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Right off the bat I have to say that I think the writing for this season is ingenious.
Given the rather thin overall storyline when it comes to the season arc that might sound a bit outlandish, but to me this whole season is never about the Gabriel mystery anyway.
It is all about the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley and how it has developed since the ending of season one.
In that regard, the writing - especially in the present-day interactions - is simply brilliant in my mind.
I have given parts of season 1 a rewatch and I have seen season 2 a few times now - some scenes more than others - and the overall consistency is just a joy to watch.
It's not just the writing of it of course, but then again I never had any doubt that both Michael Sheen and David Tennant would return to those characters flawlessly. And they do.
The scenes we are given in the present day setting are - simply by the nature of the season arc which is nowhere near as high stakes as it was the season before - a lot more domestic in nature.
And while the witty banter and the overall mixture of both fondness and just a bit of irritation they have for one another is always there, I had that overall feeling of a tonal shift between the characters.
It felt a lot like what used to be a more balanced more equal footing has somehow shifted in Aziraphale's favor.
Rewatching most of their interaction in season 1, I realized it's not all that different, but it is more due to the fact that they are not equally invested.
Season 1 was all about high stakes for the both of them to avert an event from coming to pass neither of them wanted to happen.
This season is - in fact - mainly about something Aziraphale cares about while Crowley tags along for the ride, being mostly roped into helping.
Of course the overall dynamic shifts, if one character is more involved with what is happening than the other.
Still there are snippets that bother me.
When we are reintroduced to Crowley and Aziraphale in their first scene together, Crowley mentions that Aziraphale only has three reasons for calling him - if he's bored, if he needs to boast or if he has a problem. (I'm paraphrasing here)
That rubbed me entirely the wrong way. It sounds a lot like Aziraphale only ever contacts Crowley when he needs something... or if he has nothing better to do. In RL I know people like that, people who will only come to you when they need something
and that is not a good base for any relationship. So for Aziraphale to only spent time with Crowley when he wants something, struck a cord with me that is still very much leaving me irritated.
I do however think Aziraphale is not entirely at fault here. The separate introduction to both charactes beforehand showcases it rather well I think - Aziraphale has built a life after the Apocalypse-that-wasn't and Crowley simply hasn't bothered to ask to be a part of it - which is culminating in that whole messy, emotional last few minutes at the end of the season.
While Aziraphale has the bookshop and a tenant (guess which spelling mistake I almost made there :D) and records to track down and books to read and cocoa to drink, Crowley seems to be stuck in the very same place he was when we last saw them - on a bench in St. James Park. While Aziraphale has build a life and is happily living it, Crowley seems to have put everything on hold. I mean he spends so much time on that bench he knows the who is who of clandestine meetings at the Park by heart, he is helping his replacement get the hang of things with her new position even though he no longer is affiliated with hell, he hasn't bothered to get a different flat or do anything that could be remotely considered building a life for himself. So it comes as no surprise that he seems to be at the beck and call of Aziraphale just a little bit. He doesn't seem to know what to do with himself.
That whole imbalance, the fact that Crowley seems to care more about Aziraphale than it happens the other way round, bothered me to no small extent and it's not limited to that scene of the two of them in the coffeeshop in episode one.
There are other instances throughout the season where Aziraphale does things that seem completely self-absorbed and that Crowley simply takes in stride.
There is the passive-agressiveness with which he reacts to Crowley not wanting to help him with Gabriel (and for good reason) or the insistance of Crowley humiliating himself with that 'I'm sorry dance' just a little bit, while Aziraphale makes it sound like a competition when he points out he has done the same thing before. Then we have the request for the Bentley, which is taking one of the few things Crowley truly cares about and which is effectively his home at the moment though other options are available to the angel. There is no consideration there and even though Crowley clearly doesn't want him to, Aziraphale still gets his will.
The scene in episode 2 with Aziraphale pointing out that the bookshop is 'theirs' and that Crowley gets use out of it too had me particularly vexed at the angel. If they in fact both had equally right and use to the bookshop, why the hell is Crowley living in his car instead of in the spare bedroom currently occupied by an amnesiac arch angel? I mean Aziraphale isn't oblivious to Crowley's living situation... Why not offer?
And then of course there are - I think - at least two or three instances in which Aziraphale either throws Crowley out of the bookshop or tells him to go and wait there because he has more pressing matters to attend to (caring for Gabriel, preparing the ball...), which is not explicitely a bad thing to do/say, but it is definitely a self-absorbed thing to do.
The most tell tale scene of the imbalance in the way they care for one another to me is the one at the end of their 'adventure' in Scotland, when - after doing a good deed - Crowley gets pulled back to hell and does not return for 'quite some time'.
It ties in with the flashback to 1862 in London, in season 1 episode 3 beautifully, when Crowley asks for Holy Water for the first time and the way I see it, that is their first encounter after 35 years in which Crowley has apparently not left hell and now feels the need for 'assurance'.
They never say it in so many words but whatever happened in that 35 years can NOT have been pleasant. And Aziraphale doesn't even question it! Not once does he try to find out where the demon has been all this time, what happened to him and what makes him want for something as drastic as Holy Water in order to protect himself. If that isn't a lack of care and interest, I don't know what is. Now one might take away from it, that Aziraphale is actually much more sure that Crowley can take care of himself than it is the other way round, but to me it all just felt like the angel couldn't really be bothered.
But as much as I am irritated by these minor imbalances - and they are minor and I am probably reading too much into it anyway - from a writing point of view, they are beatifully done and they make sense.
Aziraphale is more self-centered in this season, because the overall plot is more about him than it is about Crowley. So while he goes off to investigate, Crowley gets to do the menial work - hold down the fort, babysit the amnesiac angel etc. - all the while being grumpy about doing it, because he really doesn't want to, but at least this way he can keep Aziraphale safe from being extinct from existence.
It all comes to a head in the final minutes of the last episode, all of those little in between moment that always had me thinking somethig is off between the two of them just a little bit this entire season.
I won't get into the details of that whole confrontation here, because that deserves it's own chapter, but I do feel the build up for it is there all season long and it also ties in nicely with a lot of the stuff we have already seen in season 1.
All in all - and I know I have said it a couple of times now - the writing for the characters and their relationship is great and it is portrayed equally as brilliant.
The best thing about it, is that it only unfolds entirely once you give it a rewatch and it gains even more layers of complexity when you watch it in connection with season 1.
I loved it :)