Why did Crowley kiss Aziraphale? This is a scene breakdown and character analysis to uncover the perfect set-up and payoff, and the deeper character motivations behind this now iconic moment.
00:00 – It’s Good Omens Time!
00:19 – The Question, and the Two Scenes
01:51 – Scene Analysis – A Companion to Owls
05:12 – Seeing the Pattern – Character Analysis
07:21 – Concepts of Love
08:38 – Scene Analysis – The Kiss
09:34 – The Answer, and Connecting the Two Scenes
10:59 – Closing Thoughts. I Love You?
#goodomens2 #goodomens #theory #fantheory #crowley #aziraphale #davidtennant #neilgaiman #michaelsheen #romantic #romance
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This was an amazing analysis! Can't wait to watch the next one 🙂
excellent video. you've got another subscriber in me
Quilly and the xerophil😅
I’m halfway in and I’m alrea di dreading you actually say that Crowley offered the kiss as a worldly gift to aziraphale (offered himself as a gift) I can not go through it god this show is gonna kill me
Really love what you've done here!
Yes, Aziraphale was about to say "I love you". That bit correlates to another scene this season which also parallels this one, yet it is between Aziraphale and "Jim".
Jim, still wearing a blanket, and clueless about everything, say "I love you" to Aziraphale, and Aziraphale almost says it back, automatically, but stops himself, because of course he doesn't love Jim/Gabriel.
When faced with Crowley's kiss, he barely squeaks out, "I lo..", and then panics and goes with the phrase he has used on Crowley before, "I forgive you."
I don't know if this supports the "automatic" response, or a "moment of truth" response, but just like the ox rib scene, it's there for a reason, and to me, it means this is Aziraphale's truth, he just isn't capable of allowing it. Yet.
I keep coming back to this analysis. This really is extraordinary. Looking quite forward to seeing your next scene breakdown.
Also, I went back to watch that moment you mention at the conclusion of the series and the end of your analysis of The Kiss. Aziraphale's clipped response went right past me the first (many) times I have watched this scene, but I think you are dead on about the intention, though swallowed back before it really even got out of his mouth.
The biggest spoiler is the title and thumbnail so I don't get the point of putting a warning for spoilers for season 2 lol
What—-!!! this is like the most intelligent reading I’ve heard about Aziracrow kiss. I can see things that i couldn’t before omg you are so clever
With character analysis, you never know if you're picking up on deliberate designs the author intended or if you're noticing the author's subconscious writing habits – or the actor's habits. And there's always the possibility that you're reading into coincidental parallels.
I do hope there's pay off for showing Aziraphale and Crowley's individual specific reasons for going against God's plan, more than just providing interesting backstory. Seems like the show makes a lot of effort go into detail about why they 'fell', so I hope it's important to the plot or at least the overall story. Did seeing Crowley go from a happy galaxy builder to a miserable tempter traumatize Azi, making him terrified of questioning God's plan too? Does it mean anything that Crowley questioned God near the beginning, but it takes millennia of tempting Azi with pleasure to get him to break out of his blind obedience? Did Crowley want to kiss Azi or was he just doing what he thought would get him to stay? Is it strange for an angel/demon to like physical touch or would they all like it if they tried it?
I won't believe Azi almost said 'I love you' until it's officially confirmed. Seems like a moment so easy miss that it wouldn't make a lot of sense for it to be super important to the plot. We already know they're in love. I want to know more about the 'I forgive you'. WHAT is he forgiving Crowley for? For kissing him without agreeing to come with him? For trying to manipulate him? Are angels forbidden from kissing? (given the grey area surrounding their genders and sexual orientations, I wonder if Neil would want to poke a hornet's nest by making God's homophobia canon in the GO universe)
Lovely video. I think you missed Aziraphale putting both his hands on Crowley's waist in Scotland, because he does love to touch Crowley.
I would DIE and LOVE to see if you could analyzed between Crowley/Aziraphale vs Gabe/Bee relationship .
