Ashes to Ashes finale

[miss_s_b]

I have to admit, I didn't guess who 6620 was. That was a really good finale; tied up a lot of loose ends, did so without deus ex machina, and felt like it reached a conclusion for each of the characters without actually closing all of them off forever.

And yet... and yet...

It felt rushed, especially the climactic scenes; I read somewhere that the original cut had been 20 minutes longer, and this doesn't surprise me. I didn't cry, although I expected to.

I think I need to watch it again.

Jim Keats being Satan really did not surprise me; he creeped me out from his first appearance. Alex, Chris, Ray and Shaz being dead did not surprise me. Gene being their guide to heaven did not surprise me. But the way in which all those things were done? Well, as a Doctor Who fan I really hope Russell T Davies was watching. All of it made sense. It wasn't just a string of cool ideas, it was a coherent and well told story.

I love, love, LOVE the ideas that Copper Heaven is a pub. I love that some questions were left partially unanswered - what happens to people (like Viv) who die on their journey through Gene's world? Are all the people there on a journey, or are some of them avatars? Are the big bads from previous seasons (Supermac etc.) previous incarnations of Jim Keats?

All in all this episode, and the series in general, gets a big hurrah from me. It deserves huge amounts of plaudits and awards, and I hope it gets them. And it beat the crap out of Life on Mars. But I really, really want to see that longer cut of the final episode.

Comments

[eruvadhril.livejournal.com]

I think the two coppers who died this season- Viv, and that woman who was undercover whose name I can't remember- got claimed by Keats, because they made the wrong choices and lost their chance at Heaven. There were those creepy scenes with them dying and him holding their faces and eugh. I do wonder about other people's deaths, though, like Shaz nearly dying back in series 1. Would she have briefly regained consciousness after being stabbed? Would she turn into a ghost, not having got into either Heaven or Hell?

I'm not sure which cheer was louder at my house: Chris and Ray driving in like the cavalry and t-boning the car, Nelson stepping out of the Railway Arms, or the Guv finally punching Keats in his stupid face.

[miss_s_b]

It was definitely the t-boning in this house.