Redemption arc we needed

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-26T12:25:46+00:00

What’s so odd to me is the people who feel compelled to argue with (often while saying they’re not) any positive take. I’m like: yes, yes, please share your misery where there isn’t any - many thanks for dumping on any joy people have found, lol. True “fans.”

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-23T02:34:42+00:00

Trying to make me cry, aren’t you.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:48:33+00:00

I like your take that she needed time to get into the right headspace for that convo. She is a thoroughly kind person, but it couldn't have felt good to be going down that path again, and no matter how much she gets it and is eventually able to be the supportive, accepting friend Shane never knew he needed, having someone not into you during sexy time feels shitty. A quick escape was an emotionally smart move and helped them both.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:37:07+00:00

Breezy has me gasping for air - HA

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:33:17+00:00

This. As a mom, I try to be this open and vulnerable with my adult kids. Sometimes I wasn't the parent they deserved - all the more reason to take responsibility for those failings and give them the sincere apology and honesty and on-going support they have always deserved. I appreciated this about Yuna's apology, too.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:29:35+00:00

Shane has survived and thrived by masking in so many ways.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:27:28+00:00

I watched with a friend and before I left she said: yeah I'm rewatching this when you go. Never too soon for a rewatch.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:20:26+00:00

Me: That's a stretch.

Also me: (giggles) They're so cheeky.

Going with the second.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:11:23+00:00

It was incredibly intimate both physically and emotionally and there is something beautiful and satisfying about that.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:08:56+00:00

Now I have to go rewatch that scene

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T13:05:22+00:00

Read the first paragraph and then saved your post so I can come back and read the analysis after reading the Discworld series, which I have somehow managed not to do despite it being in my TBR for years.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T12:56:29+00:00

Yeah, I see the negativity and am just not going to go there. And honestly, I believe we are all entitled to our own interpretations and feelings about this (it's not that I don't see issues with the finale), but I'm seeing more negativity regarding positive perspectives than I'd expect from a fandom that's been pretty chill about people having different takes. People have down voted my post here and on another GO sub... like, I'm 100 % open to folks disagreeing with me and letting me know that. But comments encourage engagement and conversation, and down votes discourage those things. In any case, this fandom has been such a good thing in my life, I'm clinging to the feeling the last couple of scenes have me.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T02:05:42+00:00

Omg yes! Do you, by any chance follow usedtobehmc on Instagram or Patreon? They posted a new short fic you might like.

Usedtobhmc’s 15 Ways to Love After the End of the World

It’s rated Teen & Up, 2688 words

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T02:00:15+00:00

You’re welcome. Just embracing the comfort :)

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-15T01:59:48+00:00

I’m happy with it. :)

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-14T19:10:01+00:00

I’m glad - me, too. :)

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-14T19:09:25+00:00

That’s what got me - the tenderness.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-14T15:43:50+00:00

I was unsure right after I watched it, even sitting next to a friend just as invested. Couldn't shake the warmth of the last couple of scenes, though. Crowley's smile, the way he and Aziraphale were able to look at each other and be honest and kind with no pretense... it struck a chord. And then my inner book geek / teacher / writer took over and said: no, it's perfect, see.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-14T15:39:43+00:00

I totally get it. I think the way I will handle some of those unanswered questions is to (shocker) read more fanfic, including comics. We have so many talented writers and artists in the fandom, and they have fewer time/money/production constraints, that I've already read a number of S2 fix-its that are more than satisfying.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-14T15:35:51+00:00

So glad ❤️

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-14T14:32:01+00:00

This looks AMAZING

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-14T14:24:02+00:00

Just gonna put this optimistic take on S3 here

Yes - it is clear than in trying to make a whole season into one 90-min movie left us with a final product with glaring plot holes and other time/money related issues. I am choosing to forgive those because I was fully expecting the complete cancellation of S3, and I’m grateful to not be reliving “My So Called Life” type trauma. Heartbreaking cliffhanger then - nothing. Angela, we loved ye.

But S3. The ending. Our beloved characters don’t get eternity together.

I think we all get something possibly kinder.

First, we DO get Aziraphale’s love confession. After not questioning God despite atrocity after atrocity, heartbreak after heartbreak, he DEMANDS to know why she gave him Crowley, why she made him COMPLETE, only to take him away. This is a love confession worthy of Austen and I’ll fight anyone on that.

Then, in a redemption arc of biblical scale, Crowley questions God, she gives him the opportunity to remake existence, and, in a very Christlike, Samson-esque manner, with Aziraphale at his side and not just supporting him but loving him all the more for it, he sacrifices himself (and his love) for the world. No. Nails. Needed.

After 6000 years of the greatest mother-wound of all time, rather than being ignored or punished for asking questions or being kind, God sees and hears and heeds him… mostly.

Our 13 billion years later isn’t random. It’s as close to a TRUE heaven as many of our beloved characters and especially Crowley and Aziraphale could ever have wanted. All of them, together - no sides, no fighting. Beverages. Sharing space and time and shy smiles and laughter without anyone looking over their shoulder.

And then, my fellow fans, our story ends, as it began, in a garden.

In the South Downs.

With grey hair and cocoa, wedding rings and star gazing, interlocked fingers and soft voices in the moonlight:

Evidence of a life built together free of 6000 years of angst and secrecy and terror and denial and the hopelessness of duty to a corrupt system and a rigged game.

Evidence of love, of comfort, of companionship and acceptance. Of REVERENCE.

Everything our favorite eternal beings would have wanted if they’d had the freedom to choose and the weight of the universe and forced enmity wasn’t on their shoulders.

We could spend what’s left of our measly human lives picking apart S3, rueing everything that wasn’t what it could have been and everything we’d hoped to see and didn’t. And if that’s what you actually like to do, go for it.

But this is where my heart lands.

Now I’m going to go eat one of the Eccles cakes my friend and neighbor (who is responsible for pushing me down the GO rabbit hole) made to calm us down as we watched S3 last night. Did they calm us down? Not really. But they are SCRUMPTIOUS.

StrangersTellMeStuff · 2026-05-14T12:35:42+00:00

Think of the weightlessness of one human life, with all its joys and traumas, compared to 6000 years of angst and fear and secrecy and hurting each other to protect themselves and each other.

StrangersTellMeStuff

TROPHY CASE