WRITER: Jack Lothian[SPOILERS] We're at the halfway point of the final series already, so it was a relief to see a much stronger episode to mark the occasion. And despite the fact I tend to find the sci-fi trimmings more interesting than the show's cop show formula, this episode (written by Jack Lothian) was a great example of Ashes To Ashes getting its balance exactly right. The emphasis was on a down-to-earth plot that was well-told and contained some twists that really worked, while the sci-fi stuff was scaled back and all the better for that.
DIRECTOR: Alrick Riley
GUEST CAST: Zoe Telford, Peter Guinness, Bryan Dick, Paul Moriarty, Paul Moriarty, Joseph Long, Geff Francis, Ryan Pope & Charlie Roe
To cut to the chase: I really liked this episode. It wasn't quite as emotional, complex and revelatory to make it a classic installment, but it was an hour's procedural that I felt happy satisfied with, blessed with a great performances from Zoe Telford as the incognito 'tec who's become psychologically scarred by the demands of her job, and a nice turn from Bryan Dick as the miscreant who once raped her. It was also nice to see Chris (Marshall Lancaster) given a decent subplot, as he began to develop feelings for Louise's plight, and risked destroying the entire case by beating Daniel in his prison cell after hearing about how he treated her.
Overall, episode 4 was the first instalment of this final season that worked on more levels than passing intrigue at its breadcrumb of clues. The story was tight and written effectively, and there was even enough time for some of the comedy that's been underused this year. Indeed, the sequence where it's revealed Gene was responsible for the infamous vandalizing of the Blue Peter garden ranks as one of my favourite ways the show's merged fiction with reality. "It's only a bloody garden!"
Asides
- A new theory: could the disfigured officer with the 6-6-22 epaulette be a young Gene Hunt? If so, would that be a nod to the possibility Gene's in a coma in a hospital somewhere with those injuries, but has lived his entire life in this "mindscape"? Is he only able to exist there because other people are effectively participating in his reverie (chiefly Sam and Alex), and would that explain why Keats is trying to dismantle Genes.
- Interesting to see how Keats handled the moment when Louise was dying in his arms, easing her very calmly into death. In fact, it's now harder to imagine that Keats is around for despicable reasons after that tender moment -- so perhaps we should doubt that Gene's the hero and Keats is wrong to hate him?
- Great sequence of Alex imagining herself trapped in a coffin and about to be buried alive when she was knocked unconscious, but was that purely a visual metaphor of her mental state, or something more relevant to the story's bigger picture?
- Does anyone else find it irritating that every sequence involving the Quattro takes place on totally empty London streets? I know it must be a challenge finding locations where contemporary landmarks, signs and people aren't always lurking in shot, but it makes it look like Ashes To Ashes takes place in a city that's been evacuated!
- Was the final moment taking place in a mannequin factory of significance? Things designed to look like human, but aren't -- like most of Ashes' characters?
