No Nightingales

What I think Crowley thinks he's saying here is that he's been using their coded language-- speaking in Nightingales-- for basically this whole scene and Aziraphale isn't hearing what he's saying and he really, really, really needs to hear it in Crowley's mind because Crowley thinks the (really non-existent) threat of The Book of Life is looming. He thinks if Aziraphale goes with The Metatron that Aziraphale will be erased into a state of non-existence and Crowley's proposal is actually a plan to stop that from happening.

Crowley, by the "no nightingales" portion of the scene, is desperate, and his last play is to, in his mind, directly refer to their secret language using what is obviously coded language by saying nightingales directly and just hope that The Metatron takes it as some sort of in-joke and not a coded message.

He asks if Aziraphale can "hear that" when no sound exists and points up as a way of making the point that Aziraphale isn't hearing the wordplay in what he's been saying. He is actually referencing two types of birds at once-- the nightingales of their hidden language and the crows from their first, fumbling attempts at forming what would become their nightingale speak back in Job's courtyard and from which Crowley took his name.

He's referring to this:

He's trying to directly reference the moment that he let Aziraphale hear the crows bleating like goats and Aziraphale realized the true meaning of what Crowley had just said the moment before. He's trying to say that something like that needs to happen again, even if the end result of this scene is, ultimately, that it does not.

Crowley is trying to get Aziraphale to rewind mentally for a moment to everything that Crowley has said previously in this scene and, instead of taking it on a surface level, run it through the filter of it being wordplay in his mind so that he'll understand what Crowley was trying to say.

Seems like a smart move, right? How could there be more confusion if the word being referenced is the word they use to refer to the language in the first place?

What Crowley doesn't take into account is the fact that he's saying this while being about to walk out while they're both upset and that, because nightingales is the secret language shorthand word? It *also* means-- to both of them-- their love for one another.

So, what Aziraphale sees and hears here is not baby, please listen and realize that you didn't hear the real words I've been saying...

What Aziraphale sees and hears here is:

You don't love me. You and your Heaven bullshit-- there were never any nightingales. This was never love. It wasn't real. It's over.

And Aziraphale?

It would have been less painful if Crowley had physically ripped Aziraphale's heart straight out of his chest.

He's heartbroken and he's furious and every emotion along that spectrum because-- funny story-- Crowley hasn't heard a bloody word in nightingale speak that Aziraphale has been saying in this scene, either.

A series of unfortunate events fucked this conversation from the start because the beginnings of it involved things that made them both assume that the other wasn't using the language at all.

They each thought the other didn't see Coffee Dude watching them as a threat and started to try to convince one another there was trouble and what they each thought that trouble was and what their plans were to overcome it. They have been only taking one another's words on the surface level and so they don't really understand what one another has been saying.

So, Aziraphale hears "no nightingales" and he's thinking of all the human art into which he's put the word for their language and their love because, to them, that is the same thing... the centuries of mythology and stories and poems and the part of Romeo & Juliet about the secret nights spent together and their damn song... and how dare Crowley say this isn't love?

They've spent millennia loving each other with their secret birdsong language and now, to Aziraphale, Crowley's wielding the one word that means to them just that as the weapon to end them. How dare he use that of all words to say that this love isn't real and that whatever it was is done when it means thousands of years of singing that love to one another?

You could torture Aziraphale for a millennia and he would find it less painful than what he thinks Crowley just said.

So, ya know... when Aziraphale thinks what is happening is that Crowley just went from "marry me" to "you don't love me and it's over" in about four minutes flat with a waking nightmare of misunderstandings in between and is now about to leave him just when Aziraphale needs him most...

....maybe the reason why Aziraphale is taken aback by the kiss is not because it's the first but because he's just got emotional whiplash and this is an unexpected last kiss that is coming seconds after, in Aziraphale's mind, Crowley having just accused Aziraphale of not loving him.

Yes, their exactly's are not the same here. And maybe Aziraphale's face in the elevator is him finally getting a chance to think about what Crowley was actually trying to say and (hopefully) starting to figure it out.

