Ashes to Ashes: Difference between revisions

{{tropelist}}

* [[Ask a Stupid Question]]: Chris asks a South African freedom fighter {{spoiler|who is revealed to have killed several police officers ten years ago in a bomb attack back home}} if he's frightened to be returned to South African custody, even though they both know he will be tortured to death.

* [[Arc Words|Arc Numbers]]: 6-6-20. In a bit of a [[Genius Bonus]], has three different meanings. {{spoiler|First, it's Gene's badge number back before he got killed. The other two are references to bible verses (as noted in the episode before the numbers first appeared, the three numbers represent book, chapter, and verse) From the book of Joshua (using one reckoning) "When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city." (what Keats claims he's going to do to Hunt's stomping grounds). However by another reckoning (where the Old and New Testament are treated as seperate books), it refers to this passage from Romans "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness." (a reference to them all being in some sort of purgatory)}}

* [[Astral Checkerboard Decor]]: The [http://i51.tinypic.com/nl2wih.jpg C.I.D. ceiling]. Note the above picture.

** Keats's grey trenchcoat.

* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: [http://tu.tv/videos/ashes-to-ashes-kiss-me-or-punch-me Alex and Gene]

'''Gene''': ''(retaliates by grabbing Alex's breast)'' Fan-dabby-dozy! Now then, Bollinger knickers, you gonna kiss me or punch me?. }}

** Sometimes [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] turns into a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] [http://tu.tv/videos/ashes-to-ashes-you-could-never-ever like in this scene]

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: ''Gene. Hunt.'':

 

'''Joan''': Yes, thank you, Chas. We still have diners in. (1.06) }}

 

'''Alex''': Oh, I'm a modern girl, Guv, I come when I need to. (2.03) }}

 

 

 

* [[Grim Reaper]]: {{spoiler|The Clown in season one. Jim Keats appears to channel him at several moments in season three.}}

* [[Heroic Fire Rescue]]: Ray runs into a burning building when he hears a woman in there. This trope is subverted, because a fireman ends up saving both Ray and the woman from the fire.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]] / [[Take Me Instead!]]: An older member of the ANC confesses to murder even though he will be sent back to South Africa and killed {{spoiler|to protect a young woman who actually committed the crime}}.

Joshua: Because I'VE HAD MY LIFE, Chris! {{spoiler|Hers was ahead of her!}} }}

* [[I Call It Vera]]: Gene keeps a crowbar in his office that he calls "The Search Warrant". Ray ''[[Squee|squees]]'' when asked to go and fetch it.

* [[If You Die, I Call Your Stuff]]: Played for drama in one [[Darkest Hour|heartbreaking scene]] from the third series:

{{spoiler|'''Ray'''}}: Well. If you don’t make it out of here, can I have your mug? Only mine's knackered. }}

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: Gene keeps misrendering Alex's specialty as "psychiatry." The one time he gets it right -- "psychology" -- she corrects him anyway through sheer force of habit.

* [[Insult Backfire]]:

{{spoiler|'''[[Satan|Keats]]''': [smiling] ...Alright!}} }}

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Mainly Gene. Ray also counts.

* [[Psychopomp]]: {{spoiler|Gene's role seems to be to shepherd the souls of dead coppers who died with emotional issues to work out, give them time to come to terms with those issues and usher them on to the afterlife. Oh, and protect them from Keats, who may or may not be The Devil (or one of his minions).}}

* [[Police Brutality]]

'''Gene''': Expect lots of it. }}

* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Alex, in her posh hooker getups and her {{spoiler|date outfit in 3.07}}.

* [[Redemption Equals Death]] {{spoiler|- Mack in S2}}. It's subverted with {{spoiler|Viv}} in series 3; his pained expression and the statement that police officers have to "finish the job" to be redeemed (which {{spoiler|Viv}} never does) implies that {{spoiler|Viv has ended up damned}}. This is further implied when Chris mentions {{spoiler|having had a nightmare about Viv "hunched up amongst all this fire."}}.

* [[Rule of Cool]]: inverted in a rare in-universe [[Lampshade Hanging]] of crime series' dramatically oversimplified police procedure and absence of the real-life tight regulations on violence and taking actions without a warrant ([[Society Marches On|even in the 1980's]]), in {{spoiler|the final episode.}}

* {{spoiler|[[Satan]]}}: {{spoiler|Keats}}, revealed in the [[Grand Finale]].

** {{spoiler|Or possibly the Antichrist: [[Word of God]] has [[Flip-Flop of God|flip-flopped]].}}