I'm happy, hope you're happy too.
In my last post, where I lazily discussed the ending of Life on Mars (a topic I'd probably only be able to do justice to if I were writing my dissertation on it) I mentioned that I had Ashes to Ashes lined up to watch next. Since then I've devoured all of season one and started season two today.
This series is absolutely amazing.
And it's nice to actually be able to say that considering I had no idea what to expect following the mixed reaction it got when it first started back in 2008 - but after all the praise for season two I figured that it must be worth watching. I mean, Gene, Ray and Chris were back, as were the same writers and directors. And it was set in the eighties, my absolute favourite decade of all time! How could it possibly go wrong?
Ashes to Ashes is not Life on Mars. At all. It may share a few of the characters and concepts, but really isn't anything like it in the slightest. You see, I don't want to compare the two, but I'm not sure I can escape doing so. They may both be part of "The Gene Hunt Saga" as some people have dubbed it, but it's entirely its own thing, and to get that point across I need to outline exactly how Ashes to Ashes is different. Because it is. Ashes to Ashes is sillier, funnier, weirder; It's more camp and colourful, but also more emotional and dramatic. The mythology is more intricate and is currently threatening to veer into almost Lost-esque territory, which isn't exactly something I'm unhappy about. The very cosmopolitan 80s London backdrop gives it a completely different look to the brown cobbled alleyways and terraced houses of 70s Manchester.
It has a completely different character dynamic, with Alex Drake being an entirely different protagonist to Sam Tyler and therefore having a very different kind of relationship with Gene. The pair have an awfully watchable, incredibly fun chemistry in the same way that Sam and Gene did... but it isn't the same at all (although there's similar hints of sexual tension!). I think Alex holds her own more, maybe. Hell, Gene isn't even the same as he was back in 1973, divorced from his wife and struggling to adapt in a changing world where you can't get away with roughing up suspects anymore. They're not even the same suspects, they're "poncy Southerners" rather than the more working class Northerners Gene was constantly threatening to kick up the arse in the previous series. And I like that. I like seeing these characters adapting to a different environment, but still keeping their same basic appeal. I thought it would look strange to see the Gene Genie, Chris and Raymondo in the 80s, but you soon forget about it. Also, Shaz is a great new addition to the team.
And then there's Alex Drake. I must confess that my prior experience with Keeley Hawes only extends as far back as Tipping the Velvet and one episode of Spooks, so I wasn't exactly sure what to think of her taking on a similar role to that of the peerless John Simm. I shouldn't have worried. Hawes is stupendous, but in an entirely different way to Simm. Alex could probably be described as "feisty" or "sassy" if you were feeling unimaginative or writing a BBC press release, but she's a strong, complex female character in the same vein as Temperance Brennan or Susan Ivanova. I still don't feel there are enough TV series that really hinge on a female character who isn't faintly one-note in some way or another, or that try too hard to make them feisty and sassy and just have them coming across as unlikeable (Buffy for instance, who I grew to loathe). Aside from this, all I can come up with off the top of my head for current, non-cancelled telly is Fringe (although not so much these days), 30 Rock, Bones and Legend of the Seeker (Kahlan is totally the main character!); possibly The Sarah Jane Adventures.
I like love Alex because she's so well rounded and really compelling to watch. She's strong but emotional, professional but also ever so slightly eccentric. She's more than a match for Gene and his men, but not in an obnoxious way. She dominates the show and I find that strangely refreshing. I know people found her referring to everyone as "constructs" in the first two episodes a bit annoying, but then how would you react if you found yourself in an apparently made-up world that you'd previously assumed was just in the head of a man who'd been in a coma and subsequently jumped off a roof? You'd probably be doubting everyone and everything too. So basically, Keeley Hawes is fantastic and Alex is one of my favourite characters of all time. Alright.
The cases of the week are just as good as they were in Life on Mars, although obviously this time they're relevant to the 80s. Cue gay rights marches, yuppies, New Romantics, gun-running, money laundering... it's all here. And it's all accompanied by the best music the early 80s had to offer (any series that uses Roxy Music songs is a winner in my book). But this time, the ongoing story and mythology elements are perhaps even more gripping, surreal and mind-boggling than they were in Life on Mars. This time there's almost no "she's definitely in a coma" material. Instead Alex is terrorised by the clown out of Bowie's Ashes to Ashes music video (the terror is amplified further by the fact that he sounds like Pinhead from Hellraiser), eerie visions of her daughter, twisted versions of Rainbow and Grange Hill, and most intriguing of all, the small-time gangster Layton, who is responsible for sending her back to 1981 and seems to know more about her than he's letting on. The season two premiere introduces a new story-arc that is almost too fantastic for words. Life on Mars teased the idea of Sam not being the only one who knew about his situation, but Ashes to Ashes has now made that a huge story element and I can't wait to see where it goes.
In a way I can understand the more mixed reaction to this series. It's not everyone's cup of tea (certainly the increased dramatics and the slightly more knowingly OTT approach at times isn't going to appeal to everyone) and it's got the tough task of following on from an established TV classic, but whilst I loved Life on Mars, I love Ashes to Ashes to the point of worrying obsession. I'm not entirely sure why that is (it could have something to do with what I said above), but I am sure that this is a remarkable TV series in its own right. A TV series that has produced three of my favourite episodes of television of all time (1.01, 1.07 and 1.08), as well as featuring the most incredible and well-executed character reveal I've ever seen outside of Lost.
