zahrowl

Latest Posts by zahrowl

Fr tho bro was really chill about having fun with Ifa without Cacucu

My medieval literature creative project was to adapt an aspect of a medieval text for a modern audience. I went with Sir Orfeo, a late 13th-early 14th century Breton lay that adapted the Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice into the setting of medieval England by combining elements of Christianity and Celtic mythology.

If you want to read it for yourself, here's a link to the Middle English version and a translation supposedly by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Hole in the Wall

Thought it was funny how the year ended/began with two self-sacrificial bikers with a red/black colour scheme.

For some reason though, Mavuika's biker outfit actually makes more sense for Shadow? (Chest window matches his chest fluff placement, unzipped back zipper for his back quills and tail)

My latest D&D character Alka! He's a 19 year old siren hybrid, the first of his kind, with an OG bird siren father and a mermaid mother from a cannibalistic species of merfolk.

He finally dropped his Disguise Self spell in the 5th session of Dance of the Dragons, when the party was taking one final short rest before facing off against the tyrannical black dragon Clarion. Alka joined this dragon-slaying party to protect his new mate and pups from being eaten <3

My silly thoughts when seeing the combined Jolly Roger fork + sword motifs in the zosan pride month wings magazine

Illustration in the magazine by Takeuchi Ryosuke (if my google translate isn't wrong)

Wasted Messages

Listened to Jack Stauber's "Baby Hotline" one too many times and thought of doomed relationships and death pacts

DTIYS entry for castraled on Instagram

From @dykesynthezoid's idea of an onnagata kabuki actor Sangoro.

Was covering ukiyo-e in asian art history and went a bit crazy looking up kabuki. Specifically the play Kuzunoha, which is based on a legend of a fox spirit married to a nobleman who rescued her, but she's forced to leave her husband and child because the princess she disguised herself as unexpectedly appeared.

Adapting Sangoro's hairstyle to the more feminine Edo style was... an experience. Still, would have loved to have more of Kamabakka's influence show up, bc damn does kabuki have some interesting tricks for making their male actors look more feminine.

Zorojuro and Sangoro (after Rekisentei Eiri's Tamaya Shinbei and Mikuni Kojoro)

Was learning about Ukiyo-e in Asian art history and got a little bit obsessed with kabuki.

Rekisentei Eiri's Tamaya Shinbei and Mikuni Kojoro, a portrait of a kabuki couple from the play "Tomigaoka koi no yamabiraki" (富岡恋山開) by Namiki Gohei I. Kojoro is a courtesan sold by her older brother Kujuro to the Fukagawa Pleasure Quarters. Shinbei eventually kills Kujuro.

Inspired by a scene from "Death and All His Friends" by @balderdashofafool. The image of Sanji in the blue Thriller Bark hoodie hugging Zoro's swords,, it struck something in me.

Just in time for Sanji's birthday too omg

Strawberry Shortcake (+ matcha)

Based on an interior illustration by Robert O. Reid

I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.

Episode 5: The Ball

Actually you know what? We can bring back the magic show minisode here bc it shows Azicrow working well as a team that fully trusts one another. Also sleight of hand moments. All of which can sort of tie in back to their teamwork in infiltrating Heaven.

The actual heist will prolly end up being in this episode considering how much happens in the previous one. BUT SUSPENSE!!! CLEVER TACTICS!!!

Maybe a little meddling of something in heaven to improve it a little? Would be nice to give a tiny taste of the change Az feels he could do if Azicrow were in charge of heaven. Don’t ask me for details, I don’t know Christianity enough to know the lore of how GOmens’s Heaven works.

Az could perhaps ask Crowley if he misses Heaven and being a starmaking angel? Gimme some of that guilt from Az thanks

They find out about the matchbox and the box thing, Crowley asks Az where the box is and asks him why tf he didn’t look at the underside

Maybe if the archangels and Muriel find Az in the midst of the heist, they could be like “what are you doing here I thought you left us and we agreed to leave you alone after the whole Hellfire thing”, and Az could be like “ah, well, uh, you see,, I heard there was a huge commotion about Gabriel going missing? And I was wondering why you wanted to find him? Are you planning to punish him or something?”. Maybe he convinces Heaven that Gabriel is sufficiently being punished after losing his memories/says he’ll ensure that Gabriel is punished properly for Heaven, idk. Maybe tell them to focus on choosing a new Head Archangel.

