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Jul. 1st, 2009 12:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Okay, did I say that I was going to wait a bit before starting on Ashes to Ashes? Yeah, well, I LIED. I watched the first episode last night and, oh man, here ensues the flail to end all flail.
GUYS GUYS GUUUYS I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW THIS IS POSSIBLE BUT SOMEHOW I STRONGLY SUSPECT THAT THIS IN FACT THE MOST PERFECT SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF EXISTENCE. AND, LIKE, IT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE TO ME.
FIRST OF ALL, NO MORE SAM/GENE. WOE. AND YET SOMEHOW THIS ENTIRE EPISODE IS STILL ABOUT SAM/GENE? UN-WOE TO THE EXTREME. AND AND AND THE FACT THAT APPARENTLY SAM REALLY DID DIE FROM THE "REAL WORLD" JUST TO GO BACK AND SAVE GENE & CO.? SLKJFD;AFJ;LADSFJLAF I LOVE THEM ALL TOO MUCH TO BE TRUE. SO EVEN IF I WASN'T GOING TO GET INTO THIS AS A NEW SHOW, IT WAS WORTH WATCHING AT LEAST THIS EPISODE FOR CLOSURE ON LIFE ON MARS. OH MY GOD POOOOOR GENE I JUST WANT TO GIVE THAT MAN A HUG. D: D: D:
So. Anyway. Other things that would seemingly compare unfavorably to LoM -- all of the stylistic stuff. LoM was all ALIEN GRUNGE SLIGHTLY SKANKY and this is like OVER-THE-TOP GLAM NONSENSE (LIKE OKAY I REALIZE THIS IS THE 80S BUT WOULD ALEX SERIOUSLY WEAR THAT STUFF TO WORK? GEEZ) and just flat up SILLY as opposed to kind of creepy-cool. And, most importantly, whereas it felt like LoM was foremost an extremely clever mind-bending metaphysical examination of the nature of life, and then secondly an excuse to indulge in fun 70s cop drama exploits, Ashes to Ashes seems to be the exact opposite and is instead SO HUGELY SHOCKINGLY UNABASHEDLY GRATUITOUS. "YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A COOL CONFUSING VAGUELY SCI-FI-ISH MAYBE PHILIP-K-DICK-ISH SHOW OF WEIRDNESS? WELL, IT'S NOT, BECAUSE IT'S JUST ABOUT ZOOMING AROUND IN FAST CARS AND SPEEDBOATS BLARING 80S MUSIC AND GETTING KEELEY HAWES DRESSED UP IN BRIGHTLY COLORED BLOUSES. DEAL WITH IT." This should bother me and yet somehow... it does not. Any and all gratuitousness in the name of Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes is a-okay with me.
And. Okay. YES. THIS ENTIRE EPISODE WAS LIKE ONE FUCKING HUGE SOPPY LOVE LETTER TO GENE HUNT. REMEMBER HOW HE WAS DESIGNED TO BE THE BOORISH ANTAGONISTIC ONE WHO WE LOVED IN A LARGELY IRONIC FASHION? YEAH, NOT SO MUCH ANY MORE. The giant ridiculous crescendo(s) every time we got a pan to his office were just... good Lord... I had this biggest, stupidest grin pasted to my face the whole time.
Ack, I have actual Places to Be in just a few minutes, so I'll try to wrap this up. Basically I loved that it paid huge tribute to Gene/Sam, I love that it's so freaking ridiculous, I love that it's excessively glam and goofy, I love that Gene/Alex is like A GIANT HOT SEX EXPLOSION on my screen (if Life on Mars was paying tribute to the Starsky & Hutch era of TV shows, this one is so Moonlighting), I love that it's like "who gives a shit about storylines when you have GENE MOTHERFUCKING HUNT to follow around lovingly with the camera?" and I love that it is still creepy and horrifying (the "DEAD" on the whiteboard and the clown and ahhhhh). Oh, and I love Shaz. I plan to watch a zillion more episodes ASAP so, um, expect more epic fangirling soon.
ETA: Okay, after one evening I... may possibly already be through 1.05? I CAN'T HELP MYSELF. GENE/ALEX DFSKJ;ASFJ;LASDFJADF OH FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY JUST MAKE OUT ALREADY.
Double ETA: The one thing about A2A that I hands down prefer from LoM -- the opening credits/theme! Given the brilliant use of music on LoM I always thought the title theme was a bit, well, lame to be honest, but the one here is so beyond perfect. When marathoning a show, the quality of the opening credits quickly becomes apparent: when they're bad or just plain boring, you get sick of sitting through them over and over again every time a new episode starts; but when they're good you're filled with an excited thrill of anticipation that sets the tone for the hour of television you're about to witness. (And when I say "you" I actually mean "me" because I fear I'm probably the only person to get so invested in opening credits.)