That's become my feeling about the elevator, too. He's clearly thinking something through in the mid-part of the elevator shot and then the end expression is 'fuck' on a cosmic level lol so he might be realizing some of what Crowley was trying to say... which is brutal, actually, because he's probably about to lose his memories for a spell in the story here. Not for long, likely, but maybe until he's reunited with Crowley. (I'm pretty sure The Bentley is Aziraphale's fly, made unintentionally in S2.) But that means some of his last thoughts, basically, are going to be about That Scene and knowing where it all went wrong and okay, I have to stop depressing everyone...

When in doubt, the flirty vol-au-vent gif:

There, all better.

I've not come across this yet and I really want to put it out there.

Listen. Hear that?

I don't hear anything.

That's the point.

No Nightingales.

Now. We all assumed it's a call back to A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. And I do think it still is (and why that song plays later).

However. I think there's more to the use of Nightingales than that.

There is a certain bit of literature out there, a very RELEVANT bit of literature actually, that uses Nightingales or, more specifically, the lack thereof, as a warning.

A bit of literature that both of them are probably quite familiar with as they canonically have attended this particular bard's performances.

The tale of the most well known literary star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet.

Act 3, scene 5. Dawn is approaching after the newly wed lovers have spent the night together.

Romeo must leave Juliet's room and get out of dodge before daybreak or risk being killed. Juliet, desperate for more time together, tries to convince him it is not yet morning and he should stay with her a bit longer.

Here is the scene:

Juliet tries to convince him the birdsong is that of the nightingale, a night-bird, and that they still have time to be together. Romeo replies that it is "no nightingale", but a lark, a bird of the morning, and that he must "be gone and live, or stay and die".

They tarry a bit longer as the scene continues until Juliet realizes the actual danger of him staying with her, and urges him to go. He does, but first :

Romeo: "Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I'll descend!"

A bit on the nose, that.

Now, i am a die hard believer that there was more going on in that last 15 than meets the eye, and I eventually plan to post about that, as well. The possibility that there was some non verbal communication going on between the lines. I am also very solidly of the belief that the Metatron story we (and Crowley) heard from Aziraphale was that of an Unreliable Narrator. Something was said or implied in that conversation that we don't know about. Something Not Good.

But, the No Nightingales line, which at first seemed like just a heavy hitting angst-hammer and call back to the end of s1, on rewatches seems...odd. A bit 4th wall, even.

Unless...there was a different intent with the use of the phrase. Specifically 'Listen. No Nightingales.'

And then we get the Nightingale song playing in the Bentley right after Aziraphale gets in that lift.

We know that Satan, other demons, and Crowley himself can speak through the radio.

And we know from s1 (Aziraphale's escape back to Earth when discorporated and his possession of Mdm. Tracy) that if demons can do something...angels can, too.

The song playing right then, I believe, was Aziraphale's attempt at comfort.

That's the point. No nightingales.

A Nightingale Sang in 1941

This is my inaugural meta (yay!) Eventually I will learn how to add gifs and whatnot to make this more interesting but today, I give you a wall of text.

I need to give credit where credit is due to three existing metas that I’m drawing upon heavily here:

I’m going to expand upon meta #2 and #3 and explain why I think there is are very compelling reasons to believe that #1 will be canonized.

yes this.

ixremember my initial impression from that scene was "aziraphale is bursting to try to speak, while crowley is choking on his words" which i now see isn't from happy/sad, it's from terrible danger/safe at last how do i do this.

also my plea again for everyone to please archive your meta on ao3 if you haven't already, tumblr is increasingly cumbersome and wastes even more time chasing down notifs, than it did a few short months ago, never mind back when i could actually see all my notifs without having to jot down and dismiss most of them. if you need an invite, ask, any of us would be happy to help.

I've seen a few takes on what the "No nightingales" line actually means.