If there’s still time, more Bureaucracy bonding moments. Have them really enjoy spending time together.

Episode 6: Every Day

I think it would be funny if Azicrow walked in on a Bureaucracy bonding moment. There’s nothing worse than catching your respective ex-bosses act totally cringe around each other.

They find the message under the box, and everyone is like Az,, where is the damn fly. He’s like shit,, I tossed it away(!) out the window.

Where is the fly? Idk honestly. Maybe it got stuck in the jukebox in the Ressurectionist — I once had a baby cockroach enter the space between the screen and the glass of my rice cooker and it died there and nobody knows how to get the corpse out now. Maybe it’s just chilling amongst the hundreds of copies of Buddy Holly in Maggie’s shop. I don’t know nor really care where it is.

If anyone tells me why tf Bee didn’t just find and communicate with Gabe’s fly earlier and figure out his memories are in there, lemme just say, Bee didn’t even bother in S2 to track down Gabe with his fly. They sent a bunch of demons to search for him instead. Once again I will reiterate that I do not know Christianity enough to fully know the lore of how certain things work, like Bee’s fly-related powers, in GOmens. Does Bee know the contents of all container flies? Is Bee acutely aware of all flies on Earth at any given time and place, or is it only in like a certain radius? Can Bee even communicate with flies? Is Bee a fly? I don’t even know man.

Either way they get Gabe’s memories back and right before they fuck off to Alpha Centauri or Edinburgh or wherever, Bee resigns from their position, prolly under the guise of having found and now tormenting Gabe for all eternity or smth

By the way, let’s not have the “Wherever Bee is is my Heaven” “And wherever you are, my sweet, is my Hell” like come on bro, they’re comparing each other to their respective toxic workplaces! That’s like the least romantic thing you could compare anyone to! Where did they even learn those cringe-ass lines??? Even a little “want to explore the Earth/Universe more together?” would be better than this.

Okay, I know I didn’t talk much about Nina and Maggie, but like if we still have them, let’s have a more realistic, organic friendship and unrequited love going on in the background? Like, you can have a crush on someone but still offer a listening ear and advice from an outside perspective on their descriptions of their abusive relationship because you’re worried about them. Maggie can confess that she likes Nina romantically, but maybe Nina can clearly state to her after her breakup that she’s really not ready for another relationship yet and she honestly doesn’t even know much about Maggie. They agree to be friends, boom, communication shown clearly on screen with each other instead of being stated later with Crowley.

And I guess now if they’re more organic friends with Azicrow, (just) Maggie could push Crowley into communicating clearly with Az about his feelings, that rejection isn’t that bad if they have such a long-lasting friendship and that he should really tell Az to treat him better instead of usually expecting him to come around ngl

Also Bureaucracy working out without much fanfare in the end would help convince Crowley that the Husbands could also work out now that they’re on their own side

Metatron can do his little manipulative song and dance, sure. He can be like "I saw what you changed in Heaven, and we need more of that”

Divorce time! But like, with better dialogue, please. Az is a little shit for agreeing about something without discussing with Crowley first. Crowley should call him the heck out on that, cos recently, ever since Armageddon, it does feel like Az just expects him to come around eventually. Az should explain properly that Crowley is genuinely the most morally good person he knows who should be running heaven, even if he is a demon. Crowley tells him they don’t need Heaven and Hell, they’ve carved out their own side, he’d be miserable as an angel again and stuck within the inflexible confines of Heaven’s morality. Az says that he truly believes he could make Heaven better, so on and so forth. A proper debate basically, because lack of communication really kills me. They separate because of their differences in faith in changing Heaven and also Crowley feeling betrayed. If you really want extra angst, I guess Crowley could confess to Az and be like “clearly you don’t feel the same way about me” when Az still stubbornly sticks to his decision instead of leaving Heaven and Hell behind with Crowley.

Btw what the heck was up with Az’s “but you’re a demon!” and “we’re the good guys!” attitude here. He’s had 6000 years on Earth with Crowley and other humans and it’s like he’s never learnt a single thing!

Honestly this is just a non-exhaustive list of problems and potential suggestions for improvement for Season 2 written by a sick girlie who had to look up the episodes on wikipedia bc she forgot huge chunks of S2 a mere few days after watching it. Sure, I could watch the whole season again and note down every single thing, but I don’t have Prime Video nor time.

Thanks to my three watch party friends Aah, Hek and Jimin who helpfully read over and contributed ideas to this. It was fun watching it together, even if we didn’t like some of the decisions made.

