Ashes to Ashes series finale review

I am over the moon about the series finale to Ashes to Ashes. I'll mark any paragraphs with spoiler warnings, so don't worry. But before I natter on, let me back up.

Life on Mars is my number 1 favorite TV show. Much like Lost, you go through the show wondering what is this place, why are they here, is there a purpose to all of this? You see, Sam Tyler gets hit with a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973 where he has to deal with his racist, sexist, potty-mouth, violent boss Gene Hunt, who everyone seems to respect and fear. But after 2 seasons, the show ends without answering the question: how can being in a coma send you back in time?

Ashes to Ashes picks up where Mars left off. Sam Tyler is out of the picture, supposedly died in a car wreck years back, but no one found his body. Gene and his team are now in London and it's 1981. Alex Drake is a cop from 2008 who gets shot and wakes up in 1981 where she joins Gene's crew. The weird thing is, she had known Sam Tyler and talked with him during his brief time out of his coma, so she knows all about the delusion that is Gene Hunt. How can she be inside Sam's imagination? Or is this place REAL?

Season three kicks off with the clock turning to 9:06 and the entrance of Jim Keats, who I think was acted and written brilliantly. Jim says he's a DCI (same as Gene) doing an investigation on Gene's department. He believes that Gene killed Sam Tyler and wants Alex to uncover the mystery. But Alex doesn't want to believe it. Gene may be crude and a bully, but he wouldn't kill his best friend...would he?

Now there are a lot of theories. Some are closer than others. The writers of the show said that they didn't want the ending to be unguessable, and in a way it wasn't, but there sure was one heck of a curveball and an amazing one at that! There was some fear that Ashes would end like the American version of Life on Mars (which was a terrible ending) but the writers assured everyone that they hated that ending, and in fact, they knew the answer to Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes from the very beginning of Mars. They've been holding this secret for 8 years and it's finally out (unlike Lost, which they make up as they go and keep changing what the ending will be).

Hint: Listen to Heroes by David Bowie.

*Spoilers* It turns out that this place is a sort of purgatory, which wasn't completely unguessable. There's a bit of a surprise in learning that Alex is no longer in a coma. At the start of season 3, she died. This is proven by the fact that every time they show a clock in season three, it's always 9:06. And not only is Alex dead, but so are all the others. This isn't her fantasy world. Chris, Ray, and Shaz are cops that have been dead a long time, so long that they've forgotten their previous lives and their deaths. The more you stay in this place, the more you forget. Jim had videos of all of their deaths, so we actually get to see how each character died. It's devastating to watch them come to copes with their deaths, especially Shaz who starts crying "I'm only 26, I need to see my mom again!"

But the surprise wasn't so much the deaths but who is Gene Hunt. It makes so much sense now. Turns out, he's just a kid. He was a young, green cop who got shot and killed first week on the job. But inside his head, he wasn't this scrawny little nobody. He was all machismo and the sheriff of his town. In this purgatory world, that's the way he's reflected (It helps explain why he's so immature). He could cross over into Heaven, but he doesn't. He stays in this between-worlds to help lost coppers get past their deaths. He helps them get over whatever flaws they have. For Ray, it's being a disappointment to his father, for Chris it's never having the balls to talk back. And then they can pass on into the next life (which remarkably is the Railway Arms--Nelson's pub from Manchester!). But here's the cool part. Gene doesn't remember that he's doing this. He too has forgotten his death and believes this is the real world. He has literally created this fantasy world where he's the sheriff and it's so magnetic, other souls get sucked into it. In Alex's case, Gene wanted her to stay with him so badly, he wasn't helping her put her old life (particularly her daughter) behind. Of course, he didn't realize he was doing it. Gene's not appointed by anyone to do this task. He's working through his own problems in this way. I suppose being a young copper, he always wanted to help people but couldn't because he died so young and now he's helping people for the rest of eternity. Someone on Twitter even pointed out that his badge number is the passage number for the Lord's Prayer.

Now let's talk about Jim Keats. I really liked this character because he's so good at being sincere and kind, but behind closed doors, his anger is nearly uncontrollable. People speculated that he was death, the way he'd hold dying coppers in his arms. It turns out, he's a devil-figure. When Alex tells Keats to "Go to Hell," and Keats says "Okay," I was like "Oh my God, he's Satan!" They purposely use some cliches to point this out. He tempts the other cops with parties and sex and money to get them to follow him to an elevator that's going down. Elevator to Hell. In the end, he's even making demon-like barking sounds at Gene. Is he the Devil, demon, or gatekeeper to Hell? They don't specify, but I wouldn't want them to. To be honest, I was hoping that Jim would be much more complex, that is to say neither good nor evil, but it was pretty epic in a way. The Devil versus Gene Hunt (who is just a man, not God or an angel). In fact, the writers say that it's based on Paradise Lost! When Gene helps his friends into Nelson's pub in the end (Heaven, in which Nelson is there--ever an expert in spirits), it tickles Jim that Gene is left all alone. But never fear, the next lost copper soul comes stumbling in demanding his office just like Sam Tyler.

So, to sum, the shows are based on Bowie songs, usually Life On Mars, sometimes Ashes to Ashes, sometimes Changes, sometimes Gene Genie, but as it turns out, it's really Heroes. "We can be heroes, just for one day." Gene has trapped himself in one day, in one second, the moment he died, and here he can be the hero he never got to be.

Key moments: The Quattro dies. Gene and Alex (Galex) finally kiss. Nelson comes back.

Unanswered questions: What happens if you die in this world? Was Viv a real person as well? Did Jim send him to Hell? (Chris dreamed he saw Viv in flames.) What about that guy who claimed to be Sam Tyler? He was surely a fraud, but then how did he know that stuff about the tin box and how this place makes you forget? If Gene has been dead a long time, then was it really Evan who met little Alex after her parents died, and Gene's psyche just made it himself? How in the world can Gene's imagination create the 70's and 80's if he died in the 50's? Were they able to change the past--such as Maia? I'm guessing not, then. A little annoyed that there wasn't a real time travel element.






All in all, fantastic. These guys kept up solid writing for 5 years. That's not easy. They never gave us any reason to doubt that the ending would be awesome. If you're going to watch it, get some tissues ready. I suggest starting with Life on Mars though. Watch it in order. A lot of Mars is on YouTube, and ALL of Ashes is.


Articles: Here's a summary of the episode with photos.
The shows' creators come clean

Video summary of the last episode:


Someone's tribute to Gene:












And speaking of reviews, here's my review for Hurricane Punch by Tim Dorsey. Not my best book review because I didn't have much more new to say from The Stingray Shuffle. But great book. You can totally borrow it, whoever you might be.