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Chapter Text

I saw a post by lonicera-caprifolium on Tumblr laying out evidence that the Kiss at the end of Episode 6 was a body (or appearance) swap, and that Crowley went up to Heaven while Aziraphale drove away in the Bentley. I started to collate the evidence, looked at it, and became convinced that's what is actually on screen, that's what Neil et al. intend to be canon. The evidence for the appearance swap is in Chapter 2, presented as a set of observations with as little interpretation as possible.

One reason I was willing to trust the evidence of my own eyes at about the swap is that it is foreshadowed by Aziraphale's sleight of hand trick in the Nazi Zombie Flesheaters minisode. I therefore started calling this the Banana Fish Gorilla Shoe Lace With a Dash of Nutmeg Theory, or Banana Fish Theory for short, after the "magic words" used for that trick.

How I got here: My emotional roller-coaster with Good Omens Season 2, and the structure of this meta

One of my goals in writing this up is to make it easier for other people to follow what I'm saying about Season 2 without having to go through the emotional rollercoaster I've been on about it, because I *hate* rollercoasters.

When I first watched Season 2, my reaction was basically: "Well, that was a Thing." I had very mixed feelings--the structure seemed a mess, the "Resurrectionist" and "Nazi Zombie Flesheaters" minisodes felt like bad or mediocre fanfic, respectively, the communications problems felt contrived, and the fandom was blaming Aziraphale for everything.

When I became convinced that everything after The Kiss looked like an appearance swap I was staggered, and also *angry*. I felt like Neil had manipulated our feelings, made us cry and be unhappy for *no reason*, that he was despising his viewers and fandom just as so many showrunners seem to do.

But I kept trying to do a forensic analysis of S2, to figure out WTF is actually going on and what it might mean, if it means something after all.

The first question was, do we see other references to swapping and switching places, and to the appearance swap in Season 1? The answer came back: LOTS. Neil may be a bastard, but he plays his cards in the open: there are plenty of clues and indications that a swap is possible and thematically resonant, and I'll probably put them into a chapter to be named later.

Second question: If Aziraphale & Crowley haven't truly "broken up" at the end of S2, if they're working together in some way, why send Crowley to Heaven in Aziraphale's place? What can he do up there that a promoted Aziraphale can't? The answer to that will be in Chapter 3, Hacking Heaven.

Third question: Why don't we see A&C agree to the swap? All we see is them miscommunicating and fighting! I've only started to answer this question; the beginning will be in Chapter 4, The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name. Further research is *definitely* ongoing!

Fourth question: What is the Final Fifteen *really* about, if it doesn't end with Aziraphale going to Heaven and Crowley driving away? What are they fighting about, if they're not breaking up? My first try at an answer will be in Chapter 5, Who Wants To Live Forever.

Although my Imagine There's No Heaven theory about the Good Omens 3 finale stands on its own independent of Banana Fish Theory, Banana Fish Theory relies on it, because nothing makes sense if the story isn't headed in a particular direction.

The tentative conclusion that I've come to is that Neil's plan for the Season 2 ending was for us all to cry and be upset because we think they're breaking up, AND THEN in Season 3 realize the situation was actually *more* upsetting, and cry about *that*: two different emotional breakdowns from a single scene! I'm not sure he's going to succeed with this plan, but I no longer think he is playing games with our hearts or despising us for caring. And I do think that a good deal of Season 2 hangs together better than it seemed to at first ... but not all.

Why Banana Fish Gorilla Shoe Lace with a Dash of Nutmeg?

With permission, I'm going to quote from queerfables' breakdown of the magic words and their significance:

The thing is, these words have been nagging at me since I heard them. They sounded familiar, and I've been trying to figure out why. Today, it finally clicked.

Banana. Fish. Gorilla.

Those initial three words are all key words from Crowley and Aziraphale's drunken conversation about Armageddon. It's right at the start of things, when Crowley convinces Aziraphale to help him stop the world from ending.

We'll start with the fish, because they come up first.

"The point I'm trying to make," [Crowley] said, brightening, "is the dolphins. That's my point." "Kind of fish," said Aziraphale.

Their entire exchange here is hilarious and iconic but I'll try to keep this to the point. After some banter about the difference between fish and mammals, Crowley argues that dolphins don't deserve to be caught in the crossfire when the kraken rises and the seas boil. Which conveniently brings us to:

"Same with gorillas. Whoops, they say, sky gone all red, stars crashing to ground, what they putting in the bananas these days?"

Banana. Fish. Gorilla. It got me curious, so I searched for other places these words show up in the book. There's nothing I think is really significant: a couple of things are described as banana flavoured, fish show up in rains that herald the impending doomsday, gorillas aren't ever mentioned again. If I'm on the right track at all, I think this part is here to signpost a connection between this string of words from the show and the specific moments in the book.

If that's true, it must be pointing to something. What's left? Shoe lace and nutmeg.

Shoe lace.

The word "shoelace" isn't actually in Good Omens. Neither is "shoe lace" with a space in between. There's a couple of unremarkable descriptions involving shoes, and one miraculously conjured lace handkerchief, and then - and then. Right at the very end of the story, we have Adam, grounded by his parents, being described as "a scruffy Napoleon with his laces trailing, exiled to a rose-trellissed Elba". It's tenuous. I could dismiss that as nothing. Except Adam's laces show up again, and it's the very last passage of the book.

