A2A: a theory post
A2A is a brilliant series. I have never, never ever, squeed out loud when watching a tv-series. When Alex communicated to young-dead-copper this Friday, I almost screamed with joy!
There are so many layers to this series. For me it started out as a nice show to relax, to see a modern woman reacting to being stuck in the mysoginist police force of the eighties. I also watched Life on Mars for broadly the same reasons. The humoristic onliners were a good bonus.
Then it started to be something more. You could see there was something going on in the background. I started to wonder if Alex was in a coma, back in time, or something else, ... whereas with Sam in LOM I never truly cared: I just wanted to see the show. And then Series 3 happened, with all the Heaven/Hell/Purgatory symbolism... I'm a sucker for those.
So I went online and looked for theories. I found them, mostly on livejournal. (If you're wondering why you never saw me: I'm a die-hard lurker and way to shy to comment on other people's posts). And I love most of them even though I don't agree with all of them.
Now, with the season finale within hand reach, I find I need to put my thoughts to paper, to keep making sense of it. So this is it:
my grand theory.
The A2A-world isn't a purgatory for cops. It is however a imaginary place where people go, when they die. Not everybody, but only those who have 'unfinished business' (like ghosts who can't pass over in shows like Supernatural or Ghost Whisperer). They get a chance to live out the life they were meant to, or that they thought they should have: Ray never had a chance to be a hero, Shaz never got that promotion, the stripper from ep. 02x01 wanted an acting career, ...
They just keep on living their life, like before. Off course, some things have to change: they move or they are reassigned. It isn't that difficult to make someone believe that: you just add one or two simple memories to their mind.
The world is a self-sufficient system: irregularities (that could potentially expose the non-realness of the world) are explained away easily. For instance: when Sam's body gets the wrong medication in the present, his fellow LOM-A2A-world inhabitants believe someone slipped him drugs. Other strange outburst of people ("Good morning, constructs!") are similarly ignored.
It is however harder to make someone adapt to suddenly living in the past. This is why Sam and Alex are different: their unfinished business don't lie in their futures (what could have been), but in their past (what happened?). When Alex was kept at gunpoint by Layton, he referenced to her parents death, triggering her curiousity anew. Naturally when she got shot (or shot herself - I also like the Molly-is-dead-theory), her unanswered questions got priority.
Another reason they haven't gone with the flow, like the others, is that they weren't completely dead when they arrived. Sam was in a coma, Alex too. Martin Summers said it himself: he floated in and out of conciousness, in and out of the A2A-world. It's very hard to believe something is real, when you get constant stimuli from another world. Even so, Sam nearly believed Frank Morgan when he told him he was an undercover agent who had suffered from trauma.
Shaz, Chris, Ray and Viv however are completely dead and probably contemporary enough to believe completely in the fantasy. The Bowieflashes signify the end of their unfinished business: Shaz believed in her own policewoman-capacities, Ray no longer feels the need to prove himself a hero. Maybe they even see the truth for a while, but then, true to the A2A-world they now live in, they soon forget. However, they do see the irregularities now, like the stars and they start to wonder!
Why don't they pass on there and then? The same reason as no one ever notices the strange stuff: the world has certain rules. In order to pass over, you have to die 'again'. Otherwise there would be a lot of strange dissapearances and those would be hard to explain.
Not everyone is dead, I think. There are constructs, otherwise the streets of London would feel too empty. Like in real life, there are also trails and tests. People get sick, people fight with eachother,... Just like real life.
Prisoner Sachs didn't really matter, it was the temptation he posed for Viv. Viv failed, died and was guided away. Same thing happened with the stripper in season two, who never got to be an actress, but aided a murderer for money: Gene guided her anyhow. And Martin Summers: he spent his time in the A2A rewriting his personal history (quite drastically by killing himself). He rectified a mistake that he regretted his entire life. Remember the nurse who said: "He was a bitter bitter man, but at least in the end he went peaceful." In doing so, he did create a situation of temptation for Chris. Who then sinned. Like in real life, actions have consequences. More about the soul guiding-issues later.
First there is Gene. Mister Hunt clearly is something different. Sometimes it seems like he knows a lot more than he is telling. And he does, I think, sometimes. My theory is that something happened around the time of Sam's death, that made Gene see the truth. Somehow he got a promotion: he is now middle management. He guides the souls on their way.
I don't think he is omnipotent all the time, just when the world needs him to be. That's why 90% of the time, he lives his life like he wants to: driving a fast car, drinking alcohol and beating up scumbags. He's just Gene Hunt and he doesn't know any better. But when push comes to shove and he is confronted with a dying person in his arms (stripper, Summers, bent police woman, Viv), his knowledge kicks in and he guides them. And later he forgets again.
