Month: May 2009

Wow! Wow! Just… wow! After last week’s snoozer, Ashes to Ashes came roaring back with one of the best episodes ever! Let’s stop playing around and get right to it!

The episode begins at Liugi’s, where Gene has told the gang about his pending transfer to Plymouth. Everyone’s heartbroken, and it’s made worse by a much larger table full of guys from “Division A” who are taunting Gene and the gang by singing “Combine Harvester” with exaggerated West Country accents. Ray, defending the group’s honor, tosses a roll at the next table. Chris joins in. An all-out food fight starts, which quickly escalates into a real brawl, despite Luigi’s pleas to take it outside.

Before the fight breaks out, Alex excuses herself and leaves, and just as the fight starts, the gang turns around and finds that Gene has disappeared… leading the others to wonder what, exactly, the two are up to. Is it an affair?

Actually, no: Alex and Gene are busy planting a bug in Supermac’s office. As Gene stands on Mac’s desk to plant the bug, Alex wonders aloud where all of Mac’s purloined money is going. She mentions a gold bullion heist where some of the evidence “disappeared”, yet Mac still lives in the same house, drives the same car, and still takes the same crappy vacations. Alex wonders if it’s time to bring Ray and Chris in on it, but Gene says no. The two then go to Gene’s office to work on a flip chart of all of Mac’s connections.

The next morning, Ray, Chris, Shaz and Viv find Alex and Gene asleep in his office. Although the two are fully clothed and sleeping on separate chairs, everyone looks at them as if the two were sleeping together. Ray blasts Gene for leaving them at Luigi’s… and just as he finishes, intrepid reporter Jackie Queen walks in (see the “Other Stuff” section, below). She agrees that Gene has always ran away from his obligations… and opens her coat to reveal that she is very pregnant:

Gene says that he can’t possibly be the father, as there is no way that he would ever sleep with Jackie. Jackie says that they most certainly did sleep together, although Gene was too drunk to remember it. Jackie then reveals that she’s also there for another reason: she’s writing a news story about teenage girls that come to London from northern England and go missing. She’s specifically looking for a girl named Rachel Lessing. But here’s the thing: the Met has actively ignored her requests for information. Gene asks Jackie who she had spoken to, and she apparently names Viv. Gene talks to Viv, who says that he was acting under a direct order from Mac.

Continue reading “Ashes to Ashes: Season 2 Episode 4”

This episode begins with Alex sitting on the sofa, battling insomnia by drinking wine and watching TV. She’s watching Take Hart, a show about painting (a British version of Bob Ross, if you will), when she gives up and turns off the TV with the remote. She gets up to walk to the bedroom… and the TV comes back on by itself. At the same time, she doubles over in pain. The TV shows Morph, a claymation character from Take Hart, preparing a defibrillator. A voice asks if Morph will help Alex. When he shocks Alex with the paddles (on TV), the real Alex flies across the room and crashes into the wall. Morph then appears to give up on her, and the voice asks why he’s given up. Morph replies (in gibberish), and the voice asks “what do you mean, ‘she’s given up?'”. Morph then gets a sad look, changes into a ball, then rolls offscreen. We then see Morph stretched into a straight line representing a heartbeat monitor, which beats for a few seconds then flatlines.

The next morning, we see Alex and Gene arrive at Felhurst Prison to interview Kevin Hales. The guard asks why they’re there, and Gene says it’s to interview Kevin. The guard says that “you won’t be doing that today”, then nods towards a body bag being rolled towards a van. Kevin Hales, it seems, has committed suicide by hanging himself. Gene asks if no one tried to stop him. The guard says that “health and safety rules” prevented them from running to his aid; he says this with a knowing look on his face. He might as well have winked and said “say no more, say no more!”

Back at the station, Gene goes through Kevin’s possessions. He looks at a letter that appears to be of interest, but we see nothing more at this point. In fact, Gene disappears completely by the time the next thing happens: a father and daughter walk through the doors of the station carrying a box.

Continue reading “Ashes to Ashes: Season 2, Episode 3”