Good Omens finale review – a heavenly cast, but a script from flaming TV hell | Fantasy TV
The omens for Good Omens have been dangerous from the beginning. A litany of deserted dramatizations of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s 1990 fantasy novel lastly got here to an finish when Prime’s TV model debuted in 2019, but by then Pratchett was useless and the present was awkward and mannered, too in awe of the supply materials, but dogged by uncertainty about how Pratchett might need altered it.
Four years later, season two instructed a new story that acknowledged the dominant power of the present’s lead performers, David Tennant and Michael Sheen. Without the ebook to attract on or Pratchett to seek the advice of, Gaiman appeared uncertain what to do along with his stars, but a fan-pleasing finale transformed the chemistry between Tennant’s boisterous demon Crowley and Sheen’s considerate angel Aziraphale to romance, confirmed with a kiss earlier than being stymied by cosmic obligations.
Now controversy has banned the third and closing run, which was meant to be a neat ending, earlier than it has begun. Gaiman has denied accusations of sexual assault and different critical misconduct made in opposition to him by a number of girls. Three lawsuits in opposition to him had been dismissed by US federal judges in February 2026. And though he nonetheless has a co-writing credit score on Good Omens, his involvement has been restricted and season three has turn out to be a 90-minute particular as an alternative of the six deliberate episodes. It was filmed originally of 2025; for a whereas it appeared as if Amazon won’t launch it in any respect.
The result’s precisely what could be anticipated of a present with such a gestation: it is a puzzling mess, its narrative abbreviated to the purpose of incoherence.
The important enterprise is the second coming of Jesus, deliberate within the pristine white corridors of heaven by Aziraphale and the archangels. The joke in Good Omens is that each heaven and hell are malfunctioning bureaucracies, interfering in humanity’s enterprise with their petty guidelines and institutional hypocrisy – inevitably, then, the celestial crew have quickly misplaced monitor of the messiah’s whereabouts, leaving him to roam Earth alone.
Jesus is performed by Bilal Hasna as a naive harmless who has nearly recovered from “the nailing business”, but who nonetheless misses that gang of 12 mates he had the final time he was flesh. In an odd and complicated storyline he befriends retired card sharp Harry the Fish (Mark Addy) earlier than changing into a avenue preacher. In an effort to seek out and supervise the son of God, Aziraphale – who had hoped to greet Jesus with a good cup of tea – returns to Earth and reunites with Crowley, who’s now an alcoholic playing addict stuffed with resentment at Aziraphale’s resolution to prioritize work commitments over their relationship. “You’ve lost Jesus and bollocked up the Second Coming!” Belches Crowley at his regretful soulmate. But as soon as Aziraphale has helped Crowley to win again his magic classic Bentley from a crooked on line casino proprietor performed by Sean Pertwee, the 2 are colleagues once more, no less than.
For a whereas Good Omens reverts to its inventory in commerce, which is a chin-waggling Tennant quipping furiously whereas Sheen frets. More than ever, there’s a grating smugness to the dialogue: “He likes deserts,” says Crowley, speculating on the place Jesus might need wandered off to. “Or he used to. Spent 40 days in one back when I knew him!”
When archangels begin dying mysteriously and sacred artefacts go lacking, nevertheless, the pair overlook all about Christ and examine which of Paradise’s center managers is sabotaging the operation, a conundrum solved far too quickly for the reply to have been taken on any significance. Both the central storylines are non-starters.
And so we’re ushered in direction of a closing four-way verbal showdown between Crowley, Aziraphale and two supernatural beings, performed by two pleasant heavyweight visitor stars. As they debate what it was all for, Good Omens rehearses its moderately fundamental musings on faith, doling out customary humanist stuff about messy mortals being fairly bloody marvelous issues who do not should be restricted by a worry of judgment within the nice past. All 4 gamers within the scene are wasted: this present has presumably the most important imbalance in TV historical past between dazzling forged and off script. (Earlier, the present has dedicated the beforehand unthinkable crime of constructing the usually divine Paul Chahidi, as silly-voiced archangel Sandalphon, annoying.)
But the forged, notably Tennant and Sheen, very almost redeem it. Crowley and Aziraphale’s tearful decision of whether or not their love can overcome the calls for of the infinite is delivered with gusto by each, after which there’s a shamelessly pretty coda that imagines another model of their characters the place that dilemma does not come up. It means that the duo can be sensible as a married couple in an unusual romantic drama, as completely different characters created by completely different writers: Good Omens be damned.