Maybe that's why he responds strangly to Alex at times: sometimes he's just Gene and he thinks Alex is mad, while other times he understands why she is acting the way she is. For instance in 1x08 he says: 'It's all about timing, this life. Still got things to learn, adventures to have.' Like he knows she doesn't understand why she's still there (a theory on that follows).
But in 2x08 he gets mad at her for telling the truth. That is probably just Gene talking. Or maybe, even with his extra knowledge, he hasn't considered the possibility she's from the future. And that's why he says: "First Sam Tyler, now you. Why do I always attract the liars and the weirdos?" He's not talking about his DCI's, he's talking about his charges...
I also think he resents this other job of his. That's why he doesn't like to talk about Sam. And why he doesn't like Keats, who acts as a constant reminder. It's very noticable how he had reverted into a coarser and more brutish persona of himself while Keats is around. He's like: "Keats, I don't care what I'm supposed to do for upper managment, now get out of the way: I'm going to punch in the head of those rioting prisoners."
Keats. Either he's upper management himself, or he's at the same level as Gene (but perhaps with a slightly different set of tasks) and takes to the task more zealously. Perhaps he was sent to investigate when Gene shot Alex. I seriously doubt Gene is supposed to take his charges to the other side himself...
Either way, I think his mission is to find a reason to relieve Mister Hunt of his duties. That's why he's been sent as a D&C officer: hiding in plain sight. Upper management can't just remove Gene (they have to play by their own rules), but they can change the script for his life. He can be fired as a cop and sent to Spain for retirement. He would still live out his Second Life, but not the way he wants it and certainly not with the extra responsibilities. Maybe Keats can even set enough actions into motion to cause Gene's death. Up until now, Gene seems to have toed the line. Keats is waiting for him to slip up.
The guiding of the souls. I don't really like the Christian view of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, even though the symbolism is overt enough not to be a coincidence. Louise and Viv had sinned and they were very creepily guided away by Keats. Summers, the stripper and Viv (again, because Gene went for the repeat) had sinned as well, but they repented and they were guided much more serenly. Because Gene has forgiven them.
I'm hoping that the Christian viewpoint is solely that of Keats, guided by his own fanatic believes (he does know the Bible chapter and verse). Gene however has a more practical view: sometimes people do bad things for the right reasons. It doesn't mean that they are bad people. It's why he keeps Chris with him, after he had sinned. It's why he forgives Viv and tries to keep him alive. (? it didn't seem like guiding to me, more like trying to keep him alive, giving him another change at living a good life.)
If the purpose of this world is to finish unfinished business, why hasn't Alex passed on? She couldn't save her parents, but she did reconnect with her mother (I learned something today, Molly. My mother loved me.) and she found out the truth. She could have easily died as well in the blast (she certainly stood close to it) and Gene could have guided her. Instead, she survived and Gene cradled her younger self in his arms. (Cleverly ensuring Alex' trust in him, a more cynical mind could say.) Alex is still in the A2A-world, even though she had no unfinished business.
The answer is simple. She isn't dead yet. Her body still lives in the real world, so she can't die in A2A.
This poses a problem for upper management (and Gene). No longer content with figuring out her parents' secret, she's started on the bigger puzzle. What is this place? What is Gene? Can I trust him? What happened with Sam? They managed to keep her occupied with Summers for an entire season, but now she's slowly gaining ground. Keats is using this to his advantage (I don't believe one moment he is going to give her answers) and is driving the wedge between her and Gene.
I even think she has seen the entire truth for a while, before she forgot again. What she said to Louise was very close to what Gene's purpose is: "Because maybe that's why I'm here. To help coppers like you." and "Outside of this... for me, there's nothing."
Maybe the powers that be are vetting her for a middle management position, like Gene. Perhaps they are giving her the clues to find out what happened to Gene (I do believe he's the young-dead-copper) and figure out what this world is. Maybe they want her to take over from Gene, but are easing her into it gently. I haven't got a clue.
What I want to see is Gene and Alex reconciling and working together to foil Keats. Maybe even guide Shaz and Ray when they die (Chris isn't safe just yet, I think).
The perfect ending for me would be Gene and Alex in another policestation, welcoming a new, completely confused officer.
Like he said in 2x08: "I really thought you and me... I thought we were the ones. We had a connection."
I want them to have that connection. And yet, I realise I have turned into a complete shipper...