Busting out of the internet woodwork cause of the Ashes to Ashes finale.
I can't help myself, it cause a long and ridiculous rant of theories and speculation and more.
Honestly, such a wonderful end. And if you disagree, I'm going to argue with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxI_UwYThgU
Really it made me sad, but at the same time I loved it.
So everything I read says to watch it twice, but truthfully, I think I understood this episode after one viewing. Two was better, don't get me wrong, but even after just one, I think I got it pretty ok. The whole concept of the finale though really makes me want to start back at the beginning of Life On Mars and watch it all through knowing what I know now. The coma vs dead thing seems to be really spot on though, and it explains so much about this season and why Alex stopped mentioning Molly and why her opening monologue turned so blasé and why she stopped getting messages from her future and stopped looking for them. And by "coma vs dead thing", I mean why Sam and Alex walked through the door all in uproar over getting back to their lives and why Chris, Ray and Shaz, and the Guv for that matter, didn't remember they had lives to get back to... I guess cause they didn't.
And no, I don't think Alex ever woke up. And maybe the Guv shooting her triggered her death, but I think it was more vice versa, where her death triggered the events of her getting shot and subsequent coma within a coma. If that makes sense at all.
What I really like is that while there are religious connotations, it clearly doesn't ascribe to any religion. People make descriptions of the Guv being an angel or ferrying people across the River Styx and Keats being an emissary of the devil or the anti-Christ or whathaveyou, and we use words like Heaven and Hell and purgatory, but that's just the reference we have. It's not necessarily what they are, although their roles are clearly similar. You know?
I'm going to disagree with the notion that Keats actually IS the devil or what have you, because Frank Morgan played a similar role in LOM, so I have to imagine they're both emissaries or demons or something. Plus Keats was SO desperate for them to turn their backs on Gene, I can't see the devil being that personally invested. Alternately, it seems Gene is just a guy who's picked this up (his hobby of ferrying souls), which may or may not make him an angel or whathaveyou.
Also I truly believe every cop in that universe to be in the same position as Chris, Ray and Shaz. Viv, Phyllis, Terry and Bammo, everyone. So what makes Chris and Ray particularly special, is the Guv's resistance to letting them go.
So here's the questions I DO have: What, then, are people in this universe who aren't police? Like Luigi is the big one, since we know the significance of Nelson. Did Luigi just spend so much time with cops that he went to cop purgatory? And then was "going home" his way to heaven?
And the reasons Viv did what he did was to save his cousin, but why would his cousin be in this universe? He's not a cop, and Viv's not in a coma. And it seemed to be very obvious from Shaz's asking for her mum that their families weren't present. I wish we knew more about Viv's situation though. Maybe it was part of what he was unresolved about.
So we know Shaz is from the 90s by the fact that her uniform had pants and the cars and the Oasis, but do we know when Chris and Ray are from? It's obviously earlier, which fits with their world views as opposed to Shaz, but I can't figure out when.
Chris and Ray's respective deaths REALLY make sense with what we know of them as characters, what we've learned and how they've grown ever since day one of Life On Mars. Shaz's death, on the other hand, is a little stranger. Especially because after watching her tape she immediately screams about how she's been so frustrated and angry and she thought it was the job. And then she gets a little shrill and I can't understand her. What does getting stabbed with a screwdriver in the 90s have to do with why she was so frustrated? Although it may say something that what it took for her to get back on board was overcoming a man trying to kill her. I need to go back and watch this whole show over again though, cause I'm interested to see her getting stabbed in series 1, knowing now that was how she died. Also, what do we think would have happened HAD Shaz quit the force? CAN you quit being a cop while you're in police purgatory?
