Ashes to Ashes, Series Two, Episode Two
Apr. 27th, 2009 11:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorsetgirlNot quite as good as last week, but it definitely got better throughout the hour. Just some scrappy notes jotted down as we went through. I don’t do clever analysis, unfortunately.
I thought it took a LONG time to get going this week; I was looking at the clock a lot, and I didn’t do that once last week. But when it did get going, the tension just kept racking up.
At the beginning, Alex banging on the door of the interview room was very like Sam banging on the door in the hospital. But, unlike Sam, I don’t think Alex called for Gene (I need to check that again).
Why is Gene suddenly smoking cigars all the time this week? I can’t stand the smell (or taste!) of cigars, and I couldn’t stop myself cringing at the imagined smell every time Gene took a puff, which was rather off-putting.
The Sauna: How hot (sorry) was Gene in the sauna! Nice tan! How well put together is he, especially compared to SuperMac *shudders* (And is it odd to likePhil’s Gene’s arms rather a lot?)
The tarot reading: Is Gene a Scorpio then? And does that matter? I got SO EXCITED when she said about handing his power over to a Tyler. I was just jumping about for ages about that. What a pity that was a deliberate wind-up - I feel really let down now. Although some people at TRA are convinced that there’s more to it. I definitely want there to be!
I thought Gene looked very good again tonight, to put it mildly. I can hardly wait till tomorrow when I get a chance to play it again and keep pausing on the close-ups. But I frankly thought the Galex moments were shoe-horned in and over-played. I much preferred the way their relationship was portrayed last week - more natural. There were a few little bits of dialogue which I didn’t quite get first time through, so I’ll be listening out for those tomorrow.
All in all there were about four points this week where we were invited to notice that new guy in the background for no apparent reason - the one with (I think) a lilac shirt on? Is he important? Is he Martin Summers? (Have I missed where we find out who Martin Summers is? I haven’t a clue about him or whether we’re supposed to know who he is.)
And the metaphors moment was fantastic - I immediately thought of Sam at that point, and I really thought for a moment that Gene was going to say that he knew all about metaphors because Sam had taught him! I thought that bit was just gorgeous!
I liked Alex's little frustrated moment on the computer - “Somebody invent drag and drop!” That’s a brilliant little observation of the kind of thing that someone used to today’s computers would really miss back then. It used to be so irritating having to re-type things from WordPerfect into SuperCalc and vice versa. Of course, both of those things were post-1982. Gene probably hasn’t even got VisiCalc (and what would he want it for anyway?). He’s probably just got one of those very early internal email kind of systems.
I have to say I wasn’t too impressed at Alex getting drunk again - not because I have anything against her getting drunk, but because it’s a very tired device which they did to death in series one. “Oh, let’s see, how can we get Alex to say things that she would normally keep to herself? - I know, we’ll have her get drunk and ramble on a bit. ” Yawn. Actually, there isn’t a lot that she keeps to herself anyway, so it’s really not needed.
And one of the best split-seconds of the whole show: did anyone else notice the look of most incredible joy on Gene’s face as the baby was delivered? It was beautiful, just beautiful, and looks very interesting as a lead-up to episode 4! I really must get my fic finished before the episode airs and ruins it!
I thought it took a LONG time to get going this week; I was looking at the clock a lot, and I didn’t do that once last week. But when it did get going, the tension just kept racking up.
At the beginning, Alex banging on the door of the interview room was very like Sam banging on the door in the hospital. But, unlike Sam, I don’t think Alex called for Gene (I need to check that again).
Why is Gene suddenly smoking cigars all the time this week? I can’t stand the smell (or taste!) of cigars, and I couldn’t stop myself cringing at the imagined smell every time Gene took a puff, which was rather off-putting.
The Sauna: How hot (sorry) was Gene in the sauna! Nice tan! How well put together is he, especially compared to SuperMac *shudders* (And is it odd to like
The tarot reading: Is Gene a Scorpio then? And does that matter? I got SO EXCITED when she said about handing his power over to a Tyler. I was just jumping about for ages about that. What a pity that was a deliberate wind-up - I feel really let down now. Although some people at TRA are convinced that there’s more to it. I definitely want there to be!
I thought Gene looked very good again tonight, to put it mildly. I can hardly wait till tomorrow when I get a chance to play it again and keep pausing on the close-ups. But I frankly thought the Galex moments were shoe-horned in and over-played. I much preferred the way their relationship was portrayed last week - more natural. There were a few little bits of dialogue which I didn’t quite get first time through, so I’ll be listening out for those tomorrow.
All in all there were about four points this week where we were invited to notice that new guy in the background for no apparent reason - the one with (I think) a lilac shirt on? Is he important? Is he Martin Summers? (Have I missed where we find out who Martin Summers is? I haven’t a clue about him or whether we’re supposed to know who he is.)
And the metaphors moment was fantastic - I immediately thought of Sam at that point, and I really thought for a moment that Gene was going to say that he knew all about metaphors because Sam had taught him! I thought that bit was just gorgeous!
I liked Alex's little frustrated moment on the computer - “Somebody invent drag and drop!” That’s a brilliant little observation of the kind of thing that someone used to today’s computers would really miss back then. It used to be so irritating having to re-type things from WordPerfect into SuperCalc and vice versa. Of course, both of those things were post-1982. Gene probably hasn’t even got VisiCalc (and what would he want it for anyway?). He’s probably just got one of those very early internal email kind of systems.
I have to say I wasn’t too impressed at Alex getting drunk again - not because I have anything against her getting drunk, but because it’s a very tired device which they did to death in series one. “Oh, let’s see, how can we get Alex to say things that she would normally keep to herself? - I know, we’ll have her get drunk and ramble on a bit. ” Yawn. Actually, there isn’t a lot that she keeps to herself anyway, so it’s really not needed.
And one of the best split-seconds of the whole show: did anyone else notice the look of most incredible joy on Gene’s face as the baby was delivered? It was beautiful, just beautiful, and looks very interesting as a lead-up to episode 4! I really must get my fic finished before the episode airs and ruins it!
