“Ashes to Ashes” Season 2 Episode 8 – Thoughts and Analysis
SPOILER WARNING: POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THIS EPISODE
One Sentence Review
Season 2 ends in a mirror of how the series began, meaning Season 3 cant come soon enough
Episode Synopsis
Thoughts and Analysis
The corruption is uprooted and Operation Rose and Martin Summers plans come to fruition, yet the mystery of Gene Hunt and what his world is remains. While a final season has been confirmed it cant come soon enough with a ending that is both exciting, satisfying and frustrating all at the same time and leaves potential for answers to questions that have been asked since Life on Mars never mind Ashes to Ashes.
One of the first thing that strikes me at the beginning of the episode is the similarity with the end of Life on Mars (original) but with an Infection instead of Cancer and a Gold Bullion Job instead of a Train robbery. The similarities do not end there since just as Sam is mistrusted by his colleagues, Alex ends up being mistrusted by Gene. The final similarity is that both are excellent episodes, there is one major difference though is that the ending of this episode leaves it clear there is much more to come.
Several of the hints from Summers diary come through as he works through Jenette and Alex audio tapes to divide Alex and Gene, a division that it is not clear if it is healed or not before the accidental shooting. I found Genes response to Alex’s tapes and explanation intriguing as it is how you would expect a normal person to react, indicating if Gene does have significance he is not aware of what it is. What I am not sure about is how much he actually believed Jenette and how much he was playing her to try to uncover more about the corruption in Operation Rose. Unfortunately Genes suspicion of Alex leads him to declare that if she gets in his way he will kill her leading to unfortunate implications at the end of the episode.
This brings me onto Operation Rose itself, and I have to say that it being a Gold bullion job and the police setting up crooks to rob the gold who they then get the gold from was a bit of a let down given how much it was hyped up. Summers also became a bit more sympathetic as it became clear that the reason he was taunting Alex was so that she would be able to stop it. What was evil was that he made Chris take the place of his younger self in covering up the other cops, which was the event that sent Summers on the path he was on and the key event he was there to witness and understand much like Alex’s was to find out the truth behind her parents death. He ultimately did not learn that much as he took the cowards way out by committing “suicide via cop” in forcing Gene to shoot him when he was about to pull the trigger on Alex. One thing I am not sure of though is when Gene comforts the dying Summers if he realised who he was.
Then the ending and Gene accidentally shooting Alex when she is held hostageor the second time this time by Jenette leading to her reverting back to the present and everything being okay. Well until Gene appears on the TV telling her she is in a coma in 1982 and he is on the lamb as people think he shot her deliberately.
What can be said about this ending, well firstly I am very happy that a third and final season of Ashes to Ashes has been confirmed so we can get proper closure, but also how frustrating it is to have to wait until 2010 to get some answers. I just hope that the BBC take pity on us and have a Christmas special to answer some of the questions of which there are many, but one minor one struck me before Gene appeared and that was, was it Summers being wheeled away in the hospital or someone else? It may be significant that the nurses never actually named who was being taken away and that we did not see who it was making it possible that it was not Summers but possibly someone else, if this is the case it was probably Gene being wheeled away, as the nurses words “such an angry man, but in the end it was peaceful” could fit both Gene and Summers.
The ending does make it clear that at some point Alex will end up back in 1982, but I anticipate some time spent in the “present”, and this should hopefully finally answer the question of does the coma world relate to the “real” world past and present. What I hope to see is Alex investigating if the events of the Ashes world occured as she remembered them and is there any record of her being present for them. In other words what they should have done at the end of Life on Mars before Sam jumped. I dont think there is much doubt that at some point she will go back to 1982 (well probably 1983 by that point), the only question is how will it occur.
The most likely possibilities for getting back that I can think of are as follows
1) She finds out that the Ashes world is the “actual” past and asks to be put in a temporary coma in order to save Gene who died on the run or was falsely imprisoned for her 1982 murder/attempted murder or otherwise in need of her help.
2) As above but Ashes world is not the actual past but she realises she has to save Gene for some reason or to try to end the “visions” that are driving her crazy.
3) She has to undergo another operation and re-enters the Ashes world when put under.
