After four long years, Good Omens Season 2 has arrived, and with it, some of the most romantic moments these characters have ever seen. While it’s true that Crowley and Aziraphale seem to be living in their version of a romcom for most of the season, there is a glaring issue with one of the subplots.
While the angel and the demon try their best to solve the mystery of Gabriel’s missing memories, they have also decided it is good to help Maggie with her romantic woes. While that seems adorable on paper, there are a few things underlying it all that don’t sit well with some viewers.
Maggie is sweet, shy, and in love with her fellow business owner down the street, Nina. Unfortunately, her awkwardness creates problems when bringing these two wildly opposite people together. This makes for a cringy, not well-executed love plot that Season 2 can do without.
The Problem with Maggie
Let’s start at the beginning with Maggie and how she is introduced. Initially, we only see Maggie interact with Aziraphale about music, business, and the rent she technically owes Aziraphale.
Right off the bat, we understand she is shy and doesn’t engage in typical social interactions very well. She comes across as a bit aloof and naive about what love should be.
While this isn’t something to begrudge anyone — it’s the bread and butter of some of our favorite rom-com moments — it plays into why it feels like the pairing of Maggie and Nina isn’t genuine. This naivete gives this plot a forced component that doesn’t work out as the writers probably hoped.
In her naivete, Maggie continues pursuing her crush on Nina despite Nina telling her she is attached to someone else and isn’t interested. It quickly molds into a situation where Maggie’s every interaction with Nina makes the audience uncomfortable.
To top it all off, Maggie seems suspicious throughout the season, like she’s hiding something deeper about herself. There are several clues that imply she could be an angel or a demon in disguise.
The first clue is when she writes that note for Aziraphale but misspells a common word. This would be innocent enough if Good Omens didn’t place so much emphasis on the fact that angels and demons aren’t always very smart. In fact, the inability to spell is an especially noteworthy trait of demons.
Then there is the added suspicion we get when Maggie lets the demons into the bookshop during the showdown at the end of the season. Aziraphale and Crowley have made it abundantly clear that they don’t want anyone — who isn’t already in the bookshop — to be invited in.
Yet, during the height of the situation, she gives the demons permission to enter the establishment. Why would she do that if she wasn’t in league with them?
While Maggie’s suspicious behavior is something to note, it’s still hard to pinpoint precisely what that means for Nina now that they are technically together. It does, however, make it harder for viewers to root for her to succeed at love in the first place.
Why We Shouldn’t Be Rooting for Nina Either
Maggie comes with her own faults, which aren’t big enough to count her out entirely. If only the other half of what is supposed to be a pairing worth rooting for compliments her shortcomings.
Unfortunately, Nina does not. She is a prickly pear of a person tied to someone else when the season starts — even if that person is a piece of crap; cheating is still cheating.
Then there is the issue: Maggie is bubbly and energetic, while Nina is grumpy and seems to hate people. While that difference in personality works very well for Aziraphale and Crowley, it creates an insurmountable barrier for these two women.
Unlike her counterpart, Crowley, Nina isn’t friendly to Maggie at all. That is, unless there is a bit of “intervention” from two ineffable beings. Nina goes so far as to belittle Maggie’s job and interests constantly.
Some viewers would argue that Nina is only reflecting on how she is treated in her relationship, but that doesn’t suddenly make what she is doing okay. Maggie deserves to be in a relationship with someone who sees her passions and encourages them.
Whenever Aziraphale is excited about something, Crowley might grumble a bit, but ultimately they support the angel in whatever he wants to do. There is never any real bullying or disparagement between the demon and the angel, but the same can’t be said for Nina and Maggie.
Despite Nina’s faults, she doesn’t try to get with Maggie when she’s still with her partner. So, a small win for no cheating. However, that has more to do with her disinterest in Maggie and less with her desire to want to.
Sometimes it feels like the only reason Nina shows any interest in Maggie is when the angel and demon are involved. This makes a strong case for everything being one significant manipulation, but more on that later.
Even at the end of Season 2, when Maggie and Nina finally decide to start discussing a relationship, it doesn’t feel genuine. We know that Aziraphale and Crowley had been meddling with their lives the whole season, and Nina has been steadfastly uninterested.
Why the sudden change of heart? It doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the season and doesn’t give her chemistry with Maggie just because the writers want there to be.
They might be “working” together, but there is no real intimacy or care to their actions as we watch the final scene play out. It all comes down to the fact that these two characters feel incredibly forced together.
What Did Aziraphale and Crowley Do?
This brings up the final point, so much of what has happened with this pairing seems manipulated and forced. Aziraphale and Crowley were using them for most of the season as an excuse to avoid the very real Gabriel problem.
Ultimately, there is no reason we shouldn’t believe they are together simply because a miracle was performed on them. Even in those final moments, their lack of chemistry gives a strong case for this theory.
And since there is a strong chance everything about their relationship has been manipulated, that puts a big red flag on everything. If they are being manipulated into being together, they aren’t choosing this relationship of their own free will.
Yes, Maggie has been crushing on Nina since the season started, but that doesn’t mean she wants to be manipulated into being in a relationship with her. To further back this up, is the highly suspicious turn of events that caused Nina’s relationship to break down as fast as it did.
Crowley might not have meant to lock the two in the coffee shop, but who’s to say they don’t influence how Nina’s partner reacts to each new moment Nina has with Maggie? After all, Aziraphale and Crowley are trying to create a big miracle by bringing these two people together. If one of them already has a partner, that poses a huge problem.
The lack of explicit consent between Nina and Maggie for all of Season 2 brings their “relationship” into question. Sure, bringing them together is an innocent enough desire to start.
But by the end, it creates a problem because viewers cannot know if the two genuinely have started to fall in love mutually or if they are being miracled to believe they are. Therefore, rooting for Nina and Maggie as a couple comes with many icky feelings that take away from what could have been a cute love story between two complex women.
—
Good Omens Season 2 is streaming on Prime Video.
This article first appeared on Tell-Tale TV.
Follow us on Twitter and on 
Instagram!
Like us on Facebook!
https://eulaliemagazine.com/315/which-ghost-crossed-over-on-the-ghosts-season-2-finale/
Mads Misasi
Mads is a part-time entertainment journalist and full-time marketing content creator. They love reading the latest in Queer novels -- especially romance ones and watching the latest dramas, sci-fi/fantasy, Star Wars, and romcom films/TV shows. You can join the conversation by following them on Twitter: @dorothynyc89.