GUYS GUYS GUUUYS I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW THIS IS POSSIBLE BUT SOMEHOW I STRONGLY SUSPECT THAT THIS IN FACT THE MOST PERFECT SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF EXISTENCE. AND, LIKE, IT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE TO ME.
FIRST OF ALL, NO MORE SAM/GENE. WOE. AND YET SOMEHOW THIS ENTIRE EPISODE IS STILL ABOUT SAM/GENE? UN-WOE TO THE EXTREME. AND AND AND THE FACT THAT APPARENTLY SAM REALLY DID DIE FROM THE "REAL WORLD" JUST TO GO BACK AND SAVE GENE & CO.? SLKJFD;AFJ;LADSFJLAF I LOVE THEM ALL TOO MUCH TO BE TRUE. SO EVEN IF I WASN'T GOING TO GET INTO THIS AS A NEW SHOW, IT WAS WORTH WATCHING AT LEAST THIS EPISODE FOR CLOSURE ON LIFE ON MARS. OH MY GOD POOOOOR GENE I JUST WANT TO GIVE THAT MAN A HUG. D: D: D:
So. Anyway. Other things that would seemingly compare unfavorably to LoM -- all of the stylistic stuff. LoM was all ALIEN GRUNGE SLIGHTLY SKANKY and this is like OVER-THE-TOP GLAM NONSENSE (LIKE OKAY I REALIZE THIS IS THE 80S BUT WOULD ALEX SERIOUSLY WEAR THAT STUFF TO WORK? GEEZ) and just flat up SILLY as opposed to kind of creepy-cool. And, most importantly, whereas it felt like LoM was foremost an extremely clever mind-bending metaphysical examination of the nature of life, and then secondly an excuse to indulge in fun 70s cop drama exploits, Ashes to Ashes seems to be the exact opposite and is instead SO HUGELY SHOCKINGLY UNABASHEDLY GRATUITOUS. "YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A COOL CONFUSING VAGUELY SCI-FI-ISH MAYBE PHILIP-K-DICK-ISH SHOW OF WEIRDNESS? WELL, IT'S NOT, BECAUSE IT'S JUST ABOUT ZOOMING AROUND IN FAST CARS AND SPEEDBOATS BLARING 80S MUSIC AND GETTING KEELEY HAWES DRESSED UP IN BRIGHTLY COLORED BLOUSES. DEAL WITH IT." This should bother me and yet somehow... it does not. Any and all gratuitousness in the name of Philip Glenister and Keeley Hawes is a-okay with me.
And. Okay. YES. THIS ENTIRE EPISODE WAS LIKE ONE FUCKING HUGE SOPPY LOVE LETTER TO GENE HUNT. REMEMBER HOW HE WAS DESIGNED TO BE THE BOORISH ANTAGONISTIC ONE WHO WE LOVED IN A LARGELY IRONIC FASHION? YEAH, NOT SO MUCH ANY MORE. The giant ridiculous crescendo(s) every time we got a pan to his office were just... good Lord... I had this biggest, stupidest grin pasted to my face the whole time.
Ack, I have actual Places to Be in just a few minutes, so I'll try to wrap this up. Basically I loved that it paid huge tribute to Gene/Sam, I love that it's so freaking ridiculous, I love that it's excessively glam and goofy, I love that Gene/Alex is like A GIANT HOT SEX EXPLOSION on my screen (if Life on Mars was paying tribute to the Starsky & Hutch era of TV shows, this one is so Moonlighting), I love that it's like "who gives a shit about storylines when you have GENE MOTHERFUCKING HUNT to follow around lovingly with the camera?" and I love that it is still creepy and horrifying (the "DEAD" on the whiteboard and the clown and ahhhhh). Oh, and I love Shaz. I plan to watch a zillion more episodes ASAP so, um, expect more epic fangirling soon.
ETA: Okay, after one evening I... may possibly already be through 1.05? I CAN'T HELP MYSELF. GENE/ALEX DFSKJ;ASFJ;LASDFJADF OH FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY JUST MAKE OUT ALREADY.
Double ETA: The one thing about A2A that I hands down prefer from LoM -- the opening credits/theme! Given the brilliant use of music on LoM I always thought the title theme was a bit, well, lame to be honest, but the one here is so beyond perfect. When marathoning a show, the quality of the opening credits quickly becomes apparent: when they're bad or just plain boring, you get sick of sitting through them over and over again every time a new episode starts; but when they're good you're filled with an excited thrill of anticipation that sets the tone for the hour of television you're about to witness. (And when I say "you" I actually mean "me" because I fear I'm probably the only person to get so invested in opening credits.)