4) Wakens from coma in 1982/83 putting her back in a coma in the present day.
5) Ends up being able to go from 1982/3 to present at will or when she goes to sleep in one world wakes up in the other.
My personal preference would be for Alex to find out that the Ashes world is the actual past, and so she has to choose between Gene and Molly, since if she doesn’t go back something bad will happen to Gene. It would also be nice to see older versions of the Fenchurch East crew, and their reactions when meeting her again in the present. If it is going to be a relatively quick re-entry to the past then one way to do it would be for one or more of them to be in the hospital due to Gene having just died (him being wheeled away not Summers), and Alex in her panic running into them causing chaos to ensue when they recognise each other.
Leaving all questions and speculation aside, I have to say this was a very well written episode that left me wanting more, and for Season 3 to start next week and not next year. While Operation Rose was a bit of a let down, the episode itself was tense and brooding with Genes frustration with what he believed was Alex’s dishonesty palpable. It will be interesting to see when she does get back, what there relationship will be and if Gene starts to believe her story. One thing is clear though 2010 and the final season of Ashes cant come soon enough
Episode Rating
9/10
I cannot get my head around Martin Summers shooting his younger self and his older self not disappearing in a puff of temporal rift! The only way I can fit this into the ‘Ashes To Ashes’ and ‘Life On Mars’ world is that it is not the actual past we know, but a parallel universe where events can take a different course to the ones in our own history. But who knows? It is the writers intention to keep us guessing. Having read the above synopsis it was my belief Martin Summers deceased was the one being wheeled away in the present day hospital, not Gene Hunt; after all, Summers kept saying he was in the next hospital room to Alex Drake and could hear when her daughter visited and monitor Drake’s progress – though I did think he must have good hearing for a dying man! And again, if his younger self ceased to exist after 1982, how did he get to be dying in hospital in his mid fifties in 2008 or 2009?
I’m not sure if the writers have hatched a cunning plan here, or if it is just a plot oversight that will never be explained, just as Gene’s Mark 3 Cortina in ‘Life On Mars’ couldn’t have actually existed in 1973 as car spotters everywhere saw the ‘wrong’ dashboard and seats and the ‘wrong’ badges on it from the later Ford 2000E! I find the series intriguing and look forward to the final third run in 2010, but elements of it always leave me slightly dissatisfied and thinking things just ‘don’t fit’. In a way I think it is a shame the finale of ‘Ashes’ series one wasn’t explored in series two, where Gene took the hand of the little girl Alex, after here parents car blew up, instead of the man adult Alex always thought it was in her flashbacks to the actual event she remembered. But then again….that could fit in with this not being the ‘real’ past but an ‘alternative’ past and Gene Hunt might be some ethereal omnipotent being within that world, while being completely unaware of that fact!
I agree that the older Summers not disappearing in a temporal rip does not make sense if it is the real world, but given that Sam Tyler died in the real world but was still in the Ashes world until at least 1980. It is possible that once you are in the Ashes world it does not matter what happens to your “actual self” in the present day, as you may no longer be that person in the past.
I have also just remembered The 1st episode of Season 2 of LOM when IIRC it appeared that Sam changed the present day when he set up a criminal he knew (Tony Crane) as a mental patient which changed the background of the person trying to kill him in the episode from being Crane on remand to Crane as a mental patient.
The early episodes of Season 3 of Ashes to Ashes should hopefully clear up this question once and for all, and I cant wait it to begin.
The reason Summers did not disappear in a puff of smoke when he shot his younger self was that this is after all happening in a coma induced world created by Alex. If it was the real past then there would be an anomoly. There must be a question as to whether Summers exists at all in the real world or if he is a construct by Alex.
This has been a very good series, and I can’t wait for series 3, but I still think it is not in the same league as the magnificent Life On Mars.
My prediction for the final series is that Alex dies and never gets home. After all it’s unlikely that you could survive a close range bullet in the head. I think Gene will be revealed to be some sort of guardian angel helping those between life and death. Part of me also can’t help thinking that Sam Tyler is going to turn up – after all his body was never found in the Ashes to Ashes world – but this may just be wishful thinking on my part!