If any of you have any other perspectives or clarifications that agree or disagree with whatever I said, feel free to have an open discussion, share resources, etc.

To a great Season 3!

A Critique of Good Omens Season 2 by 4 Random Girls (+ for fun, a rewrite of S2's outline)

Did you feel after watching GOmens S2 with your friends that this season could have been… better?

I was excited for S2 and I had some high expectations due to spoilers (yes, I am the kind of person to seek out spoilers to raise my personal excitement for the show). But after a watch party with some friends that had me gaslighting myself into denying the letdowns of this season (I was going through the first stage of grief okay), I’ve come around a few days later to bring a list of problems, gripes, and some suggestions for improvement for Season 2.

(EDIT: I reposted this bc I originally tagged Mr Gaiman according to my friend's suggestion. That was insensitive of me, I'm sorry. Thanks to the person who commented and knocked some sense into me, even if I did get a severe increase in heart rate and my hands were literally trembling after seeing your comment)

Mr. Gaiman, if you're reading this somehow, please don’t take any of this criticism as a personal attack. Like, you’re a prolific writer, we’re just 4 girls with opinions, so I don't think you'd really need to take much of these words to heart. I know I wouldn't.

And to the fandom, well, if you enjoyed S2, good for you! I enjoyed it too! If you enjoyed it in a way you understood but I didn't, that's fine too! This is just the perspective of like 4 girls on some writing decisions we found kinda weird. We all have opinions, we can express those opinions as long as we're not attacking anyone.

Also, spoilers for S2 of course.

Anyway, let’s get to it shall we, starting with the most controversial of decisions in episode 6!

Controversial reveals in episode 6:

Halo Ex Machina

Like for god’s sake if you wanna pull that out last-minute, at least show it being used in an earlier episode in a flashback from the war

Ineffable Bureaucracy

Aziraphale agreeing to be the Head Archangel to change heaven with Crowley

Ineffable Divorce

More annoying things in S2:

The purpose of the body swap in S1 feels undermined in S2. Like, that was to scare Heaven and Hell into thinking that they’ve grown so powerful that they’ve made their own side. Shouldn’t Heaven and Hell be like, a little more cautious with these two after agreeing to leave them alone?

The Divorce really feels like it’s written solely for the purpose of milking a certain reaction from the audience rather than a natural development for Azicrow’s relationship. Also, with the amount of times these two ‘break up’, it gets boring, okay

Nina and Maggie were just kinda,, there. I’m not quite sure what themes they’re here for, I was lowkey bored anytime they got on screen. Maybe Nina’s abusive relationship mirrors Aziraphale’s relationship with Heaven, but like, idk it’s really not the best mirror. I don’t care about them, okay, they didn’t need to be here and if they did, at least cut down a bit of their time please? The part at the end where they stayed to help was kinda ehhh, the part where they had to tell Crowley about his feelings was even more eh. I’m not sure why they cared so much to tell Crowley about it. I don't hate them, I just wish they could have been written better.

Crowley just waltzing into heaven. In S1 they were undercover and it’s so nervewracking. This time a bunch of demons just see him go up into heaven and don’t even question it. And then a bunch of archangels just come down the lift with him. Like what???

The miracle that hid Gabriel was kinda handwaved away? What was up with that

What was Bee’s plan with storming the bookshop. Wouldn’t that attract a lot of unnecessary attention from the demons and angels? Is discretion not a thing?

They never really explained what was up with Az’s bookshop and the vampire entering rules like???

Angels and demons really do feel like much less of a threat this season somehow

Guess who had “I’ll Follow You Into The Dark” on their playlist? Guess who didn’t follow someone into the dark.

So, I challenged myself to rewrite S2 to make the reveals a little less jarring than them all coming at you one after the other in episode 6 like Voltaire tormenting Candide.

Things we’re building up to:

Aziraphale’s desire to change the way Heaven is run, thus accepting Metatron’s offer

I know the Job episode was a thing, but again, that was only one scenario and not a consistent running theme throughout the season. The Victorian doctors do not count — that’s Aziraphale learning to become more flexible with his morality like Crowley. It doesn’t have anything to do with changing Heaven except maybe showing how much better Crowley is than everyone/j. The magic show definitely doesn’t count.