I originally took it as a very simple reference to A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, which was being played by the pianist in-story at the end of Season 1. I assumed Crowley was referring to a moment that would have been just another song in a long set at the Ritz, but that the viewers would recognize as profoundly meaningful. By making this reference, Crowley is emphasizing to Aziraphale what he is leaving by going to Heaven, and is also cluing in the audience that S1's Ritz date was every bit as deep for Crowley and Aziraphale as we suspected it to be.

The exact words Crowley chooses, however, imply that he's talking about the song of an actual bird. It would be a bit odd for him to talk about a bird's song if they had never heard it together before, wouldn't it? In that case, is he saying that at the end of Season 1, even though "no one" could hear the nightingale singing over the London traffic, the angels dining at the Ritz actually did? Or is he just using "nightingales" as a shorthand term to refer to the song?

Or is Crowley referring to another event in which they heard a nightingale, or nightingales were otherwise a subject of discussion? A lot of people think there must be a third scene set in 1941, since it's the only historical flashback that's appeared in both seasons so far. 1941 would also be the perfect time for this song to be popular and for it to be playing while Crowley and Aziraphale are having some sort of relationship moment. Alternatively, maybe they heard a nightingale (the bird itself) in 1941, or at some other time in history.

i don't see that options 1-3 above are mutually exclusive. they heard the song at the ritz, they could have heard the bird in the park, and they could have heard the song in 1941, such that it already had meaning for them at the end of s1.

Nightingales and Romeo and Juliet in Good Omens S2E6

I’ve been thinking about the many symbolisms of the nightingale since the end of S1, but especially since the whole “That’s the point. No nightingales” conversation between Crowley and Aziraphale at the end of S2. Nightingales feature in a lot of literary texts symbolizing a whole bunch of things, but I found this particularly interesting:  

In Romeo and Juliet (you know, the play where two star-crossed lovers from rivalling families try to overcome all boundaries in the name of love), there is a scene (Act 3, Scene 5) where Romeo and Juliet have a conversation (or a little row/misunderstanding) about nightingales and larks. It is the night/morning after their secret marriage (!) and Romeo has to leave before the morning comes. Otherwise he will be in great danger as he might get caught by Juliet’s relatives. Juliet, who does not want him to leave yet, argues that the bird that they hear singing outside the window is a nightingale. Since nightingales sing by night, she hopes that this will convince Romeo that it is still night and thus make him stay a bit longer. Romeo, on the other hand, is convinced that it is a lark, a bird of dawn, that is singing, which would mean that he has to leave soon. When Romeo suddenly states that he does not care if he will be killed or not and that he wants to stay with Juliet, Juliet caves in and explains that the bird they hear is actually a lark and that Romeo has to flee.

So, a few things to point out here:

Okay, back to Good Omens:

It is the morning after The Dance™ (you know, the one Aziraphale organized only to be able to make a move on Crowley and dance with him; the one during which Crowley tried to open Aziraphale’s eyes to the dangerous situation they were in while Aziraphale refused to give up on his little fantasy-bubble of love and romance). Aziraphale tries to convince Crowley to go back to heaven with him. We don’t know exactly what went on in the conversation between him and the Metatron, but there was probably some threat involved, which means Aziraphale thinks that they will both be safe(r) in heaven. In a way, he is the Juliet in the situation, trying to make his Romeo stay/come with him by convincing him that the nightingale is still singing – that they can still be safe that way. Like the night before, he does not (or at least does not seem to) realize the danger they are in and will be in and that heaven will never let them be “an us”. He does not want to part with Crowley. Crowley, on the other hand, knows exactly that going to heaven is not an option for him and he understands that they are in danger. His statement, “that’s the point. No nightingales,” means that the protection of the metaphorical night, the indifference of heaven and hell concerning their situationship, is over, and that they can either flee together or have to part. Aziraphale, judging by his expression, seems to understand what Crowley is implying here. This seems to be where his parallels with Juliet end, since he does not agree with Crowley in the end. However, there is a version of events that would make his actions similar to Juliet’s in the end: Assuming that Aziraphale knows that one of the two options to keep Crowley safe(r) is out since he knows that Crowley will never agree to going back to heaven, his only other option is to ensure Crowley leaves without him (and without the impression that he needs to save Aziraphale and their relationship). He does this by driving him out if the bookshop.

