Ashes to Ashes: Final Thoughts.
Ok, its over, we know the truth now. (masive spoilers abound)
When it finished last night, I got everything (I assumed) and thought 'yeah, that was good'. But now I've thought about it, I like it less and less.
Firstly, WAY too rushed. This and Ep7 were billed as a two-parter but I think they tried to keep the 'mystery' for the final episode too much. They should of revealed a little last episode and started to set up the 'final blag' so that Ep8 had more space to explain and reveal than it did.
I think Alex going to the farm and finding 'Gene' should have been a cliff-hanger for Ep7. Dig up the body, find the Police ID and then BANG, credits. Would of been a tense finale to that episode and given us another 10-15 mins in Ep8 for other reveals and explaining.
This comes to my other main point. The big mystery the adverts and publicity went for this series was 'Who is Gene, and did he kill Sam Tyler?'. Now, the first part of that I'll get back to, so lets look at the second part. Of course he didnt kill Sam Tyler. I never, ever, ever thought he did, even for an instant. So that part of the mystery was lost on me completely. The only people I would think of entertaining that fact arnt big A2A fans, as all the fans love Gene so much that none of them would ever think that. So in terms of thet being a mystery that would be solved this episode, it failed for me personally because in my mind, I knew the answer already.
As for 'who is Gene?' this was done a bit better, but once again personally I worked it out right back at Ep1. As soon as we saw the dead police officer I thought 'I bet thats Gene, and I bet this is all in his head or something and he's dragging people in to his world'. Now obviously I was half right, it was him and he was dead. I didnt theorise that this was all some big purgatory/heaven/hell metaphore as my atheist head is not really geared that way. I thought who he was and what he was doing for them was great though, that whole aspect of the finale was great for me.
Keats was also a 'half right' theory for me. With his stalking around and grabbing people's faces as they died I thought he was death or something similar. Having him be the Devil/A demon was again a great idea, with his 'elevator to hell' and all. I'll have to watch LOM again to spot his equal character in that though.
But thats another problem. The Railway Arms. Being 'the place where all good plods go' is a nice idea, with Nelson as the St Peter of the situation. BUT, in LOM they finished loads of good jobs and went there. So does Gene have to know what he's doing for people to pass through? If so how did Sam (and I asume Annie) get through? Did Sam find out but not tell Gene? Does it work if the person affected knows even if Gene dosnt? This was a great idea but needed a fuck-load more explanation to work properly. Was great seeing Nelson again though.
The Stars thing was explained that much either. I assumed it was the 'space' where heaven/purgatory/hell are, but thats all it was, an assumption.
Now for my personal quibbles, stuff I wanted to happen but didnt. Not problems with the show just stuff I wanted to see:
1. The Quattro didnt survive! NOOOOOOO!
2. Sam didnt turn up! With him being in the Railway Arms it wouldnt have worked with him being out and about, but I really wanted to see a quick scene inside the RA, with police officers sat round drinking together, Ray and Chris at the bar bickering like a married couple, Shaz at a table beckoning Alex over to have a seat and Sam and Annie at another table, tipping their drinks to Alex as she walked in. Would of been lovely.
3. KEATS NEEDED A BULLET IN THE FACE! Being the Devil/a demon it wouldnt of mattered, but for fan cheers and a sense of 'finally!' it would of been great to have him get shot by the Guv. Hell when Ray was at the lift with the shotgun I wanted him to shoot Jim into the lift and then all of them book to find the Guv.
I did like a lot though, dont get me wrong. The final job was brilliant. Chris and Ray turning up to 'chariots of fire' was amazing. I listened to the song before the episode and hoped it would get used and I was right! Gene getting to be the hero on kill the guy who shot the Quattro to death was brill. A last use of 'armed bastads!' made me grin from ear to ear too, I'll miss that line :(. Alex not getting back to Molly was ballsy too! Neither Molly nor a life with Gene? That was great for me as I hate soppy happy endings. I would of loved my RA ending I described above, but it still would of meant she didnt get either life she wanted. I liked that though, Gene didnt want her to be stuck with that job like he was, he knew that she needed to leave and to rest finally after everything she'd been through. Was great on his part.
Anyway, spoken for too long, so untill my next Trek fanfic episode...