Also to all those ppl who say that Aziraphale has religious guilt or is going through religious trauma or smth along those lines… idk it feels more like they’re projecting than that being an actual thing shown by the show. If that was the intention, it doesn’t come across like it well enough

It might be believable that Az’s indoctrination by Heaven might cause him to think that being in charge would improve things, but like,, that needs to be actually shown in the show. Show us his doubts after the end of the world. Give us better foreshadowing of his concerns over the past 6000 years, how he’s seen Crowley struggle with being a demon/how he imagines being a demon is like/how heaven has indoctrinated him. Otherwise it’s like he’s learnt nothing over these past 6000 years!

Gabe and Bee’s relationship

This really suffers by being revealed only at the end because the way they act seems suddenly out of character of how we expect them to. We’re all left kinda unsure if they’re actually in love or even know what love is.

An earlier reveal of their relationship and maybe some Bee/Jim interactions in earlier episodes would help with a more gradual acceptance of expectations vs reality

Also, would it kill to have one close-up of the fly? Or even like, Aziraphale swatting the fly away as it flies into his face when he opens the box? That thing is so tiny it’s no wonder it’s so easily missed. Please, I’m myopic

Divorce

I want Crowley to snap so bad at Aziraphale. And with better dialogue than “no nightingales”. I know it’s a reference, but surely we can do better than this!

Aziraphale really caught the idiot ball this season in the most narratively unsatisfying way, and if it weren’t for Michael Sheen playing him it would be even more annoying.

What can we cut from S2?

A lot of the coffeeshop/recordshop AU

The whole storming the bookshop thing. What was Bee’s plan really

The angel-demon miracle. The damn thing was what attracted heaven’s attention anyway and in the end it was just handwaved away? Let’s toss it out, and by extension, we’ll have to toss out… (checks notes) the Archangels’ visit to the bookshop, lying about getting Nina and Maggie together and the further matchmaking attempts for them, Constable Muriel, Shax’s storming of the bookshop, and god knows what else.

The Rewrite:

Episode 1: The Arrival

Before the Beginning part can still be kept — it’s interesting to see how Azicrow were before Crowley’s fall and how Az kind of caused it. It would be better however if there was some inkling of Aziraphale being guilty in modern times about how he thinks he caused it, as that would contribute to his desire to change Heaven and make Crowley an angel again.

Gabriel arrives at the bookshop naked with the box. Let’s have a shot of Aziraphale opening the box, swatting away the fly that zooms into his face from inside the box (and commenting about it, just a simple “Ugh, shoo, fly!”, maybe miracling it out the window for good measure), and then a shot down into the empty box.

The angel-demon miracle thing… my friend wishes that was Gabriel’s doing. It’s like okay if Neil’s trying to set up something for next season but like, why did they just handwave it away in the last episode. Idk I feel like it really didn’t need to happen, so let’s not have it happen.

Episode 2: The Clue

The Job minisode is… fine? I guess.

Honestly idk what to do with the rest of this episode. Maybe a more organic friendship with Nina and Maggie would be nice rather than whatever awkward thing we got. And while we’re at it, a more organic friendship with them and Azicrow before they start giving unsolicited advice about their relationship and lack of communication.

Episode 3: I Know Where I’m Going

The grave-robber minisode is actually quite good on its own. Elspeth and the not-doctor were actually well-written humans!

The number one thing that would improve this episode is the bartender at the Ressurectionist actually describing what Bee looked like. Azicrow would be like “wait a second, they sound familiar” and Crowley could ask Bee what they want Gabriel for with this new info. Bee hesitates, a bit of back and forth between them and Crowley, but they eventually give up the reason with Crowley’s dangling of a clue of Gabriel’s location.

Sure, the Bureaucracy reveal comes a whole half season early, but they all still don’t know why Gabriel lost his memories, why Heaven is looking for him, and how to restore those memories.

Bee is here to talk about their weird human feelings for Gabriel with Crowley. It’s not an admission of love on their part yet, mostly because I don’t think they actually understand what love is. Maybe they say that it’d be a shame to lose the only person they can complain with about managing Hell.

Episode 4: The Hitchhiker Every Day

We’re cutting out the whole magic show business from this episode. It doesn’t contribute to our themes. If we want a minisode here, it should be something that builds up Az’s motivation to change the way Heaven is run, or maybe show Crowley’s struggles with being a demon, or Az’s indoctrination of “we’re the good guys, hell’s the bad guys”. Personally, idk what situation that would be, but like, at least have something that contributes towards Az’s decision in ep 6.

