That ‘Good Omens’ Season 2 Kiss Means More Than You Think

The Big Picture

• Good Omens Season 2 features a long-awaited kiss between Aziraphale and Crowley, but it doesn’t solve all their problems.
• The kiss serves as a last-ditch effort by Crowley to express his feelings for Aziraphale, but Aziraphale chooses to return to heaven.
• Although the kiss represents a major milestone in their relationship, they still struggle to effectively communicate and understand each other. This leaves room for them to grow into their relationship in Season 3.

Good Omens Season 2 finally did what fans have been anticipating since the show started: Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and Crowley (David Tennant) finally kissed. You can’t really blame us for being excited about it. While a kiss wasn’t necessary to validate the love story at the heart of the show, it did feel like a natural next step to the romance, and something that had been speculated by fans and teased by Neil Gaiman for a long time. But while our favorite angel and demon did lock lips in the Season 2 finale, the kiss doesn’t mean an end to their troubles and has a much deeper implication beyond just a show of physical affection.

The 6,000+ Year Journey to That Aziraphale and Crowley Kiss in ‘Good Omens’ Season 2

The first season of Good Omens took us on a 6,000+ year journey of Crowley and Aziraphale relationship, confirming that the two of them were indeed deeply in love. But like with any romance, it seemed obvious to everyone except the two people in the relationship. That finally changed in Season 2. When we first meet back up with them in Episode 1, “The Arrival,” Aziraphale and Crowley are finally fighting on the same side (their side), and everything is tickety-boo, until their former opponent, Gabriel (Jon Hamm) shows up in Aziraphale’s bookshop with no clothing and no memory. Aziraphale decides to help and quickly hides him from both Heaven and Hell. Soon, all the forces of Heaven and Hell are on the hunt for the missing archangel, effectively threatening the “precious, peaceful, fragile, existence” he and Crowley carved out for themselves.

As the search for Gabriel escalates, Crowley and Aziraphale resort to a clever miracle to conceal Gabriel’s identity. However, this act triggers alarm bells in Heaven, and they find themselves having to explain the miracle’s unintended consequences. To divert suspicion, Aziraphale explains that the miracle was used to make their shop neighbors, played by the brilliant Maggie Service and Nina Sosanya, fall in love. Through a series of devious plans that they learned exclusively from Jane Austen novels and Richard Curtis films, the pair spend the better part of the season trying to set up Nina and Maggie in an attempt to cover up the lie.

It’s eventually revealed that Gabriel and Beelzebub (Shelley Conn) began having secret meetings after Armageddon failed to kick off in season 1, and through these meetings, the two leaders fell in love. Deciding that they no longer wanted to fight each other, Gabriel told Heaven that he was not going to participate in Armageddon Part 2 and was sentenced by Metatron (Derek Jacobi) to have his memory erased as part of his punishment to bury the controversy. But before they can erase it, Gabriel removes his clothes, hides his memory in a fly Beelzebub’s gifted him, and heads to Earth in the hopes of restoring his memory and returning to his love. Once their truth is exposed to all of their former colleagues in the bookshop, Gabriel and Beelzebub abandon their posts and move to Alpha Centauri (at Crowley’s suggestion), declaring to everyone that their love is more important than taking sides.

Aziraphale and Crowley’s Kiss Is a Last Ditch Effort

After Heaven and Hell’s former leaders leave Earth, Nina and Maggie return to the bookshop and tell Crowley what they believe he needs to hear, because, like Nina tells Crowley in an earlier episode, “Other people’s love lives always seem so much more straightforward than our own.” They explain to him that, while he and Aziraphale’s plans to get them together didn’t work, it did get them to talk and set them on the right path for romance in the future. They tell him that it’s clear the demon and angel have feelings for each other, but they won’t ever get together because they “don’t ever talk to each other.” Saying what they were “really thinking” about one another was what Maggie and Nina needed to do, and it’s what Crowley and Aziraphale clearly need to do as well. Realizing they have a point, Crowley prepares to tell Aziraphale how he feels.

While all of this is happening, Aziraphale is having coffee across the street with Metatron, who offers him Gabriel’s former position and the ability to restore Crowley as an angel. When Aziraphale does return to the bookshop, they both rush to declare their news. Aziraphale cuts Crowley off and goes first, telling him about the job and the details of the offer. Crowley, clearly heartbroken by the notion, begs him not to return and to instead abandon Heaven and Hell, so they can go off together like Gabriel and Beelzebub. The passionate confrontation is filled with rushed confessions and painful misunderstandings, and both struggle to make the other see their reasoning.

