Ashes To Ashes: My theory's seeing stars
Somewhat to my surprise, after a further two episodes, my Big Picture theory is still undamaged. In fact I'll even go so far as to say it's been given some extra ammo. Quite a few folks have started to come up with similar thoughts now, I see, so I'm not totally cracked...
Take the stars. Alex walks down an alley in 3x02 and ends up staring at a night sky of stars. And then in 3x03 we discover Shaz has now had a similar experience. Now maybe it's a vision, a clue, of some sort. Perhaps it is. But to me, Alex's experience felt much more like the Genieverse had simply run out of scenery. Not a big fan, but it reminded me of Star Trek when the holodeck malfunctions and you see holes in the program. Naturally this gets me all excitable, because it ties in with my theory that whatever's holding the Genieverse together is weakening. It's less and less able to hold together the appearance of being a real world.
Next we have these Spooky Moments of Life on Mars playing for Shaz and Ray just at the moment they get what they want from Gene. Now many people are reckoning this ties in with both of them firmly going over to "Gene's side" despite Keats' best efforts and a Good Thing. But, kiddies, Life on Mars bleeding through into Ashes? 1970s Manchester Nelson being heard in Luigi's 1980s London trattoria? That's upsetting the whole reality of the Genieverse by being seriously Spooky Dookie. Whatever else it may be, it's another reduction in the integrity of the world.
My tentative idea on Keats trying to "turn" the faithful, is not that he necessarily wants to get them on "his side", but rather that he's forcing Gene to concede things that will ultimately weaken him. Forcing him to uncharacteristically go out of his way to give Shaz and Ray what they want, and acknowledging that they have an important role in the Genieverse. And perhaps letting them further in, makes the Genieverse even more dependant on them, and further out of Gene's own control. A win/win situation for Keats, because he weakens Gene either way, but always more effective to cripple something from the inside...
It'll be interesting to see if Ray also now sees the stars - although whether he'd be the sort of bloke to open himself to being labeled a total nutter by admitting as much, is open to doubt. But maybe he would to Alex, now they're such pals. And will Chris get his Spooky Moment? Chris has been a weak link in the team before, so I'm wondering if he'll fail to stand by Gene. We shall see. And if it did turn out that Gene letting Obstinate Lives get close to him is a Bad Thing, will Alex - most Obstinate of Lives - turn out to be the means that will finally break the Genieverse? Was Sam nearly the one that did?
Finally, another, not necessarily Big Picture theory, thought that struck me some days ago about Alex getting back to the present concerns the lack of Molly this series. All sorts of prosaic reasons for that of course, but a couple of things together made me wonder. Firstly, when Alex see's herself in the hospital bed in 3x01, there's no bandage on her head. How much time has passed in the present whilst she was deeper in the coma in the 1980s? Then the snippet of information on the radio in the same episode. Simon Bates says "Molly... Eight years ago - eight years ago..." The poor quality of the signal means the "Eight years ago" gets repeated. What happened eight years ago from 1983 that's relevant to LoM/Ashes? Nothing that springs to my mind. But what if Alex's shooting happened eight years ago now? What if Molly is 20 and done all her growing up without Alex? Where does that leave Alex if she gets back to the present? (In real world medical terms, this is unlikely verging on impossible, but telly comas are adjustable animals)
So there's my brain dump for the time being. We'll see what happens next week.
Take the stars. Alex walks down an alley in 3x02 and ends up staring at a night sky of stars. And then in 3x03 we discover Shaz has now had a similar experience. Now maybe it's a vision, a clue, of some sort. Perhaps it is. But to me, Alex's experience felt much more like the Genieverse had simply run out of scenery. Not a big fan, but it reminded me of Star Trek when the holodeck malfunctions and you see holes in the program. Naturally this gets me all excitable, because it ties in with my theory that whatever's holding the Genieverse together is weakening. It's less and less able to hold together the appearance of being a real world.
Next we have these Spooky Moments of Life on Mars playing for Shaz and Ray just at the moment they get what they want from Gene. Now many people are reckoning this ties in with both of them firmly going over to "Gene's side" despite Keats' best efforts and a Good Thing. But, kiddies, Life on Mars bleeding through into Ashes? 1970s Manchester Nelson being heard in Luigi's 1980s London trattoria? That's upsetting the whole reality of the Genieverse by being seriously Spooky Dookie. Whatever else it may be, it's another reduction in the integrity of the world.
My tentative idea on Keats trying to "turn" the faithful, is not that he necessarily wants to get them on "his side", but rather that he's forcing Gene to concede things that will ultimately weaken him. Forcing him to uncharacteristically go out of his way to give Shaz and Ray what they want, and acknowledging that they have an important role in the Genieverse. And perhaps letting them further in, makes the Genieverse even more dependant on them, and further out of Gene's own control. A win/win situation for Keats, because he weakens Gene either way, but always more effective to cripple something from the inside...
It'll be interesting to see if Ray also now sees the stars - although whether he'd be the sort of bloke to open himself to being labeled a total nutter by admitting as much, is open to doubt. But maybe he would to Alex, now they're such pals. And will Chris get his Spooky Moment? Chris has been a weak link in the team before, so I'm wondering if he'll fail to stand by Gene. We shall see. And if it did turn out that Gene letting Obstinate Lives get close to him is a Bad Thing, will Alex - most Obstinate of Lives - turn out to be the means that will finally break the Genieverse? Was Sam nearly the one that did?
Finally, another, not necessarily Big Picture theory, thought that struck me some days ago about Alex getting back to the present concerns the lack of Molly this series. All sorts of prosaic reasons for that of course, but a couple of things together made me wonder. Firstly, when Alex see's herself in the hospital bed in 3x01, there's no bandage on her head. How much time has passed in the present whilst she was deeper in the coma in the 1980s? Then the snippet of information on the radio in the same episode. Simon Bates says "Molly... Eight years ago - eight years ago..." The poor quality of the signal means the "Eight years ago" gets repeated. What happened eight years ago from 1983 that's relevant to LoM/Ashes? Nothing that springs to my mind. But what if Alex's shooting happened eight years ago now? What if Molly is 20 and done all her growing up without Alex? Where does that leave Alex if she gets back to the present? (In real world medical terms, this is unlikely verging on impossible, but telly comas are adjustable animals)
So there's my brain dump for the time being. We'll see what happens next week.