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.
