part. Fronted by two superb
performances and packed with quirky takes on familiar imagery plus sparkling
dialogue it is a dense but enjoyable story.
Spoilers past
this point
Some may be
offended by the way the story seems to parody religious iconography playfully especially
by the opening set in the garden of Eden and also the montage that opens episode 4 in which we find
the two main characters influencing key events in an amusing manner. Plus the
whole thing has a narration from God, voiced by Frances McDormand. If you want
to know the tone take this; “They met often to spoon – and once to fork”. It is
clever and subversive yet with a truth marbled through it. The story seems to
be influenced especially by Hitch Hikers
Guide to the Galaxy with which both writers would have been familiar, some
of the narration parts are reminiscent of that style. Its one of those stories
that uses already established scenarios and puts a fresh spin on them. In this
case no less than the apocalypse.
Good Omens is not necessarily intent on criticising
faith more ribbing the mechanics and choreography of organised religion. As the
plot progresses we see some secretive collusion between heaven and hell
portraying them as similar to rival corporations and also differences within
each. There’s a lot of parallels you could also draw with political parties in
various countries and their definitive rights and wrongs which are later softly
pushed to one side replaced by others. The story draws similarities in the way
both sides do their business and by treating everything with darker humour. We
even see them in the same building, heaven at the top in gleaming Microsoft
white offices, hell in a dingy concrete walled basement.
That there is
to be a war is acknowledged in off the record chats between both sides, its
inevitability more or less than a likely business decision driven by the gains
they might make. The story suggests that there is good and evil in everyone and
sets out to contradict our expectations of various figures. Rank, duty, even
destiny are not set in stone and can be altered by the person themselves. This
comes through particularly in the case of the AntiChrist in reality a child who
is supposed to set off the end of the world when he turns 12. Yet when he reaches
that moment it is after living as a human and experiencing a childhood to which
he is now too attached.
Our main
characters are an angel called Aziraphale and a demon Crowley. He was called Crawley perhaps because he first
appears as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, but decides to change it. They’ve
been around forever and have become friends
of a sort having met up at crucial historical moments. Aziraphale now owns a Soho
bookshop, and likes the finer things. Crowley drives a 1926 Bentley with Queen
as the soundtrack. Both
have grown so accustomed to life on Earth that they have been covertly arranging
to maintain the status quo. As Crowley
says; “Our respective head offices don’t actually care how things get done,
they just want to know they can cross it off the list”,. So the duo cooperate
on the toss of a coin to fulfil obligations before getting back to the more
important job of living the good life! Now
the oncoming apocalypse threatens not just the world but most importantly their
cosy existence.
So they set
about preventing it, amusingly they take jobs in the household where the juvenile
AntiChrist resides- Crowley becomes the child’s nanny (you have to see that!)
while Aziraphale is the gardener. However the child they’re guarding is not the
right child and was swapped with another baby by the amusingly named
Chattering Order Of St. Beryl, a
set of nasty nuns! So things are going a
bit awry. The series riffs on the levels
of good and bad with Aziraphale willing to do some things that might be
considered wrong for expediency’s sake whereas Crowley is willing to
countenance anything. Perhaps
surprisingly the story leads in favour of good acts, of redemption rather than
chaos. If you were expecting a dark satire the story has its moments but
ultimately is a benign one. We’re on the side of humanity rather than either
heaven or hell.
David Tennant
and Michael Sheen have enormous fun in their respective guises. Tennant’s Crowley
brings in aspects of his time as the Doctor as well as a casual air of a dandy
rock star (with shades) like a younger Bill Nighy trying his best to take the
easiest route through history. Sheen’s
Aziraphale is fussier, nervier and more liable to panic as he seems to constantly
chase the action. Sheen also provides little looks that suggest a self
centredness you might not expect from an angel. Eminently watchable and
relishing the wordy scripts these two are worth watching even if you’re having
difficulty with the wider plot. So much so that when Sheen is off screen for
much of part 5- having been accidentally `dis-corparated`- things seem a little
flat. In both performances you see the characters developing a mutual respect,
a bromance if you will (and in Aziraphale’s case maybe more) that neither would
acknowledge. At times they are like squabbling brothers, falling out and then
co-operating again as well as pushing each other beyond the boundaries of what
they might be expected to do.
Into their
orbit a number of characters circle before coming together including the last
witchfinder, a clairvoyant, an occultist and a computer engineer. These are
performances to enjoy especially Jon Hamm as a wry, corporate speaking Angel
Gabriel, Miranda Richardson as the eccentric (what else) Madame Tracy and
Michael McKean as committed witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell. The latter two have
an interesting story arc. There are some fun cameos too from the likes of the League
of Gentlemen and Derek Jacobi.
The story does
lean heavily on the writings of a Middle Ages witch called Agnes Nutter who
amusingly predicts the future with alarming detail albeit in archaic language.
This could be an easy plot device were it not for the cryptic nature of these
notes she left which take some interpreting. Matters do tend to coalesce around
less rounded characters like the oddly named Anathema Device and Adam Young,
the Anti Christ who isn’t given an interesting enough background to make the
latter part of the story work quite as well as it should.
Some devoted
readers of the novel say it has been adapted rather too literally with the
narration guiding us a little too strongly. Even for those unfamiliar with the
text there are times when Good Omens
can seem drawn out. It would probably be punchier in five parts but the reward
is the rich interaction and dialogue which will definitely withstand more than
one viewing. The plot is stretched thinly across the running time with a number
of seemingly separate storyline slowly edging together and its driven mostly by
word rather than incident. If you like big performances then you’re in for a
treat, its wordier than the epic scale suggests.
Memorable
visuals including Crowley driving a burning car, the appearance of some of the
demons, a chase inside an answering machine, the historical interludes and the
arrival of the big D. Best of all is arresting opening title sequence which
mixes up quirky puppetry and FX in a fascinating manner. Its one of the handful
of title sequences I’ve felt worth watching before every episode, usually after
a couple I fast forward them. For a show about the end of the world you do need
to make it look big but the most effective bits don’t always rely on big
budgets. The four horseman for example are motorbike riding creatures who meet
in a tea room! The final episode is the most curious one as the immediate
threat is extinguished with surprising ease and the rest of the time seems like
an extended coda. Anyone expecting some huge battle may feel let down though
the way it ends is quite optimistic suggesting that the human way of life is not
all that bad after all.
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