Ashes to Ashes 3.02
Someone had great fun with their fantasy sequences this week. Also, on a Watsonian level, Alex should consider getting in the emerging vid business, she clearly has talent. *g*
On a more serious note, this is the long awaited Shaz-centric episode, and wow, did it deliver. Best of all, for me, was that the issues of Shaz it focused on weren't her relationship with Chris. They were about her being a cop, her doubts, and lo and behold, continuity - as we finally got some follow-up on her being stabbed in s1. Oh, Shaz. And when she admitted how the every day sexism got to her - great scene.
Shaz rescuing herself was what I expected to happen since clearly she wasn't leaving the show and this was the obvious thing to boost her confidence, but I had no idea how she'd do that, despite all the work tools being left around earlier in the episode. Well done, show.
Somehow the fact that strip poker with Ray, Chris and the twins resulted in Chris losing his clothing and Ray & twins both looking did not surprise me. I'm just saying.
Ongoing Keats & Whatever Happened To Sam Tyler plot: I bet people are screaming for Alex' head already because Thou Shalt Not Doubt The Divine Gene For He Is Always Right. Actually, I think it's about time she investigates Sam's death. Not because Gene did it - obviously he didn't (see: last four years), at least not in a murder sense, and I don't think Alex thinks Gene killed Sam in the sense of murdering him, either. (When Alex has serious doubts about Gene, she's far more upset. See also: 2.02, after she saw him becoming a mason and letting suspects go, and her reaction to that.) But she clearly thinks there is something about Sam Tyler's death/dissappearance he knows, and isn't telling. And you know, she did ask him first. Why does she want to know? Given that Sam is her precedence, wouldn't you? Alex now has made it back to her present once (at least she thinks that) and then back to the past, like Sam did. As opposed to Sam, however, she was dragged back, she didn't volunteer, though she had the impression there was something left for her to do. Figuring out what happened to Sam could be that something, both because as far as she knows, she could be bound for the same fate, and because Sam, together with her own childhood memories, was what brought her back to the past to begin with.
As for what did happen to Sam: I'm leaning more and more to the theory that everyone is dead, they just haven't figured it out (except for Martin Summer last season, which is why he had no problem shooting his younger self). When they do figure it out, they leave and transition to wherever they go next, which Sam did in 1979. Gene's official purpose is to help with the transition, but he's become attached to the dead coppers under his care, so he keeps them with him as long as he can, which also means keeping the truth of their state from them. ("Nobody leaves unless I say so, and I do not say so.") This is what Jim Keats meant in 3.1 when he said Gene himself can't leave and is defined by his job, and also that if the others knew the truth, his kingdom would break down. As for Keats, same theory as in my last review: he's the same type of being Gene is. This episode is so obvious with the Team Loyalty And Blind Faith In Gene = Good, Doubt And Working With Keats = BAAAAAD, that I really hope it sets up something more sophisticated, to wit, no, Keats isn't the devil, he's the inquisitor, but he's mistaken about Gene's motivation (i.e. he thinks Gene keeps the copper souls with him as a power gig, when it's mostly out of affection).
In conclusion: Shaz is love. So are fantasy sequences involving Uptown Girl. Bring on the next episode.