My A2A Theories: Let me Shows You Them
Alright, we're less than two weeks away from the finale of Ashes to Ashes, which officially wraps up what can lovingly be termed the "Gene-verse" saga started way back when John Simm got hit by a car. Like most people, I have theories. Also like most people, I have no fucking clue if I'm right. For shits and giggles, I'm compiling my theories in question and answer format, to keep a record of it, so when I see the finale I can see how wrong and/or right I am.
A word about spoilers: I will not be discussing any spoilers that aren't present in the two "Next Time" bits shown at the end of episode 3x06.
Anyway, on to the spec.
So....what the fuck is this "world?" Are we mad, in a coma, or back in time?
We're not any of those. We're, and by 'we' I obviously mean our fabulous cast, are dead or near-death. And this world is designed and run by Gene, but I don't think he's the big boss. Hell, Gene probably is roughly the equivalent of the supernatural DCI. But that just means he's got a supernatural Super to report to.
So, what's the point of this world?
I dunno if you've paid any attention, but being a copper is fucking DANGEROUS. A lot of them get seriously injured from poking their noses into stuff. Some of them even die. A lot of their deaths appear to be fairly untimely. Dying sucks. Being in a coma probably sucks even more. I bet you get bored and shit. And also, it's probably pretty hard to adjust to not being alive. Lord knows, I can't stand changes, and I've never died, so it might be really hard to die. I bet you start freaking out and hearing voices and seeing clowns and shit. So, while you're going through the slow realization that you're probably not going to wake up and you're not going to pull through, you might as well hang out and fight crimes in a terrifically retro setting.
I bet dying scared the shit outta Gene.
Wait, Gene's dead?
Yup. He's the dead copper.
But Gene can't be the dead copper. I mean who keeps a picture of themselves in a tin in their own desk?
People keep saying this, but I don't buy it, and it's because of my dad. My dad became a US citizen in 1977. On that day, someone took a Polaroid of him wearing an American flag tie, standing in front of a huge cake, sporting ridiculous side burns, and doing a silly dance. He has kept that picture in his desk drawer since. Every time he's moved desks, he's found it, put it in his wallet, brought it home to brag to me and mom, and then carefully tucked it back into his wallet, brought it to his new desk, and shoved it back in there to be discovered the next time he cleaned it.
If Gene Hunt was as proud of becoming a policeman as my dad was of becoming an American citizen, then he'd keep a picture of himself all dressed up in his Bobby uniform.
If he's the dead copper, how'd he die?
He got fucking shot. I mean lookit the hole in his head.
But seriously, if Ash and Matt are good, and they've never done anything to prove to me that they aren't, then Gene was shot by a bent copper. Specifically: Harry Althway. Oh, you remember him, don't you? No? Okay, remember series 1, episode four of Life on Mars where Gene talks about his first job as a 19 year old cop? Harry Althway was his boss. Young Gene found out that Harry was taking backhanders and told on him. Apparently he was humiliated and everyone hated him. Ultimately, Althway killed himself.
Or at least that's how Gene told it. Personally, I think Gene got killed for being a grass. Think about it: the young copper's face has been blown off. That's an exit wound, not an entry wound, as any episode of CSI will tell you. That means he was shot in the back. Not only that, but the dead copper is literally two-faced. Finally, police corruption has been a major theme throughout Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. If anything, it's been a theme moreso in Ashes to Ashes. Right vs. Wrong is Gene's BIG THING, which, if he's really just a sad, traumatized young copper whose whole sense of right and wrong has been destroyed by a severe betrayal, really makes sense.
And so, young Gene Hunt was shot in the back and left to rot in a shallow grave. Anyone who might've found his body was dissuaded from the wrong sorts of police or just flat out ignored. There lies Gene Hunt, 19 years old, and never to be seen again until a few people stumble over his remains in 2008.
If he's just some dead cop, how come he's in charge of this world?
Based on the use of religious imagery, it's not difficult to assume that there is some form of spiritualism present in the LOM/A2A verse. For simplicity's sake, I will assume that there's a sort of holy bureaucracy, a limbo, and then a true death. Gene the dead young cop was probably really upset about being dead. He found it really difficult to move on and to face the fact that he would never be the best and most heroic copper in the universe. His difficulty dealing with his deceased status prevented him from moving on, but it also convinced the holy bureaucracy that there should be some place for coppers to go if they're about to die before their time. Gene's given charge of it.