If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boy and his dog and his friends. And a summer that never ends. And if you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot . . . no, imagine a sneaker, laces trailing, kicking a pebble; imagine a stick, to poke at interesting things, and throw for a dog that may or may not decide to retrieve it; imagine a tuneless whistle, pounding some luckless popular song into insensibility; imagine a figure, half angel, half devil, all human . . . Slouching hopefully towards Tadfield . . . . . . forever.

I'm not ready to say much about what I think the significance of this passage might be. But an allusion to the book's ending does feel significant, doesn't it?
The one thing I will say, for people who may not know, is that this passage is riffing on a line from Orwell's 1984. The line it's playing on is a lot darker: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever." I think it's probably relevant that this is referencing a book about a totalitarian regime. I also think it's probably relevant that it's taking that reference and twisting it into something much sweeter, more optimistic and empowered.

dunkthebiscuit pointed out that " Slouching hopefully towards Tadfield" is a reference to William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming".

I'm still thinking through all the connections and implications, though.

Nutmeg.

And that brings us to "nutmeg". I have to be honest, I wasn't hopeful. I didn't remember any references to it and if I were betting, I wouldn't have put money on it appearing in the book at all. But the word does show up, and it shows up exactly once. Crowley is reminiscing about a cocktail he had once, made out of fermented date-palms. It's part of a conversation with Aziraphale, where they discuss losing the Antichrist. And here's the really interesting part:

"You said it was him!" moaned Aziraphale, abstractedly picking the final lump of cream-cake from his lapel. He licked his fingers clean.

"It was him," said Crowley. "I mean, I should know, shouldn't I?" "Then someone else must be interfering."

"There isn't anyone else! There's just us, right? Good and Evil. One side or the other."

He thumped the steering wheel.

"You'll be amazed at the kind of things they can do to you, down there," he said.

"I imagine they're very similar to the sort of things they can do to one up there," said Aziraphale.

"Come off it. Your lot get ineffable mercy," said Crowley sourly.

"Yes? Did you ever visit Gomorrah?"

"Sure," said the demon. "There was this great little tavern where you could get these terrific fermented date-palm cocktails with nutmeg and crushed lemongrass-"

"I meant afterwards."

"Oh."

Book Aziraphale differs from his characterisation in the show in a few ways, and this is the big one. In the book, Aziraphale is much more cynical about his own side, and much more aware of heaven's flaws. Here, he's convincing Crowley that the threat heaven poses is just as serious as any threat from hell.

If I'm right about any of this, if these nonsense words mean anything at all, I think they are saying that heaven and hell are two sides of the same very nasty coin, and more to the point, that maybe Aziraphale is more aware of it than he seems.

I need to think about this more, still. I'm not sure if I really think this connection is something, and if it is, I'm still figuring out what sorts of conclusions we might draw from it. But if the script is trying to point us to these three sections of the book, maybe there's a deeper analysis to be had here.

I do think it's interesting that the last two words each only show up in one section of the book. It's not like I'm skipping around trying to decide which passage involving shoe laces is most relevant - it shows up twice, only in the last few pages of the book and only in relation to Adam (and in particular, humanising Adam. He's Napoleon in exile, but he's a kid with trailing laces. His future isn't a boot stamping on a human face, it's a sneaker with those same trailing laces - and a stick that his dog can choose whether or not to chase).

I could talk myself in circles on this point, so I guess I've got to open it up to the floor. Am I making something out of nothing with this? Or do you think there could be something here?

My commentary/reply:

queerfables quotes from the novel, not the Season 1 scriptbook nor from the actual episodes. This doesn't make a substantial difference for Banana, Fish, Gorilla: they all appear in all 3 sources, in the same conversation--the drunken one Aziraphale & Crowley have while they're discussing the arrival of the Antichrist.

This is of course a pivotal conversation for the whole series and for Aziraphale & Crowley's relationship, because at the end they shake hands on their agreement to raise the Antichrist together. In S2 we learn they previously shook hands on a deal in 1941, in the magic shop.

The drunken bookshop conversation also has more resonance with S2, and I think ahead to S3. In that convo they both talk about whales--"Brain city, whales"--and how unfair it would be to destroy them, and we now know that might remind them both of Job's conversation with the Almighty, in which God stressed how important whales are. In fact it seems to be contemplating "all creatures great ... and small" that tips Aziraphale over into agreeing to Crowley's plan. I'm laying down a marker, here: the definitive proof that the Metatron isn't, in fact, speaking for God will come when he says something dismissive about whales.

The other thing about that conversation is that Crowley talks a lot about the burden of immortality in heaven. In the context of the S2 opener, it reminds us how very poorly-matched humanesque minds are to the spatial and temporal scales of our universe. For all that the Young Earth Creationist Good Omens universe is thin and small, it's a much better fit to human understanding: understanding our real universe takes a *lot* more work than that. This ties in with my Imagine There's No Heaven prediction about where Good Omens is going.