In any case, the nightingale seems to symbolize the temporary safety of their forbidden love, and Crowley’s statement at the end signals the end of this precious period, and that they must part (for now).

Here. I fixed it. Azi's face dancing to the music too. The old wrong version of the subtitles because there's a lot of unwilling but unavoidable piracy going on.

wow, it really does fit perfectly! that's got to be on purpose, like in the editing room, they cut everything together to the song, and then changed most of it to the soundtrack music. wow.

Vol-au-vents

Aziraphale serves vol-au-vents at The Ball, as we know, which are French (obviously-- he's trying to romance Crowley here and Aziraphale is a Francophile passionately devoted to the art of their romantic ways.) Vol-au-vents are little puff pastry bowls with fillings, usually chicken, which appears to be the main one going around in the scenes on the show. Translated from French and taken as whole, "vol-au-vent" means "windblown", which refers to how airy the puff pastry is. However...

...translated literally (bit by bit) from the French, "vol-au-vent" means "flight in the wind."

You know, like what birds take... Like what nightingales take...

That they are filled with chicken (a flightless bird) kind of goes along with the whole semi-success of The Ball. On the one hand! Nightingales! Birds in flight... if up against the headway of some wind! They got to dance!... On the other hand... chickens! Flightless birds! Demons attacking the bookshop! Beginning of everything going really terribly! Crowley then chucking the tray of them on the floor near the entrance to the bookshop is another instance of him saying "no nightingales", only without him consciously aware of the symbolic meaning of what the writers were making him do.

So, you know that new theory that Azi was controlling the Bentley at the end of S2E6? And that he made the Bentley play the song?

If it's true, it means something very heartbreaking, see:

Nightingales are associated with mutual love, it's said that if you're confessing and you hear the song of a nightingale outside, it's because the person you're confessing to feels the same.

Crowley confesses and not only do no birds sing, but Azi remains firm on his decision of going to Heaven, so, of course, Crowley interprets this as 'he doesn't love me back.'

But when Crowley is watching him leave, either for safety or to see if he'd change his mind (Book says Crowley is optimistic, after all), Azi can't walk up to him or say anything, since Metatron is there, so he does one last thing before he departs. He plays the song on the Bentley.

When Crowley enters the Bentley and hears it, it's truthfully Azi telling him directly, 'I do love you back, I do feel the same.'

But of course, Crowley turns off the song.

Since, to him, 'If you truly did, you wouldn't have left me.'

Good morning

edit 9/9: someone pointed out on twitter that there's a tulip growing from one of the plants and im losing my mind.

"Aziraphale sent the song" is my favorite out of all the "theories" yet. I guess I'm not 100% sure how much I believe it, since Aziraphale was in an absolute hell (er...) of a mindset at the time. But then again, we did have multiple scenes demonstrating that the Bentley will play what Aziraphale wants it to.

As far as Crowley turning it off, yeah, I mean, the sentiment might be just a little too rosy for Crowley right now, if that is truly what happened. Not only does he have significant processing to do, but buffeting him with hope like that might feel even worse given what he knows about Heaven, and that no matter Aziraphale's good intentions, the Metatron will be determined to break him.

The two lines from S1 that foreshadow temporarily memory-zapped Aziraphale in S3... and a very romantic story

S2 ends with their last words to one another being "I forgive you" and the "don't bother", right? But back in S1-- in the scene that parallels the bookshop breakup at the end of S2-- Crowley self-deprecatingly declared himself unforgivable in Aziraphale's eyes/God's eyes/sometimes his own eyes and he owned it. Declared it. He's damned, he's a demon, it's what he is... Aziraphale needs to deal with it... only... it's *how* he did it that is the foreshadowing.