...Its a god-awful small affair, to the girl with the mousey hair...
When it finished last night, I got everything (I assumed) and thought 'yeah, that was good'. But now I've thought about it, I like it less and less.
Firstly, WAY too rushed. This and Ep7 were billed as a two-parter but I think they tried to keep the 'mystery' for the final episode too much. They should of revealed a little last episode and started to set up the 'final blag' so that Ep8 had more space to explain and reveal than it did.
I think Alex going to the farm and finding 'Gene' should have been a cliff-hanger for Ep7. Dig up the body, find the Police ID and then BANG, credits. Would of been a tense finale to that episode and given us another 10-15 mins in Ep8 for other reveals and explaining.
This comes to my other main point. The big mystery the adverts and publicity went for this series was 'Who is Gene, and did he kill Sam Tyler?'. Now, the first part of that I'll get back to, so lets look at the second part. Of course he didnt kill Sam Tyler. I never, ever, ever thought he did, even for an instant. So that part of the mystery was lost on me completely. The only people I would think of entertaining that fact arnt big A2A fans, as all the fans love Gene so much that none of them would ever think that. So in terms of thet being a mystery that would be solved this episode, it failed for me personally because in my mind, I knew the answer already.
As for 'who is Gene?' this was done a bit better, but once again personally I worked it out right back at Ep1. As soon as we saw the dead police officer I thought 'I bet thats Gene, and I bet this is all in his head or something and he's dragging people in to his world'. Now obviously I was half right, it was him and he was dead. I didnt theorise that this was all some big purgatory/heaven/hell metaphore as my atheist head is not really geared that way. I thought who he was and what he was doing for them was great though, that whole aspect of the finale was great for me.
Keats was also a 'half right' theory for me. With his stalking around and grabbing people's faces as they died I thought he was death or something similar. Having him be the Devil/A demon was again a great idea, with his 'elevator to hell' and all. I'll have to watch LOM again to spot his equal character in that though.
But thats another problem. The Railway Arms. Being 'the place where all good plods go' is a nice idea, with Nelson as the St Peter of the situation. BUT, in LOM they finished loads of good jobs and went there. So does Gene have to know what he's doing for people to pass through? If so how did Sam (and I asume Annie) get through? Did Sam find out but not tell Gene? Does it work if the person affected knows even if Gene dosnt? This was a great idea but needed a fuck-load more explanation to work properly. Was great seeing Nelson again though.
The Stars thing was explained that much either. I assumed it was the 'space' where heaven/purgatory/hell are, but thats all it was, an assumption.
Now for my personal quibbles, stuff I wanted to happen but didnt. Not problems with the show just stuff I wanted to see:
1. The Quattro didnt survive! NOOOOOOO!
2. Sam didnt turn up! With him being in the Railway Arms it wouldnt have worked with him being out and about, but I really wanted to see a quick scene inside the RA, with police officers sat round drinking together, Ray and Chris at the bar bickering like a married couple, Shaz at a table beckoning Alex over to have a seat and Sam and Annie at another table, tipping their drinks to Alex as she walked in. Would of been lovely.
3. KEATS NEEDED A BULLET IN THE FACE! Being the Devil/a demon it wouldnt of mattered, but for fan cheers and a sense of 'finally!' it would of been great to have him get shot by the Guv. Hell when Ray was at the lift with the shotgun I wanted him to shoot Jim into the lift and then all of them book to find the Guv.
I did like a lot though, dont get me wrong. The final job was brilliant. Chris and Ray turning up to 'chariots of fire' was amazing. I listened to the song before the episode and hoped it would get used and I was right! Gene getting to be the hero on kill the guy who shot the Quattro to death was brill. A last use of 'armed bastads!' made me grin from ear to ear too, I'll miss that line :(. Alex not getting back to Molly was ballsy too! Neither Molly nor a life with Gene? That was great for me as I hate soppy happy endings. I would of loved my RA ending I described above, but it still would of meant she didnt get either life she wanted. I liked that though, Gene didnt want her to be stuck with that job like he was, he knew that she needed to leave and to rest finally after everything she'd been through. Was great on his part.
Anyway, spoken for too long, so untill my next Trek fanfic episode...
...Its a god-awful small affair, to the girl with the mousey hair...