Bee can do the miracle that hides Gabriel from heaven and hell now, cos who’s gonna question the miracles of the Duke of Hell? Also, this means Gabriel won’t be confined to the bookshop anymore!

Since we have the Bureaucracy thing revealed, it would be fun to have Bee and Jim interacting. Maybe Bee tries to recreate old memories with Jim to see if he remembers anything, maybe they take some time to learn what love actually is? Maybe we can do this by actually making Nina and Maggie relevant again??? Or honestly just with any better written mortal tbh. It doesn’t have to be purely based on romantic love, it can be an exploration of all types of love. Adam might know something about that. We miss the Them :(

This would be a great opportunity to expand on Bureaucracy’s shared history and have Bee learn to love Gabriel when his memory of that shared history (like complaining about managing angels and demons) is gone and can’t be relied on as a way to relate to each other. Let’s see Bee get frustrated with the naive, bumbling idiot that is Jim, see Jim get a bit upset that he can’t totally remember the memories Bee said they shared, let’s see them have a fun time on Earth together in spite of that. Maybe reiterate Jim’s speech about everything feeling alright as long as you’re with a certain person.

As for Azicrow, they could plan for a way to sneak into Heaven to get info on Gabriel. And, you know, maybe we could have AN ACTUALLY GOOD HEIST SCENE??? With SUSPENSE??? Maybe we can,, oh you know,,, use that little miniature Crowley from the minisode to sneak him into Heaven??? Ratatouille moment fr (or yknow, demon in your pocket moment)

A Critique of Good Omens Season 2 by 4 Random Girls (+ for fun, a rewrite of S2's outline)

Did you feel after watching GOmens S2 with your friends that this season could have been… better?

I was excited for S2 and I had some high expectations due to spoilers (yes, I am the kind of person to seek out spoilers to raise my personal excitement for the show). But after a watch party with some friends that had me gaslighting myself into denying the letdowns of this season (I was going through the first stage of grief okay), I’ve come around a few days later to bring a list of problems, gripes, and some suggestions for improvement for Season 2.

(EDIT: I reposted this bc I originally tagged Mr Gaiman according to my friend's suggestion. That was insensitive of me, I'm sorry. Thanks to the person who commented and knocked some sense into me, even if I did get a severe increase in heart rate and my hands were literally trembling after seeing your comment)

Mr. Gaiman, if you're reading this somehow, please don’t take any of this criticism as a personal attack. Like, you’re a prolific writer, we’re just 4 girls with opinions, so I don't think you'd really need to take much of these words to heart. I know I wouldn't.

And to the fandom, well, if you enjoyed S2, good for you! I enjoyed it too! If you enjoyed it in a way you understood but I didn't, that's fine too! This is just the perspective of like 4 girls on some writing decisions we found kinda weird. We all have opinions, we can express those opinions as long as we're not attacking anyone.

Also, spoilers for S2 of course.

Anyway, let’s get to it shall we, starting with the most controversial of decisions in episode 6!

Controversial reveals in episode 6:

Halo Ex Machina

Like for god’s sake if you wanna pull that out last-minute, at least show it being used in an earlier episode in a flashback from the war

Ineffable Bureaucracy

Aziraphale agreeing to be the Head Archangel to change heaven with Crowley

Ineffable Divorce

More annoying things in S2:

The purpose of the body swap in S1 feels undermined in S2. Like, that was to scare Heaven and Hell into thinking that they’ve grown so powerful that they’ve made their own side. Shouldn’t Heaven and Hell be like, a little more cautious with these two after agreeing to leave them alone?

The Divorce really feels like it’s written solely for the purpose of milking a certain reaction from the audience rather than a natural development for Azicrow’s relationship. Also, with the amount of times these two ‘break up’, it gets boring, okay

Nina and Maggie were just kinda,, there. I’m not quite sure what themes they’re here for, I was lowkey bored anytime they got on screen. Maybe Nina’s abusive relationship mirrors Aziraphale’s relationship with Heaven, but like, idk it’s really not the best mirror. I don’t care about them, okay, they didn’t need to be here and if they did, at least cut down a bit of their time please? The part at the end where they stayed to help was kinda ehhh, the part where they had to tell Crowley about his feelings was even more eh. I’m not sure why they cared so much to tell Crowley about it. I don't hate them, I just wish they could have been written better.

