Ashes to Ashes (Life on Mars Sequel) (spoilerificness)

[Heradel]

Since only the pilot's been aired, it's not like we've seen a lot, but the battle of the psychiatrist against her own brain — maybe — is interesting.

That said.
Oh
My
N_sh,
the Camp.

Ignoring the A team stuff, ignoring the ridiculous outfits, ignoring the Miami Vice-ity, we still have Hunt, Ray, and Chris in a speedboat on the Thames with Hunt holding an Uzi in the air. There's this moment in the writers session that Ronald D Moore released on the podcast where he says something along the lines of, "just dare me to make Six and Cain lesbian lovers, just dare me and I'll do it." It sort of feels like this episode was just a string of those moments put together.

I did like the bit with the water at the end.

[Roney]

Oh
My
N_sh,
the Camp.

Yeah, it was good.

But I enjoyed Life On Mars as a period drama.  With Ashes To Ashes there are already things that I feel I ought to resonate but that just barely pass me by.  Either because I'm slightly too young or because 80s rural Scotland didn't have the same trends as 80s London.

I like that they've made the protagonist even more fluent in modern psychobabble than Sam Tyler -- and with knowledge of Sam's "coma-induced delusions"/"time travel".  It makes the spin-off seem like less of a retread.  If they continue to explore these ideas in an SF way, I'll be happy.  I'm not going to get my hopes up, though.

[Heradel]

Season finale tonight, thoughts?

Haven't finished it yet, but the feel is different from the other episodes, I think it's because they cut out most of the background on the audio.

Edit: Finished it now.

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First off, I'd like some kind of discussion with whoever's up for it on the symbology of Gene as God (if that's even the right metaphor/connection/allusion) and the whole thing with the Lord trying to shut him down and that whole Braveheart moment with the coppers. It felt like an allusion to something else, but my sleep-starved brain can't connect it to anything, so I'm going to wake up in the (EST) morning and rewatch it.

The her dad as the killer thing wasn't entirely surprising, we didn't see him a lot and it only really made sense for the clown to be somehow intimately connected to the case. I wonder if he shows up next season. And what else she needs to learn.

Ok, my brain's near dead, so I'll just link to the Guardian review and return in the morning.


Edit the second: I reserve the right to say this was all some sort of mental trip brought on by lack of sleep and fatigue, and beg you all to never mention it again.

 Thinking about it, Hunt actually seems a lot more like an Angel of Death to me, but letting her come to terms with her reality so she can find peace in death. I think in those terms we could see the Lord coming in was him wanting to wrap up the amount of energy being spent on this one dead soul, and Gene reasserting his authority (Authority?) in his guiding her to final rest (if that's where this is headed). Her mother issue is resolved, now it seems the issue to be resolved in season two is probably going to be letting go of her daughter/coming to terms with her powerlessness. Maybe the 'Genie' nickname for Hunt is a clue for the Gene Hunt as Guardian Protector of the Dead, along with the whole "I'm everywhere Bolly, I was needed and I was there" bit. If that's what the writers are going at, then Tyler's suicide is simply the result of him no longer having anything to resolve. All he needed he had in coma/death, but not in reality.

The Clown symbology with her father works like this — The Clown/Father as the sad, broken man putting on a literal different face to cover his emotions. Plus they're scary.

I'd argue the need for the more primitive system of policing that Gene embodies as opposed to the Stats/Rights/Rules-driven modern policing is a metaphor for going back to some sort of primal self to be at peace/just (echoed in that nice little bit with Gene rejecting the wine for the beer)

Anyone have any ideas on the using of the ceiling?

Hopefully I won't be too embarrassed by this come morning.