Ashes to Ashes write up plus Nicola in Law and Order UK

[dweomeroflight]

Gah this sucks guys. My mouth is so swollen and sore from having my wisdom teeth out :( So therefore I will post this and then go watch more TV all day but in the meantime I want to blog for squint13 on the first two episodes of series three of A2A and blog about Law and Order UK episode "ID" starring Nicola Walker as a guest star for fragglebo.

Ashes to Ashes spoilers Under cut link.



So, Ashes to Ashes episode one, series three. OMG. OMG. OMG. OMG. Absolutely loved it! Who else squeed when the opening was "My name is Alex Drake and frankly your guess is as good as mine..." Ashes to Ashes and Life on Mars summarised in 10 seconds. (I will not be jealous of madama_airlock who met Keeley at a convention and got her to say that line. *Cough* Not jealous at all.) I love wink, wink, nudge, nudge eh fans moments like that in shows. My other favourite is in series five of Dr Who when River tells The Doctor she'll meet him again when The Pandorica opens.

Doctor: Ha! The Pandorica! That's just a fairytale.
River: Aren't we all Doctor. Aren't we all.

Just squeee guys squeee!!!!!!!!!

Loved the used of the video shop to have The Gov and co on dvd covers and the song use of Kings of Leon, "Your Sex is on Fire." (Surely I'm not the only one who has an A2A soundtrack for each season on my ipod by the way). Loved the creepiness of how it was Alex came to "wake up" and OMG GUYS OMG LOVED, JUST LOVED INTO INFINITY the quiet conversation between Gene and Alex where Alex says "Sometimes in life you can't help which way you fall," followed by "Well then Gov, there's only one things for it..." Pause. "Let's fire up the Quattro," with Sweet Dreams playing in the background. That scene fills me with more joy than any one of you can know. Also, love Alex's costume this ep. Oh and Keats? Hated him from day one... the swarmy bastard. The other part of this episode which in hindsight fills my fannish heart with a ridiculous amount of love for the show's creator's is how the episode ends with Keats staring at Alex to "Every breath you take." Was that a really clever bit of foreshadowing or what?

Episode Two:

Ok this episode is my favourite of this season, alongside episode seven. The Uptown Girl sequence was utterly HILARIOUS, possibly one of the funniest moments on tv EVER. Loved how Keeley is in that car and her body language is totally "yeah guys, I'm cool, I'm real cool," kind of like the cat in Red Dwarf actually ;) Oh and bloody hell those dance moves. Ray grinning and dancing. Hilarious!

Loved the whole dating agency sub plot, especially whe Gene and Alex compare answers and when Alex goes into the agency and talks to the owner.
Agency Lady: So Ms Winslet...
Alex: (Batting eyelids): Call me Kate...
Gene: (Barging in) I'm looking for love... you got any?

I also freaking love into infinity (another one of the moments that fills me with a ridiculous amount of happiness) the very end when Shaz has sorted out her issues with the police force and dances around zanily to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Love, love, love that scene. "Look at Shaz... she's blooming."

The music is so important in both LOM and A2A. Probably why I love my self made soundtracks so much!



I don't watch Law and Order UK generally speaking but I watched episode 4.1 "ID" because Nicola was in it and it was well worth my time to see her guest role (though I think the show itself is pretty mediocre from what I've seen. Certainly no Foyle's War that's for sure.) I don't want to spoil this for those L&O/Nicola fans who haven't seen the episode so I'll have to be vague here.

I liked the morality question throughout this episode. The rights of the individual to privacy and the assumption of innocent until proven guilty versus the rights of people not to be murdered and have their murder go uninvestigated. I loved seeing Martha (I mean Freema) on my screen again and gee she is one beautiful lady, and I liked the older police woman and her acerbic wit. I also liked the guest actor playing the main suspect's lawyer (he was in 9.4 of Spooks as Beth's Chinese asset I believe) and the dodgy political cover up that was underway for most of the episode.