The "Unforgiveable" and the "I forgive you"s connect the scenes together but it's that back in S1, Crowley declared himself "unforgivable" in a lyrical parody, done spoken-word to the rhythm of Nat King Cole's famous song...

Not "Unforgiveable" but... "Unforgettable..."

Unforgettable, that's what you are Unforgettable, though near or far Like a song of love that clings to me How the thought of you does things to me Never before has someone been more

Unforgettable in every way And forevermore (and forevermore) That's how you'll stay (that's how you'll stay) That's why, darling, it's incredible That someone so unforgettable Thinks that I am unforgettable too

No, never before has someone been more

Ooh, unforgettable (unforgettable) In every way (in every way) And forevermore (and forevermore) That's how you'll stay (that's how you'll stay)

That's why, darling, it's incredible That someone so unforgettable Thinks that I am unforgettable too

All Gabriel could remember on his own after he lost his memory was Buddy Holly's "Everyday", symbolic of his love for Beezelbub. Odds are high a memory-zapped Aziraphale could remember "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square". In S2, our foreshadowing king Crowley even unintentionally foreshadows it with that line that's broken us all to bits...

No nightingales in Heaven-- as in, he and Aziraphale can't be together if Aziraphale goes there-- but the scene by S3 might also be read as foreshadowing that when Aziraphale went up to Heaven, they took from him the metaphorical nightingales-- his memories of who he is and of Crowley and their relationship-- but they can't take it entirely. They can take Aziraphale's sense of self but they can't take away entirely his ability to remember Crowley. Something-- likely of the nightingale variety--can trigger it back. Aziraphale literally loves Crowley too much to ever fully forget him and that love for him might be how he can come back to remembering himself as well...

... because long before The Book of Life and Amnesiac!ArchangelFuckingGabriel and ObviouslyMemoryWiped!Muriel and confirmation that Crowley's pre-Fall memory is spotty, foreshadowing for Aziraphale losing his memory as a story was already there back in S1 when Crowley spoken-word-parodied the most famous and beautiful song in existence about being unable to forget the eternally memorable love of your life.

Unforgettable. That's what Crowley is.

Ohhhhh this is a really great catch!! His phrasing did always strike me as unusual there. Do you also think they're going to share a body (and thoughts/feelings/memories) in s3? (After the whole, "pity I can't inhabit yours, demon and an angel, probably explode" conversation from s1.) I'm excited for that too, if it happens!

Hi! :) Thank you! re: sharing a body... I tend to think that the scene of Discorporated!Aziraphale talking to Crowley in the pub actually foreshadows the body swap at the end of the season because it has lines in it that explain to the audience why Aziraphale is in need of finding someone else to hop into and why he can't just pop into Crowley. For the purposes of the plot, Aziraphale says that it's a pity that he can't do this since it would solve their problems but "angel, demon... probably explode." This shows that they don't actually *know* what would happen but that Aziraphale isn't willing to risk Crowley's life for it and Crowley isn't too wild about the idea, either. It sets up, though, the question in the audience's mind as to what would happen if they tried to do that or something like it and then the end of S1 shows us because if you notice when they swap back, they cross back into one another so, for a moment, they actually are both overlapping as the same person, basically. They don't explode. Nothing happens. But while the Discorporated!Aziraphale scene foreshadows the body swap, it also still has one bit that hasn't paid off yet and that's, uh, Crowley's innuendo in the scene lol.

Aziraphale stated his dilemma as that it is "hard to find a receptive body" and while I am sure that Aziraphale got Crowley's joke, he was just understandably distracted by his situation and the impending end of the world so he ignores the innuendo but Crowley's response of "I'm not gonna go there" is making a parallel of possession/body swapping and sex. There are a million opinions about Crowley & Aziraphale and sex and everyone's take on it is valid but there's also the later joke with this when Aziraphale is separated from Madame Tracy as well ("oh, you made me go all tingly" and Shadwell's jealous look lol.) Given that Crowley and Aziraphale later body swap in a parallel to this (and that Shadwell and Tracy are parallels to them), that might be the extent of it but it also could hint at Crowley and Aziraphale getting down in S3 on the other side of the memory-loss plot (or it being suggested that they do.)

