(no subject)

[caz963]

An end of another era. RIP Bolly, Chris, Ray and Shaz.

I haven’t got much to say – other than that I was laughing and crying simultaneously through a fair bit of the Ashes to Ashes finale.

The parts where Ray, Chris and Shaz watched videos of their deaths were completely gut-wrenching and brilliantly played.

And it turns out that Gene is a kind of coppers’ ‘ferryman’, taking care of the dead and helping them to come to terms with it, helping them to cross over, and then returning to do it all over again for another poor, lost soul.

It really was a bitter-sweet ending. Alex finally discovers that she’s dead, too – but that she can’t stay with Gene. She’s found her resolution and has to move on - and he has to go on doing what he does.

I have to say that they pulled out the clichés, but I didn’t care. The music choices (Beat It as the Quattro leads the advancing cars in arrow formation; Club Tropicana as Keats’ music choice – surely a sign that this is some form of purgatory if ever there was one!) were great and I think the best line of the night has to be

I’m arresting you for killing my car, you dyke-digging tosser!

Oh, Gene – I’m missing you already.

Although Ray’s Star Trek moment - “You are … and always will be… the Guv.” Came a close second.

A2A was one of the two home-grown shows I made an appointment with from week to week, and I'm very sad to see it go. But it went out on a high. I remember being a bit sceptical about it at first, having loved LoM - and was concerned as to whether a sequel could possibly be as quirky and original. Well, it managed it and then some. The story-arcs were clever and spawned shed-loads of amazing theories and speculations which were wonderful to read and join in with. Alex was a bit annoying in the early part of the first series, but she grew on me quickly, and even though Ray and Chris had been in LoM, I think they grew so much as characters in A2A. I was quite surprised to find myself liking Ray more and more, especially this series – because he’d been a bit of a bigoted prat before – Chris grew up and Shaz… she was amazing.

Gene was… Gene. King of the one-liners, an old-school, straight-talking, mysoginistic, arrogant bastard, and oh, how we loved him – and he became probably one of the unlikeliest sex-symbols ever.

So thanks to all involved - especially Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham - for crafting a clever, funny and interesting show, featuring characters I really cared for. I’ll miss it – but am also thankful that we had Gene, Ray and Chris on our screens for five years.

Cheers, lads. Have one on me!