Crowley just waltzing into heaven. In S1 they were undercover and it’s so nervewracking. This time a bunch of demons just see him go up into heaven and don’t even question it. And then a bunch of archangels just come down the lift with him. Like what???

The miracle that hid Gabriel was kinda handwaved away? What was up with that

What was Bee’s plan with storming the bookshop. Wouldn’t that attract a lot of unnecessary attention from the demons and angels? Is discretion not a thing?

They never really explained what was up with Az’s bookshop and the vampire entering rules like???

Angels and demons really do feel like much less of a threat this season somehow

Guess who had “I’ll Follow You Into The Dark” on their playlist? Guess who didn’t follow someone into the dark.

So, I challenged myself to rewrite S2 to make the reveals a little less jarring than them all coming at you one after the other in episode 6 like Voltaire tormenting Candide.

Things we’re building up to:

Aziraphale’s desire to change the way Heaven is run, thus accepting Metatron’s offer

I know the Job episode was a thing, but again, that was only one scenario and not a consistent running theme throughout the season. The Victorian doctors do not count — that’s Aziraphale learning to become more flexible with his morality like Crowley. It doesn’t have anything to do with changing Heaven except maybe showing how much better Crowley is than everyone/j. The magic show definitely doesn’t count.

Also to all those ppl who say that Aziraphale has religious guilt or is going through religious trauma or smth along those lines… idk it feels more like they’re projecting than that being an actual thing shown by the show. If that was the intention, it doesn’t come across like it well enough

It might be believable that Az’s indoctrination by Heaven might cause him to think that being in charge would improve things, but like,, that needs to be actually shown in the show. Show us his doubts after the end of the world. Give us better foreshadowing of his concerns over the past 6000 years, how he’s seen Crowley struggle with being a demon/how he imagines being a demon is like/how heaven has indoctrinated him. Otherwise it’s like he’s learnt nothing over these past 6000 years!

Gabe and Bee’s relationship

This really suffers by being revealed only at the end because the way they act seems suddenly out of character of how we expect them to. We’re all left kinda unsure if they’re actually in love or even know what love is.

An earlier reveal of their relationship and maybe some Bee/Jim interactions in earlier episodes would help with a more gradual acceptance of expectations vs reality

Also, would it kill to have one close-up of the fly? Or even like, Aziraphale swatting the fly away as it flies into his face when he opens the box? That thing is so tiny it’s no wonder it’s so easily missed. Please, I’m myopic

Divorce

I want Crowley to snap so bad at Aziraphale. And with better dialogue than “no nightingales”. I know it’s a reference, but surely we can do better than this!

Aziraphale really caught the idiot ball this season in the most narratively unsatisfying way, and if it weren’t for Michael Sheen playing him it would be even more annoying.

What can we cut from S2?

A lot of the coffeeshop/recordshop AU

The whole storming the bookshop thing. What was Bee’s plan really

The angel-demon miracle. The damn thing was what attracted heaven’s attention anyway and in the end it was just handwaved away? Let’s toss it out, and by extension, we’ll have to toss out… (checks notes) the Archangels’ visit to the bookshop, lying about getting Nina and Maggie together and the further matchmaking attempts for them, Constable Muriel, Shax’s storming of the bookshop, and god knows what else.

A Critique of Good Omens Season 2 by 4 Random Girls (+ for fun, a rewrite of S2's outline)

Did you feel after watching GOmens S2 with your friends that this season could have been… better?

I was excited for S2 and I had some high expectations due to spoilers (yes, I am the kind of person to seek out spoilers to raise my personal excitement for the show). But after a watch party with some friends that had me gaslighting myself into denying the letdowns of this season (I was going through the first stage of grief okay), I’ve come around a few days later to bring a list of problems, gripes, and some suggestions for improvement for Season 2.

(EDIT: I reposted this bc I originally tagged Mr Gaiman according to my friend's suggestion. That was insensitive of me, I'm sorry. Thanks to the person who commented and knocked some sense into me, even if I did get a severe increase in heart rate and my hands were literally trembling after seeing your comment)

Mr. Gaiman, if you're reading this somehow, please don’t take any of this criticism as a personal attack. Like, you’re a prolific writer, we’re just 4 girls with opinions, so I don't think you'd really need to take much of these words to heart. I know I wouldn't.

And to the fandom, well, if you enjoyed S2, good for you! I enjoyed it too! If you enjoyed it in a way you understood but I didn't, that's fine too! This is just the perspective of like 4 girls on some writing decisions we found kinda weird. We all have opinions, we can express those opinions as long as we're not attacking anyone.