With all the naive idealism of a young man fresh out of boyhood, he constructs of realm of cops and robbers, right and wrong, sex and vice and fags and booze. A perfect paradise where he always wins and the streets are always safe and secure. He peoples it with others who are dead or dying to help them to move on to the place that he never could bring himself to go to. I'm not sure what true death is like in the Ashes to Ashes world, but I imagine it's very peaceful but also sheer nothingness. We'll talk about that later.
So wait. Gene's bad? Or is he good? I'm fucking confused.
You and me both, inner monologue.
Gene is essentially good. When the rumors started circulating that this season would be about Alex trying to figure out if Gene had killed Sam, I did some serious thinking. For Gene to have killed Sam or be involved in Sam's death, his motivations would have to be fairly understandable. You can't create such an iconic character as Gene Hunt and then undercut all the emotional capital you've gained through his character by making him into the complete antithesis of what he has been portraying himself as. At least you can't if you're a good writer. It's that sort of twist ending that's just poor writing and insulting to the audience.
So, if Gene had something to do with Sam's "death," then his motivations would have to be understandable. What if Sam finally figured it out? What if he figured that he was dead? This was real, but not real life. What if he figured that there was another place he needed to be? A more peaceful place which he has to move on to in order to accept what has happened to him?
If that happened, Gene Hunt wouldn't let him go. He'd try his damnedest to get him to stay. Sam was Gene's best friend, his comrade in arms, and in some ways, his teacher. Sam has, partly, shaped Gene into what he is in Ashes to Ashes. Gene LOVED Sam, and you can take that as slashily or as unslashily as you want to, but damnit, it's still true.
And if you remember that Gene Hunt isn't really the tough sheriff who is in control of all he seems but instead a gawky, lonely and emotionally stunted young man not even out of his teens, then you can see him doing something bad to keep Sam, one of the few people in his world that he's had a deeper connection with in his world forever.
That wasn't the plan, though. He was supposed to let them go. But he hadn't. He'd kept Chris for a while and Ray for even longer. He was supposed to stick to the plan, but he started to lag. He was lonely and sad and he liked his world. He liked the people in his world even more. He loved them even, and wanted to protect them from the pain he experienced.
So Keats is bad, right?
Nope. Keats is death personified. He's neutral. Death comes for the rich and the poor. He has no side. He just IS. Keats just wants everyone to move on, to die. If you die in the fake!world, you move onto the next world. He wants to bring death.
But he killed Viv! I saw him.
No, Viv died. Keats was there to move him on to the other world.
But didn't Gene do that last season? Why can't he do it now?
Did you notice something about the people Gene helped bring over last season? They weren't on his team. Gene can let go of those who aren't on his team. But his team? Shit man, he protects them with a fierceness that you don't want to get on the wrong side of. Did you see how he tried to get back in there for Viv?
Also, Gene brings absolution. Ideally in this world, what Gene is SUPPOSED to do is to teach people about themselves, get them into a situation that will kill them, let them die and learn more about themselves, and provide them with the absolution they need to move onto the next greater death.
Gene is severely derelict in his duties, though. So the holy bureaucracy has sent death. Consequently, Keats drives the people who populate Gene's world into something dangerous. And if the people turn away from death and survive, rather than let Keats try again, Gene offers them exactly what they want. He will do anything to keep them there.
So that's what the Bowieflash is? Gene offering them what they want?
Yup.
But Alex didn't have one of those.
No, she didn't actually hear LOM and go all fade-to-blacky, but she certainly had a near-death experience that she survived. And Gene gave her something she wanted: he rescued her again. I'm not saying Alex is some damsel in distress, but her severe daddy issues leave her searching for reassurance and safety from male figures, and the Gene Genie is her favorite.
Dude, that's kind of fucked up.
Yeah, I could write a whole thing about Alex's daddy issues and that time Sam hit on his mum. There's all sorts of weird Oedipal and Freudian shit going on in this universe.
