Ashes to Ashes: Season 2 (The UK Life On Mars Sequel)

I love this show.

Thanks for the heads up that S2 started!

Finally watched it tonight after waiting what seems like forever for the second season to start.

Totally agree, Spike - this season seems to have launched out of the starting blocks with a much more concise idea of where it's headed. I, too, took a while to warm to the first season, but the finale was a thing of beauty that really blurred the line between the complete "fantasy" of 1982 and the real world (if it was Gene that held her as a child, then he actually IS a real person in the main character's timeline?).

Will be watching this season with much interest indeed.

The season's over already? Still never finished the first episode. I thought the first season made for a decent diversion, but nowhere as good as Life on Mars. Too much of S1 felt like the creators were too enamored by the characters they came up with. While I like Gene Hunt, what made him work was his interaction with Sam Tyler, who really grounded Life on Mars on a very real and emotional level. The Alex Drake character did very little for me. She was rather annoying in fact and I could never really root for her.

And, really, how hard is it for the creators to make Keeley Hawes hot? S1 gave her an awful haircut and S2 looks like they haven't done much better. It's nearly criminal.

Oh well, I'll try and give this season a shot.

Is a Series 3 confirmed? It seems like Alex Drake's story is done, and the ending is nicely in keeping with people coming back from their sojourns in collective unconscious coma-land irrevocably damaged in some way. Sam couldn't relate with the real world any more and kills himself, Alex is going to be haunted by Gene yelling at her to wake up from every TV screen she sees from now on.

Not that this is the Keeley Hawes Appreciation Thread or anything, but it seems as good a place as any to mention what an amazing Moneypenny she would be.

Hello chaps, Season 3 starts Friday 2nd April here in the UK. No idea when it's coming to BBC America, but I'm sure most of you will hit it up on torrents first.

The FINAL season. This is going to be great. Here's a ruddy promo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IohztByAhXA

Nice theory, Spike. I agree this season really piss-bolted from the blocks. I thought season 2 launched out the gate, but this was an absolute cracker (although it was pretty ambiguous how quickly Alex got back to the 80's?). They're setting up that Gene's killed a cop and dumped him somewhere, and his body is only just being found now in the modern era, by the looks of it. And what does the file on Sam have to do with it? This is going to be a fascination 8 episodes if it is, indeed, the final season. Can't wait!

I was initially put off by the shows first episode, it felt too slight and a lot of it came off as fan-pandering, so I gave up on it. I recently decided to give it another go and pushed through that awkward start and the show really came into it's own. Finally caught up and loving it. I really hope they stick the landing on this one.

Gene telling him "the truth" was chilling, he's really taken a dark turn from his days on Life On Mars, but he's still quintessentially Gene Hunt, which makes him easy to like but hard to trust.

I think the moment in the pilot that killed it for me was the speedboat scene, with Gene loading an uzi or something. It just completely jarred with all the things I loved about Life On Mars; it was surreal and funny but there was a seriousness to it, too. Ashes found that in season 2 and have refined it here. You're right, it really does feel like the walls are caving in on these characters and it's getting more and more claustrophobic.

Those eerie close ups that happened with Shaz and Ray got me thinking, the both occurred at the end of episodes where Shaz and Ray were becoming disillusioned with their place in the world and their role in Gene's team and at the end of their respective episodes Gene says something to them, something to validate them and bring them back into his fold, and that moment is when the close ups occurred. It feels like that was them standing on the edge, close to escaping (waking up? dying?) and hearing Life On Mars was like them being sucked back into the vortex.

With the constant use of Bowie, the constant references to garibaldis, the unrealistic "cop show" aesthetic, it really does feel like this is a world Gene Hunt created in his mind and he's fighting tooth and nail to keep everyone in it.


EDIT: I will admit that I miss Keeley Hawes tits, though. That's definitely something series 1 had going for it.

Great post Weasels. Very interesting theory about Gene too. Really can't wait to see how all this resolves.

Part of me really hopes Sam is alive and we get a John Simm cameo in the finale to round things off.

That's pretty much the theory I'm going with too, Weasals. Gene is the Wizard Of Oz, pulling all the strings and keeping the "world" together. It's going to be real interesting to see how it pans out - it's gone from a poor spin-off to standing strong on it's own merits within the first season alone . . . and since then become can't-miss television.

A Simm cameo would be aces just because he's The Man. But if he's dead, he should stay dead. I think bringing him back for fanservice would do the overall story a disservice. Burning his jacket, though? That's a hanging offense!