I literally can't breath why would you make this video
My theory: Crowley kisses Aziraphale because Nina and Maggie have gotten him to reconsider his relationship with Aziraphale from a human perspective, and see that it resembles a romance. So, he does what might work in a romance movie- gives Aziraphale one “fabulous kiss.” But it’s way too sudden. Aziraphale HASN’T been thinking of their relationship that way, and even if he had been, his model for romance are Jane Austen books. Notably: there are no kisses in Jane Austen romances. Crowley’s abrupt, aggressive kiss was not expected, understood or welcome. You had a very good point with the disgust being similar to Aziraphale’s reaction to eating. That’s the only other place in the series I can recall direct disgust from Aziraphale. I don’t really agree on “pleasure,” though. I don’t see any pleasure in the kiss on Aziraphale’s part, just confusion, fear, hurt and finally, disgust. But I think under the right circumstances, as you said, with time to process, Aziraphale would have moved past disgust into positive feelings. I feel terrible for both of them. Thank you for acknowledging that Aziraphale was desperate to stay together, too, and that Crowley also chose to leave him. There’s a lot of blaming Aziraphale hoing on right now, which I think misses the point.
Oh my heart :'(
Yes, both scenes are definitely related.
What tortures me is how long we'll have to wait for the 3rd season what with the strikes. Let's hope it all goes well for the writers
The Job episode was my favourite out of the whole series, specifically the end of the flashback where azirphale says, "but that sounds… lonely, i thought you said it wasnt" and then crowley said "im a demon..i lied" i was like SOMEONE GIVE THESE TWO A HUG RIGHT NOW ISTG .
Also great analysis! I love your vids sm ❤
1) If someone doesn't want to be called something (good or nice in this instance), calling them that is not positive feedback. On the contrary, it's a sign of Aziraphale ignoring Crowley's wants in favor of what he thinks Crowley should want. This becomes even more apparent, when Aziraphale assumes that Crowley wants to get back to heaven, despite him being critical of heaven for as long as he knows him
2) Aziraphale doesn't want Crowley to come with him, he wants a "better" (meaning as an angel) version of Crowley to come with him
Excellent analysis, I'm looking forward to the next video!
hey we all know if Aziraphale did not “ forgive” him outright at that moment, Crowley’s ass will be in danger, literally 😂but jokes aside i think they both know very clearly, deepdown, their feelings to each other. the kiss may make Aziraphale feels like Crowley is now try to force his hand into making decision ( to go off with him of course) which is “too fast” in his mind.
What an amazing video! I loved seeing your perspective on this. Super glad I added it to my watch later.
If you look closely, it looks more like "I can't" than "I love you" 11:22
Came here from a Tumblr post expecting this to be an analysis from a confused straight person who doesn't seem to understand that two male presenting supernatural entities can love each other, and was pleasantly surprised when it was not that
I do so love the way these eternal beings are so ignorant/out of touch with one of the most basic human emotions… love. Much of it is fear of retribution from their respective sides, etc., yes, but even when playing matchmaker for Nina and Maggie, they are just so delightfully oblivious.
I'd assumed they always knew they loved each other and were just (poorly) hiding it from one another, but after season 2 I suspect now that they've actually had a hard time recognizing what this "why does this other being feel like my whole world" feeling actually is until very, very recently. 🥲
There is a dynamic going on that if aziraphale says " i forgive you" he still thinks that crowley is some one who NEEDS/WANTS to be redeemd. by whom by heaven ,hell ,god? these enteties Drowned children, Kill people are in their own way responsible for a lot of the evil and some of the good that goes on in the world.
( Although if you wanna have my Ten cents on that subject. I think fallen angels Or in other words weird or separate people Are what makes the world A better place.)
Being normal, i'm becoming one of the crowd even for the love of your life kills your soul. I think that's why they cal it falling in love.
And the look crowley gave nina was him realizing that he After his fall to hell, He just did it again. He is falling,all the contol is gonna be wrenchend from them again.
and where is he gonna end up now? 😢
Great analysis! I loved the Job episode and especially the ox scene. To me it seemed like Crowley testing out a theory: is Aziraphale a kindred spirit, someone who can help him overcome his loneliness? He's seen Aziraphale's compassion for humanity and thereby in extention his compassion for creation in general. Creation beyond humanity is something Crowley has been very invested in since he helped jump-start the universe. And Aziraphale had been with him and had helped him at its birth. Which, if you think about it, makes them both a kind of surrogate or adoptive parents of creation. Which partly explains why they go to such lengths to preserve it even though they know it was created to be destroyed eventually.
