Review: GHTTB: Ashes To Ashes 2.6

Riley is a mobster-esque loan shark.

Ashes To Ashes - Series Two, Episode Six

I suppose there really isn't any "light relief" in a crime drama focussed around murder and mayhem, but this was definitely one of them, taking a solid independant story that didn't touch the arc and giving us a break from thick mythos before the finalé arrives. Its issues mainly surrounded a lack of focus and tension, but it delivered some interesting character dynamics which more than made up for it.
     CID happen upon a body floating on a canal and identify it as Colin Mitchell, a man reported missing by his wife Donna (Daisy Haggerd) several days before. Alex is being operated upon in the Overworld, and she's feeling the strain as the doctors remove the bullet from her brain. Leader of the neighbourhood watch and Colin's father Stanley Mitchell tells them that a distinct mark on the body indicates local loan shark Riley, who beat him up previously. Colin was working for Riley, but left the organisation and was killed soon after.
     With little evidence, the team raid Riley's organisation and find a sex-tape of Riley and Donna; Donna explains that she was fulfilling Riley's debt demands in return for Colin's safety. Angry at Gene's intrusion, Riley sends men round to attack both he and Alex. While Alex escapes unscathed, Gene is beat up and the following day his ego is clearly badly damaged. Following a path of retribution he traps Riley in a car and begins to crush the car with a crane - just in time for Alex and Ray to use psych profiling to work out the real killer. Together they confront Stanley, who reveals that he killed his son in a fit of rage after discovering him working for Riley and then used the murder to frame him.

Gene excercises retribution... imaginatively.

     Like last week, there was a lot of good character work. Ray explored his more mental side, while Chris and Shaz's relationship fell on a rocky patch. Their relationship has never really felt that realistic to me, and just felt like a way of giving the show's least interesting characters some unique trait. Daisy Haggerd is best known for her comic acting, and at times it did feel a little forced when she spontaneously burst into tears. The best performance of the piece was definitely Phillip Glenister, who managed to channel his usual aggression into a bitter, seething anger that made his revenge all the sweeter.
      It wasn't exactly first-rate, but it was an interesting week that felt relatively chilled before next week's mythos-filled pre-finalé episode.  It wasn't so much a whodunnit as it was a "hedunnitbutshedunnitbuthedunnit," and that ultimately left me a little empty, but Alex's predicament left open a long trail of hope to lead us into the stormy end of what we thought was going to be the penultimate episode.

Thanks.