well about time! ( Ashes to Ashes 2.03 reflection)

[jean_geanie]

Comments

[severinne]

I think I'm still trying to process how I felt about this ep... I have definitely been enjoying this series so far a lot more than the first (and hell, I'm still trying to grapple with that realization on its own), and while I'm not entirely sure why I think you might be on to something with this plot acting more like the LoM format. I think in the past it's felt like they're trying to cram so much into that hour that it's hard to see what the episode is about, whereas here we do get the use of a crime-procedural as a sort of framework to display other character elements in the wider story. LoM was so good as fitting its creepy-surreal moments into that framework, A2A hasn't quite got it, but I think you're right, I was seeing it more effectively in 2.03 here

[jean_geanie]

I did notice his clipping wasn't up, but I dismissed it as maybe I hadn't got the right bulliten board (e.g. maybe it was on his otherside) or that Gene had moved the photo to his wallet (*sticks fingers in ears and sings*).

As for Gene.... I got ridiculously excited when he started "interrogating" the animal-rights extremist in the bathroom. "Rubbish at football, never win the eurovision but..." *swoon*

I really missed LOM-Gene and his effective though slightly unethical methods of policing.

[jean_geanie]

oh hey... excited much about the preview for next week :)

seriously this episode and the preview are almost enough to make me forget the cock-up that was the first half of the first season ;)

[ripley312]

This episode was ok for me. Just ok. I have to admit that Alex will never be as interesting and riveting a character as Sam Tyler was for me. But I do love when Gene slides back into the kind of Gene he was in LOM, just like you said. I mean, Gene is the reason I watch A2A. Period. I feel like sometimes they just make Alex a female version of Sam. They're both stubborn, smart and crazy. And Chris and Shaz make me giddy. They're just so adorable.
And I did notice Sam's clipping wasn't there but I do believe it's been moved to another bulletin board. Plus, I like to think that Sam is never far from Gene's mind:)

[jean_geanie]

Oh I LOVE Chris and Shaz, and the bit with asking Ray to be the best man was adorable :)

[acidpenguin46]

I hope that when I re-watch it, it has the same effect on me that it did on you, because even through my blah mood I still liked Gene returning to his LoM "kicking shit in" mode. I think why this series as a whole seems so much better than the first is because it has been integrating more of what made LoM great: the dark mind-trippy aspects (Alex forgetting things like what ETA stood for in the second episode sent shivers down my spine) and the general darker tone as a whole, the better use of music (I loved the music of the first series as well, but more because it's more "my" type of music - punk, post-punk, etc, not because of how it was used) and, like you noted with this episode, Alex's situation being the sub-polt to the crime itself).

[jean_geanie]

I know what you mean, I generally like the music on the show (in the second episode of this season they actually had heaps of songs I loved but I thought the way most of them were used was really cliché).

And I'm really excited about Chasers returning :)