Tum Se Hi

Folks let me talk about Crowley and sunglasses, because I have a lot of emotions about when he wears them and when he doesn’t, and Hiding versus Being Seen.

We’re introduced to the concept of Crowley wearing glasses even before we’re introduced to Crowley, by Hastur: “If you ask me he’s been up here too long. Gone native. Enjoying himself too much. Wearing sunglasses even when he doesn’t need them.”

Honestly Crowley’s whole introduction is a fantastic; we learn so much about his character in a tiny amount of time. The fact that he’s late, the Queen playing as the Bentley approaches, the “Hi, guys” in response to Hastur and Ligur’s “Hail Satan”. I like this intro much better than the one originally scripted with the rats at the phone company, but I digress.

Crowley wears sunglasses when he doesn’t need them. Specifically, he still wears them around the demons, and when he’s in hell.

You know where Crowley doesn’t wear glasses? At home.

We never once see him wearing glasses in his flat, except for when he knows Hastur and Ligur are coming. That’s an emotional kick to the gut for me. Here’s one of the only places Crowley’s comfortable enough to be sans glasses, and when he knows it’s going to be invaded he prepares not just physically with the holy water, but by putting up that emotional barrier in a place where he wasn’t supposed to need it.

An argument could be made that Crowley actually never needs glasses. We’re shown that it’s well within the angels’ and demons’ powers to pass unnoticed by humans. Crowley and Aziraphale waltz out of the manor in the middle of a police raid, and going unnoticed by the police takes so little effort that they can keep up a conversation while they stroll through. Even an unimaginative demon like Hastur apparently doesn’t have trouble with the humans losing it over his demonic eyes. The humans in the scene at Megiddo are acting like “this guy is a little weird” and not “holy shit his entire eyeballs are black jelly”

That means that Crowley’s glasses are a choice, just like Aziraphale’s softness. Sure, he could arrange matters so that nobody ever noticed his eyes, but he doesn’t want to. Crowley wants acceptance, and he wants to belong, and he’s never, ever had that. He didn’t fit in before the Fall in Heaven, he doesn’t fit in with the demons in Hell. With the glasses, and with the Bentley and his plants and with the barely-bad-enough-to-be-evil nuisance temptations, he’s choosing Earth. This is where he wants to fit in, perhaps not with the humans, but amongst them.

Even after Crowley is at his absolute lowest, when he thinks Aziraphale’s dead and he’s on his way to drink until the world ends, he takes the time to put a new pair on when the old ones are damaged. He needs that emotional crutch right now, even with everything about to turn into a pile of puddling goo he’s not ready for the world to see his eyes.

Which is why I swore out loud when Hastur forcibly takes them off.

It’s about the worst thing that Hastur could have done. Rather than leading with a physical threat, his first act is to strip away Crowley’s emotional defences. It’s a great writing choice because god it made me hate Hastur, even more than all the physical violence we see him do.

It’s also the moment that Crowley really truly gets his shit together, and focuses all of his considerable imagination on getting to Tadfield and Aziraphale to help save the world. He’s wielding the terrifyingly unimaginable power of someone who’s hit rock bottom and realised it literally could not get any worse than this. He doesn’t put another pair of glasses on after discorporating Hastur, and he spends the majority of the airbase sequence without them.

He puts them back on again, I think, at the moment that he really lets himself hope. When he thinks ‘shit, there may be a real chance that we get through this to a future that I don’t want to lose’.

The vulnerability is back, and he needs Adam to trust him. In Crowley’s mind being accepted by a human means he needs to have his eyes hidden. Someone give the demon a hug, please.

Interestingly, there’s only one time in the whole series that we see Crowley willingly choose to take his glasses off around another person. Only one person he’ll take down that barrier for, and even then he’s drunk before he does it.

Dear God/Satan/Someone that makes my heart ache. Crowley’s chosen Earth, but he’s also chosen Aziraphale. He’s been looking for somewhere to belong his entire existence, and it’s with the angel that he finally feels it.

When the dust settles and the world is saved and they finally have space to be themselves unguarded, I like to imagine Crowley takes off the glasses when it’s just the two of them; the idea of being known doesn’t scare him quite so much anymore.  

Why are you determined to make me reread Pride and Prejudice for the umpteen-zillionth time?

Did someone say reread Pride and Prejudice for the umpteen-zillionth time?!

So I watched the first episode of Lucifer today, and it really made me realize the lack of male gaze and objectifying women in Good Omens.

(Disclaimer: I’m not trying to get into arguments with Lucifer fans or say that Good Omens is a better show - I have no opinion on Lucifer as a show. I’m just trying to compare and contrast on this one thing based on one episode).

So, Lucifer lays heavily into the “let’s show he’s the devil by having him surrounded by strippers and sleeping with women all the time.” The camera itself does a lot of sexy shots of women. There’s also a number of plot points that focus on female sexuality (including the male main character teasing the serious female main character, who’s trying to be taken seriously as a detective, for having previously been a nude actress.)

In contrast, Good Omens never feels like it’s sexualizing women. Like, not once. Not even the female characters you might expect it of. Anathema literally has a sex scene, and it still doesn’t feel male gaze-y; the camera doesn’t pan down her body or zoom in on parts. She doesn’t strip her clothes off, and when she puts her clothes back on it’s very matter-of-fact. Madame Tracy is literally a sex worker and you don’t see it on screen. 