That's not the main issue though. I do suspect that a difficult family life/childhood is part of the reason that Gene chooses some people to populate his world rather than others. Sam and Alex's fathers were basically batshit, and Ray's father was VERY DISAPPOINTED in him in a deeply fucked up way. Gene stated that his father beat him and his brother, so I think he relates to some of his chosen few in that way. We don't know anything about Chris or Shaz's childhoods, but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't picture-perfect.
But wait, you keep saying dead or near-death. So Alex is alive?
She's dead, Jim.
But you just said--
Yeah? But I also said that Keats represents death. And guess whose watch stopped when Alex "woke up." In 2x8 it was kill or cure time. Guess she got killed.
Oh dear. That does look bad. But what about Chris, Ray, and Shaz?
Ray and Shaz are dead too. Let's take a look at what Keats is doing. He has deliberately targeted Ray and Shaz and driven them into situations that could kill them. He hasn't touched Chris.
Keats is trying to move the people on who NEED to be moved on. In my mind, Chris is probably still in a coma. He's pulling away from the rest of the team and it looks like in the next episode he's having some SERIOUS issues with Gene. He's starting to remind me a lot of Sam in the last few eps of LOM. He's trying to make that "definitive break" from Gene. And if Chris wakes up from his coma? He's not going to come back.
Alright. That's all well and good, but this is having fuck all to do with Alex who is, ostensibly, the main character of the show.
Oh, no. It has quite a lot to do with Alex. Who do you think is going to help move Ray, Shaz, and Gene on and Chris out?
But...why would she be able to do something that Sam Tyler clearly couldn't?
Because she's special and magical. Or not.
More likely it's down to two things:
1. Better interpersonal relationships: Sam was kind of a lone wolf. Alex is a control freak with psychological training. That means that if she wants people to get along, they're bloody well getting along. Take a look at the way Ray talks about Sam in the first ep of A2A. His relationship with him still seems fairly frosty. His relationship with Alex is certainly less prickly and more accepting. Chris hero-worshiped Sam, but I'm willing to bet that he was a little too much in awe to have a real friendship cum relationship with him. Again, Alex is closer. Alex is in a better position to help them.
2. Keats: Presumably Sam was trying to go it alone. This was before our holy bureaucracy stepped in. Keats is death. He's in a hell of a lot better position to get Gene Hunt to do what he wants. In a way its deeply unfortunate for Sam that this turned out this way. Sam has always been deeply unfortunate, though.
Oh, and don't get me wrong there probably WILL be wank amongst certain sections of fandom about Alex doing what Sam didn't. Sad but true.
So, that means Thordy IS Sam.
Now, I'm not nearly as sure about this bit of my theory as I am about other bits, but I don't think Thordy is Sam. I don't think that Gene would keep Sam here by force in such a terrible way. Perhaps more importantly, I don't think Gene would keep Sam in his world by force and also AWAY FROM HIM. Defeats the purpose of Gene trying to save Sam. Besides, Sam killed himself to move back with Gene. I can see Sam killing himself again when he realizes the truth to this world. I can see Sam moving himself on. Gene didn't kill Sam. Sam did. Gene's covering Sam's death up because the WHY is more important than the HOW.
I think Thordy is an agent of Keats who wants Alex to think it is Sam. He needs Alex to figure out the truth of the world so that she can take it over.
Wait, WHAT?!?!
I mean, Gene definitely needs to move on, but this world is a good idea with poor execution. They gave a difficult but important job to a 19 year old who was literally lobotomized. It's surprising this whole thing has gone on as long as it has.
No, what this world really needs is a control freak with psychological training.
But what about Molly?
See Jim, She's Dead. She can't get back to Molly. It fucking sucks, I know.
But she's in LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE with Gene. Won't she stay with him?
You ever heard that saying, if you love them, let them go? It works for butterflies, it'll probably work for the Manc Lion.
Fine, but how come you're so sure it'll be Alex who takes over?
Alex isn't ready to move on. She doesn't even know for sure she's dead. She, unlike presumably Ray and Shaz, still remembers her past life. Besides, it seems like a very Alex thing to do.
Is that it? Any more questions? Did I forget anything?
Yes! I mean..you know...what about...that thing.
Haven't the foggiest what you're on about.
