As a massive fan of the first season I also really enjoyed the follow-up, but I had this sneaking suspicion it would move in a direction I wasn't keen on, and that suspicion was confirmed ... Now, I'm not saying I hated the direction taken. Part of me was smiling and having "nawww" feelings by the time the last episode credits were rolling ... But ... I also felt like it ruined the relationship at the same time. That it was something tacked on to appease those desperately wanting it to go in that direction.

I know, you're probably saying 'how can you like and dislike it at the same time?' - and If I'm being honest with you. I don't fully know myself. I'm conflicted about the whole thing.

But there is enough for me to articulate (it's not the whole complaint but it is the most obvious complaint). The thing is, the book was pretty specific that angels aren't humans and don't have the same desires as humans. And I feel that Gaiman went against this just to please one group of society ... the argument is that that group of society has been treated poorly and deserves more content aimed at them. And I agree. But there are two things that bother me there. The first is that they've changed a fundamental aspect of who angels are in that universe. The second is that in doing so it actually took from another group of people (Aces) who have essentially had almost every single thing taken away from them, especially in these current times. Giving to an under-presented people by taking away from a more under-represented people feels worse somehow.

I actually find it disturbing that modern times seems to have repressed the friendship spectrum. We've progressed in saying that love isn't binary and is a complex spectrum but simultaneously then regulated friendship to a binary system. It's bizarre. Either that or the average person cannot process the concept of a plutonic friendship ... and I find that thought even more disturbing.

And to me (as a partial ACE) Crowley and Aziraphale was such a pure and beautiful friendship. It was an example of taking multi-levelled friendships back out of the binary box and putting it into the complex category it should be, and showing how wholesome and beautiful a plutonic and deep friendship is ... and season 2 just threw that out the window. That might be a fist-pumping cheer from some people, but it was a gut-wrenching punch to the gut for me.

Outside of the shift in relationships, the whole season had a different feel to it, and my feelings on that are complex in itself. Season 2 is a different beast. But I guess that's what happens when two voices of one story become one voice. I had mixed feelings throughout. I also didn't care for the ending. It felt off. Aziraphale's final moments felt off (he is still great and my favourite character but I thought the whole Metatron discussion was not him).

There was a Matrix feeling to it. Season 2 is different in the same way that Matrix Reloaded was very different to the original. Both originals were good open stand-alones and both went into a season 2 that had the awkward two-parter split.

But at the end of the day, Neil Gaiman has more of a say than me and he chose to do this. He chose a complete change in tone and he chose to make a certain group of people happy and give them something. So who am I to complain?

This review sounds like I hated it and was wholly unhappy. But I want to express that I still liked it. Hell, some of it I thought was better than season 2 ... but the change in tone has me uneasy. The shift in character relationships makes me feel left out (but I don't hate it either) and I'm sitting here feeling like they're making the same mistake of making it up as they go along. And that doesn't make a final product worthy of cult status and regular rewatches years down the track. I like it, but I don't see me returning to it year after year. And the thing about sequels is that they can diminish the joy of the first as well.

Also, the absence of Frances McDormand was deeply felt.