[SPOILERS] There are two things that bug me about Ashes To Ashes: first, those repetitive scenes of Alex (Keeley Hawes) waking up to find an '80s television personality talking to her through the TV (an overplayed trick that now feels clichéd, not magical); and second, whenever Alex acts like a lunatic in front of ordinary people (claiming she's "not here", or talking to "strangers" as if she knows them intimately), mainly because it's ridiculous to imagine she wouldn't be undergoing a psychological evaluation by now, or at least be the victim of complaints from those she harasses...
Both these bugbears rear their heads in episode 5 -- via Keith Harris and Orville communicating with Alex on television, then when a simple burglary happens to involve the Drake family (Alex's future in-laws.) A thief has stolen £1000 from the Drake residence, deafening Bryan Drake (Rory MacGregor) in the process and causing wife Marjorie (Sophie Stanton) a lot of upset. As Gene (Philip Glenister) assesses the crime scene, it affords Alex some time to talk with her daughter Molly's father -- Peter Drake (Perry Millward), here an awkward 14-year-old boy with a cat also named Molly, weirdly. The Drakes were a hair's breath from their firstborn being called Tiddles, it seems!Fingerprints found at the scene belong to George Staines, a known criminal who died years earlier, so Gene and the gang investigate how a dead man has apparently returned from beyond the grave to steal cash from an innocent family, first by interviewing his elderly mum Elsie (Rita Davies).
With the police corruption scandal storyline mostly laid to rest, this episode had to sink or swim on the strength of a standalone mystery -- albeit one perked up by the time-travel fun of Alex interacting with her extended family, particularly her future husband in child form. Sadly, this was easily the weakest episode of this much-improved series. Seeing Alex interact with her own family just isn't very interesting, as we don't know these people in the present-day (so there's no fun in seeing these people in their younger days -- compare and contrast with, say, Back To The Future, where Marty's interaction with his family in '55 is more buoyed by knowledge of their '85 counterparts. Here, the Drake's perceive Alex as an oddball (at best), and there's no real sense of magic to the situation. Maybe it would have been better if Peter Drake had been in his late-teens -- old enough for some sexual chemistry with his future-wife.
Usually with sub par episodes, there's at least some movement with the base-level mystery over Alex's trip back in time. That proved true here, with Alex's rose-obsessed admirer finally making his on-screen debut in the shape of retired policeman Martin Summers (Adrian Dunbar), whose presence on the credits list since episode 1 undercut the surprise for me. He arrived in this episode to speak with Alex directly, bestowing us with confirmation that he's similarly trapped in 1982 (only he doesn't want to get back) and tells Alex that she'll have to become corrupt in order to escape (how does that work?)
Really, this is the area that Ashes To Ashes falls down: it tries desperately to give its central mystery the appearance of hidden depths, but I have no faith that any of it will make sense. I could be proved wrong, but rather than be enchanted here... I was bewildered. Why was Summers sending Alex roses like a crazy stalker, if he's a levelheaded guy who only wants to help her get back to 2008? Why does he want her to leave, anyway? I'm still curious to see what "Operation Rose" is all about -- suspecting that it's related to Rosicrucianism (but is that too esoteric for a show like Ashes To Ashes, that can't alienate the traditional BBC primetime audience with "mumbo-jumbo"?) It may just turn out to be a boring codename for an anti-corruption operation, or something.Overall, this was by far the weakest effort of the series: a humdrum mystery with a silly twist-ending (that George Staines faked his own death and had a sex-change!), stuck to the disappointing backdrop of Alex dealing with her 14-year-old husband (huge potential in theory, dull execution in practice.) Right now, I'm worried this season ditched the police corruption subplot too early, and equally concerned the Summers/Rose mystery is going to fall flat. But we'll see.
18 May 2009
BBC1, 9pm
Writer: Julie Rutterford
Director: Philip John
Cast: Philip Glenister (Gene), Keeley Hawes (Alex), Dean Andrews (Ray), Marshall Lancaster (Chris), Montserrat Lombard (Shaz), Adrian Dunbar (Martin Summers), Sara Stewart (Gaynor Mason), Sophie Stanton (Marjorie Drake), Rita Davies (Elsie Staines), Joseph Long (Luigi), Geff Francis (Viv), Perry Millward (Peter Drake), Neal Barry (Mickey Dillon) & Rory MacGregor (Bryan Drake)