You know! That scene in the next time! The one where they're kinda maybe kissing.
Oh, inner monologue, why must you be so venal? That's totally not germane to the plot.
Any questions? Anything me and my inner monologue missed? Feel free to comment.
A word about spoilers: I will not be discussing any spoilers that aren't present in the two "Next Time" bits shown at the end of episode 3x06.
Anyway, on to the spec.
So....what the fuck is this "world?" Are we mad, in a coma, or back in time?
We're not any of those. We're, and by 'we' I obviously mean our fabulous cast, are dead or near-death. And this world is designed and run by Gene, but I don't think he's the big boss. Hell, Gene probably is roughly the equivalent of the supernatural DCI. But that just means he's got a supernatural Super to report to.
So, what's the point of this world?
I dunno if you've paid any attention, but being a copper is fucking DANGEROUS. A lot of them get seriously injured from poking their noses into stuff. Some of them even die. A lot of their deaths appear to be fairly untimely. Dying sucks. Being in a coma probably sucks even more. I bet you get bored and shit. And also, it's probably pretty hard to adjust to not being alive. Lord knows, I can't stand changes, and I've never died, so it might be really hard to die. I bet you start freaking out and hearing voices and seeing clowns and shit. So, while you're going through the slow realization that you're probably not going to wake up and you're not going to pull through, you might as well hang out and fight crimes in a terrifically retro setting.
I bet dying scared the shit outta Gene.
Wait, Gene's dead?
Yup. He's the dead copper.
But Gene can't be the dead copper. I mean who keeps a picture of themselves in a tin in their own desk?
People keep saying this, but I don't buy it, and it's because of my dad. My dad became a US citizen in 1977. On that day, someone took a Polaroid of him wearing an American flag tie, standing in front of a huge cake, sporting ridiculous side burns, and doing a silly dance. He has kept that picture in his desk drawer since. Every time he's moved desks, he's found it, put it in his wallet, brought it home to brag to me and mom, and then carefully tucked it back into his wallet, brought it to his new desk, and shoved it back in there to be discovered the next time he cleaned it.
If Gene Hunt was as proud of becoming a policeman as my dad was of becoming an American citizen, then he'd keep a picture of himself all dressed up in his Bobby uniform.
If he's the dead copper, how'd he die?
He got fucking shot. I mean lookit the hole in his head.
But seriously, if Ash and Matt are good, and they've never done anything to prove to me that they aren't, then Gene was shot by a bent copper. Specifically: Harry Althway. Oh, you remember him, don't you? No? Okay, remember series 1, episode four of Life on Mars where Gene talks about his first job as a 19 year old cop? Harry Althway was his boss. Young Gene found out that Harry was taking backhanders and told on him. Apparently he was humiliated and everyone hated him. Ultimately, Althway killed himself.
Or at least that's how Gene told it. Personally, I think Gene got killed for being a grass. Think about it: the young copper's face has been blown off. That's an exit wound, not an entry wound, as any episode of CSI will tell you. That means he was shot in the back. Not only that, but the dead copper is literally two-faced. Finally, police corruption has been a major theme throughout Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. If anything, it's been a theme moreso in Ashes to Ashes. Right vs. Wrong is Gene's BIG THING, which, if he's really just a sad, traumatized young copper whose whole sense of right and wrong has been destroyed by a severe betrayal, really makes sense.
And so, young Gene Hunt was shot in the back and left to rot in a shallow grave. Anyone who might've found his body was dissuaded from the wrong sorts of police or just flat out ignored. There lies Gene Hunt, 19 years old, and never to be seen again until a few people stumble over his remains in 2008.
If he's just some dead cop, how come he's in charge of this world?
Based on the use of religious imagery, it's not difficult to assume that there is some form of spiritualism present in the LOM/A2A verse. For simplicity's sake, I will assume that there's a sort of holy bureaucracy, a limbo, and then a true death. Gene the dead young cop was probably really upset about being dead. He found it really difficult to move on and to face the fact that he would never be the best and most heroic copper in the universe. His difficulty dealing with his deceased status prevented him from moving on, but it also convinced the holy bureaucracy that there should be some place for coppers to go if they're about to die before their time. Gene's given charge of it.
