WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Hard Times," the third episode of Good Omens, available now on Amazon Prime Video.
Ever since Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley have enjoyed an unlikely friendship that has lasted six millennia, all while living among the humans of Earth, carrying out their respective heavenly and hellish agendas. The prologue to Good Omens' third episode is a particularly lengthy one following the two from biblical prehistory to now, with Aziraphale learning a dark secret about his constant companion.
After sealing up the Garden of Eden, Aziraphale turns his attention to the outside world as he and Crowley observe Noah loading his ark, the crucifixion of Christ and more. Along the way, Aziraphale's interest in human cuisine and fine arts over the ages grows, and he implores Crowley to help him pull off a miracle so that William Shakespeare's latest play, Hamlet, will be a resounding success in the early 17th century. However, while the two bosom buddies certainly learn to appreciate the possibilities of human society as it evolves, it is revealed that they are working directly against each other.
This is to be expected with Aziraphale working for Heaven and Crowley in league with Hell, the opposing nature of their professional lives having been established when they first met. Aziraphale was tasked with guarding the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, while Crowley tricked Adam and Eve into eating its fruit. Aziraphale was also the one who comforted Christ after Crowley tempted him to leave behind his divine calling. In Arthurian England, Crowley and his minions terrorized the countryside as the Black Knight, while Aziraphale, clad as a Knight of the Round Table, was tasked with defeating him for good. Their long-running friendship has been defined by conflict, a fact that is exacerbated when Aziraphale makes a disturbing discovery about his best friend.
Over the ages, Crowley has quietly been searching for a means to permanently end divine existence and, for immortals, this would entail no traditional afterlife but simply a complete erasure from all of reality. While the demon has certainly enjoyed his life on Earth, particularly his rock star fashion sense and fast car constantly blasting Queen, for reasons still unknown, he is looking for the means to definitively end the life of an immortal, to Aziraphale's shock. While the angel doesn't quite know his friend's endgame, he does witness Crowley teaming up with a decades-younger Shadwell in the 1960s to help him reach this goal.
With both divine figures tasked with keeping an eye on the Antichrist and facilitating Armageddon for their respective factions, Aziraphale and Crowley are working against each other once again. Both are trying to steer the boy who they believe to be the son of Satan in time for the apocalypse. Little do either Crowley or Aziraphale know that the actual Antichrist is quietly being brought up miles away in a small English town.
Good Omens is an extended meditation on how opposites can attract and friendships can endure even among those whose goals differ greatly. Crowley and Aziraphale have been openly working against each other for six millennia, yet their mutual love of human culture and their enjoyment of each other's company has kept their friendship strong. However, with the Antichrist threatening to eliminate the things that have brought them together, their friendship is about to face the ultimate test.
Starring Michael Sheen, David Tennant, Adria Arjona, Michael McKean, Miranda Richardson, Sam Taylor Buck, Jack Whitehall and Jon Hamm, Good Omens premieres with all six episodes May 31 on Amazon Prime.