Review: GHTTB: Ashes To Ashes 2.4

Ashes To Ashes - Series Two, Episode Four. Written 18/2/12
"Once upon a time, in this room, a man drew a line. He said that police corruption was gonna become a thing of the past. That man was a liar and that man is now dead. I am gonna re-draw that line. I am not a liar. We are police officers and we will behave like police officers. We will fight, slap, knock-down, beat-up and intimidate to hold back the wave of scum. That is our right and that is our duty. But if I find one man feathering his own nest, by so much as one bent penny... I will destroy him."

Jackie Queen returns in time for SuperMac's final battle.

This mini-arc was slightly spoilt by its third installment, but its final segment returns to Series Two's standard of quality in a big way. It exposes a change in the writers' approach across the first and second series which, which developing Ashes To Ashes' distinct identity from its successor, has some major problems. Regardless of that, 2.4 settled this plotline in an awesome way and set us up for the second half of the series.
      Pregnant journalist Jackie Queen, a Glaswegian who we saw back in Life On Mars, arrives in CID looking for her missing niece; the most recent in a long line of Northern girls disappearing in the city. Gene follows the inquiry for old-times' sake, tracing the disappearances back to parties run by rich businessman Ralph Jarvis. For Gene and Alex, the investigation becomes serious when they discover that Jarvis is SuperMac's old school-buddy, and he is under the protection of the Masons. Gene already in the process of being sent to Plymouth, Mac tries to cover his tracks by framing Alex for embezzlement and extortion. Not to be deterred, Gene and Alex let the boys in on the investigation and go to Jarvis' mansion, discovering Mac's store of riches and arresting Jarvis for good. Mac, knowing that he has nowhere to go, kills Jarvis and committs suicide - but not before promising that Operation Rose isn't over.
     Alex makes inquiries with Jackie about Sam, which starts to show her acceptance of this world as a physical place instead of her own mind. We may have had a little explanation of this in her slowly disappearing memory of reality from 2.2, but it only serves to facilitate the purgatory ending in the next series. There is no reason why Alex should have stopped treating this world like her own hallucinations, and her attitude towards the future-knowing Summers (heard only as Adrian Dunbar) is especially strange for this very reason. So what if there's someone who knows about 1997; you're from aftere 1997, and as far as you're concerned it's your mind!

Gene gives a brilliant speech (see page quote).

     Jackie Queen's return was much more.. stereotypically handled than in Mars. Her return feels a little strange, considering that she wasn't exactly a major character to begin with. Here the writers end up concocting some bs about Gene fathering her baby on a drunken night out, before revealing later that no such thing happened. It felt a little Soap-Opera-ish, but that allowed the characters to have a bit of fun with their personalities and overall I thought that it was one of the episode's best features. I would have liked to see Phyllis the Secretary back, but we all have to make concessions in life.
     SuperMac's final hour was a much more well-written police-corruption story than was explored in Life On Mars' second series. It summed up the demi-series with a satisfying bang, and its development of the characters has been unlike anything the Bonanza manages anywhere else. I've loved reviewing this series so far, and I wholeheartedly look on to the second half of the series.

Thanks.