With one vintage Bentley and a taste for the demonic, Crowley (David Tennant) is an uber cool embodiment of evil which leapt from the minds of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, in a collaboration which ended up being called Good Omens.
A show which launched in 2019 and now finds itself heading into season 2 for more of the same shenanigans. As Crowley is coerced into harbouring a heavenly fugitive by the ever angelic Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), giving audiences the slimmest plot line in history to hang an entire series on.
As opposing forces charged with keeping an eye on things, these celestial bodies find themselves in a pickle with neither Heaven nor Hell prepared to take sides. Surrounded by his weakness for human creativity, Aziraphale and Crowley go to extraordinary lengths to keep a low profile.
At first this amounts to minor subterfuge, inadvertently involving humans Maggie (Maggie Service) and Nina (Nina Sosanya), before the demonic big guns wade in aided and abetted by Shax (Miranda Richardson) and Beelzebub (Shelly Conn). Unfortunately, beyond that paper thin premise Good Omens mark 2 just ticks over.
There is no doubt the cast which has been assembled for this show is solid. With the likes of Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Jon Hamm within the ensemble, this second season is never short on talent. Packing out bit parts with as much precision as any of those principal players, audiences will remain engaged for that reason if for no other.
However, there is no avoiding the fact that this cast is wasted, while both Michael Sheen and David Tennant double down on their chemistry to keep things interesting. Meaning that episodes fly by, yet strangely everything treads water. Leaving audiences awestruck at the production design, sidelined by those special effects and yet oddly indifferent to its story.
Unfortunately, the worst crime this Prime Video show commits is one of apathy. In the pursuit of a captive audience being ordinary is unforgiveable, when almost anything is possible. For diehard fans who are passionate about the source material feel free to dive in, otherwise seek out season 3 of Staged on BBC iPlayer, where these exceptional actors really get to shine.
Good Omens season 2 will be available to stream on Prime Video from 28 July.