(It reminds me actually of Mad Max: Fury Road, and how it was notable that even though the plot was centered on sex slaves, there were no depictions of rape on screen, because the audience didn’t need to see it. Seeing that wouldn’t have empowered women. Seeing them escape and screw over the system *was* empowering).

We also don’t see Hell on screen using sex for their schemes. Hastur verbally recounts tempting a priest with lust, but we don’t see it. The absence of any sexual scenes involving Crowley is so notable that the Ineffable Husbands fans are left to wonder if he’s asexual.

Again, I’m not trying to put down Lucifer - it just made me realize how rare (and wonderful) it was to not have a sexualizing male gaze ever-present in Good Omens. 

I also want to link this great post about gender presentation in Good Omens, with a great bit at the bottom from Neil Gaiman himself. Thank you, Neil and everyone else who made this show. Thank you so much.

😂😂😂

But also, why would you send "good"?

Reasons to ship Midge X Lenny from the Marvellous Mrs Maisel

The show is very feminist and relevant, despite being set in a time period that was awash with sexism and misogyny. Lenny is a great example of that, being the first male character to see Midge as more than a housewife or mother, and he never once doubts her skills as a female comedian.

. He is (or at least tries to be) a gentleman, giving up his taxi so Midge gets home safe, pays for her and Benjamin’s table on their date, and gives Midge his coat to wear on a cold night when he bails her out of jail and she loses hers.

. They have an irresistible chemistry between them - witty banter, some lingering looks - but what’s more than that is they’re more alike than they know. They’re both controversial, outspoken comedians who don’t give a hoot in hell about not being allowed to say “obscene” things on stage, but you get the feeling they both feel quite lonely and tired sometimes, which is why I love the scene in the bar so much.

It’s the first time we see Lenny vulnerable, shockingly different from the charming, slick character we’re used to. And the fact that they find each other right when they’re both feeling tired and disheartened and like giving up and they’re able to confide in each other says a lot about their relationship. Watching this scene from an outsider’s viewpoint you’d think these people have been friends for years, but in the show they’ve only known each other just under a year and even then rarely see each other, but they’ve got this connection that’s so intimate and interesting to watch. They’re both clearly attracted to each other but never either a) act on it or b) have actually realised it yet, but there’s some casual flirting that just warms my shipper heart🥰:

1. Lenny: “I heard some cute uptown chick got arrested doing a set, I put two and two together.”

Midge: “Called me cute, huh?”

2. Lenny: “Wait, was I supposed to make a pass at you?” (My personal favourite 🥰)

3. Lenny: “Does he know?”

Midge: “Know what?”

Lenny: “That you’ve been corrupted. Lured to the dark side of the microphone…”

Midge: “One. Date.”

Aagh, their chemistry!😍And those lingering looks and smiles and the way they literally light up around each other you can’t help but get drawn in - also literally everyone on the show thinks they’re slept together or are sleeping together 😅😉 Even while Midge is on her date with Benjamin, we get that delightful scene with Lenny and she absolutely glows, because, in my opinion, they just bring out the best in each other and it really shows on the screen.

I’ll ship it die I die!😍😍 *Jumps into the fandom trashcan*

my favourite trope is when both people understand that they like each other but it’s still unsaid between them and they’re not quite 100% sure the other likes them back so they keep having awkward-flirty moments/interactions and don’t know what to do after it happens so they just ,,, look at each other for a moment before changing the subject…and then it happens again

some things about fire signs

(Aries, Leo, Sagittarius)

-they know how to get the job done

-will absolutely astound you with their passion about that ONE thing they love

-always ready to build someone up when they need it

-will most definitely meet up with you for a 2am venting session if needed

-love that will set your heart on fire, literally

-very loyal, they never give up on people unless there is a SOLID reason

-very good w/ animals for some reason??

-honestly, all they every think about is loving something and being a power couple w/ them

“So, I’ve got a question,” Adam said slowly, in the way Aziraphale had come to quite nearly dread. It meant the boy had been thinking, which was a very good thing, of course; but it also meant the question was likely to be of the uncomfortably acute sort that adults of all kinds, human, angel, or demon as they might be, disliked having to answer. The sort that made one feel rather like, well, Adam, the first one, right after the bite of apple but before he’d found himself a convenient leaf.

Quite precisely, Aziraphale set his book aside and slipped his spectacles from his nose, folding in their temples and tucking them with care into the pocket of his jacket. In the cottage’s kitchen, he could hear Crowley bustling about, putting together the tea things; oh, they could always miracle up an afternoon tea, yes, but Aziraphale did think it was so much nicer to have the real thing. And wasn’t it lovely that Crowley agreed?

He smiled at the boy, who was, after all, not quite exactly human. (Oh, they’d handled the thing with his father, of course, but had anyone taken the mother’s heritage – or even her identity? – into account?) “Yes, Adam?” he prompted.

“Right. Only, you’re an angel, right?” said Adam, his mop of muddy-gold curls flopping over his ears in a way which made Aziraphale’s fingers itch for scissors.

“If that’s your question, young man…” Aziraphale said, trailing off in that slightly forbidding way common to schoolteachers of a certain ilk the world over.

“No. I mean, yes. Sort of?” Adam said. “Only, there’s these magazines, the ones Anathema reads? She lets me read them too, when she’s done with them, and there’s this one that’s all about angels….”

“Ah,” Aziraphale sighed. “You mustn’t believe everything you read just because it’s been written down, Adam,” he said, well aware of the irony. “People do write the most astonishing tosh at times.”

“The magazine said there were sorts of angel,” Adam continued, a bit stubbornly. “What sort are you?”

Keep reading