Alex said "oh god" when Gene was on the floor in the incident room. He said "don't call me that".
Ashes to Ashes Series 3 (may contain Spoilers)
- Thread starter Capn Flukie
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Alex said "oh god" when Gene was on the floor in the incident room. He said "don't call me that".
Yeah, fair enough. Except that they were more playfully ambiguous about it all and left you to believe it could be anything in the UK version.
And like I said, the US version can also be interpreted like that. It doesn't have to be literally what we saw in the final episode. I mean, Star Trek: Enterprise's final episode was not meant to be taken as is, was it?
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Wow, that's sad, after listening to her saying "time is running out" I thought maybe she was still going for a while. Puts a darker spin on the series if i rewatch it.
From reading interviews with the creators it seems that this was the original plan and that series 3 of life on mars would have dealt with this. It being Gene's world.
So how did Sam move on from 1973-purgatory to the real heaven?
And like I said, the US version can also be interpreted like that. It doesn't have to be literally what we saw in the final episode. I mean, Star Trek: Enterprise's final episode was not meant to be taken as is, was it?
Well, with Enterprise it doesn't say the whole thing never happened... just that Riker was living it in a recreation.
I think the US version is ambiguous about being ambiguous if that was their intent. Certainly they felt proud of the twist they came up with anyway.
"If ifs and buts were beer and nuts" I guess. Regardless of intent, they ended S2 the way they did. Having "solved" Sam, they might have changed the whole dynamic of the show and made it Gene Hunt's Life on Mars starring Gene Hunt with the Gene Hunt crew... but that's not what happened (for better or for worse).
It's been a couple of weeks, but it's sort of implied that Gene was able to let Sam go (but none of his other fake officers apparently) because he was "ready". Which just makes it weird that Alex or any of the gang had to leave at that specific time once they knew the truth other than Gene coming to the realization that he was being selfish.
^The rest of them were ready because Keats pushed them in to being ready, at least that's what I thought.
The others weren't ready. Chris certainly never stood up to authority before he did at the end of A2A, and Ray, well, can you see anyone being proud of Ray during LoM? Equally he wasn't selfless, until he was in the third season of A2A, which is why both earn't the right to move on.
It's not a matter of Gene being selfish. Alex and Chris werent ready to go until right at the end. Chris's standing up to authority was in the first part of the finale, and Alex couldn't move on until she accepted that she was dead, which Gene didn't know until he 'remembered' everything. The motivation that you've previously mentioned, that of Molly, was what kept Alex anchored. It was only with the realisation that she was in fact already dead, and the acceptance that she could never go back to Molly, that Alex was able to move on.
It's notable that Keats only turns up after Alex dies in the real world.
Alex's death, in itself, poses a paradox of sorts. As mentioned above, given her motivating factor of Molly, the only way she would move on would be with the realisation and acceptance of her own death. Given that Gene couldn't remember, and was therefore himself unaware, without the introduction of Keats, Alex would never move on, unless she somehow managed to figure it out for herself, like Sam did. Sam however, was far less motivated to go back to the real world than Alex was, hence it's likely that Alex's focus on returning to the present would have given her a permanent blindspot, making Keats' introduction even more necessary.
I believe Entertainment Weekly got it wrong with their list of greatest characters of the last 20 years. I think Gene Hunt should have been #1 and Homer Simpson #2.
The character of Gene Hunt had some of the best lines ever and I'm going to miss him more than Alex.
The character of Gene Hunt had some of the best lines ever and I'm going to miss him more than Alex.
Ah, missed this thread. I'm sure everyone moved on, but oh well.
My assumption is that since Sam knew the truth the moment he returned to 1973 - because he's apparently the first cop to go to cop purgatory and come back - he was fully aware of his role and decided to hang around. Now, it's possible that he assumed that he was already in cop heaven so he had no reason to leave. Maybe Gene felt guilty and decided to tell Sam the truth (and soon after Gene drinks himself into forgetting) or Keats showed up and pushed Sam and Annie away (why leave Chris et al?) or Sam figured it out and decided only to take Annie with him (and he decided to be an asshole and let Chris and Ray suffer in order to keep Gene happy).
I don't know, my hang up with the ending is that it just doesn't fit with what happened to Sam. I would have been perfectly happy if this was just a separate continuity - there IS a cop purgatory, but everyone has their own different "Gene" in their own bubble universe. The only reason why Alex dreams up Gene, Chris and Ray is because they're the ones she remembers from Sam's report not because they're the same characters that Sam met. It would also explain away Annie because maybe she forgot about her when purgatory was being built for her.
Maybe if they took one of the episodes to do Sam's story to try to fit it into the continuity directly, I would have accepted it better.
They could always do a TV Movie to wrap up Sam's story now that Alex's story is over. That would be nice to see.
As bad as that might sound, I'd probably watch it anyway.
And conveniently, you could call it Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes 2.5.
And conveniently, you could call it Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes 2.5.
Their was a story today in my paper that said the BBC was thinking of bring Hunt into the modern day police force.
Hope they don't the ending was fine as it was, don't want them to make the same mistakes as the writers of only fools and horses did.
Hope they don't the ending was fine as it was, don't want them to make the same mistakes as the writers of only fools and horses did.
i saw that in the Mirror. good luck convincing PG to return, BBC. you Nonces.
Good god. 
Then again, might as well milk it as much as they can. The next step is that he's partnered with a gay black man who he has to hate after all.
Then again, might as well milk it as much as they can. The next step is that he's partnered with a gay black man who he has to hate after all.
How about a black gay man?Good god.
Then again, might as well milk it as much as they can. The next step is that he's partnered with a gay black man who he has to hate after all.
Asian transexual.How about a black gay man?Good god.
Then again, might as well milk it as much as they can. The next step is that he's partnered with a gay black man who he has to hate after all.
^They've denied it since that story was put out but I wouldn't bet it was the last we hear of it.
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