From The Mind of Merc - Ashes to Ashes

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today’s topic is the Ashes to Ashes series finale.

Is it me or does the ‘plot twist’ at the end of Ashes to Ashes render the entire two shows as incredibly depressing?

In Life on Mars, Sam Tyler is ‘sent back in time’ when he’s involved in a car accident and we’re led to believe that his brain has perhaps constructed this world while his body recovers from the coma he’s in in the future – in a place where he’s able to affect events in the future by altering them in the past (absolutely fab – no problem with that)

However, not only (having succeeded in returning to the present world) does he then kill himself by jumping off a building – implying that he believes he was better off dead (how depressing is that?) – but at the end of Ashes to Ashes it’s revealed that he never time travelled at all and that both he and Alex were effectively dead from the moment of their accidents and their ‘journey’ to Gene’s world was merely to pass the time until they accepted this – which negates all their efforts, all their hopes and all their achievements. (Not to mention that it’s surely a Herculean task when a) you don’t know about it and b) you keep getting flashbacks implying you stand a chance of getting out of here.) All of which suggests that a) there was no point in them fighting it, b) their actions in Gene’s world have absolutely no effect whatsoever on any time period and c) Gene was ‘helping’ them by giving them false hope of survival – what kind of sadistic person does that?

This incredibly negative message for me ruined the entire optimism and possibility that the series had presented and also was completely unnecessary as they could just as easily have had the Ashes to Ashes sequel while maintaining the travelled in time to recover and change history plot and without everyone being killed off.

I’m not denying that (the majority of) the stories and acting were first rate but I just hate that they seemingly had to spoil it in their desperation to stretch it out a bit. Presumably the premise was only extended when the first series was a success and the network wanted to make more money out of it. (I’m convinced that if you watch the last episode of series 1 of Life on Mars, there’s a point at which it seems to change ever so subtly as if it was reshot and the ‘Pub’ sequence at the end feels incredibly tacked on – as if they recalled the cast to film it so they could continue the series.)

It should have been one fab series – Sam Tyler solving crimes in the past while in a coma and makes his way back to the future (excuse the pun) in the last episode – boom! – done. Ashes to Ashes could then have continued on from that following the same successful (which after all is the whole point anything changed at all) plot line.

Also in the twisted convoluted way they’ve found to ‘resolve’ the series – leaving a few gaping plot holes in the process – they’ve slammed the door on any possible sequels which again could have continued along the same (successful) path.

The writers also must have found themselves in a quandary as a result of having to extend the Sam-Annie relationship which meant that Sam’s happy-ever-after could only presumably be in the afterlife. So once Sam achieved his main goal of waking up from his coma (which he’d spent two series trying to do) he felt he had little choice but to kill himself. Thus negating all his efforts, all his hard work, everything just so the writers could continue the series.

And Alex –all the messages she received from Molly and all the updates as to her condition in the modern world were just prolonging her inevitable demise – what kind of sick joke is that and what kind of message does it give out when the overall conclusion appears to be if you’re in a coma or facing impossible odds give up because you’re already or as good as dead?

Would it have been that terrible to have a happy (un-Shakespearean-tragedy style) ending? We have enough doom and gloom in our lives without the writers crushing what little exists in the show for the sake of continuing the series.  (And don’t get me started on the whole ‘the devil in the form of Daniel Mays trying to win souls from Gene in the manner of Dr Parnassus’ bit) Personally, I think it would have been just as effective (and a lot nicer)  if the hope that the characters had carried throughout and the efforts that they went to had proven to be well-founded and worthwhile and not pointless, baseless and utterly utterly futile.