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

[novindalf]

I apologise in advance for my acute symptoms of fangirlitis. I had no idea I was suffering so from A2A withdrawal until reading your write-up.

Who else squeed when the opening was "My name is Alex Drake and frankly your guess is as good as mine..."
MEEE!!! Oh my goodness, soooo much!

Surely I'm not the only one who has an A2A soundtrack for each season on my ipod by the way
Most definitely not. I also have playlists of songs that were in each series, but are not on the soundtracks =P

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.
YES YES YES. Sometimes the music just makes the scene complete. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TIMES.

Also, love Alex's costume this ep.
According to the show’s costume director, that NY skyline top was made from vintage curtains!! I’m in a long on-going process to emulate the image though, because I am determined to one day have a top like that.

Uptown Girl sequence was utterly HILARIOUS
My DVDs are not to hand, but I’m watching this now because I have it saved on my comp. Cannot express how much I love that scene (and how much I wish my dreams were like that!!)

I MUST REWATCH THIS SERIES!! Except for the last ep. I still maintain that the series ended on a cliffhanger when Gene and Alex were dancing and were not interrupted by some smarmy bastard Keats. Never mind about the plot holes that would have caused, bring on the Galex!!!

[dweomeroflight.livejournal.com]

Haha! Fan girl away!

I freaking love the way they used Sweet Dreams in that scene. Totally made the scene.

I take it you'll be excited about future write ups ;)

[madama-airlock.livejournal.com]

<-- Hearing Keeley say these words was so incredibly surreal, lol. I'm rather glad that I was with a group of 3 friends, or I would swear I had dreamt it! A truly brilliant moment.

I also love episodes 1 & 2 of Ashes Season 3. Nice write-up, & I very much agree with your thoughts.

L&O was another very strong performance from Nicola. Even though the story wasn't as devastatingly dark/intense as Luther, it was still hard-hitting and bleak. I can't wait for Sunday's 'Being Human'. I have a feeling it will be a real treat. :D

.....and, I want to watch TV with your Mum, hee! ;)

[novindalf]

Heck YES.

[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]

Of series three, episodes one, two, seven and eight are my favourites, though the one with Lyton was pretty good too. I will do more write ups as I watch :)

Yes. The L&O episode left me reeling just a little and for me I found it pretty disturbing. Sigh. I only hope someone on the Nicola forum can "save" this ep of Being Human. God knows when they'll air it over here on the ABC. Took them two years later to air series eight of Spooks! Luther is really something. I tried to express to Nicola in my letter how strong that performance was in so many different ways and gave up and just wrote BAFTA? BAFTA? BAFTA? BAFTA? all the way across the page instead :P

No you don't. She's an annoying un ;) "NICOLA YOU NAUGHTY GIRL." Me: "SHUT UP THE NICOLA IS SPEAKING WORDS. IT'S A RAREITY ON THE DAMN ABC." Or how about Spooks Eight, everytime Ruth is anywhere. "NICOLA GO HOME AND WASH YOUR HAIR PLEASE AND THEN YOU CAN COME BACK," OR "NOOOOOOOO RUTH. NOOOOOOO. DON'T BE MEAN TO HARRY." Or best of all "NOT GEORGE. THEY CAN'T KILL GEORGE. OMG. OMG. OMG. NICOLA WHY ARE YOU SO GOOD AT ACTING. AHHHHHH MAUREEN WHY DO YOU MAKE ME WATCH THIS SHOW?"

[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

[fragglebo.livejournal.com]

Watching TV with your mum sounds like a lot of fun. I tend to always watch these kind of shows on my own (headphones plugged into the laptop) so it's really nice to see what other people think about them afterwards. I have only ever watched this one episode of Law & Order: UK and I thought Nicola was fantastic. Not quite as intense as Luther, sure, but there's just something... her "compelling honesty", I suppose. I am just in awe.

Loved reading your comments about A2A too. Once I've finished my Spooks re-watch I'm definitely going to watch my Ashes DVDs again. Keeley is just fantastic. I almost got to go to that convention that Keeley was at and then something came up last minute. I'd have love to have met her.

Hope your mouth is feeling better now and the spelling is going down.

[fragglebo.livejournal.com]

spelling = swelling

[dweomeroflight.livejournal.com]

I do the watching stuff by myself alot when it comes to my more random interests eg when I watch every single Helena Bonham Carter film I can find, even though my Mum likes HBC, nine times out of ten she'll opt out and as for my Miranda Richardson obsession she skipped over half of that and watched Emily Watson not at all, with the exception of Wah Wah.

I'm lucky with the BBC in that my Mum and I like the same things. She likes dramas and murder stories and she actually has been watching Spooks since series six, whereas I only did since eight. It dosen't take much arm twisting to say "Hey Mum... let's watch Nicola in Luther" or whatever because she likes her in Spooks. Actually, she was so annoyed at me being able to see Nicola in SG's without her, she said to me one day that if three tickets to the show randomly landed on her doorstep, she liked Nicola enough to consider booking a flight, putting our Australian life on hold and going to see the play :P Of course, that hasn't been put to the test, but that indicates that she shares to some degree my Nicola love. It's nice though coz it means she doesn't tell me to shut up when I go on about meeting her (I can't really help it. It was just too amazing!) and admires my photo with me :P Haha last night I got her to watch 9.1 of Spooks on my laptop and when Ruth was reading Ros' funeral poem Mum said "Wow. Nicola is so good at this," and then she had a moment's silence of acting respect :P Yeah, my Mum likes Nicola alot.

Conveniently LOM/A2A is also her favourite show and she is willing to watch Keeley Hawes in anything with me, as is my Autistic brother, who I think might wildly be in love with Keeley. My brother doesn't really like Nicola though. Her protrayal of emotions is too realistic and he can't cope. All through her scenes in 8.1 Mum was apparently sitting terrified in a corner and he was counting light lines on Nicola's face during the torture scene when George dies so he didn't have to think about the emotions involved. Good times. Kind of wish I had been there.

I've received two autographs from Keeley and my brother one (both with messages on them) but I've never met her :(