With all the naive idealism of a young man fresh out of boyhood, he constructs of realm of cops and robbers, right and wrong, sex and vice and fags and booze. A perfect paradise where he always wins and the streets are always safe and secure. He peoples it with others who are dead or dying to help them to move on to the place that he never could bring himself to go to. I'm not sure what true death is like in the Ashes to Ashes world, but I imagine it's very peaceful but also sheer nothingness. We'll talk about that later.
So wait. Gene's bad? Or is he good? I'm fucking confused.
You and me both, inner monologue.
Gene is essentially good. When the rumors started circulating that this season would be about Alex trying to figure out if Gene had killed Sam, I did some serious thinking. For Gene to have killed Sam or be involved in Sam's death, his motivations would have to be fairly understandable. You can't create such an iconic character as Gene Hunt and then undercut all the emotional capital you've gained through his character by making him into the complete antithesis of what he has been portraying himself as. At least you can't if you're a good writer. It's that sort of twist ending that's just poor writing and insulting to the audience.
So, if Gene had something to do with Sam's "death," then his motivations would have to be understandable. What if Sam finally figured it out? What if he figured that he was dead? This was real, but not real life. What if he figured that there was another place he needed to be? A more peaceful place which he has to move on to in order to accept what has happened to him?
If that happened, Gene Hunt wouldn't let him go. He'd try his damnedest to get him to stay. Sam was Gene's best friend, his comrade in arms, and in some ways, his teacher. Sam has, partly, shaped Gene into what he is in Ashes to Ashes. Gene LOVED Sam, and you can take that as slashily or as unslashily as you want to, but damnit, it's still true.
And if you remember that Gene Hunt isn't really the tough sheriff who is in control of all he seems but instead a gawky, lonely and emotionally stunted young man not even out of his teens, then you can see him doing something bad to keep Sam, one of the few people in his world that he's had a deeper connection with in his world forever.
That wasn't the plan, though. He was supposed to let them go. But he hadn't. He'd kept Chris for a while and Ray for even longer. He was supposed to stick to the plan, but he started to lag. He was lonely and sad and he liked his world. He liked the people in his world even more. He loved them even, and wanted to protect them from the pain he experienced.
So Keats is bad, right?
Nope. Keats is death personified. He's neutral. Death comes for the rich and the poor. He has no side. He just IS. Keats just wants everyone to move on, to die. If you die in the fake!world, you move onto the next world. He wants to bring death.
But he killed Viv! I saw him.
No, Viv died. Keats was there to move him on to the other world.
But didn't Gene do that last season? Why can't he do it now?
Did you notice something about the people Gene helped bring over last season? They weren't on his team. Gene can let go of those who aren't on his team. But his team? Shit man, he protects them with a fierceness that you don't want to get on the wrong side of. Did you see how he tried to get back in there for Viv?
Also, Gene brings absolution. Ideally in this world, what Gene is SUPPOSED to do is to teach people about themselves, get them into a situation that will kill them, let them die and learn more about themselves, and provide them with the absolution they need to move onto the next greater death.
Gene is severely derelict in his duties, though. So the holy bureaucracy has sent death. Consequently, Keats drives the people who populate Gene's world into something dangerous. And if the people turn away from death and survive, rather than let Keats try again, Gene offers them exactly what they want. He will do anything to keep them there.
So that's what the Bowieflash is? Gene offering them what they want?
Yup.
But Alex didn't have one of those.
No, she didn't actually hear LOM and go all fade-to-blacky, but she certainly had a near-death experience that she survived. And Gene gave her something she wanted: he rescued her again. I'm not saying Alex is some damsel in distress, but her severe daddy issues leave her searching for reassurance and safety from male figures, and the Gene Genie is her favorite.
Dude, that's kind of fucked up.
Yeah, I could write a whole thing about Alex's daddy issues and that time Sam hit on his mum. There's all sorts of weird Oedipal and Freudian shit going on in this universe.
That's not the main issue though. I do suspect that a difficult family life/childhood is part of the reason that Gene chooses some people to populate his world rather than others. Sam and Alex's fathers were basically batshit, and Ray's father was VERY DISAPPOINTED in him in a deeply fucked up way. Gene stated that his father beat him and his brother, so I think he relates to some of his chosen few in that way. We don't know anything about Chris or Shaz's childhoods, but I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't picture-perfect.