That all said? If we're looking at the Discorporated!Aziraphale scene and how it can foreshadow Aziraphale getting a kind of Gabriel-like plot in S3, then we do also have to consider the idea that there needs to be an Aziraphale version of the fly to help trigger him back. Gabriel and Beez actually parallel the body swap and the Madame Tracy possession a bit with the fly-- something that's a part of Beez's body that they gift to Gabriel and which Gabriel uses as a container of sorts to store his memories and identity. There are a lot of options for that for Aziraphale and it might be that he's not just in one thing-- he could be in the Bookshop, in the photo, in the Bentley, etc..-- but the parallel suggests that it should be something of Crowley's. The romantic aspect of it is that Aziraphale can be found in Crowley, the way that Gabriel could be found in a bit of Beezelbub. This could easily be The Bentley but it's also possible that Crowley himself is the key to bringing Aziraphale back and the fly is Crowley because they did have something of another "body swap" at the end of S2 that you could also argue connects back to the "angel, demon... probably explode" bit of that S1 scene (and shows very much that they don't explode lol) which is the kiss.

We don't really know what happens when angels and demons kiss but if it parallels the fly, then it is possible that Aziraphale exists in some form still in Crowley.

Would certainly make this less painful, eh? lol

oh! in that huge meta about aziraphale's original sin, you pointed out aziraphale drawing in every molecule of residue from the kiss, maybe crowley did that too, off screen.

i am LOVING all the parallels being pointed out between s 1 & 2! and where they might be headed! and just picturing neil and terry in that hotel room 30+ years ago, musing on the book they had just written together and batting around ideas for where various story threads might be carried forward. and then neil bringing john finnemore into the team, who is also so very good at playing the long game. (srsly, i can't imagine a better writing partner for good omens, given that terry is no longer an option) chef's kiss.

I think you'd like to see this. If you're insane that is, obviously.

Thanks to.. khm.. me we know that the nightingale is indeed singing in the last 3 minutes of the season.

Thanks to @doctorscienceknowsfandom we know that there are actual flowers in the Bentley when Crowley gets in the car and turns on the engine.

Here they are. In the lower right corner.

I don't know about the red-ish one barely seen in the dark, but the clearly visible one indeed looks like a tulip. White or yellow, I can't tell.

Now. Did I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to find an actual Victorian era book on the language of flowers, which mentioned white tulips? Yep, I did. Did I find one? Alas, no. Some called a yellow tulip an emblem of hopeless love though. Contemporary articles name white tulips a way to say "I'm sorry", but we don't seek the easy paths.

So I chose a book by Robert Tyas The Sentiment of Flowers; or, Language of Flora, first published in 1836, which was an English adaptation of Le langage des Fleurs (1819) by Madame Charlotte de la Tour, which according to Wiki 😅 appears to be the first dictionary of the language of flowers.

The summary in the end of the book looks intriguing 😁

And here's the actual article on the subject. Enjoy 😁 If you are insane, I mean. If you're not that insane you can proceed straight to page 73.

Thank you for this!! Do you by any chance still have the book? I've been wondering if the other, red flower might be either a gladiolus or (I think more likely, but who knows) a geranium...or an amarylis? If either ou'd those look like they have interesting and relevant entries, perhaps they might be worth posting?

About the Nightingale song and the Bentley.

Ok. I did a thing. You know that Nightingale song the Bentley plays when Crowley starts the engine. I was sure it was a reconciling message from Azi. Simply because the Bentley has been shown to be almost sentient and couldn't function as a device in which you could queue a song to play later (some summer children claim Crowley did that). She always responds to the current moment. And she's been shown to have formed a particular bond with Azi.