Nicola plays the main suspect's psychiatrist and though she isn't in the episode as much as she is in Spooks or Luther, it was another great performance from her. (By the way you should try watching TV with my Mum. "NICOLA WHAT ARE YOU DOING. NO. AHHH NICOLA WHY? WHY NICOLA? JUST TELL THE POLICE AND STOP BEING A NAUGHTY GIRL. NOOOO NICOLA NOOOOOO). Nicola also gets a pretty decent costume for once which is a pleasant change lol. Her end scenes are the best ones and there's one bit that made my hair stand on end. It's not quite as indescribable a performance as 1.4 of Luther, but it comes pretty close in some places. My heart was a little bit scarred yet again by the compelling honesty of Nicola's performance. Will this woman ever cease to amaze me?

Comments

[squint13.livejournal.com]

I seriously need to get A2A on DVD soon. Just... others first. Primeval, then Skins, and then, finally, A2A <3 :D

Before I get into commenting properly, I have to say that it's been a while since I watched it so I don't remember everything. ^^

Anyway, ugh, Keats, he so got on my nerves from the beginning. >.< In a good way, I mean, it's the kind of character one loves to hate. There's very few of those that I feel that way about. Damon, Katherine, Helen Cutter - none of those I love to hate, or hate at all, they just fascinate and amuse me. Sometimes they annoy me. But Keats? As far as hating a fictional character goes, I do. I mean, it's not real hate, like I hate some real life stuff and people, but you know what I mean. I hope. I might babble, I blame being ill and having eaten sugar-y goodness. ^^

Have you ever thought about him maybe making appearances before, but with different looks? I don't know, it's probably wrong, but that psychatrist friend of Annie's in LOM and the person with the glasses abducting Alex in s2 seemed a bit Keats to me, at least in hindsight. It's probably not him, just co.incidences, but one never knows. (There might be more, but I can't recall anything else right now - re-watch needed.)

Ah, yes, the "Let's fire up the Quattro"-scene, loved it! With the music, and the filimg, it was just gorgeous, and yes, I think I migth have squeed a bit. I was definitely grinning like a madwoman, though. ;D

The Uptown Girl sequence is hilarious, and it just doesn't get boring. If anything, it gets funnier everytime I see it. I'll never get over the fact that Gene is basically skipping a blittle. It's, just... yeah. <3

And when he barges into that dating ladies office (Philip Glenister's real life wife, yeah? I believe I read it somewhere. So cute. ^^) - how you can see his shadow outside, how he pauses only briefly just before the door to try and look inside, before he opens the door and stomps in with his "I'm looking for love - you got any?".

Like I've said before, it's gonna be real intersting to watch the show again, and this time pay more attention to the music. I'm watching Skins s5 now, with a new gen, and since I really like all of them and the new series in general, I've started to pay attention to the use of music, and like with A2A I think it can add and say more about scenes in which it is used. Or about a character. I look forward to be able to look more closely at it when I get the DVD in March or April. :D My newfound interest in music in shows and how it works is kind of because you pointed out the use of it in A2A to me, so well, thanks I guess. *laughs* :D


I have only seen one ep of Law & Order UK, and then it ended T__T But hopefully some channel here will decide to air it again, because I really want to watch it. Yes, because of Freema Agyeman, I'm not even gonna lie. But from the ep I did see, it seemed rather okay, actually.


I hope you feel better soon, recovering quickly from losing your wisdom teeth :) I think your plan of watching lots of tv is a quite good cure ;D

(Re-commented, because I used the wrong icon. Yes, that was my reason. XD)

[dweomeroflight.livejournal.com]

Hmm with Annie's boyfriend it's def. a possibility. Also, the Frank Morgan guy who is kind of Sam's Doctor when he wakes up from eps 2.7 and 8 of LOM could be too. I don't think the guy from series two of Ashes is though because he was a guy from the real world who was also in a coma. His and Alex' coma's kind of intersected.

[squint13.livejournal.com]

You mean the guy who was like the mystery man to her throughout s2? With the roses and all? I meant the guy who kidnapped her and had her drugged and then Gene saved her - was that the same guy then? *is confused*

[dweomeroflight.livejournal.com]

Yep the rose guy was the same guy :)

[squint13.livejournal.com]

Oh! Hmm, well, I must've forgotten. Or I never realized. So much for that theory then, as it was him I based it on. *laughs* ;D