Good Omens Blu-ray Review

British Gods?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, February 17, 2020

In one of the brief, almost commercial-like, supplements included with this release as a bonus feature David Tennant goes on record as insisting there's "nothing like"That may come as at least something of a surprise for anyone who has seen any number of properties where angels and/or demons reside among "mere" humans. And in fact one of those properties bears ratherresemblances to, including sharing a (co-)author, the venerable Neal Gaiman, who, along with Terry Pratchett, delivered the original written form of, upon which this limited series was based. That other Gaiman entry was the initially intriguing American Gods: Season 1 , a show which unfortunately seems to have encountered some negative juju (a technical term) of its own and which experienced a rather precipitous decline in quality during its second season rather cheekily posited a bunch of "old gods" a la Odin in a battle for relevance with "new gods" like television, in what felt like the "end times", even if an actual apocalypse wasn't entirely germane to the concept.takes twoold gods of a sort, the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant), who have been "acquaintances" since Garden of Eden times, but who are now kind of blithely thrust together as a long expected Armageddon is about to consume Mankind and the Earth.If the subtext of "good vs. evil" in this show is of course a well worn cliché,at least has the sense to skewer things pretty mercilessly, including a patently hilarious "mixup" early on in the story that plays suspiciously similarly to all of those errant suitcases getting swapped in Peter Bogdanovich's neo-screwball What's Up, Doc? . And in fact, there's definitely a farcical element at play, though in this particular instance, the "switch" involves a baby fathered by the devil, in an obvious dual tip of the hat (horns?) to both Rosemary's Baby and The Omen . A series of misunderstandings and miscommunications leaves the spawn of Satan living with a middle class British family, rather than the American diplomat (assigned to the UK) that was part of the demonic plan. Crowley was the assigned "deliverer", but messes up, and when he later recruits Aziraphale to help with mentoring this child they believe is the Antichrist in order to perhaps forestall a seemingly inevitable Apocalypse, the joke is that the two supernatural beings are in fact working with the wrong kid.Much as withthere is an almost insane collection of subplots and supporting characters populating this show. Not only are there are least two little boys growing up under mistaken circumstances (the series doesn't really spend much time detailing what happens to ababy involved in the chaos), there's an old book of prophecies written by a witch named Agnes Nutter (Josie Lawrence), whose Nostradamus like prognostications never really caught on because it turns out they were 100% accurate (in just one example of the rather trenchant sense of humor this series often employs). Agnes' descendant Anathema Device (Adria Arjona) is in possession of her ancestor's tome (at least for a little while), and is aware some kind of conflagration is coming, ultimately partnering with Newton Pulsifer (Jack Whitehall), himself a descendant of the "witchfinder" who burnt Agnes at the stake, in order to prevent the calamity.But there are also divine beings (of both the "good" and "evil" variety) galore in the series, including Gabriel (Jon Hamm), whose motives seem at least a little questionable, and (on the "flip side") Beelzebub (Anna Maxwell Martin), among a coterie of angels and demons making up the forces aligning for an "end time" which may or may not be Divinely commanded. (In that regard, it's notable that along with a female playing Beelzebub, the voice of an unseen God is provided by Frances McDormand, something that evidently raised some hackles in more religiously conservative circles.) There are a number of other historical personages who figure into the proceedings, including everyone from Jesus to Shakespeare, along with a "special guest Lucifer" (or something like that) voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.intentionally pushes any number of envelopes, and as evidenced by the aside above involving reactions to McDormand as the "big kahuna" (kahunette?), this is probably not a show for those who have religious sensibilities which do not include a barbed sense of humor. The "metaphysics" here may be a bit of a muddle, but the miniseries is often cheekily amusing, and at least occasionally laugh out loud funny. There's no denying thatis in fact quite alike any number of other properties in a variety of media. (While probably very few remember it today, there was actually an Anthony Newley - Leslie Bricusse West End musical decades ago calledwhich posited God and Satan deciding whether or not the world deserved being saved, with the Devil, played by Newley himself, being on the "pro" side of salvation.) There's not much singing and dancing in, alas, but the show still has a kind of carnival-esque atmosphere that makes the eternal battle between good and evil come off as surprisingly refreshing and