The original post: /r/television by /u/Stunning_Appearance9 on 2025-04-28 16:12:08.
I found out about this show a week or two ago after seeing tons of recommendations on YouTube Shorts and decided to check it out. I really enjoyed the first season; it had high stakes, great humor, and just a hint of a romantic subplot between Aziraphale and Crowley. The subtlety made it feel natural and clever, something that trusted the viewer to pick up on without being heavy-handed.
Season 2, unfortunately, felt like the opposite. What was once nuanced and charming became loud and clumsy. It was as if season 1 respected the audience’s intelligence, and season 2 decided to spell everything out in LEDGBT lights. I actually appreciated the understated relationship hints in season 1 because they felt genuine and earned, not forced, but season 2 often felt more like fanfiction: lower stakes, over-the-top emotional beats, and a loss of the show’s earlier grace.
Gabriel’s memory loss arc had potential but ended up being buried under too much focus on Nina and Maggie, characters I personally didn’t find engaging. Their storyline made the show feel like a CW drama rather than the clever fantasy it started as. Aziraphale being so eager to meddle in their relationship to cover up the miracle on Gabriel also felt out of character. I feel he would have had serious moral reservations about that kind of deception, and that it’s not their place to decide who people love.
It was also pretty clear the writers were using Nina and Maggie as a mirror for Aziraphale and Crowley, but instead of trusting the audience to notice, they practically pointed and shouted, “See the parallel??” The beauty of season 1 was how it let the viewer come to those conclusions themselves. Season 2 flattened that subtlety with bright, flashing arrows.
Another odd creative choice was the inclusion of an angel character using a wheelchair. While inclusion is important, in a world where angels are ancient celestial beings created before the concept of human technology like wheelchairs existed, it felt out of place in the lore. If the story had explained it, that it was a personal choice or symbolic in some way, it would have made more sense. Instead, it came across as surface-level representation rather than meaningful storytelling. Representation matters, but it needs to be thoughtful and fit the world being built.
Everything that made season 1 special — its tenderness, wit, and emotional intelligence — seemed stripped away. I’m aware that staffing changes between seasons probably contributed to this shift, but the tone felt like it was written by people trying to rush a romantic storyline without understanding what made the original dynamic so compelling.
Beelzebub and Gabriel’s romance also felt abrupt and lacked emotional weight. It was just another way to hammer home the parallels already being drawn with Nina and Maggie. A “hat on a hat” situation that weakened the impact of all three storylines.
Even the demons, once menacing and clever, were reduced to cannon fodder. They just marched into defeat with no sense of danger or tension, and that demon with the spiky “cat ear” hair? His repeated deaths and reappearances weren’t funny; they just felt lazy and confusing.
Season 1 was like a feather caught in the breeze — delicate, beautiful, and effortless with spears of sunlight piercing through the barbs
Season 2 felt like a wrecking ball — clumsy, loud, and GrAY.