I also think it's no coincidence Crowley's first successful temptation of Aziraphale involved meat. In Christianity meat has always been associated with carnal pleasures, which is why in medieval times all the pious knights ate fish instead of meat. And why there's no meat for lent or on Fridays for devout catholics. Eating meat and physical pleasure are kind if interwoven. Then add to this the almost lecherous look on Crowley's face as Aziraphale falls for his temptation and gives into the temptation and you could read this as Crowley tempting Aziraphale with carnal pleasures. The kiss is almost the same scene just without the metaphor.
I loved this analysis. And it actually makes it more heartbreaking thinking is the first time Crowley offers touch to Azira being so chaotic.
Thank you for the work you have done. Your analysis is good, but you missed some points from the first and second seasons. In the first season, after Hathur and Legur's attack on Crowley, he doesn't go on the run, but goes to the store to make sure Aziraphale is okay… and despairs that the store is on fire. In such despair that he does not notice that this is ordinary fire, and not Hellfire. That is, Crowley is honest with himself and understands that Aziraphale is very important to him. In the second season, there are many strange hints about Crowley’s past: and about a certain Archangel who was demoted to demons, one of the Archangels (I didn’t remember her name) remembers Crowley and speaks to him respectfully, Crowley retained higher access to documentation in Heaven, unlike from Muriel and he knows that Heaven never changes passwords (that is, he was not among the first to fall). That is, trying to dissuade Aziraphale from accepting the responsibilities of the Archangel, he is trying to protect him from disappointment and fall. And a kiss is a last resort, as you correctly pointed out – having picked up misconceptions about romantic love from human books and films.
(Sorry, I used Google Translate)
Because they're hella gay, next question
I agree the rib scene and the kiss are related. In part it's just about understanding (many times in this series) that angels are not inherently physical in their relation to the world. Pratchett and Gaiman both point out that angels/demons are not sexual: it's alien in the same sense that food is alien. And Aziraphale tends to start with rejection, and move to acceptance and even enthusiasm. Aziraphale inches into revelations–including ideas about the right and wrong of the testing of Job, and the value of grave-robbing, and into the discovery of food. The kiss is Crowley's go-to temptation. Unfortunately neither of them manage to work through the slow adjustment in the aftermath.
I really believe that the metatron wanted to split them because they love each other, and it is possibly what gives them great strength. They don't know it tho. Also, there is something about crowly not remembering, having been in the team of creation, or just underneath the team, of not talking of his angel past, of not wanting to return to heaven…we may if we are lucky have a reveal about crowly in season 3. I feel that the gabriel/beelzebub situation kinda refers to all these ideas…gabriel doesn't toe the company line, they try to erase his memory, he gets away from them somehow, then leaves with beelzebub, with no angel really trying to stop them…if the metatron had not interfered, maybe the kiss would have ended in a happy ever after…was this coincidental? After all it is the metatron. How better to split them up than ruining their moment, dividing their goals, making the goodbye bitter? This may be an off topic comment, or maybe not….sorry if it is.
It is harder for me to see the kiss as intended “material gift,” I do think I tend to agree more with your take later in the video that in the moment it’s just an instinctual act of desperation and love. I think it is especially meaningful though (to us as viewers and to Aziraphale) bc as you said, it’s always been Aziraphale showing physical affection. Basically every time we see Crowley touch Aziraphale it’s in a rage or pantomime thereof (which I find completely compelling for the fact that Aziraphale is ALL ABOUT IT in those moments lol – you can see in his face, in the wall scene and in the graveyard when Crowley erupts at him, he honestly seems a little turned on by the closeness but even more importantly, completely unafraid of him. He feels 100% safe around him and even seems completely adoring of Crowley’s characteristic “I’m not nice” outburst in the graveyard. His face there has basically the same look of love and adoration as during the “smitten” convo.
Another reason btw why I’m wholly convinced Aziraphale didn’t quite fall in love with Crowley in 1941, only that’s when he really realized it (and that Crowley had been showing him love for all that time and would always take care of him).
Ok, I’ve been loving commenting here, this was such a great video! Looking forward to more!! ❤
11:19 oh my GOD!