With the second season of Good Omens fast approaching, we can’t help but look back on the comedy-fantasy show and wonder what lies next in Aziraphale and Crowley’s lives. However, before the latest season drops on Amazon Prime Video, let’s take a look at Good Omens season 1 recap to refresh our minds regarding everything that happened in the last season.
Released in 2019, the series is based on Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s book of the same name. Gaiman created and wrote the TV series, with Douglas Mackinnon joining as the director. The series features an all-star cast including Michael Sheen, David Tennant, Jon Hamm, Adria Arjona, Miranda Richardson and Jack Whitehall, alongside Sam Taylor Buck and others. The first season has 6 episodes, each with a runtime of around 50 minutes.
Good Omens Season 1 Plot
Demon Crowley and Angel Azaraphale, both sworn enemies and representing Hell and Heaven respectively, find themselves to have become friends after spending millennia alongside each other on Earth. However, when they both get news that Armageddon is underway, they both agree to work with each other in order to stop the Antichrist from taking away their peaceful existence on Earth. Unfortunately, this decision sparks a feud between Heaven and Hell themselves, who want nothing more than to go to war!
Good Omens Season 1 Recap
At the start of the series, we see angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley becoming friends in the Garden of Eden, wherein we see Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit. Although not friends at that time, they immediately take a liking to each other while influencing situations and people around them according to their duties on Earth. Representing Heaven and Hell, respectively, Aziraphale and Crowley, over the course of time, take up working together to some capacity, keeping this arrangement a secret from their respective “head offices”.
In the present, after spending millennia alongside each other, Crowley gets to know that the Antichrist is about to come to the Earth and bring about Armageddon, which makes him fearful of Earth’s future. However, thanks to pressure from the other demons, he delivers the Antichrist to his designated destination. But, as luck would have it, the babies get exchanged and, instead, little Adam ends up in the London countryside at a common man’s home.
Unaware of this error, Aziraphale and Crowley decide to work together and influence the wrong child so that he grows up neutral and doesn’t destroy everything that they hold dear. When they finally do realise that they have the wrong child, it is too late, and it is time for Adam to bring about Armageddon. Fearful of the boy he has grown up to be, the two set out to search for him in order to stop him from fulfilling his destiny. Interestingly, growing up in a normal household and with loyal friends, Adam is empathetic and witty, the complete opposite of what the Antichrist is supposed to be.
Standing in front of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (namely, War, Famine, Hunger and Death), who are supposed to help Adam in carrying out his duties, Adam is presented with a choice. However, Crowley and Aziraphale implore him to think about his home, his parents and his friends and ask him to decide from his heart. Thanks to the positive influencers of his friends and his decent upbringing, he decides not to go through with what is expected of him. His friends then get rid of the Four Horsemen.
Angry at Crowley and Aziraphale’s betrayal, Michael and Beelzebub come to Earth in order to sway Adam’s decision, but when that doesn’t work, they send his father, Satan, to have a stern talk with him. Surprisingly, Adam stands up to his father and refuses to acknowledge him as such, which sends him back to the pits of Hell as well.
Having stopped the world from ending, Aziraphale and Crowley try to breathe a sigh of relief but are taken back to their respective homes. Heaven and Hell decide to execute them for their betrayal, but, thanks to Agnes Nutter’s prophecy, they switch their bodies beforehand, resulting in the punishments not working on them (namely, holy water and fire), giving the inhabitants the impression that they are some other divine being. Having fooled everyone successfully, they both enjoy their time on Earth, having left their divine identities behind.
The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Anathema Device and Newton Pulsifer
In the midst of this storyline, there are witches and witchfinders present, with Agnes Nutter, the last true Witch, leaving behind a book of her prophecies, which almost 100% come true. Anathema is her descendant, with the book having passed down through generations. She uses the book to stop Armageddon from happening and comes across Adam and his friends.
Meanwhile, Newton, a failing computer engineer, is the descendant of witchfinder Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer, who had burnt Agnes at the stake and had also died in the same fire thanks to her. Newton and Anathema come across each other on their quest to find the Antichrist and fall in love along the way.
Good Omens season 1 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Good Omens 2 drops on the streaming service on July 28, 2023.