But wait, you keep saying dead or near-death. So Alex is alive?
She's dead, Jim.
But you just said--
Yeah? But I also said that Keats represents death. And guess whose watch stopped when Alex "woke up." In 2x8 it was kill or cure time. Guess she got killed.
Oh dear. That does look bad. But what about Chris, Ray, and Shaz?
Ray and Shaz are dead too. Let's take a look at what Keats is doing. He has deliberately targeted Ray and Shaz and driven them into situations that could kill them. He hasn't touched Chris.
Keats is trying to move the people on who NEED to be moved on. In my mind, Chris is probably still in a coma. He's pulling away from the rest of the team and it looks like in the next episode he's having some SERIOUS issues with Gene. He's starting to remind me a lot of Sam in the last few eps of LOM. He's trying to make that "definitive break" from Gene. And if Chris wakes up from his coma? He's not going to come back.
Alright. That's all well and good, but this is having fuck all to do with Alex who is, ostensibly, the main character of the show.
Oh, no. It has quite a lot to do with Alex. Who do you think is going to help move Ray, Shaz, and Gene on and Chris out?
But...why would she be able to do something that Sam Tyler clearly couldn't?
Because she's special and magical. Or not.
More likely it's down to two things:
1. Better interpersonal relationships: Sam was kind of a lone wolf. Alex is a control freak with psychological training. That means that if she wants people to get along, they're bloody well getting along. Take a look at the way Ray talks about Sam in the first ep of A2A. His relationship with him still seems fairly frosty. His relationship with Alex is certainly less prickly and more accepting. Chris hero-worshiped Sam, but I'm willing to bet that he was a little too much in awe to have a real friendship cum relationship with him. Again, Alex is closer. Alex is in a better position to help them.
2. Keats: Presumably Sam was trying to go it alone. This was before our holy bureaucracy stepped in. Keats is death. He's in a hell of a lot better position to get Gene Hunt to do what he wants. In a way its deeply unfortunate for Sam that this turned out this way. Sam has always been deeply unfortunate, though.
Oh, and don't get me wrong there probably WILL be wank amongst certain sections of fandom about Alex doing what Sam didn't. Sad but true.
So, that means Thordy IS Sam.
Now, I'm not nearly as sure about this bit of my theory as I am about other bits, but I don't think Thordy is Sam. I don't think that Gene would keep Sam here by force in such a terrible way. Perhaps more importantly, I don't think Gene would keep Sam in his world by force and also AWAY FROM HIM. Defeats the purpose of Gene trying to save Sam. Besides, Sam killed himself to move back with Gene. I can see Sam killing himself again when he realizes the truth to this world. I can see Sam moving himself on. Gene didn't kill Sam. Sam did. Gene's covering Sam's death up because the WHY is more important than the HOW.
I think Thordy is an agent of Keats who wants Alex to think it is Sam. He needs Alex to figure out the truth of the world so that she can take it over.
Wait, WHAT?!?!
I mean, Gene definitely needs to move on, but this world is a good idea with poor execution. They gave a difficult but important job to a 19 year old who was literally lobotomized. It's surprising this whole thing has gone on as long as it has.
No, what this world really needs is a control freak with psychological training.
But what about Molly?
See Jim, She's Dead. She can't get back to Molly. It fucking sucks, I know.
But she's in LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE with Gene. Won't she stay with him?
You ever heard that saying, if you love them, let them go? It works for butterflies, it'll probably work for the Manc Lion.
Fine, but how come you're so sure it'll be Alex who takes over?
Alex isn't ready to move on. She doesn't even know for sure she's dead. She, unlike presumably Ray and Shaz, still remembers her past life. Besides, it seems like a very Alex thing to do.
Is that it? Any more questions? Did I forget anything?
Yes! I mean..you know...what about...that thing.
Haven't the foggiest what you're on about.
You know! That scene in the next time! The one where they're kinda maybe kissing.
Oh, inner monologue, why must you be so venal? That's totally not germane to the plot.
Any questions? Anything me and my inner monologue missed? Feel free to comment.