I read the SFX interview with Matthew Graham (http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/05/22/ashes-exclusive/) which I highly recommend. But the one point of contention I have is he says "I reckon the whole world works on Gene Hunt time, so he arrives in an alternate 1953, and immediately realises he didn’t look like that little boy, he looked like Gene Hunt. And he accepted that, but didn’t know why he looked like that, didn’t know what he was." Which bothers me, because I just feel it's too much of a stretch, and it seems more like he would show up in 1953, same as he ever was, in uniform, but he's been there so long, he's aged and grown and made his way up through the ranks. And part of why I believe this too, is because obviously Chris and Ray have changed and matured and been promoted since they entered this universe. Ray was a DC before he died, so that coincides with when we meet him in LOM. And Chris was a PC, which, if I remembering correctly, he refers back to in the Perfect Ten episode of LOM, saying that when the girl was murdered, he had just been promoted to DC. I'm right about that, right? (With the flashback, with that ridiculous mustache.) Which leads me to believe that his promotion occurred post-mortem.
In regards to Sam and Annie, there are some theories I've picked up that I can't take credit for, but I really like. One being as to whether or not Sam would have looked up Gene Hunt when he woke up from his coma, because, of course, wouldn't you? But all he would've found was some kid who died in Lancaster as a plod. Or went missing, who knows what was assumed since Gene's body isn't found until 2009 (2009? How long was Alex in her coma before she died? Although it's a question I don't expect an answer to). Anyways, there's no reason for Sam to piece together that it's the same Gene Hunt. Or to think that it isn't just coincidence a cop named Gene Hunt once existed, although this one is just his imagination. But maybe something along the way made Sam put two and two together, which is why he knew he needed to leave.
Annie is, I think, the biggest mystery we're left with at the end of it all. Most everything else has gotten some explanation or another, but we don't know where Annie went or when or why. I saw someone somewhere question if Annie was a real cop or just a construct, but I think it's pretty clear she was real, and I definitely ascribe to the theory that Sam's dad killed her at the wedding. So part of Sam's unresolvedness was Annie's too. Huh, maybe it was Annie who realized SHE had died and that's what triggered Sam to leave. Yes, it's strange Annie would end up back in the same loop she was in, leading her to her own death at the hands of Vic Tyler, but maybe that was part of what she had to do to make peace.
Okay too much. I have to stop now, this went much farther than I meant it to. But I guess that's the sign of truly excellent television, creating a dialogue. Or a monologue, as it were.
Did anyone else notice the clock in Vicky Park says 9:06?
Honestly, such a wonderful end. And if you disagree, I'm going to argue with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxI_UwYThgU
Really it made me sad, but at the same time I loved it.
So everything I read says to watch it twice, but truthfully, I think I understood this episode after one viewing. Two was better, don't get me wrong, but even after just one, I think I got it pretty ok. The whole concept of the finale though really makes me want to start back at the beginning of Life On Mars and watch it all through knowing what I know now. The coma vs dead thing seems to be really spot on though, and it explains so much about this season and why Alex stopped mentioning Molly and why her opening monologue turned so blasé and why she stopped getting messages from her future and stopped looking for them. And by "coma vs dead thing", I mean why Sam and Alex walked through the door all in uproar over getting back to their lives and why Chris, Ray and Shaz, and the Guv for that matter, didn't remember they had lives to get back to... I guess cause they didn't.
And no, I don't think Alex ever woke up. And maybe the Guv shooting her triggered her death, but I think it was more vice versa, where her death triggered the events of her getting shot and subsequent coma within a coma. If that makes sense at all.
What I really like is that while there are religious connotations, it clearly doesn't ascribe to any religion. People make descriptions of the Guv being an angel or ferrying people across the River Styx and Keats being an emissary of the devil or the anti-Christ or whathaveyou, and we use words like Heaven and Hell and purgatory, but that's just the reference we have. It's not necessarily what they are, although their roles are clearly similar. You know?
I'm going to disagree with the notion that Keats actually IS the devil or what have you, because Frank Morgan played a similar role in LOM, so I have to imagine they're both emissaries or demons or something. Plus Keats was SO desperate for them to turn their backs on Gene, I can't see the devil being that personally invested. Alternately, it seems Gene is just a guy who's picked this up (his hobby of ferrying souls), which may or may not make him an angel or whathaveyou.
Also I truly believe every cop in that universe to be in the same position as Chris, Ray and Shaz. Viv, Phyllis, Terry and Bammo, everyone. So what makes Chris and Ray particularly special, is the Guv's resistance to letting them go.