When it becomes evident that neither of them is going to change their minds, Crowley pulls Aziraphale by the collar in one last desperate attempt to express his feelings unequivocally through “one fabulous kiss,” hoping it will be enough. In response, Aziraphale, emotionally torn, says, “I forgive you,” reaffirming his commitment to Heaven, even though his heart belongs to Crowley. Even though they are both clearly moved by this new physical intimacy, the grand gesture hits them both with a hard truth: it doesn’t always happen like it does in the movies.

Crowley and Aziraphale’s Kiss Is a Major Milestone But It Doesn’t Mean Happily Ever After

Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship reaches a pivotal milestone when they finally share a kiss. However, the big moment is far from a typical happily ever after, at least for the time being. Though they make their feelings for each other clear, Aziraphale ultimately chooses to return to Heaven, while Crowley decides to remain on Earth. To understand the bittersweet nature of this heartfelt scene and what it means for their future, let’s consider the context and underlying emotions of the kiss, including its significance for both characters.

Throughout the season, Crowley and Aziraphale’s understanding of love starts to take on a more human perspective. It makes sense since the duo has more or less chosen to embrace earthly pleasures and live out a (mostly) human lifestyle together on the planet, finding enjoyment in food, music, and books, among other things. It’s what leads them to draw inspiration for their romantic scheme from romance novels and films because it’s all they know. This is all well and fine, until their efforts to set up Nina and Maggie start to mirror their own very real journey of self-discovery, making them realize they have no clue how to navigate their newly defined feelings for each other.

Crowley’s belief that “one fabulous” kiss can fix everything, as seen in the finale, and Aziraphale’s attempt to dance the night away while the ignoring the conflict waiting at their door (literally) in “The Ball” expose their simplistic understanding of love, influenced by the media. They soon discover real love is more complex, that people are multidimensional, and conflicts can’t be brushed aside with a dance montage. The collision of their romantic aspirations with the realities of love forces them to confront the depth and nuance of their emotions.

The Season 2 Finale Finally Shows Crowley and Aziraphale Honestly Express Their Emotions

The turning point arrives when Gabriel and Beelzebub go off together, causing Crowley and Aziraphale to realize they yearn for a love like theirs, albeit under different circumstances. Crowley seeks genuine love that transcends sides, while Aziraphale believes he can reform Heaven and make it a place where they can achieve happiness. They both ultimately want each other but struggle to effectively communicate this. They are so focused on what they have to say that they don’t hear what the other is saying. They are blinded by what they think the other person needs, and they don’t consider what the other wants. When Crowley witnesses Gabriel and Beelzebub embrace their freedom, he craves the same for them.

Meanwhile, Aziraphale is hyper-aware that he played a crucial role in securing that freedom by intervening while Heaven and Hell was getting ready to punish the pair for their betrayal. He believes if he’s in charge, he can bring a sense of balance to Heaven, allowing him to secure a similar, safe happy ending for himself and Crowley. Crowley, haunted by the memories of the angels sending him into hellfire, fears Aziraphale is being manipulated again and just wants him to be loved for who he is. They also grapple with their own rocky pasts with Heaven and Hell, adding another layer of intricacy to the situation. Aziraphale still believes deep down that Hell is “the bad guys” and sees Crowley as belonging in Heaven because he views him as good. On the other hand, Crowley perceives both Heaven and Hell as toxic entities and fears that Aziraphale wants to change him.

Neither of them is solely at fault. They both wore their heart on their sleeve and begged the other to stay, and they both left believing the other didn’t choose them. It hurts, but it hurts so good, doesn’t it? The ending leaves them separated, and though it may not be the desired outcome, their separation serves as a critical turning point in their story. While they are not ready to be together yet, the fact that they openly and honestly expressed their feelings represents a significant step forward in their relationship. If Jane Austen’s influence on the show is anything to go by, Good Omens Season 2 functions as a crucial Second Act, where the characters must confront their respective pride and prejudices before they can come together in the final part of their story. Now both characters can take the time to process their experiences and tackle their biggest internal obstacles, much like Nina and Maggie. This period of separation offers them the opportunity to grow and gain a deeper understanding of their own needs, laying the foundation for a future where they can attain a mutually-fulfilling destiny, as witnessed in Gabriel and Beelzebub’s relationship.

With a third season in the works, this is not the end of Aziraphale and Crowley’s story. After the kiss finally establishes Aziraphale and Crowley’s feelings for one another in a physical way, Season 3 can explore the repercussions of this kiss with more detail. Although it’s sad that the series will end with a third season, here’s hoping that even if we will be eventually parted from Aziraphale and Crowley that they’ll be together at the end of all this.

All episodes of Good Omens are available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

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