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Ashes to Ashes

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Adam J Purcell
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Ashes to Ashes

Post by Adam J Purcell »

Well, we've now had the first episode of Ashes to Ashes, the Life on Mars sequel. Here's some of what I wrote after the last episode of LoM:

http://blog.staggeringstories.net/?p=96#comment-1912
As for the writers shutting up. I would normally agree. In this case, though, we have a direct sequel coming up that will necessarily have to confirm one interpretation or another for the ending of Life on Mars. A day of so after the final episode the BBC put out the press statement about Ashes to Ashes and I think both the writers and the BBC want to prime people for that. I’ll probably be wrong again but I fully expect the first scene to be set at Sam Tyler’s funeral, with this new character there to pay her respects to someone she feels she knows so well after reading his notes (probably they met for real sessions too, perhaps even John Simm will reprise the role for a few flash backs in the first episode?) Basically they need people to accept their version of events for Ashes to Ashes to work.
Hmm, I was wrong! Partly! I expected them to confirm the interpretation of Sam committing suicide in 2006 (or was it 2007 by then?!) Kind of obvious that they had to do that. No Sam Tyler funeral, though. First scene had Alex Drake's daughter reading some of Sam's notes, so not too far off the mark. First scene all about Sam Tyler - I'll claim that a partial win for me! No John Simm in sight, though, apart from a couple of photos of Sam, one in each era. Wrong on that one then!

As for the episode itself... A little bit disappointed. Unlike some here I'm not a great fan of 80s music and they really seemed to be using that rather heavily to set the 80s tone (more so, to my mind, than in 1973). The whole 80s thing did seem a little too forced - it almost felt too 1980s, especially for 1981...

Alex Drake didn't work as an audience surrogate. She was too knowing, too unpleasant. Sam Tyler was the everyman - he was us, trying to figure out what was going on. You could say that Alex is the same - we know what is going on and so does she. True, but she is hardly sympathetic in that role.

That whole concept of the character knowing that they are in a coma rather diminishes the series, I feel. Why should we care about any of it? It's just in her mind, nothing really matters there. Characters can't die if she doesn't want them too (see the shoot out at the end of the first episode for examples of that).

Even Gene Hunt and co feel like caricatures of their previous caricature selves. Hopefully that will settle down once we are past the first episode, now the audience has been reminded who they are. Still, Hunt had some great lines in this episode, nonetheless!

I could go on but I won't! I did enjoy it, it was good. Just not as good as I was expecting. Not as good as Life on Mars. Perhaps unfair of me to compare all of Life on Mars to the first episode of Ashes to Ashes. Still, I'm sure ep 1 of LoM was calmer and more interesting than AtA ep 1's frenetic cramming.

There were some interesting questions raised. There's the obvious death of Alex Drake's parents in 1981. Clearly that's leading somewhere. Then there's the question of "Gene" and friends. What are they? Is it as simple as it might appear - are figments of Alex's imagination, inspired by Tyler's notes? Is there more to it? How did Alex's mind/"Gene" know that Sam returned to 1973 after his jump/splattering? Was it just a guess? Collective unconscious?

I'm hopeful for the rest of Ashes to Ashes. It's needs to improve, I think, but I can forgive a shaky first episode!

Oh, and there will be a lot more people doing air quotes after that episode, I expect!
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lordsummerisle
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Post by lordsummerisle »

I was a bit disappointed with the episode for several reasons. Perhaps we've been spoiled by John Simm but Keeley Hawes didn't carry her character as well as Simm did and I felt the episode lacked a true 1980s atmosphere, whereas Life On Mars had you firmly believing you were in the 1970s from the very first scene. Finally, LOM worked so well because the cast, Gene Hunt in particular, were well rounded characters over and above being 1970s caricatures and, as Adam puts it so well, here they seemed to be caricatures of their previous caricature selves.

There's plenty of time for it to get better though, so I'll hold out hope for a while longer.
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous." - Alfred North Whitehead, philosopher.
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