Also, spoilers for S2 of course.

Anyway, let’s get to it shall we, starting with the most controversial of decisions in episode 6!

Controversial reveals in episode 6:

Halo Ex Machina

Like for god’s sake if you wanna pull that out last-minute, at least show it being used in an earlier episode in a flashback from the war

Ineffable Bureaucracy

Aziraphale agreeing to be the Head Archangel to change heaven with Crowley

Ineffable Divorce

More annoying things in S2:

The purpose of the body swap in S1 feels undermined in S2. Like, that was to scare Heaven and Hell into thinking that they’ve grown so powerful that they’ve made their own side. Shouldn’t Heaven and Hell be like, a little more cautious with these two after agreeing to leave them alone?

The Divorce really feels like it’s written solely for the purpose of milking a certain reaction from the audience rather than a natural development for Azicrow’s relationship. Also, with the amount of times these two ‘break up’, it gets boring, okay

Nina and Maggie were just kinda,, there. I’m not quite sure what themes they’re here for, I was lowkey bored anytime they got on screen. Maybe Nina’s abusive relationship mirrors Aziraphale’s relationship with Heaven, but like, idk it’s really not the best mirror. I don’t care about them, okay, they didn’t need to be here and if they did, at least cut down a bit of their time please? The part at the end where they stayed to help was kinda ehhh, the part where they had to tell Crowley about his feelings was even more eh. I’m not sure why they cared so much to tell Crowley about it. I don't hate them, I just wish they could have been written better.

Crowley just waltzing into heaven. In S1 they were undercover and it’s so nervewracking. This time a bunch of demons just see him go up into heaven and don’t even question it. And then a bunch of archangels just come down the lift with him. Like what???

The miracle that hid Gabriel was kinda handwaved away? What was up with that

What was Bee’s plan with storming the bookshop. Wouldn’t that attract a lot of unnecessary attention from the demons and angels? Is discretion not a thing?

They never really explained what was up with Az’s bookshop and the vampire entering rules like???

Angels and demons really do feel like much less of a threat this season somehow

Guess who had “I’ll Follow You Into The Dark” on their playlist? Guess who didn’t follow someone into the dark.

So, I challenged myself to rewrite S2 to make the reveals a little less jarring than them all coming at you one after the other in episode 6 like Voltaire tormenting Candide.

Things we’re building up to:

Aziraphale’s desire to change the way Heaven is run, thus accepting Metatron’s offer

I know the Job episode was a thing, but again, that was only one scenario and not a consistent running theme throughout the season. The Victorian doctors do not count — that’s Aziraphale learning to become more flexible with his morality like Crowley. It doesn’t have anything to do with changing Heaven except maybe showing how much better Crowley is than everyone/j. The magic show definitely doesn’t count.

Also to all those ppl who say that Aziraphale has religious guilt or is going through religious trauma or smth along those lines… idk it feels more like they’re projecting than that being an actual thing shown by the show. If that was the intention, it doesn’t come across like it well enough

It might be believable that Az’s indoctrination by Heaven might cause him to think that being in charge would improve things, but like,, that needs to be actually shown in the show. Show us his doubts after the end of the world. Give us better foreshadowing of his concerns over the past 6000 years, how he’s seen Crowley struggle with being a demon/how he imagines being a demon is like/how heaven has indoctrinated him. Otherwise it’s like he’s learnt nothing over these past 6000 years!

Gabe and Bee’s relationship

This really suffers by being revealed only at the end because the way they act seems suddenly out of character of how we expect them to. We’re all left kinda unsure if they’re actually in love or even know what love is.

An earlier reveal of their relationship and maybe some Bee/Jim interactions in earlier episodes would help with a more gradual acceptance of expectations vs reality

Also, would it kill to have one close-up of the fly? Or even like, Aziraphale swatting the fly away as it flies into his face when he opens the box? That thing is so tiny it’s no wonder it’s so easily missed. Please, I’m myopic

Divorce

I want Crowley to snap so bad at Aziraphale. And with better dialogue than “no nightingales”. I know it’s a reference, but surely we can do better than this!

Aziraphale really caught the idiot ball this season in the most narratively unsatisfying way, and if it weren’t for Michael Sheen playing him it would be even more annoying.

What can we cut from S2?

