selenak | Ashes to Ashes 3.08

Well, it wasn't quite my ideal ending - since Alex instead of Gene transitioned as the last member of the team, and Keats was unambigously the devil, what with the demonic noises and all - but it came close, and it did contain most of what I hoped for, and did so movingly. (As a sidenote, it also reconciled me with the LoM ending, which I hoped it would, being ideologically the exact opposite; coping with reality instead of running away from it in some nostalgic fantasy.)

The confession to Alex about young Gene's death was probably Philip Glennister's finest hour on both shows, and given that earlier we had Gene at his most obnoxious ("you belong to me, not Keats, not Drake, me!"), it did a great job of making me feel not only pity but affection for the Gene Genie. Devil or no, Keats was right that it explains so much about Gene (which is why the Gene = dead young copper conclusion was drawn by many an lj viewer a good while ago): "Gene Hunt" as a persona is an adolescent male fantasy, always a one liner at hand, the fastest cars, the toughest guy in town, always with good buddies who hero-worship him, bringing justice to the mean streets. But not really sure how to interact with women (no wonder we never saw the "missus" in LoM), bad at change, and really horrible at letting people go. His saving graces were that he didn't do so maliciously, and that in the end, after telling the truth, after Alex reminded him of being a copper again and after his team supported him knowingly, he could let go of his friends. The last scene with its replay of the first Gene and Sam encounter with a new arrival in copper limbo could read as same new, same old, but, your mileage may vary etc, Gene doesn't say his line posturingly this time; just matter of factly and with a new maturity. He might not be ready to transition himself, but I think this time he won't slide back into denial country, either, or keep the new arrivals beyond the point when they're ready to go.

Shaz, Ray and Chris solving one last case in a way that showcased how good they were at their job and, forgiving Gene, coming through for him one more time before accepting their deaths and leaving was expected but no less moving for that. I will say that the temptation to transfer to Keats would have been a tad more effective if Keats hadn't had the demonic glee in the office earlier, and if the elevators hadn't been going down to an ominous red-lighted place. I mean, please. No matter how shocked by the reality of their situation, did anyone really think they'd not come through for Gene if that is the alternative? Still. They were lovely, all of them, and I'm really glad they transitioned together, in whatever waits for good coppers in the pub.

Alex being dead was what I expected; it took away my season 1 and LoM caused fear that they'd have her choose the seductive fantasy world like Sam did at the end of LoM despite her having a daughter, which would have really ticked me off. While like I said my preferred ending would have been for her to become the new guv and helping Gene transition as the last team member instead of Gene helping her transition as the last team member, I didn't feel her character was betrayed, either. She sought the truth and found it, she made Gene face it, she helped him deal with it which made him helping her deal with her own truth an equal exchange, and she brought the team back together, which was a very Alex thing to do; she always had affection for all of them, and they for her, and she appealed to their inner-policeness as well as to the fact Gene needed them, which is why it worked.

In conclusion: great show. Not perfect, and sometimes, like Alex in, say, s2, a bit too uncritically enamored with the myth of Gene Hunt, but its virtues outweighed its flaws by a mile, and in the end, like team Fenchurch, it so came through. I'll miss you, everyone. But oh, you went out in style.