Six Thoughts on Good Omens‘ “The Ball”

Put on your fancy pants and dancing shoes, because we’re having a ball this week on Good Omens 2! It’s actually supposed to be the “Whickber Street Traders and Shopkeepers” monthly meeting, but don’t let little details like reality—or a horde of snarling demons—stop you from enjoying yourself.

Note: Each episode recap will include spoilers for that episode and the previous ones only. I have seen the entire season, but I will try to keep these reviews contained to the episodes as they proceed.

1. A Legion of Her Own

After hijacking Crowley’s car while Aziraphale drove it in the last episode, Shax is now convinced that Crowley is hiding Gabriel in the bookshop. She’s not exactly wrong, given that Aziraphale has provided refuge to the amnesiac angel now going by Jim, and, together with Crowley, he made sure no one recognizes him. She marches to the demon in charge of armies, which just so happens to be Furfur, the admissions demon who tried to catch Crowley with Aziraphale in the prior episode. Hell is understaffed, as it turns out, so Shax is only able to assemble a motley crew of one hundred bottom-of-the-barrel demons, plus Eric, the disposable bunny demon with infinite lives.

Although it’s nice to see Eric again and Shax’s “rally the troops” outfit is fetching, her speech goes on a bit long. The scene shows how Hell is struggling after the events of season one and gives Shax an excuse to fry Eric with a bolt of lightning. It’s cool, but since Shax is so awkward otherwise, not really scary. (Except to Eric, I suppose.)

2. Insert Relevant Quote from Emma Here

Recall that Jane Austen was brought up in the first episode of Good Omens 2, in an exchange where Crowley thought she was a spy instead of a novelist. Aziraphale, however, is an old-fashioned angel who loves books, and his idea of romance is an Austen-style ball full of dancing and witty repartee. The duo are still on a quest to make Nina and Maggie, fellow shopkeepers, fall in love. But, as one might know after reading Emma, matchmaking and meddling in other people’s affairs can have unintended consequences in one’s own love life.

In fact, Nina flat-out says so, when she catches Crowley and Aziraphale on the street, bickering like the married couple they are (aren’t?). She asks Crowley how long he and Azirpahale have been together romantically, then when he denies it, says, “Other people’s love lives always seem so much more straightforward than our own.” This seems to give Crowley pause. In the first season of Good Omens, Aziraphale seemed to have a moment of understanding when Crowley saved his precious books. Here, Crowley seems to have a realization of his own, as he considers the fact that he and Aziraphale have been engineering situations for two total strangers to confess their feelings instead of admitting their own.

3. A Shopkeeper’s Association Meeting to Remember

While Crowley is being forced to confront his feelings, Aziraphale is making bargains. He seemed to be in high spirits while playing detective, wearing his cute little press badge and taking notes. Seeming to forget about Gabriel altogether, he rounds up his fellow shopkeepers and convinces them, through any means necessary, to attend his get-together. For Mr. Arnold (named after the show’s composer, David Arnold), it’s a one-of-a-kind Doctor Who book. And for Mr. Mutt, it’s a rare signed edition of a book by a famous magician. When bargaining with books won’t work, Aziraphale resorts to speaking French. (Badly.) (Though honestly, who can blame him? French is hard.)

With all the pieces in place, Aziraphale prepares to host a party in his bookshop. Meanwhile, Crowley finally confronts Gabriel. In season one of Good Omens, Crowley and Aziraphale swapped places to face punishment for each other. So while Gabriel thought he was sending Aziraphale to his death, it was really Crowley who witnessed the angel’s cruelty firsthand. Here, he snarls at Gabriel-slash-Jim, finally letting out his anger at the treatment Aziraphale received in Heaven, but it’s no use. Jim doesn’t remember, and naively trusts everyone he meets. If Crowley really were as bad as he insists he is, Jim might be in trouble. (He’s not, because Crowley is the kindest demon of them all. Gotta love a bad boy with a heart of gold.)

4.Strictly Come Omens

When it comes time for the meeting to start, the invited humans arrive, only to find themselves transformed according to Aziraphale’s whims. Mrs. Sandwich, who runs an adult entertainment establishment (ahem, brothel), is the first to arrive. When she tries to explain what she does to one of the other shopkeepers, she finds she can’t say the words and instead insists that she’s a seamstress. While the “I’m a seamstress” joke is a nod to the Discworld books authored by Good Omens co-author Terry Pratchett, the joke goes on too long to be funny, becoming awkward instead.

In Aziraphale’s fantasy world, everything is prim and proper and no one is allowed to feel anything bad. Which is actually quite horrifying, considering that Nina just got dumped. Like the (much, much darker) incident in The Sandman where strangers are trapped in a diner and manipulated to hurt one another, here they are trapped in a fantasy Jane Austen novel and manipulated to dance. It’s shinier than the diner, but still creepy.

5. Surrender the Angle

Crowley tries to convince Aziraphale that demons are literally outside the bookshop door trying to get in, but he won’t listen, caught up in his matchmaking antics. Nina and Maggie do get to have their dance, but they don’t exactly fall in love immediately. Meanwhile, Aziraphale gets Crowley to dance as well, but even they don’t magically confess their feelings because demons are literally outside the door trying to crash the party!

When the demons actually do attack, Crowley convinces them to first let the humans go. Nina and Maggie stay behind to help Aziraphale while Crowley ascends to Heaven with Muriel to figure out what the Hell is going on. He promises he won’t leave Aziraphale alone, and then Aziraphale admits that he knows Crowley loves rescuing him. Here they both acknowledge aspects of their relationship that make everyone around them think they’re an item. Subtext becomes text. But because a demonic invasion is happening, neither have the chance, nor the inclination, to do anything more. Crowley and Aziraphale both seem to know that they love one another but they’re not on the same page about what to do next, both about the immediate problems facing the bookshop and their relationship in general. These missed opportunities to communicate will seem much more important once we see what happens in episode six!

6. Bits and Bobs

The end of Good Omens 2 is almost here. Will we find out why Gabriel showed up nude on Aziraphale’s doorstop? Will Crowley finally tell Aziraphale how he feels and run away to the stars? Will Muriel actually arrest someone? Find out next time on the last episode of Good Omens 2.