Ashes To Ashes Season 2 , Episode 2; Gypsies, Tramps, and Freemasons? (BBC America)

After an unexpected delay, its time for a few words about the past week's episode of Ashes To Ashes on BBC America.

But first....do any of you know how hard it is for fans of the show in the US not to cheat, and check out what happened in the grand finale that took place last week in the UK on the BBC? Its akin to reading the last chapter of a mystery out of impatience. The temptation is there, and I know I will succumb in a moment of weakness.....hopefully BBC AMERICA will get it right and show Season Three as soon as Season Two completes.

And while they're at it....I know I'm repeating myself....how about putting A2A ON DEMAND? Or at least repeating the episode on a day other than Tuesday? For a show that's caused such a stir in Britain, its being handled and marketed very poorly in America. And that's too bad.

To be brief, this episode has everything that's great about the show, and its biggest weakness, all wrapped up nicely in one package. As a procedural drama, A2A is nothing special; in fact, you can say the plot lines involving solving the "crime of the night" seem to detract from the best reasons to watch the show, namely the sci-fi/ fantasy aspect, and of course the sexual sparks between Gene (Philip Glenister) and Alex (Keeley Hawes).

This episode was a stew of car thieves, murder, drug dealing, underage sex, gypsies, a sleazy doctor.....and an initiation into the Freemasons for Gene (it's complicated). But all along we are intrigued by the messages Alex gets on her computer, and the meaning of the future told to Alex when she has her fortune read by an old Gypsy woman with tarot cards and palmistry....and Alex has no lifeline. Also, Alex's "abductor" shows up in the segment where Alex is spying on Gene as he joins the Freemasons. We- and Alex- are still no closer to finding out what she is doing in 1982, how she will get back to the present, and where Molly is.



And what's this about Ray (Dean Andrews) being a "Tyler" (doorkeeper) at the Freemason initiation? As in "Sam"?

Chris (Marshall Lancaster) proposes to Shaz (Montserrat Lombard) in the station (she says "yes" of course), while Alex alludes to Gene the closeness she feels for him ....without really saying it. Hawes and Glenister have the same dynamic as Cybil Shepard and Bruce Willis had a generation ago on Moonlighting. I know Britain knows the answer of "will they or won't they". But without inquiring if they do or don't (I don't want to know until it airs here) I have to ask....should they?

Click here for n interview with Keeley Hawes.

A2A Deux; Season 2 of ASHES To ASHES Debuts on BBC AMERICA

At last!

One of the few things actually worth watching on TV has managed to swim across the pond and make it to BBC America. Its the long awaited Season Two of ASHES To ASHES.

And yes, I know that Series Three is already airing in the UK, but I've decided to delay gratification and just stick with the show in its American presentations and not cheat and read any information on what has gone down plot wise so far. I guess I just have to prove to myself that I do have some semblance of self discipline left in these tired old bones.

Anyway, I'll get to the bad stuff first....and first among my gripes is the delay itself. Originally A2A Season Two was to be telecast in America a few weeks after its UK run....then BBC America backed out on it, and I think they decided to go with BEING HUMAN, a good series, but aren't we getting a bit overdone with the sexy young vampire thing? I liked seeing A2A late on Saturday nights....I'd watch it at 11PM or 1AM, and blog about it the next day, Sunday, before going about my day of rest (if you can believe that). It was all fresh in my mind, I had time to sit and write without feeling like I had a time clock sitting next to me. The second problem I have with the presentation itself is that its on Tuesdays only, with a few repeats, so if you miss it or don't record it, that's it. And so far, A2A Season 2 has not been made available ON DEMAND (at least through COMCAST).

So....if the powers that be are reading this...maybe you can tweek your schedule a bit to make the series available to more fans- and does BBC America really need to be showing twenty year old episodes of STAR TREK; The Next Generation and even older James Bond movies almost every night?

OK...those are my beefs.

Now for the good stuff....most importantly- Keeley has new hair!!!

Ahhhh. The wonderful 1980's I hated them then, but miss them so incredibly much now.

Check out the video, with a heavy dose of Duran Duran, and a mildly cross dressing- and more than a little dead- police officer.



Alex, Gene, Ray and Chris (Keeley Hawes, Philip Glenister, Dean Andrews, and Marshall Lancaster) investigate the apparent death by asphyxiation in a London strip club of vice cop Sean Irvine. But what really happened was Irvine was murdered by his partner, who was on the take....Sean had been keeping a ledger of all of the illegal activities. And as a side bar issue, the squad's boss was sleeping with Irvine's widow.

At the beginning of the episode, we see nurses in 2009 in a hospital talking about the missing Alex Drake. They seem to be working on a patient, but the viewer can't tell who the patient is. Then in the next scene we see Alex in 1982 watching TV, when she sees the image of Molly talking to her principal at school. Molly is upset about her missing mother, and has difficulty co-operating in school. Later on in the episode Alex is taken prisoner by a mysterious man who straps the unconscious Alex to a table, is in the processes of starting to torture her when Gene comes to her rescue. The mystery man wants to know what time traveler Alex is doing in 1982....and all Alex really wants to do is to get back to her daughter in the present day.

As usual, the sci-fi/fantasy elements to the show were much more appealing and intriguing than the procedural crime drama its packaged in. And that's the reason we keep watching- keep piecing together the clues of what really happened in Alex Drake....heaven, hell, someplace in between, in the netherworld before death, or is all of this an alternate universe that she's slipped into?

Obviously we won't find out the answers in Season 2, and it seems that the big payoff will be in Season Three since it will be the last series of A2A.

So....I'll have to just stay tuned.

Karen Gillan -Who's In The Tardis With The Doctor?

Q- Who's Karen Gillan?
A- The Doctor's companion.
Q- Who?
A- That's right!
Q- What's right?
A- Who!
Q- I wanna know! Who's Karen Gillan?
A- THE DOCTOR'S friend!
Q- What Doctor?
A- Who!
Q- What's the Doctor's name?
A- No....WHO!!!!!

Sorry about the Abbott and Costello revisited routine...sometimes I can't help myself.

Anyway...I'm in one of those moods when I want to veer away from social commentary and politics (to save my sanity). I was deciphering my GOOGLE Webmaster Tools, checking out how many people are logging on to this blog, what they are reading, and what they are looking for. And some times I find some bizarre info about this blog....like UT&MR appearing on searches for people I have never heard of. It happened several times this past monthly cycle...and I apologize to all of the guys logging in looking for pictures in the altogether of (insert your favorite hottie) because Hugh Jee don't play that!

Last week the name "Karen Gillan" popped up in my stats....and I had no clue who she was or is. Around midnight on Saturday I put on BBC America to check the newest episode of Dr. Who- it was time for a new Doctor, #11, played by Matt Smith.

And playing his latest companion, Amy Pond, was the young (22) Scottish actress Karen Gillan.

I could be wrong....but I don't believe the Doctor has ever had a red haired companion. It's about time.

Here's Karen's interview on one of those British "chat shows".




For the record....my favorite Doctor was Tom Baker, and companion Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane.....

Yep...I really am THAT OLD!