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Martin Shore

Good Omens season 2 episode 5 recap: Shax attacks!

Crowley (David Tennant) and Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) in the street in Good Omens season 2 episode 5

This article contains major spoilers for Good Omens season 2 episode 5, "The Ball".

In the penultimate episode of Good Omens season 2, Shax takes the demons (slightly fewer than she had hoped for!) to London to assault the bookstore, where Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) is busying himself with organizing and hosting the Whickber Street Traders and Shopkeepers Association Monthly meeting with Crowley's (David Tennant) help. When he promised it would be 'a night to remember' in Good Omens season 2 episode 4, a demonic assault probably wasn't what he had in mind! 

Here's what went down in Good Omens season 2 episode 5. 

Gathering the guests

Having obtained Beelzebub's permission to launch her attack, Shax heads to see Furfur to requisition legions of demons. The best she can get is 70, a far cry from the 10,000 she initially requested, but she gives them a rousing speech to prepare them for the assault.

Meanwhile, Aziraphale is hard at work convincing the other street traders to come to the monthly meeting. Most of the shopkeepers are less than enthusiastic about attending, but he's got plenty of rare books he's willing to offer up in exchange for their attendance.

Nina agrees to come along (as does Maggie), and she reveals that's she suspects Crowley and Aziraphale are a couple, and lets on that she's having relationship troubles herself. He denies the statement. 

Before the meeting, Crowley tells Aziraphale he worries that Gabriel will attempt to smite him once he remembers who he is. After the angel tells him he's being silly and to go and speak to him, Crowley does exactly that. There, he presses the archangel to remember something about what had happened to him, and he recalls that his memory was put into a matchbox.

Having a ball

Up in heaven, Muriel gives her progress report on Aziraphale and Crowley's miracle and says that Gabriel is definitely not in the bookstore, though she also tells the other archangels that the two of them had had a secret meeting which she refused to listen in on because it was private.

Back in London, Aziraphale's monthly meeting is revealed to be the lavish, Jane Austen-esque ball he'd mentioned earlier in the series. Crowley senses that something's afoot in the street; when he comes across Nina, he forces her to come to the meeting as her life could be in danger, but she'll be safe in the shop.

The guests start enjoying themselves and lean into the evening. Nina tells Maggie that she's been dumped, and Crowley warns Aziraphale about the demons, but he's convinced that everyone will be safe inside the store, and he drags Crowley out for a dance.

The festivities are soon interrupted when Shax makes her presence known, and she tells them they've got exactly one minute to hand Gabriel over before the demons start killing the humans. In the stand-off, Gabriel heroically wanders outside as he understands that the demons are after him.

Because of the miracle they'd conjured up in Good Omens season 2 episode 1, Shax doesn't recognize who he is and sends him back into the bookstore. Crowley then challenges whether they have proper clearance to even stage the attack. Whilst he prepares to evacuate the civilians, Mr. Brown wanders up to Shax and the other demons and challenges their authority; they promptly drag him out of the building and kill him, claiming it as a 'civilian casualty'.

Crowley evacuates everyone else, but Nina and Maggie resolve to stay behind and help Aziraphale. After seeing them all home, Crowley spots Muriel observing the whole scene and comes up with a plan. He asks Muriel to arrest him so he can report his knowledge of a crime against Heaven, and she takes him "Upstairs".

Good Omens season 2 is available to stream on Prime Video. 

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