So here's the questions I DO have: What, then, are people in this universe who aren't police? Like Luigi is the big one, since we know the significance of Nelson. Did Luigi just spend so much time with cops that he went to cop purgatory? And then was "going home" his way to heaven?
And the reasons Viv did what he did was to save his cousin, but why would his cousin be in this universe? He's not a cop, and Viv's not in a coma. And it seemed to be very obvious from Shaz's asking for her mum that their families weren't present. I wish we knew more about Viv's situation though. Maybe it was part of what he was unresolved about.
So we know Shaz is from the 90s by the fact that her uniform had pants and the cars and the Oasis, but do we know when Chris and Ray are from? It's obviously earlier, which fits with their world views as opposed to Shaz, but I can't figure out when.
Chris and Ray's respective deaths REALLY make sense with what we know of them as characters, what we've learned and how they've grown ever since day one of Life On Mars. Shaz's death, on the other hand, is a little stranger. Especially because after watching her tape she immediately screams about how she's been so frustrated and angry and she thought it was the job. And then she gets a little shrill and I can't understand her. What does getting stabbed with a screwdriver in the 90s have to do with why she was so frustrated? Although it may say something that what it took for her to get back on board was overcoming a man trying to kill her. I need to go back and watch this whole show over again though, cause I'm interested to see her getting stabbed in series 1, knowing now that was how she died. Also, what do we think would have happened HAD Shaz quit the force? CAN you quit being a cop while you're in police purgatory?
I read the SFX interview with Matthew Graham (http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/05/22/ashes-exclusive/) which I highly recommend. But the one point of contention I have is he says "I reckon the whole world works on Gene Hunt time, so he arrives in an alternate 1953, and immediately realises he didn’t look like that little boy, he looked like Gene Hunt. And he accepted that, but didn’t know why he looked like that, didn’t know what he was." Which bothers me, because I just feel it's too much of a stretch, and it seems more like he would show up in 1953, same as he ever was, in uniform, but he's been there so long, he's aged and grown and made his way up through the ranks. And part of why I believe this too, is because obviously Chris and Ray have changed and matured and been promoted since they entered this universe. Ray was a DC before he died, so that coincides with when we meet him in LOM. And Chris was a PC, which, if I remembering correctly, he refers back to in the Perfect Ten episode of LOM, saying that when the girl was murdered, he had just been promoted to DC. I'm right about that, right? (With the flashback, with that ridiculous mustache.) Which leads me to believe that his promotion occurred post-mortem.
In regards to Sam and Annie, there are some theories I've picked up that I can't take credit for, but I really like. One being as to whether or not Sam would have looked up Gene Hunt when he woke up from his coma, because, of course, wouldn't you? But all he would've found was some kid who died in Lancaster as a plod. Or went missing, who knows what was assumed since Gene's body isn't found until 2009 (2009? How long was Alex in her coma before she died? Although it's a question I don't expect an answer to). Anyways, there's no reason for Sam to piece together that it's the same Gene Hunt. Or to think that it isn't just coincidence a cop named Gene Hunt once existed, although this one is just his imagination. But maybe something along the way made Sam put two and two together, which is why he knew he needed to leave.
Annie is, I think, the biggest mystery we're left with at the end of it all. Most everything else has gotten some explanation or another, but we don't know where Annie went or when or why. I saw someone somewhere question if Annie was a real cop or just a construct, but I think it's pretty clear she was real, and I definitely ascribe to the theory that Sam's dad killed her at the wedding. So part of Sam's unresolvedness was Annie's too. Huh, maybe it was Annie who realized SHE had died and that's what triggered Sam to leave. Yes, it's strange Annie would end up back in the same loop she was in, leading her to her own death at the hands of Vic Tyler, but maybe that was part of what she had to do to make peace.
Okay too much. I have to stop now, this went much farther than I meant it to. But I guess that's the sign of truly excellent television, creating a dialogue. Or a monologue, as it were.
Did anyone else notice the clock in Vicky Park says 9:06?