I'm sure there is something really intelligent and so very witty to say about this album. It's so meaty, and so stunning, and you can sink your teeth into each song and be so rewarded for the second, third, tenth, millionth listen. But the one thought that I'm struck by right now is just this joy, this absolute pleasure at seeing Hozier's maturation and evolution as an artist, at witnessting him step into his talent and claim his little niche of the world with confidence. There's so much stark clarity about this album that leaves me in awe, simply glad that the man who said "we tried the world, good god, it wasn't for us" is allowing himself to be a part of the world, and in turn letting us into his own little corner of it. What a gift. What an honor
Finding a new favorite fictional character is like, will you be temporary or will you become a permanent part of my personality for the next 10 years?
Crowley: And I do remember, oh, very clearly, the look on your face, Archangel Gabriel. When you told my only friendto shut his stupid mouth and die. And I… did not… care for it.
the line between not going out as an act of self-care and not going out as a symptom of depression is but a gossamer thread
fun musical bit about this scene!:
the piece that the car is playing (the "classical music that stays classical music") is a tone poem, saint-saëns' danse macabre. it's a super famous piece that you've probably heard before and is associated with all things spooky. but it's not just spooky bc it sounds spooky: it's spooky bc it tells a story! a tone poem is a piece of music evokes a poem, short story, landscape, etc. in short, it's a piece of music that's describing or outlining something.
danse macabre tells the story of the devil, who every year on the stroke of midnight on halloween plays his fiddle to raise the dead. the dead dance for him until the following dawn, where they return to their graves until the next year. (musically it does a lot of cool things to reflect this: there's 12 notes at the beginning representing the 12 strokes of midnight, and the frequent use of a specific musical interval called the tritone. in the medieval period the tritone was also called diabolus in musica, literally meaning "the devil in music" bc of how dissonant it sounded to listeners at the time. it also quotes the dies irae chant as well!)
so the fact that it's what the car chose to play is SUPER cute. bc it's classical (technically it's from the romantic period, but w/e), like aziraphale wants, but it's also reminiscent of crowley. bc i bet the car knows just how much aziraphale loves crowley, too. it's a really subtle nudge that the car knows both of them and it's like the car is finding a musical middle for them both, almost.
it's also a subtly brilliant choice bc in the flashback prior, aziraphale said that crowley asked to meet aziraphale in the graveyard at midnight. just like the devil met the dead on halloween.
Bette Davis & Maggie Smith DEATH ON THE NILE (1978) dir. John Guillermin
SQUAD GOAL!!!!
Stage 1: using your native language's idioms in English out of habit/lack of knowledge
Stage 2: using English idioms as much as you can to prove that you're good at English
Stage 3: using your native language's idioms in English because they fuck actually
“either take off your cross or put on your underwear” (ukrainian) to say that you can’t have both things at once is my favorite expression to ever exist in any language. i needed to put this out into the world so bad, im finally free.
I'm gonna write some:
"you can't put doors to the countryside" referring to something you cannot control
"to honour which saint?🤨" A response to someone doing such a bizarre thing that you can only assume it's for a very specific god ritual (what my mom says when I'm caught cooking a full meal at 3am)
"my mouth is dryer than Christ's sandals" or nsfw version "dryer than a doll's underwear"
"never say from this water I shan't drink" like never say never.
"to write the dots on the i's" to make a negotiation very clear, point out flaws.
"you have to feed him separately" as in 'this person is a handful'
"it's like throwing daisies to the pigs" wasteful, or useless, unappreciated act
"no one gave you a candle in this burial" you don't have permission to talk/give your opinion
"it's like going to pee and not letting even a drop" pointless, absurd, waste of time
"when the devil is bored he kills flies with his tail" when someone you hate is suspiciously idle and seems innocent (and you KNOW!!! they'll do something)
"my saint went back to the sky" meaning you were so distracted/zoned out that you didn't even notice a saint had descended to help you until it left lmao
"I'm more tied up than a Roman's leg" (refering to Roman knee high sandals) it means you're very busy
Crowley’s protectiveness of goats makes a lot of sense when the Biblical symbolism of goats is that they’re demons/devil related/evil/sinful.
In so many of the allegories, sheep are good because they follow the shepherd unquestioningly, while goats are evil because… well, they’re goats. They do their own thing and can’t be controlled/led like sheep.
The most significant section is in the book of Matthew 25, which is especially important since it relates to the second coming - the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ will be separated like sheep and goats. The sheep are told they are good and will go to heaven, the goats are told “ Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
So when Crowley gets defensive of goats, there’s a tasty subtextual layer of meta going on there.
Job: They’re innocent Crowley: So were the goats
Crowley knows he did nothing wrong and was condemned for it, and will never ever ever forgive Heaven for it.
(And yeaaaah, it delights me that Crowley would probably fall under the sheep category as someone who has done Real Good without any intention of reward or blessing. Active good compared to Performative Lip Service Good as shown by the angels)
check in on your local good omens fans today everyone hozier just dropped a new album
I'm seeing some confusion out and about over the title A Companion to Owls (generally along the lines of 'what have owls got to do with it???'), so I'd like to offer my interpretation (with a general disclaimer that the Bible and particularly the Old Testament are damn complicated and I'm not able to address every nuance in a fandom tumblr post, okay? Okay):
It's a phrase taken from the Book of Job. Here's the quote in full (King James version):
When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. --(Job 30:29)
Job is describing the depths of his grief, but also, with that last line, his position in the web of providence.
Throughout the Old Testament, owls are a recurring symbol of spiritual devastation. Deuteronomy 4:17 - Isaiah 34:11 - Psalm 102: 3 - Jeremiah 50: 39...just to name a few (there's more). The general shape of the metaphor is this: owls are solitary, night-stalking creatures, that let out either mournful cries or terrible shrieks, that inhabit the desolate places of the world...and (this is important) they are unclean.
They represent a despair that is to be shunned, not pitied, because their condition is self-inflicted. You defied God (so the owl signifies), and your punishment is...separation. From God, from others, from the world itself. To call and call and never, ever receive an answer.
Your punishment is terrible, tormenting loneliness.
(and that exact phrase, "tormenting loneliness," doesn't come from me...I'm pulling it from actual debate/academia on this exact topic. The owls, and what they are an omen for. Oof.)
To call yourself a 'companion to owls,' then, is to count yourself alongside perhaps the saddest of the damned --not the ones who defy God out of wickedness or ignorance, and in exile take up diabolical ends readily enough...but the ones who know enough to mourn what they have lost.
So, that's how the title relates to Job: directly. Of course, all that is just context. The titular "companion to owls," in this case, isn't Job at all.
Because this story is about Aziraphale.
The thing is that Job never actually defied God at all, but Aziraphale does, and he does so fully believing that he will fall.
He does so fully believing that he's giving in to a temptation.
He's wrong about that, but still...he's realized something terrifying. Which is that doing God's will and doing what's right are sometimes mutually exclusive. Even more terrifying: it turns out that, given the choice between the two...he chooses what's right.
And he's seemingly the only angel who does. He's seemingly the only angel who can even see what's wrong.
Fallen or not, that's the kind of knowledge that...separates you.
(Whoooo-eeeeee, tormenting loneliness!!!)
Aziraphale is the companion.
...I don't think I need to wax poetic about Aziraphale's loneliness and grappling with devotion --I think we all, like, get it, and other people have likely said it better anyway. So, one last thing before I stop rambling:
Check out Crowley's glasses.
(screenshots from @seedsofwinter)
Crowley is the owl.