Ashes to Ashes

[meddow]

Quick vidding related PSA that I can't be arsed putting into a separate post: 1. I now have a vid master list and 2, since I finally figured out to how to fix the aspect ratio problems and because it's been bugging me for months, I've uploaded a fixed version of Kiss with a Fist. So if you want a copy in which Malcolm
and Nicola don't have strangely elongated faces, you can now can have one.

So, Ashes to Ashes. It was not quite up to the standard of the preceding two episodes.

I think everyone was expecting that Chris would get the same treatment as Shaz and Ray, so really the surprise this episode was that Chris didn't get a Life on Mars moment. Chris beating a guy up in a cell reminded me of him beating up the guy that stabbed Shaz back in the first series. Minor quibble, everyone going on about how Chris' career was over for it. Yes, it would be, but also, his career should have been over when he was caught in the middle of that corruption scandal last year, but the show seems to have forgotten about that. (As heartbreaking as the revelation it was Chris was, it was so annoying that in the end it meant nothing. The consequences didn't last more than an episode)

Nice touches of continuity from Shaz and Ray's episodes: Shaz demanding a date for her promotion and telling Ray he only outranks her at the moment, and Ray's back to dressing like a maths teacher, like he was when he was running the department. Each of their confidence boosts seems to be lasting.

Theory time, and this one may be a bit crack, but it occurred to me that if Chris is dead, he may not have been a cop in life. He always strikes me as so immature and seeing that kid playing with the toy Quatro at the beginning, I couldn't help but think that maybe Chris was a dead child who always dreamed of being a police officer and finally has the chance.

Okay, so I'm pretty much convinced that Keats is some kind of angel of death. After helping Linda pass away and Gene going on about him coming down from on high, it's really pointing that way. I'm siding with Keats, btw. I know Gene will prevail, but I like Keats, even if he does come off a little creepy at times. He just strikes me as the kind of guy that should replace Gene, he's not corrupt, he does his paperwork, he sticks by the rules. And Gene was really bugging me in this episode. You do not go and nearly blow and under cover cop's identity. That is how you get people killed, and in this case, raped.

So another actor whom I mainly recognise from the Thick of It shows up playing a cop, sticks a gun on Gene and winds up dead. You know, it just occurred to me how similar the two shows are. Cast of five. Male and female leads who's dynamic of fighting all the time is central, three less than competent underlings (two male and one female). The female lead replaced a male lead. I could even do some comparative meta about Alex's love-hate relationship with Gene's world and struggle to leave only to be drawn back in by Gene vs. Nicola's love-hate (okay, mostly hate) relationship with being a Cabinet Minister (Malcolm's world) and struggle to quit only to be drawn back in by Malcolm. Oh, and lets not forget how the male lead transformation from something of an anti-hero antagonist to being a tragic hero of the show (what's really interesting is that TTOI pulled off this transformation a whole lot better than Ashes to Ashes)

Okay, anyway next week another old Life on Mars character shows up. My big hope if that we finally find out what happened to Annie. I've pretty much given up on having her show up, but knowing whether she stayed a cop would be nice, and how she's doing after Sam's death.

Comments

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I really don't know what to think with Keats. Sometimes he is so creepy and then at other times I am almost charmed by him.

[meddow.livejournal.com]

He seems just a little bit nerdy and socially awkward when he's around Alex, which I find charming. But yes, he does give off creepy vibes also. He is something of a mystery.