The 1981 party is over for Alex Drake. Well, not really. Since there is a season two on the way for Ashes to Ashes, not everything was cleared up during Saturday night’s season finale. At least the creators didn’t spring a Lost-esque maddening cliffhanger that we have to ponder for 16 months until the new season premieres. For that, I thank them wholeheartedly.
So, what the hell did happen? First, Alex did her very best to ensure her parental units not be blown to kingdom come by a car bomb. She flattened the car in question with a pink tank (don’t ask). Next, she arrested her folks after planting some nose candy in their flat. Then she tossed them in the pokey the night before the scheduled date of their demise. Sounds like she covered all the bases, right? Not so fast my friends.
Turns out the auto she destroyed was the wrong one. Ooops! Gene Hunt released her parents from jail. That’s not good. Finally, her parents borrowed Evan’s car, which was the exact make and model of the one she mistakenly crushed. Needless to say, despite her best efforts, mommy and daddy got blown up. It was fairly obvious from the start of the series that this was how it would all play out.
The major question left unanswered was who was responsible for planting the bomb? Daddy, that’s who. Huh? Apparently, Mr. Price was the mad clown Pierrot all along. Didn’t see that coming. He flipped his wig and decided to end it all for he and his. What a dick!
Little Alex was never told the truth. Now big Alex knows. More importantly, and this is key, she discovered her mother did, in fact, love her as a child. Her strained relationship with mum was the real reason for her mysterious teleportation back through time. She needed reconciliation to move on with her life. Man, those mommy issues can be a bitch.
As with most time-travel shows, Ashes to Ashes adhered to the long-standing theory that the past is set and cannot be changed. Don’t get me started on Back to the Future‘s egregious bucking of this trend, or Lost, which may or may not be attempting to alter the fabric of time. At any rate, Alex Drake was never going to prevent her parents from kicking it; their deaths were inevitable.
All in all, I dug season one. It was a little slow at the start, but once it revved up around episode five, it got better and better each week. The character of Alex struck me as a little inconsistent. She had her feminist tirades, but also seemed eager to be “one of the guys.” I guess you could pass that off as struggling to find her place in the male-dominated, misogynistic 1980s. I did like the evolution of Gene Hunt, though. He developed a soft spot for Alex and grew to respect her as the series progressed.
One small problem still exists for Alex. Her incredible journey is not yet over. She has to make it home to her daughter, Molly. All along, she assumed that filling in the blanks about her parents would punch her ticket back to 2008. It seems that isn’t the case. As Alex sat in Luigi’s debating her next move, “Take The Long Way Home” by Supertramp filled the soundtrack. A not-so-subtle hint that her time in 1981 is far from over. How will it all end? I guess I’ll have to wait until season two for the answer.
Clacked by Scott Tunstall 
on Apr 27, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
I did like the evolution of Gene Hunt
Like? That’s all?
Dude…Gene Hunt was awesome here. He became the hero of the age. I had frakkin’ goose bumps when he picked up that little girl and became the gene Genie.
LoM and AtA really aren’t about Sam or Alex…they’re about Gene Hunt. The last, great British Hero.
If you read my other reviews of Ashes, you’ll know how much I love Gene Hunt. He does rule.
The two combined series are really the Gene Hunt Chronicles. I’ve heard Glenister wants out after the second series of Ashes to Ashes (Started last week over on the other side of the pond). But I wonder if a third series involving a child ending up in the nineties, hanging around with occasional private detective Gene Hunt, the retired London copper, might make a capstone to the whole Chronicles idea.
Just a thought.
“long-standing theory that the past is set and cannot be changed.”
Ummm – The Time Machine, BTTF, Terminator to name a few biggies.
Anyway, I thought Ashes 1st series was a bit weak compared to LoM, however the first episode of the new series was quite promising