Review: GHTTB: Ashes To Ashes 1.3

 Yes, it's been a while since the last Gene Hunt Time Travel Bonanza review. Humour me.

Trixie claims she was raped.

Ashes To Ashes - Series One, Episode Three

Something that really overwhelms me about Ashes To Ashes in comparison to Life On Mars is that it has a more overwhelming theme of Feminism. It's not that I don't support feminism, it's just that Life On Mars got to cover so many more topics - Rascism, inequality, drug ethics, work ethics, pornography, police corruption, hero worship, football violence, terrorism and many others. Ashes To Ashes is Feminism, Animal Ethics, Homosexuality and Police Corruption. If Episode Three had spent more time on a case instead of having the central characters explore ethics, then it would have been a much more focused and enjoyable hour.
     A prostitute claims to have been raped and slashed on the breast, re-opening the case of Delphine Parks who was murdered in the same way a year earlier. While Alex tries to track down the religiously-motivated killer, her team have trouble believing the word of a prostitute. After Alex visits Evan and her mother again, the team head to a boat where they track down the killer - a member of Delphine's Choir convinced that impure women must be cleansed.
     For some reason, the fact that Drake is female just turns into a gimmick. There's a scene where she tells the team that the only reason that she cares is because she used to be a prostitute herself, before revealing the truth and chastising them for their preconceptions. All it ever boils down to is a hell of a lot of Belligerant Sexual Tension. Why is it that just because the protagonist is a woman that she has to have sexual tension with Gene? Can't we just have a strong woman capable of not falling for this prejudiced, middle-aged man?

Alex and Gene get in costume for the party.

     The religious angle of the killer would have been an interesting theme in its own right, if it had been properly explored. Instead, it took five seconds to figure out and was thrown aside for Alex to be all bolshy and have a drunken night out. It's also a shame considering how digustingly religious the final series will be. There were a few steps towards the finale, especially in a touching scene near the end where Ray works out the truth behind the case by being nice to a fragile suspect.
     Episode Three irritated me because it continued to reinforce the parts of Alex's personality that I don't like.  The dynamic between Alex and Gene is only a more stark version of the one we saw during Life On Mars, and Alex only continues to be less astute and more irritating than her predecessor. However, it had become entertaining enough in the last ten minutes that I can't bring myself to call it a complete failure.

Thanks.