Warning! SPOILERS below for Good Omens.
Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, Good Omens was one of the most highly-anticipated new shows of 2019. This was due in large part to Gaiman himself personally overseeing the series’ production. Though Gaiman is no stranger to having his stories adapted into other media (Starz’s American Gods is based on a Gaiman novel, as are the films Stardust and Coraline), this was his first time acting as a showrunner. Reportedly, Gaiman took the job as it was the final request Pratchett made of him before his death in 2015, after the two had tremendous difficulties in finding someone else to manage adapting Good Omens properly.
Unsurprisingly, the Good Omens show stays true to the tone and spirit of the original novel, with very few additions or subtractions from the story. Still, the high concept of a comedy built around the end of the world as described in the Book of Revelation has left some viewers confused as to just what happened in Good Omens’ finale. So does Doomsday come with a Big Bang? Or does the world end with a whimper?
What Happens in Good Omens’ Final Episode?
Good Omens episode 6 starts with all of the key members of the ensemble converging on the USAF base in Tadfield, England. It’s here that the Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (manifested in the form of four bikers, in a bid to present a more modern image) have hacked the communications computers and set into motion a chain of events that will trigger every nuclear weapon in the world. The resulting devastation will act as a background to the final war between Heaven and Hell, and the Anti-Christ rising to rule over the ruined world of Man.
Ironically, the Anti-Christ (a boy named Adam Young) is working to avert the catastrophe, along with his friends - Pepper, Wensleydale, and Brian. They bike to the base and arrive at the same time as the demon Crowley, Sergeant Shadwell of the Witchfinder Army, and the medium Madame Tracy, who is currently acting as a host for the angel Aziraphale. Also in attendance, sneaking into the base on their own, are Witchfinder Private Newt Pulsifer and Anathema Device - a witch and the last descendant of the prophetess Agnes Nutter, who wrote the only accurate book of prophecy in human history over 300 years earlier.
How Thermonuclear War Is Averted
Newt and Anathema get into the computer hub of Tadfield’s Air Force base and Anathema asks Newt (who told her that he was a computer engineer earlier) to do something to reverse whatever the Four Horsemen did. This leads to Newt’s confession that, while he dreamed of being a computer whiz as a child, he’s utterly incompetent with computers and always breaks anything he tries to fix. In a moment of inspiration, Anathema tells Newt to try and make the computers around them work faster. Newt’s subsequent attempt to defragment one hard drive sets off a chain of computer crashes that completely derails the Four Horsemen’s hacking and prevents a nuclear war from starting.
How the Four Horsemen Are Defeated
The Four Horsemen are ultimately defeated by another gang of four riders - Adam Young and his friends. After Adam tells his gang that the Four Horseman aren’t real (“They’re just like nightmares, really.”) each of the children stand up to a Horseman and declare their belief in the better tomorrow that stands in opposition to the forces the Horsemen represent. Poetically, the desire for peace kills War, the hope of a clean world destroys Pollution, and a belief in good nutrition and a balanced meal slays Famine.
Death is not so easily defeated, however, telling Adam that, unlike the other Horsemen, he’s real and that he can’t be destroyed without unmaking all of reality. Life, after all, has no meaning without Death to define it. Death quits the field of battle peacefully, though he warns all assembled that the other Horsemen are always close at hand at will return to try and frighten humanity someday.
How Adam Defeats the Devil
While this solves the immediate problem of the world being destroyed, there are still the armies of Heaven and Hell to contend with. After the archangel Gabriel and archdemon Beelzebub fail to convince Adam to fulfill his destiny and bring about the end of the Earth so the final battle between Good and Evil can start, they do what any adult does when faced with a disobedient child - call their parents. Soon the earth begins to quake, as Crowley senses the approach of the Devil himself. This leads to Crowley stopping time for a moment so he and Aziraphale can have a quick talk with Adam.
The angel and demon explain to Adam that he still has the power to alter reality with a thought and that while they will stand with him to defend the Earth all they can really do is buy him a moment to think. Thankfully, that proves to be enough, as Adam confronts Satan and says that he can’t really be his father because no father would go 11 years without talking to his son. Reality rewrites itself so that Adam is no longer the son of Satan and the Devil dissipates just in time for Mr. Young (the mortal man who raised Adam as his own son in total ignorance of what he was meant to be) to show up demanding an explanation for why Adam and his friends broke into an Air Force base.
How Good Omens Ends
The day after the world was supposed to end comes with no indication that anything odd had ever happened and finds Adam Young living the life of a normal (and grounded) 11 year old boy. Everything is seemingly restored to normal, with Crowley’s vintage Bentley back in perfect working order and Aziraphale’s bookshop no longer burned down. There have been some slight changes, however, with Aziraphale’s shop now having a complete set of first-edition Just William novels. This confirms Adam Young’s involvement in restoring reality, as the Just William series of children’s books is his favorite.
Things end happily enough for the other mortals involved in the events that transpired in Tadfield. The Witchfinder Army dies out, as Sgt. Shadwell agrees to abandon the order and leave London with Madame Tracy so they can settle down somewhere else. Newt and Anathema also seem to be on the verge of starting a relationship, though the afterglow of their first night together is spoiled by the arrival of a lawyer, who comes bearing a package entrusted to his firm over 300 years earlier. The package contains a new book of prophecies by Agnes Nutter, which Anathema and Newt burn so that they can build a future together on their own terms.
Aziraphale and Crowley are abducted by the forces of Heaven and Hell respectively and put on trial for treason. Both are quickly sentenced to death by their respective masters, who are ill-pleased at having to postpone the ultimate battle between Good and Evil indefinitely due to the lack of an Anti-Christ. Crowley is sentenced to death by bathing in holy water while Aziraphale is to be forced to walk into a pillar of Hellfire. Their respective executioners are stunned when this fails to destroy them and the rogue angel and demon both suggest that maybe they should be left alone in the future, since their deaths are apparently not part of the Great Plan.
It’s ultimately revealed that Crowley and Aziraphale pulled a fast one on their bosses, having been tipped off by a scrap of paper that blew out of the book of Agnes Nutter’s prophecies. The prophecy they found advised the reader to “choose your faces wisely” when it seemed that all was safe. This led to Crowley and Aziraphale using their power to assume another shape to trade faces so that it was Crowley facing the fire and Aziraphale enjoying a nice bath. The episode ends with the two sharing a meal at The Ritz and toasting the world, secure in the knowledge that, for now at least, all is well.
Will There Be A Good Omens Season 2?
With Pratchett having passed in 2015, it seems unlikely that Gaiman would wish to write a sequel without his co-author’s input. This assumes that Gaiman could acquire the permission of Pratchett’s estate to create an official Good Omens sequel. This seems an unlikely prospect, given that Pratchett’s last will and testament demanded that the hard drive for his computer be run over by a steamroller, so as to prevent anyone from attempting to complete his unfinished works (via The Guardian).
Ignoring the question of whether or not Gaiman would ever try and follow up Good Omens on his own, there’s the problem of his availability. In a recent blog post, Gaiman affirmed his commitment to return to novel writing after spending most of the last few years working in television and film. Gaiman also announced in a Tweet that he planned to spend more time with his family once Good Omens was done. Finally, Gaiman confirmed that he had no plans for another season of Good Omens on his Facebook page, noting that it had taken him five years to produce a TV series when he had a complete novel to work from.
Next: Who Is Good Omens’ Narrator?