They're already made a big deal of not finding Sam's body, so the possibility has been seeded. I'm sure the most likely outcome is we learn he's off in the "real world" or the "future", but if his appearance is a part of the Grand Scheme Of Things, it would be fantastic. You're right, if it's just lazy fanwankitude, best not done. I can live with the hilarious little Sam's Jacket promo we got in the teaser this week.

Okay. WTF is going on here?!

Even if the guy was just a con artist and not really Sam, hats off for a really impressive Tyler/Simm impersonation. It really was like Alex was talking to Sam in a different body in their scenes. Freaky.

I think at this point it's hard to argue that Keats is anything other than Death. He's come for Gene, but he has to remove the support structure that Gene built for himself in this world, which means either killing off or sowing distrust amongst Fenchurch East.

I'm only disappointed because at the end of Series One I was pretty sure that Gene's intentions were somewhat noble, trying to help comatose or dying coppers figure out something in their lives. The idea that he's actually coming at this selfishly and trying to keep these people with him just because bugs me a bit.

[edit]Holy shit, I just realized: It's their belief in Gene that Keats is undermining. I'd have to go back over Series 3 again, but iirc Keats says 'He/she/they believe in you Gene' in their private conversations a bunch of times. Gene Hunt isn't a dying cop desperately trying to hold on to a world of his own creation, he's an imaginary being sustained by the belief of dead or dying people. Once people start to believe in him, like Sam and Alex, they can't get rid of him, which is why they end up going back into the other world either by choice, like Sam, or pulled back in against their will. Once nobody believes in him, he'll cease to exist.

Goddammit. Who the hell wrote 'I think we found our grave' on the back of the picture that Keats just had developed. That's just fucking sloppy.

Keats did?

Almost had a nice little (Gene = Red Herring) Chris theory happening for a second there . . . until the end. And the teaser for the finale - that sure did look a lot like Sam knocking on the frosted glass. Of course, that's deliberate . . . man, fuck waiting a week.

Such a delightful show. I think I'm actually more excited about this than the last episode of Lost. And I'm one of those people that still like Lost! My theory (no spoilers obviously, but I'll black it out anyway):

Right now I'm thinking that the dead mystery copper is Gene Hunt himself. He died but managed by sheer force of will to create his own little realm to keep on living in. Problem is he can't sustain it by himself, so he draws in other dying coppers ("We're dying in here, Bolly!") who he needs to believe in him. Or something like that.

Keats seems to be there to end Gene's silly little world and restore things to normal. So far two people have died while he was holding them. Would Gene have been able to keep Viv alive if he would've been there instead of Keats? Has anyone ever died under Gene's command? I can't remember.

I'm wondering whether Gene is aware of what he is doing though. Did Sam realise what was happening and did he leave to make sure Gene wouldn't find out? Will Gene finding his own corpse shatter his will and destroy his world? And will the faith of the rest of the gang save him?

Oh, by the way, I don't think Gene's world is completely self-contained by the way. In Life on Mars there were several instances where what happened in Gene-world seemed to influence what happened in the real world. So hm yeah.

Oi, enough rambling for now. Just a few more days!

Not to mention the finale of season 1 pretty much showed that Alex's memory of a man being there to hold her hand when her parent's car blew up was, in fact, Gene. That could have just been a sub-conscious projection of her own making, for sure, but it was a hell of a way to end the series, implying that Gene has met her in her own timeline.

Well fuck me. That was great.

The Railway Arms/Nelson . . . how we missed thee.

It was a brilliant finale.

Real fucking kudos to the writers for taking the show to its logical conclusion and not trying to retcon their way out of it and force a happy ending.

That one shot of Gene as the skinny plod after Keats gave him a kicking to "expose" him to the crew was so well done. They didn't need to keep him as Real-Gene the whole time - that one glimpse was all that was needed.

And yeah, Beast-Keats was fucking creepy. The whole second half was creepy as shit, really.

And yeah, for some reason, Shaz's death really hurt.

Keats was on fire in this episode, when his true nature was revealed he just swallowed the scenary, it was marvellous.

A more perfect finale for the series I could not imagine, everyone gave their best work, there was some great emotional pay offs, a bittersweet send off for characters we know and love and a great callback to bow us out with. Gene Hunt will continue on, doing what he does best. I'm sad to see it go, but it's ended on the top of it's game.

This last season of Ashes was up there with Life On Mars. Maybe better.

I kinda feel sorry for Lost, having to follow a finale like this.

As soon as Gene heard the new guy come in ranting about his office and iphone, I was mouthing "Word in your shell-light, pal.". You said it, Weasels - beautiful callback.

It's "shell-like", btw

Really?! Jesus, I'm deafer than I thought!

"My real name is Nigel Perkins. No I'm joking, it's Gene Hunt."

So good.