A Televisual Feast

No spoilers, but “Ashes to Ashes” closes in a way quite similar to the first series closer of “Life on Mars.” Enough so, it suggests the co-creators to be one trick ponies.
Most of the episode is bad, bringing out the worst in the series, the constant scenes of Alex’s lunacy, the emphasis on the mother, […]

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The first series whimpers along–hard to believe the next episode is the last of the series, since almost nothing has happened–toward the finish line. There’s some teasing this episode might have big, momentous events. I’m guessing my tone is all the spoiler needed.
Some decent scenes for Gene. A couple almost decent ones for Alex–had this […]

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I suppose this episode is an improvement over the last, but only marginally. Lots of time is wasted with Alex worrying she’s dying (cold chills) and that adventure just reminds how superior “Life on Mars” handled the same material. The episode starts–with good music–on a bad dream sequence and it doesn’t get much better. The […]

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There’s something–new, which is both unfortunate and interesting–off with this episode. It’s a commentary on the period, a high-handed special episode about the mistreatment of gays in the 1980s. I’m almost surprised it doesn’t have a moment like a similar, very special episode of “Cheers” dealing with the same subject (with Alex in the sensitive […]

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The “Ashes to Ashes” upswing continues with an episode involving, once again, Alex’s mother, but also a government conspiracy. Unlike the last episode with Alex’s mother, this one features a lot fewer obnoxious scenes between Alex and her mother and a different focus. Instead of harping on the melodrama and sentimentalism, this episode features the […]

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Finally. After two lackluster episodes, “Ashes to Ashes” finally gets going with a straight case, a lack of Alex acting unbelievably like a lunatic, and some character softening for Ray. It’s also got a bunch of great scenes as the characters all finally mesh (and Alex only refers to the rest of the characters as […]

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Alex, the time traveling cop of this series, might be the most annoying character on any television show I’ve ever watched. It’s an incredible waste of production value, plotting, and the great cast. As Alex, Keeley Hawes is okay and none of the problems are her fault. This episode also kicks off the opener, with […]

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“Ashes to Ashes” is kind of like The People That Time Forgot, with new time traveler (coma traveler?) Keeley Hawes in the Patrick Wayne role. Allow me to explain the analogy. In The Land That Time Forgot, Doug McClure writes a letter telling the whole world about his adventures with dinosaurs and so on. Before […]

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