And it's named after my all-time favourite Bowie song.
This series is absolutely amazing.
And it's nice to actually be able to say that considering I had no idea what to expect following the mixed reaction it got when it first started back in 2008 - but after all the praise for season two I figured that it must be worth watching. I mean, Gene, Ray and Chris were back, as were the same writers and directors. And it was set in the eighties, my absolute favourite decade of all time! How could it possibly go wrong?
Ashes to Ashes is not Life on Mars. At all. It may share a few of the characters and concepts, but really isn't anything like it in the slightest. You see, I don't want to compare the two, but I'm not sure I can escape doing so. They may both be part of "The Gene Hunt Saga" as some people have dubbed it, but it's entirely its own thing, and to get that point across I need to outline exactly how Ashes to Ashes is different. Because it is. Ashes to Ashes is sillier, funnier, weirder; It's more camp and colourful, but also more emotional and dramatic. The mythology is more intricate and is currently threatening to veer into almost Lost-esque territory, which isn't exactly something I'm unhappy about. The very cosmopolitan 80s London backdrop gives it a completely different look to the brown cobbled alleyways and terraced houses of 70s Manchester.
It has a completely different character dynamic, with Alex Drake being an entirely different protagonist to Sam Tyler and therefore having a very different kind of relationship with Gene. The pair have an awfully watchable, incredibly fun chemistry in the same way that Sam and Gene did... but it isn't the same at all (although there's similar hints of sexual tension!). I think Alex holds her own more, maybe. Hell, Gene isn't even the same as he was back in 1973, divorced from his wife and struggling to adapt in a changing world where you can't get away with roughing up suspects anymore. They're not even the same suspects, they're "poncy Southerners" rather than the more working class Northerners Gene was constantly threatening to kick up the arse in the previous series. And I like that. I like seeing these characters adapting to a different environment, but still keeping their same basic appeal. I thought it would look strange to see the Gene Genie, Chris and Raymondo in the 80s, but you soon forget about it. Also, Shaz is a great new addition to the team.
And then there's Alex Drake. I must confess that my prior experience with Keeley Hawes only extends as far back as Tipping the Velvet and one episode of Spooks, so I wasn't exactly sure what to think of her taking on a similar role to that of the peerless John Simm. I shouldn't have worried. Hawes is stupendous, but in an entirely different way to Simm. Alex could probably be described as "feisty" or "sassy" if you were feeling unimaginative or writing a BBC press release, but she's a strong, complex female character in the same vein as Temperance Brennan or Susan Ivanova. I still don't feel there are enough TV series that really hinge on a female character who isn't faintly one-note in some way or another, or that try too hard to make them feisty and sassy and just have them coming across as unlikeable (Buffy for instance, who I grew to loathe). Aside from this, all I can come up with off the top of my head for current, non-cancelled telly is Fringe (although not so much these days), 30 Rock, Bones and Legend of the Seeker (Kahlan is totally the main character!); possibly The Sarah Jane Adventures.
I like love Alex because she's so well rounded and really compelling to watch. She's strong but emotional, professional but also ever so slightly eccentric. She's more than a match for Gene and his men, but not in an obnoxious way. She dominates the show and I find that strangely refreshing. I know people found her referring to everyone as "constructs" in the first two episodes a bit annoying, but then how would you react if you found yourself in an apparently made-up world that you'd previously assumed was just in the head of a man who'd been in a coma and subsequently jumped off a roof? You'd probably be doubting everyone and everything too. So basically, Keeley Hawes is fantastic and Alex is one of my favourite characters of all time. Alright.
The cases of the week are just as good as they were in Life on Mars, although obviously this time they're relevant to the 80s. Cue gay rights marches, yuppies, New Romantics, gun-running, money laundering... it's all here. And it's all accompanied by the best music the early 80s had to offer (any series that uses Roxy Music songs is a winner in my book). But this time, the ongoing story and mythology elements are perhaps even more gripping, surreal and mind-boggling than they were in Life on Mars. This time there's almost no "she's definitely in a coma" material. Instead Alex is terrorised by the clown out of Bowie's Ashes to Ashes music video (the terror is amplified further by the fact that he sounds like Pinhead from Hellraiser), eerie visions of her daughter, twisted versions of Rainbow and Grange Hill, and most intriguing of all, the small-time gangster Layton, who is responsible for sending her back to 1981 and seems to know more about her than he's letting on. The season two premiere introduces a new story-arc that is almost too fantastic for words. Life on Mars teased the idea of Sam not being the only one who knew about his situation, but Ashes to Ashes has now made that a huge story element and I can't wait to see where it goes.
In a way I can understand the more mixed reaction to this series. It's not everyone's cup of tea (certainly the increased dramatics and the slightly more knowingly OTT approach at times isn't going to appeal to everyone) and it's got the tough task of following on from an established TV classic, but whilst I loved Life on Mars, I love Ashes to Ashes to the point of worrying obsession. I'm not entirely sure why that is (it could have something to do with what I said above), but I am sure that this is a remarkable TV series in its own right. A TV series that has produced three of my favourite episodes of television of all time (1.01, 1.07 and 1.08), as well as featuring the most incredible and well-executed character reveal I've ever seen outside of Lost.
And it's named after my all-time favourite Bowie song.