Review: GHTTB: Ashes To Ashes 2.8

Gene reads Alex's story for Jackanory.

Ashes To Ashes - Series Two, Episode Eight
Written Saturday 10th March 2012

Like Lost, the deep-set rot of its final series stretches into the preceeding one. Luckily for Ashes To Ashes, that amounts to thirty-seconds' worth of runtime, and 2.8 is the best of the five finales in the Bonanza. The way that it treats its characters and themes makes it stand as a perfect send off to by far the most engaging and powerful eight episodes that this cast ever produced. If Series One was about showing how Life On Mars could work in the Eighties, then Series Two showed us that the team had the balls to back that up.
      Over the TV, the surgeons on Alex's end announce that having removed the bullet, an infection has set in. She has to fight the infection while they administer 50ml of strong anti-biotics. In this world, Gene has discovered from several sources that a massive blag is about to happen. A criminal that Gene has interrogated turns up tortured and killed, and when they find the killer he inadvertantly reveals that the blag is Operation Rose, a bullion robbery wherein corrupt police officers will take the gold for themselves. Things are going swimmingly, until Summers leaves one of Alex's tapes on Gene's desk, in which she laments being in the Coma world. Alex comes clean to Gene about her true nature, but Gene refuses to believe her and this creates mistrust between them.
      After being contacted again by Summers over the phone, Alex helps Chris to redeem himself after last week by playing the double agent and giving them info on Operation Rose. Alex now remembers the robbery from 2008 and points to Douglas Road, but after the machinations of a female suspect called Jennette, Gene refuses to believe her. Alex, fighting to destroy the infection in her mind, tracks the team as the heist happens, and when it inevitably does turn towards Douglas Road it's her advice that leads to Gene and the Gang being there in time. As Summers is about to shoot Alex, Gene shoots him and the full 50mls are finally administered. Jennette, in on the operation, hold Alex hostage and in Gene's attempt to save her he instead manages to shoot her in the stomach. She wakes up, seemingly in the present, with Molly at her side. As the episode ends, we see that she isn't out of the woods yet; Gene appears on all of the TV screens telling her that she's in a coma, and needs to wake up.

Welcome to the mindfuck.

     At the time, we all thought that this was going to be the last episode of Ashes to Ashes, and of the Bonanza. The mindfuck ending changed this dramatically and despite how much I hate it, it is an accomplishment in British TV that Ashes To Ashes was able to pull it off. Regardless, it ruins what is otherwise an excellent ending, an ending that the character deserved after a series as dark as this one. On the other hand, the series still had one loose end - the much deserved reconcilliation of Gene and Alex after their disagreement. Because of this, the third series had to pretend to offer answers only by creating mysteries, much like a supermarket that has to bring up its prices to offer a 5% off sale.
      And really, as well head into the shitstorm that is Series Three on Friday, I just have to say that it's been great. It really has. Glenister, Hawes, Lancaster, Andrews and Lombard have acted their arses off and the writing has been absolutely superb beyond belief. Series Two of Ashes To Ashes will always be my favourite series of the Bonanza, and I'm eternally grateful for it. Of course, this just makes the tragedy of what happened next even worse. See you on Fridays, where I begin Series Three.

Thanks.