How Good Omens S2 Shows Crowley At His Most Powerful

Contains spoilers for "Good Omens" Season 2, Episode 2 — "Chapter 2: The Clue Featuring the Minisode A Companion to Owls"

Amazon Prime's "Good Omens," which is a live-action adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's joint fantasy comedy novel, focuses a snarky lens on the potential ramifications of religious extremism at the divine level. In simpler terms, the hosts of heaven and hell desperately need to take a chill pill.

While the awesome power and terrible obsession of the archangels and the dukes of hell are devastating on their own, both antagonistic forces are primarily viewed in comparison to the seemingly inept natures of Crowley (David Tennant) and Aziraphale (Michael Sheen). And that's odd because, despite their fondness for humanity and each other, the pair is quite strong. In fact, Season 2 of "Good Omens" takes great pains to express just how strong they really are, especially Crowley.

Season 1 reveals Crowley to be the demon who tempted Adam (Anthony Kaye) and Eve (Schelaine Bennett) in the Garden of Eden. Immediately, he's presumed to be a legitimate player in the battle for humanity's soul. Who else, after all, would take the form of a snake and tempt Eve to commit the first sin? Though he continues to enact demonic miracles throughout the series' first story arc, it's in Season 2 that he really gets to show off. For instance, in Episode 1, Crowley literally creates the universe.

No, seriously. Crowley, the same demon who screams at his houseplants and is head over heels in love with the sauciest angel to ever take human form, creates the whole known universe. He's quite proud of it at the time too. Granted, he's using a blueprint provided by God (Frances McDormand), but he's the one who carries out the actual construction work. He's the one who speaks the Almighty's words into existence. Now, there's not really a measuring system on file that provides an accurate metric of what sort of power such an act requires, but that can't have been an easy gig, right?

And it makes his fall from God's good graces all the more tragic. By his own admission, Crowley never actively sought sin; he just "sauntered vaguely downwards" by asking why his majestic creation had to be destroyed only 6,000 years later.

Assuming Crowley is strolling around with enough power to whisper worlds into existence, it explains why he gets such an active role in the war against heaven. Not only was he the snake in the Garden of Eden, but he was also tasked with tormenting Job (Peter Davison) when God and Satan (Benedict Cumberbatch) decided to shake things up with a bit of high-stakes gambling. Within Crowley are the means to become hell's most devious agent, yet he balks at killing goats for an ineffable deity because he still loves creation.

Yes, Crowley is powerful, but he isn't all-powerful. He spends no small amount of time in "Good Omens" running away from threats greater than himself. In Season 1, he deals with the duke of hell Hastur (Ned Dennehy) and Beelzebub (Anna Maxwell Martin), both of whom outrank him and both of whom seemingly possess enough power to do him permanent harm, as well as the literal Antichrist Adam Young (Sam Taylor Buck) and Satan himself, both of whom pose a legitimate threat to Crowley's — and everyone's, really — existence.

And so he plays the part of a wily demon for his higher-ups. And he plays it well because, despite his flagrant disregard for orders, demonkind still respects him ... in its own fashion, at least. When Shax (Miranda Richardson) replaces Crowley as hell's eyes on the ground in Season 2, she's initially in awe of him. She bombards him with questions about how to do her new job, some of which he even deigns to answer.

But obviously, Crowley is not always afraid of upsetting the balance. In Season 2, he takes a good, long moment to threaten the archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm), who's under the influence of some powerful enchantment that's keeping him from remembering who he is, because Gabriel tried to kill his best friend and Crowley values Aziraphale's life above all else. After all, free agents stick together — according to Michael Sheen and David Tennant, at least. "Good Omens" Season 2 is now streaming on Amazon Prime.