It’s funny, when I heard that Good Omens was coming out as a mini series, I was at once excited (because the Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman team wrote some beautiful literature; worked with some truly great ideas) and I was a bit …”Meh”, because every other attempt at rendering a Terry Pratchett story was – I’m being kind here- lackluster. It seemed that every other time (Going Postal, Hogfather and one other that escapes me) they got the story, but the nuance, the very thing that makes the story fun, was somehow left out. I can’t say whether this was incompetence, or by design.
This is one of my favorite books of the last 20 years or so. I’ve read it twice and watched this mini series three times, so (spoiler alert) I wouldn’t have spent all that time in front of the TV/ “confuser” screen if I didn’t feel that it was a good use of my time.
In much the same way that a Grateful Dead tribute band plays all the old “favs” but isn’t capable of that special spark that made the Dead so famous, and end up sounding like a simple bar band instead, diluting and degrading the great Band’s memory.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a “Deadhead”, but I could appreciate what all that touring and jamming accomplished. We’ll probably never see the Grateful Dead’s like again ever.
And while the people who put this show together from Neil Gaiman on down, weren’t perfect in this rendition of Good Omens (For instance, they left out the running joke about the cassette/ cd (?) of classical music always turning into “Queen” in Crowley’s car after a few minutes of playing. Presumably “Queen” is truly the Devil’s music. Though in thinking about it I wonder how that little but hilarious tidbit might have been realized on “film”, so I’ll give them a “pass”).
The casting was inspired (especially the loopy John Hamm). David Tennant and Michael Sheen played their parts with evil gusto and almost-but-not-quite saccharin goodness well over-the-top but still conveying what was necessary to make this story shine like the precious gem it is; while not so much laugh out loud like the book, was still pretty damn good.
I loved the pacing and the decision to leave out the nuns chanting (that is “The Chattering Order of Saint Beryl- Brand New baby smell”- which you can still find on youtube if you’re “completist”).
The jokes were not so much set up and delivery, but that wry English situational humor that at once can make you squirm, and yet want more. There’s something very subtle and giddy about some English humor. Perhaps it’s because they’ve had so much longer to “develop” it.
Anyway, if you’ve not seen it and if you enjoy clever ideas, a simply brilliant and profound basic premise, and skillful performances that held true to a beloved book, then, what are you waiting for? It’s only 6 hours if you “binge” it and well worth your time.
Maybe lay in some cake to have with it? I’d suggest Devil’s food or Angel food.