Goodbye Guv
So I've seen the finale of Ashes to ashes, and I'm still teary. Fabulous performances from all the cast, especially from Philip Glenister who will forever be the Gene Genie, and from Dean Andrews as Ray Carling (the tape scene was wow!).
The mystery is solved, no ambiguity here.
It was a great episode, really, and a perfect finale for Ashes to ashes, yet I can't help thinking that it screwed up Life On Mars but that was to be expected from the day the spin-off began and made it clear it was about Gene. I wrote it down 2 years ago and it happened; So I'm torn, because I loved it but I loved the concept and metaphors of Life On Mars more.
For fun here are links to my first entries about the show, two years ago:
The premiere; the crazy theory; theory about Alex' mistaking her situation for Sam's,
Don't read what I put under the lj-cut if you haven't seen the episode and don't want to be spoiled!
I'm a bit disappointed because theydid re-vamp LoM with that finale turning the Gene world into a sort of "Purgatory" or rather the anterchamber of death. Life On Mars wasn't about afterlife, it was about inner life, mental construct. We were in Sam's head, and it's something they completely changed with this finale. Turned out it was Gene's mind, the "soul" of a dead copper who wanted to be a hero, that built that fantasy world for other dead coppers. Not a purgatory but a place filled with ghosts dealing with their frustrations, trying to achieve something, to make a difference as policemen, to "win at unlife".
How could Sam end there in the first place after his car accident? That's the big question. I guess the only way out is to consider that near-death experience is like getting a taste of death so even though he wasn't dead yet and did wake up before finally throwing himself off the roof of a building--it did happen since we have Alex' testimony in the first episode of Ata--Sam spent two Geneyears in Gene's world, and then 7 Geneyears more in there after his real death.
It's always possible to tie the loose ends but I can't help thinking that the LoM concept was more refreshing and elegant than that afterlife/unlife thing, and I'm sure the writers didn't have that resolution on mind when they started the spin-off or even during the finale of season 1.
However the finale worked because it made a lot of sense in regards to the characters' journey. Not Sam's but the others.
It explained the sadness that has always come off Raymundo in Ashes to ashes, and Chris' desire to prove himself or getting in trouble in season 2. Ray's death brought a lump in my throat, and I loved the screwdriver detail about Shaz. Wa had been given clues about the fact they were all dead for a long time, like Poe's letter. I think they did come up with that resolution last year when Shaz almost died on screen and Alex had a false awakening.
Also Alex was in denial and did mistake her situation for Sam's. First I thought that Molly had died and Alex couldn't cope and took refuge in the fantasy, imagining she was in a coma like Sam, but since they decided to change the concept, Alex being dead but imagining she was like Sam, in a coma, works for me too. I loved how she finally figured it out, asking about the time, checking Keats' watch and connecting the dots. A never ending 9.06, time of her death!
The fact that she didn't really wake up at the end of season 2 was a big clue abou her not being a coma at all.
To tell the truth I am not too fond of Keats finally representing a laughing demon-like figure being seductive with Alex and messing with her mind while cliaming that Gene is the trickster of the tale, and trying to tempt the characters into Hell, but I enjoyed the way he did it, and how he promised Ray, Chris and Shaz that they would have a better unlife in his "departement"; I especially liked the stairs scene with the trollops, and the metaphor of the lift sort of worked. Same with Nelson's pub being a sort of heaven for coppers, or at least a place wherein they can rest at last when the job is done. It did fit in! And the way they all vanished when entering it was rather subtle and elegant.
What does it make of Gene Hunt? An angel protecting troubled souls and leading them to a good place eventually, helping them out the way he helped Sam to disappear? The episode pointed out that he wasn't really aware of his role and nature; he had lost tracks of who he was (something he told Alex at the beginning of the episode!), he had forgotten about what happened to the young skinny copper he was once upon a time. He was in denial, just like Alex was about her own situation.The metaphor there was good too. Alex was a fellow copper but also a psycologist, her role was to help Gene to remember, to bring him back to his past, to the house where it happened, and to the grave that was there, at the bottom of a scarecrow. He had to face his fears, tried to resist using his gun but Alex made him face the truth. Philip Glenister was superb in those scenes!
More than an angel I'd rather see him as a rebelious mind, determined to overcome the bad guys, to be the guv, the sheriff of the play. He did it one last time for us, with the help of Alex and Shaz, and of course Ray and Chris--and there was no big suspense about that but their showing up and blocking the car in the end was still very enjoyable--losing his car in the process (but there's a Mercedes waiting for him!), and again when beating Keats who embodied what Gene was determined to fight against.
By the way I love the soundtrack and the use of Michael Jackson's "Beat it!", the only song by Jackson that I really liked.
I've always thought that Alex sorta represented the audience who fell in love with the Gene Genie. We were all like Alex in the end. We didn't want it to stop, we wanted to stay with the Guv, or rather we wanted to keep him. But everything comes to an end and he was not ours to keep.
As for the final shot in white and black, I did some research and foudn out that it was a clip from Dixon Of Dock Green. The character of Dixon had been shot and killed in the precursor feature film, The Blue Lamp, and was brought back from the dead for the television show.
A beautiful touch to end the final ride with the Gene Genie!