A lot of the coffeeshop/recordshop AU

The whole storming the bookshop thing. What was Bee’s plan really

The angel-demon miracle. The damn thing was what attracted heaven’s attention anyway and in the end it was just handwaved away? Let’s toss it out, and by extension, we’ll have to toss out… (checks notes) the Archangels’ visit to the bookshop, lying about getting Nina and Maggie together and the further matchmaking attempts for them, Constable Muriel, Shax’s storming of the bookshop, and god knows what else.

2022 summary of art!

It's been a busy year of exams, but I managed to sneak in some time for personal artworks at least. Got to try quite a range of art styles this year.

Next year my goal is to finish writing a YA romance that I've been working on so that I can try and get it published! So yeah, more work as usual;;

:3 + >:) = >:3

For the first time in a million years, I do something digital. Just an attempt at painting portraits and digital art. The guy is an OC of mine and a friend.

A collaboration between @gingeraale and @zahrowl in which the former had to draw the artwork while the latter described Prince Snatcher’s appearance. For someone who had never seen Snatcher’s prince form before, it’s pretty accurate.

You can watch the full speedpaint here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/BwoVjRAFpml/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

My first knitting project is complete! Just in time for the arrival of the new Fantastic Beasts movie! It's not exactly like the one in the movie as I made it a bit too long, the colours don't go in the right order, the yarn is thicker and the pattern is different, not to mention a few mistakes here and there, but I still love it all the same. It shall keep me warm for my first ever winter.

A few more moments of screaming at contact paper later, Dazai's "Complete Guide to Suicide" (sketch)book is finally done.

My fish painting is finally done and submitted. For my first time doing oil painting, it's pretty good, even if the cutting board and sink look a bit distorted. The theme was 'Seafood' and the seafood needed to be raw and also not sushi. So I just butted in before my helper could cut up a sea bass for sweet and sour fish to take a few photos and went off to paint. Took quite a lot of time and money and I got sick at the end of it, but thankfully it is done and I like it. Anyway, the weekend's here, so have a nice rest and recharge everyone. #artwork #oilpainting #art #fish #fishpainting #oilpaint #oilpaintonwood #stilllife #paint #painting #seabass

A little sketch for you that I made while out visiting relatives for Hari Raya. Maybe I’ll redraw and finalise it during the end-of-year holidays. I just wanted to say that I really love your BATIM fics and you’re my favourite author for this fandom. I hope you like this gift!

submission by zahrowl 

OH MY GOSH, THAT’S AWESOME! I MEAN, POOR HENRY, BUT THE WAY HE’S ALL CURLED UP IS EXACTLY HOW I IMAGINED HIM! SPOT ON, FRIEND, SPOT ON. 

And thank you so much! I’m happy to hear that you enjoy my stories, and your gift is wonderful!  :)

(from the last scene in They’re Coming Creeping from the Corner)

My watercolour project is finally done! The theme was culture and we had to work with an analogous colour scheme. Since I was reading some good ol’ England x Spain fanfiction and found this little song called “Spanish Ladies” which might have been popular during the Peninsular War, I based my artwork off of the song. A British soldier needing to leave his Spaninsh wife and child behind to return to England sounds like great storyline. I think it turned out pretty good for my first pure watercolour artwork.

I’m finally done with this Literature Poster that I volunteered to do. I have no idea why I wanted to volunteer to make my life more difficult but that’s usually how my life works. I make myself do extermely difficult and time consuming things and procrastinate on them while also having a busy unnegociable schedule. This leads to constant stress and panic. Either way, I am proud of this. And note to self to never make my life more difficult like this again, though I shall most probably ignore that note.

A Soldier’s Memento My final project for acrylic painting is done! The theme is landscape with a complementary or monochromatic colour scheme, so I stole a bunch of my father’s old army photos and used them to create this, along with a few modifications to make it look more original. I’m quite proud of this!

February has come, and the 2nd it shall be not only Fire Emblem Heroes Anniversary, but also my birthday! Final works and projects have to be made, so hopefully I can make it though this month while doing some FEH artworks.

A bujo spread starring my Pokemon Moon Litten, Vega.

It’s time for a new year, 2018. Let’s go.

I went with my cousin, aunt and sisters to @thecompanyofcats to interact with cats. I drew a few of the cats while most of them ignored me since they found my pencil case and my mother’s old mechanical pencil more interesting. Either way, it was a fun time just being surrounded by cats and slowly drinking hot chocolate. Unfortunately, the cafe company is closed now.