The big problem with queerfables analysis of the "magic words" is that the shoe lace and nutmeg references are *only* in Good Omens, the novel, they don't appear in the TV show (as filmed; the nutmeg line is in the scriptbook). Generally Neil tries to be scrupulously careful about putting all his clues where they can be seen, and I'm not sure if clues visible only to book readers count. If they do count, I think they're a reference to human goodness, resilience, and creativity: the qualities that made it possible for Adam and his friends to stop the Apocalypse, and the kind that can make life nicer and tastier even in a cruddy town headed for destruction.

So half the magic words refer to things in nature that have interest and worth (to A&C) apart from what they're "good for", and the other half to important qualities of the human world. Both halves are things that Heaven doesn't think are worthwhile but that are, as Aziraphale and Crowley know from experience, *good*. Things worth fighting for.

Chapter Text

I'm going to go through what we see/hear on screen from The Kiss to the end (including the bits of their faces in the credits), pointing out what seems to me to be evidence that Crowley and Aziraphale have done an appearance swap as they did in 1.06. For clarity, I won't use the character names, just "MS" for Michael Sheen and "DT" for David Tennant.

I'll try to present these observations (pointed out by myself and others) with as little interpretation as I can, to let you see them as data and come to your own conclusions about what you're seeing. The idea here is to try not to have a theory or idea about why this is happening or what anyone is feeling or what it all means, just: What do you see?

1. The first couple seconds after The Kiss, in slow-motion:

As he backs away, before he's even got his mouth closed, MS glances out the window. @lonicera-caprifolium noticed this first, and wasn't sure if he gives a slight nod to DT.

2. lonicera-caprifolium thinks the jaw-clenching motions MS makes after he presses his fingers to his lips is similar to something in the Heaven's execution scene in 1.06, but I haven't been able to match the right clips. If anyone can, let me know.

3. When MS is talking to the Metatron in the bookshop, his hands keep twitching while hanging at his sides...but he doesn't hold one hand in another, as he so often does when stressed.

This is the clearest gif I could make of this behavior.

4. Outside, DT is standing next to the Bentley but only touching it (her?) with his elbow, so there's a large, consistent gap between his body and the side of the car.

In other scenes in both series, when DT is next to the Bentley much more of him is in contact with the car, there's very little gap between them:

Also, DT holds his body still the whole time he's standing next to the car watching MS and the Metatron, and his posture stays upright. He doesn't change expression of face or body.

5. As MS is walking with the Metatron from the bookshop to the Dirty Donkey, he never clasps his hands. This was pointed out by a number of lonicera-caprifolium's commenters.

Do I need to include comparison gifs of the many times Aziraphale clasps his hands while he's moving or talking?

6. DT gets into the Bentley and it starts playing "A Nightingale in Berkeley Square". This is the first time in either series that DT has been driving and the Bentley has played anything other than Queen. It's established in S2 that Aziraphale can get a variety of music while driving.

7. When DT gets into the Bentley to drive away, there’s an obvious and careful-framed white tulip coming out of the plants in the back.

Then as the camera pans slowly, it becomes clear (color adjusted so you can see what I noticed) that the white tulip has a red flower (gladiolus, possibly) on its left.

Here is a closeup of the 2 flowers:

8. One of lonicera-caprifolium's commenters noticed that when the Bentley is driving away down the street, every frame includes someone with yellow on their clothes or packages.

9. Many people have noticed that the Bentley drives away *slowly*, respecting the speed limit--something only otherwise seen when Aziraphale is driving.

10. As the credits are running, we see MS’s face as he goes up to Heaven in the elevator. On the other side of the screen, we see DT's face, as he drives the Bentley with the plants in the back.

DT's face is almost immobile during this long take, not expressing any obvious emotion. Do I need to put up gifs showing how much Crowley's face normally moves when he's driving, especially when he's experiencing strong emotions?

At one point, DT looks like he's smiling, very slightly:

Meanwhile, MS's face moves and twitches slightly, especially toward the end of the clip. In the last few seconds before their faces blur out, MS smiles.

MS's expression here is similar to one he used when playing Crowley-dressed-as-Aziraphale in hellfire:

So: trying to step back from your feelings and speculations, what does this look like to you?

One of my premises, borne out by Season 1, is that both DT & MS are extremely careful and controlled about their performances, their faces and bodies do *what they intend*. This is particularly the case for Michael "Microexpressions" Sheen, but is true for both. Neil Gaiman and Douglas Mackinnon said that "everything is meant" in S1 with regard to details of production, staging, and so on, but that is doubly true for these actors. What we are seeing is what they mean to show us.

For me, the observations that are most convincing are: their faces during the credits scene, especially MS's face at the end; DT standing so upright and still next to the Bentley, barely touching the car, and the flowers (point 7 above). The flowers were the thing that made me go from "cute idea, maybe" to "NEIL WHAT DID YOU DO?!?", because they are *so* out of line with anything we've seen in Crowley's car.

I know--believe me, I know--how difficult it is to look at this data apart from how it makes you feel about the characters, Neil, or the series. We'll get to some more explanatory theories! But I want to start with: what do you see?