So there are three possible instigators of the song:

1. The Bentley herself: a) if she is that tone-deaf (which is almost impossible), b) if she is that bitch (which is possible - Crowley mentions that his car is not a fan of him living in her - but unlikely).

2. Crowley's state of mind (which kinda contradicts the seemingly obvious).

3. Aziraphale.

Now. The creators wanted to put this song there and to make it instantly recognizable so that Crowley could switch it off pretty fast but we still caught the line about the nightingale singing. So it couldn't start from the beginning, it instantly went about the nightingale (another point against the "he queued it" version).

The song has this line three times. I've never been that good at processing audio information, but after several listenings I'm pretty sure that the second one is used here.

Due to all sorts of circumstances it was technically not that easy and not at all pretty, so I'm not posting it. I had to use an old shitty phone with VPN to open the song on YouTube first, recorded it on a different phone, then recorded a video of the final minutes of the 6th episode (together with my own reflection in the screen and shaky hands). And superimposed them on each other matching that bit, which the Bentley plays. I did math first of course, so I knew what I would get, but still wanted to see it with my own eyes.

And you know what? The song starts playing when Azi asks the Metatron about the plan, the lyrics start when he gets the answer about the second coming. When Azi turns and looks at Crowley it goes "There were angels dining at the Ritz". When Crowley is getting into the car the song goes "That when you turned and smiled at me", here the Bentley picks up "A nightingale sang in Berkeley square". The last accords of the song end together with Azi's insane-ish smile followed by the blur.

Make of this what you like.

Also

"I may be right [Nina waves at him] I may be wrong [Maggie is sleeping behind the counter]". And at this point I'm perfectly willing to swear 😅

"No one heard it [The Song] over the noise of the traffic [over the noise of hearts breaking really], but it was there, right enough" 🤫

oh, that's interesting! looking where the furniture/soundtrack isn't (but belongs).

Season 3 Opening Scene Theory

So, season 2 opened with a flashback that had us totally reevaluating Aziraphale’s and Crowley’s relationship. I think the same will be true of season 3.

I think we will return to the night in 1941, to find out that they kissed, danced, or more that night.

1 - Why are they sitting at a table in the bookshop just drinking, no food on the table? When they’re drinking they don’t use a table. I think it’s to clue us in that there is more to the scene than what we are seeing - at some point before or after they had dinner.

2 - We know that Aziraphale did the apology dance in 1941 - again an indication that there is probably more to that evening than what we have seen so far.

3 - When Crowley says ‘no nightingales’ in S2E6 we now think he’s referring to the scene at the end of S1E6 in the Ritz, but it does seem a bit of a reach. It was a very nice moment, but I don’t think a relationship defining one that would cause both of them to think of it as their song.

4 - A Nightingale Sang was released in 1940, first charting at the end of December 1940. It would have been a hit in 1941 (according to Wikipedia it got up to #2).

5 - I think they had dinner, they danced, or perhaps even kissed to Nightingale as it was playing on the radio, and it became their song in a much more significant moment in 1941.

6 - When Aziraphale says to Crowley “Perhaps one day we could…dine at the Ritz” after “You go too fast for me Crowley” he would then be directly referring to their song from 1941.

7 - When it plays at the Ritz at the end of season 1, it’s because the pianist finds themselves mysteriously compelled to perform it, like the bus driver taking them to London.

8 - And finally, when Crowley says “no nightingales” at the end of S2 it is just devastating, it’s him saying there is no us.

And another thing: in the lyrics to Nightingale: That Certain night, the night we met/There was MAGIC abroad in the air. 😁

I very much like this idea, it probably won’t happen. Maybe someone will write a fanfic at least.

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I am putting on my tinfoil hat and saying this is for SURE what happened. The question is, who made the move and what the hell went wrong?

"Listen. Hear that?" "I don't hear anything." "That's the point, no nightingales."

Here's YouTube...

in case anyone forgot, the song IS diegetic music (ie, the characters heard it, not just the tv audience)