Ashes to Ashes, funk to funky, this show was written by fucking monkeys...

[r_scribbles]

Is it me, or did absolutely fuck all happen in that entire series?

After the first episode I was all full of interesting theories as to what could really be happening. Evidentally I had been spoiled by decent weirdy-weirdy shows like Lost, Heroes and indeed Life On Mars where, y'know, stuff that happens actually has a purpose. I was also hoping that the 'saving her parents' thing was going to be a red herring as far as the series 1 story arc was concerned, as you may recall, because it was way too much like the Sam's Dad storyline of LoM, and it would be lame. So they went with the lame, obvious re-hash, with characters even duller and less likeable than Sam's fairly boring parents. Not one of the single episode storylines had a decent twist to them, and the story-arc was no exception. From very early on in the series me and Hubs had decided that either the Dad or Evan had Dunnit, and that Evan would have been much more interesting, since OMG that now meant that she'd left Molly in the hands of a nasty murderer. Assuming Molly's alive. If that's the uber-twist that they're saving til a later series, I'm afraid most of us have already Got It. The only twist we didn't get til the last episode was that her Dad was the clown... which Hubs realised pretty much as soon as we got our first good look at him.

And nothing happens! Nothing! In LoM there'd be a decent mystery, as you would expect with most Crime Solving Shows. Sam and Gene would draw different initial conclusions and there'd usually be a twist which would prove both of them right in a way, or both of them completely wrong. In A2A, something happens, either Alex or Gene has a hunch, or both of them have the same hunch, they're thrown ever so slightly off the scent, they have a minor argument and then through contrived circumstances it turns out they were right all along. Also... where is the tension? Where's the threat? Where's the consequences? In LoM the world was against Sam. He was isolated. Annie and Chris were on his side most of the time, but they sometimes turned against him too - Gene and Ray were downright intimidating, and Ray was a particularly nasty piece of work. He's turned into a Teddy Bear! The man who tried to cover up killing a man in custody in 1973 and routinely undermined Sam, Chris and Annie at every opportunity has been turned Nice. And everybody likes Alex. Even when she fucks up, they're so quick to forgive her whereas they'd have tortured Sam for weeks. She is in no peril whatsoever from the world of 1981.

And that's another thing - the early 80s were a tough old time - not just for civil rights groups, which is all that the writers seem to want to concentrate on, in very unsympathetic and unsubtle ways - but for whole communities and industries. Alex noted a scene of Police brutality against a strike on the TV in the first episode and noted 'they hate us'... but that feeling of isolation and conflict just hasn't made its way into the show. The last few episodes had some scenes that just made me feel downright icky - not because of its theme, but because of its tone. Scenes of policemen punching and threatening innocent Black kids and Gay guys is one thing, but for it to be done in such a light-hearted, jovial manner is another. And what the fuck was that shitty 'Braveheart' speech of Gene's all about? Oh, it's OK that we persecute minority groups just because we don't like them, because otherwise you'll be too scared to walk the streets in 20 years? What? Lame. So utterly lame assed.

A lot of people have squared the blame for their dislike of A2A on Keeley Hawes, but I don't think it's the fault of any of the actors. Apart from the occasional Banshee Wail, the New Lass is perfectly personable, and the rest of the cast are smashing. I still love Chris'n'Shaz, although they never seem to get to *be* Chris'n'Shaz. It's well shot and directed - I loved the way that the car-blowing-up was done. The problem is with the script. In the words of my chum Ian, 'you can't polish a turd', and unfortunately, that's what all the good work of the actors and director here is doing - attempting to lay some Mr Sheen on a big fat poo. The plots are paper thin, full of cliche, unsympathetic characters and tedium. It's such a shame, because I was so excited about this, but it has turned a deep, dark, exciting, enigmatic show into a braying, lazy, sloppy mess.

Boo, writers! Boo, boo, boo!