Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Good Omens’ Season 2 On Prime Video, Where Aziraphale And Crowley Team Up To Hide A Disoriented Gabriel

Fans of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel Good Omens had to wait almost 30 years for it to be adapted for the screen, and Gaiman rewarded their patience with a fun limited series based on his and Pratchett’s story. Four years later, Gaiman has brought Crowley and Azirphale back for a whole new story on Prime Video. Will he make this wait worth it, too?

GOOD OMENS SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “BEFORE THE BEGINNING”. Crowley (David Tennant), then an angel, holds plans and a crank. Another angel shoots by and Crowley hails him to help. It’s Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), and the two of them are meeting for the first time. Azriraphale holds the plans, Crowley turns the crank, and the universe is born.

The Gist: Crowley admires his work, as does Aziraphale, but Aziraphale tells him that the boss is only going to have it around for like 6,000 years, barely enough time for it to get going. He then tells Crowley the plans for “people” on the “blue-green” planet called Earth. Crowley is so upset that he wants to say something to the boss, and thinks there’s nothing wrong with an angel that speaks up. Little does he know, right?

In present day London — Soho, to be exact — both Aziraphale and Crowley — who has been a demon for what seems like an eternity — are both retired from their spiritual workplaces. Aziraphale is operating his humble bookshop, and people know him as Mr. Fell; the most serious problem he thinks he has that Maggie (Maggie Service), who owns the record store in his building, is behind on rent. He forgives the rent because she has his favorite Shostakovich 78s.

Meanwhile, Crowley is in a park enjoying his own retirement when he’s approached by Shax (Miranda Richardson), Hell’s new Earth representative; she says she’s been hearing that something is going on “upstairs” and that she needs him to get info from his angelic friend Aziraphale.

As a relieved Maggie visits the coffee shop across the street, owned by Nina (Nina Sosanya), a naked man with a box approaches the door of the bookstore. He looks a lot like supreme archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm). As the naked angel attracts a crowd, Aziraphale lets him in, and finds out that Gabriel has no idea who he is, why he’s naked, why he’s at the book store, or even what’s in the box. Aziraphale takes the box and sees there’s nothing in it. Aziraphale convinces Gabriel that his name is “Jim” after eyeing a volume of Lord Jim.

He calls Crowley for help, but stays mum; they even meet at Nina’s cafe. When they go to the bookstore and Crowley realizes that it’s Gabriel, he wants no part of whatever his friend is asking for. He gets so steamed that he literally starts smoking in the middle of the street. A lightning bolt shoots out and cuts the power off to the cafe, locking in Nina and Maggie, who came back to visit because she is obviously smitten with Nina.

Meanwhile, there’s a power vacuum in Heaven. Archangel Michael (Doon Mackichan) claims that, as the duty officer, she’s in charge; Archangel Uriel (Gloria Obianyo) has doubts. They’re approached by angel Saraqael (Liz Carr), and a lower-level angel named Muriel (Quelin Sepulveda); Muriel found an early object — a matchbox — near a lift. That seems to be impossible; it’s got a quote from the book of Job on it, but there’s nothing inside.

After being warned from Lord Beelzebub (Shelley Conn) that anyone helping Gabriel will be subject to “extreme sanctions”, i.e. erased from the Book of Life, he goes back to help Aziraphale. They decide to hide the disoriented Gabriel by each performing half of a tiny miracle, so as not to set off any warning bells in Heaven. Little do they know…

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Good Omens Season 1, though this season is not based directly on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel (Gaiman is the co-showrunner with Douglas Mackinnon, who directed all the episodes).

Our Take: Even though this season isn’t directly based on Gaiman and Pratchett’s novel, Gaiman’s close involvement ensured that Good Omens 2 will be the same rollicking good time the first season was.

We see that in the first episode; with Aziraphale being his meek but powerful self and Crowley displaying his usual anger management issues. The fun of the first season was seeing these two very opposite members of the hereafter working together to stave off the apocalypse, and the fact that they’re working together on an equally dire mission makes Season 2 just as fun.

Sheen and Tennant know their roles well, and they play off each other like the longtime friends and co-stars they are in real life. That chemistry is at the core of this show, but Gaiman and his co-writer, John Finnemore, have provided a good story, aided by a game Hamm as the now-befuddled Gabriel. The spiritual friends are going to be traversing time and space to figure out what happened to the supreme archangel, and the bickering that they’ll partake in while they do it promises to be sharp and funny.

It also feels like Gaiman and Finnemore have set up a nice group of supporting characters, adding to the teams on both sides of the hereafter. Carr and Sepulveda are fun additions to the team in Heaven, and Conn’s Beelzebub is scary in a funny way, especially when she sloughs off the festering sore on her face by saying, “What? This old thing?”

We’re not quite sure where the Maggie and Nina story is going, but we’re on board for it, seeing as how the two of them seem to parallel Aziraphale and Crowley in being polar opposites in temperament.

Sex and Skin: We see Gabriel’s bare bum; when he turns towards the gathered crowd, they gasp. We wonder if that’s a bit of an inside joke about Jon Hamm.

Parting Shot: Michael, Uriel and Saraqael get alerted to a miracle on Earth, and the glowing pink stream representing the miracle is right over Aziraphale’s store. “There’s a former angel in this up to his bookshop-owning neck,” says Michael.

Sleeper Star: Liz Carr makes the most of her moments as the officious Saragael.

Most Pilot-y Line: Crowley orders six shots of espresso in a mug and gulps it down. That’s supposed to be harsh? We’ve had more shots in our Frappuccinos, especially if we’re redeeming a reward drink.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Good Omens returns after a four-year hiatus with a good story and the same funny chemistry between its stars.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.