While I think the exact nature of the world could go either way (real, imagined, alternate world, purgatory, something else) as long as they dont do a US Life on Mars ending I think it wont matter that much given the generally high quality of the writing so far.
I am actually finding that I prefer Ashes to Ashes over Life on Mars, though they are both superb series
As for Sam Tyler, I too think that he has to turn up at some point (assuming John Simm is willing) and was half expecting the ending of last nights episode to be Alex and Gene walking into his office to find Sam sitting there or Gene receiving a phone call telling him that Sam has been found alive
I was under the impression that Summers was Alex’s infection in human form, and the stuff about being in the room next to her was all to screw her head. As she had to kill Summers (AKA the infection) to get home thing.
As for the nurses wheeling away the body, I reckon it’s our Mr Hunt, as Summers is a metaphorical infection. AND it was hinted in the first series that Hunt could be closer to Alex then we though. IE: he could exist in the real world.
The coma bit generally confuses me, and it still makes my brain hurt 5 days after the episode airs. So to quote from above: “Series 3 couldn’t come sooner” it’ll be good to get some answers to the billions of questions buzzing round my head.
Also, one last thing. Did anyone notice the writing on Alex’s head bandage? I couldn’t read it by BBC iPlayer quality but if anyone can make it out and tell me what it says, it would be greatly appreciated
Wow that is an excellent conclusion I would never have thought of that. However, I did have an idea that maybe to get back to 1982/3 maybe Sam Tyler is a link as his body was never found. I believe that is was the plan of the bad guys to make Sam chase them into the river and then kidnap him seeing as a body was never found. Also what happened to Annie? Nothing more has been mentioned of her. How did she cope with Sam’s death? What did she do afterwards? We simply don’t know. Also refering to Luke’s question what is written on her head bandage? Nice spotting I didn’t even notice until you brought it up. I tried reading it but I could only make out the word No plus i think there may be 3 words my best attempt would be No Fun … I’m probably way off so anyone correct me. But also in that scene did anyone else notice that she just ripped the drip out of her hand. Now I don’t know if anyone else has had one there but it is a massive pain in the bum and it hurts like hell when you move or bump your hand so I don’t think that in real life anyone would want to rip on out. Plus blood would be coming out onto her hand which I thankfully didn’t see.
Anyway excellent analysis. Can’t wait till Season 3. All I need now is a TARDIS to travel in time to 2010.
I think what was written on the bandage was NO BONE FLAPS, but I could be wrong about that.
I have read on the railway arm forums where I lurk but dont post numerous intriguing theories including that the modern day scene is actually misdirection and that she did not wake up at all (I happen to think that this is not the case and she did wake up). I recommend checking the theories on that site out if you dont already as there are alot of people alot more observant than I am there.
What I want to know is what was written after Molly on the back of Alexs get well card as from the screencaps I have seen it does not look like Drake.
Another thing I have just realised is that in LOM Sam Tyler was told his identity was a cover and both his (70s Sam) parents were dead, what is the status of 80s Alex family? and if alive will they visit “80s Alex” in the hospital.
Both Alex and Sam were so obsessed with getting back to the present that they seem to have ignored completely what the background of their “alter ego” is and if it has any clues to what is going on.
2010 and the final season of Ashes
cant come soon enough
Ashes to Ashes is the best, and BBC does it best, if the Americans do it, I will smack them down..LOL. I can’t wait to see what happens in Season 3,with Gene Genie…my heroe…xxxx sigh**
Question: Is old Summers really Old Chris?
When I saw this episode, I thought that the older Summers Character was lying about his identity, and actually this is Chris’s older self.
I am no expert,but this would mean the elimination of the younger Summers (known to be bent) would fit the older Chris’s remorsefullness, whilst his death at Gene’s hands would befit his beliefs and pay penance for future sins.This would leave his younger self free from guilt and able to reclaim his innocence by removing himself from the future.
If Alex does see the same person in the hospital this would also work as the person in the future would have no recollection of the bent Chris’s actions.
Even if this is not the case, I prefer to stick with this belief as it fits well inside the Ashes to Ashes Universe.
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