Ashes to Ashes - Back to the 80s Season 2 - DVD

Content: When the acclaimed mystery crime series Life on Mars - Trapped in the 70s came to an end after two seasons, quite a few questions were left unanswered with the ending. These were addressed in the follow-up series Ashes to Ashes - Back to the 80s and then answered over the course of three seasons. The concept of the series is very similar to Life on Mars: When police psychologist Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is shot during a kidnapping, she falls into a coma. When she awakens, she finds herself back in 1981, meeting people she knows from accounts by police officer Sam Tyler, whose case she had studied in depth. She knows she is still in a coma in the present and is desperate to find a way to return to her time and to her daughter.

In the meantime, however, she has to survive the rigors of everyday policing in early 1980s London with gruff DCI Gene Hunt (superbly portrayed by Philip Glenister, as he was in Life on Mars) and his colleagues Ray Carling (Dean Andrews) and Chris Shelton (Marshall Lancaster). And in doing so, she is challenged more than ever in the second season. Because corruption in their own ranks and also in the highest places of the police force make the team's investigative work increasingly difficult. In addition, Alex keeps receiving mysterious messages about her supposed state of health in her presence. It all culminates in a dramatic finale that seems to bring Alex closer to her goal.

Ashes to Ashes - Back to the 80s may have started out as a sequel to Life on Mars and may be closely related to that series in terms of content. Nonetheless, with its second season, the engaging mix of thriller, mystery and drama has finally stepped out of the oversized shadow of its acclaimed predecessor. The characters already familiar from Life on Mars have evolved believably, and the dramedy doesn't stop there, either, but consistently moves toward its conclusion, which comes with the season three finale.

The authentic 80s set and matching soundtrack give the series its very special character. The great scripts, which skillfully combine the crime aspects with the atmospheric mystery elements, lift the episodes of the second season even above the level of the first season. If you still had the feeling that the series still has to find its own tone, this is done here absolutely satisfactory. Although the individual cases are of little importance for the overall story, they are entertaining and exciting. Ashes to Ashes - Back to the 80s is first-class TV entertainment. Great acting and grippingly staged, peppered with many original ideas and clever twists.

The second season ends with a really nasty cliffhanger, which makes great desire for the final episodes and foreshadows that the path of Alex back to 2008 will still face one or the other big hurdle. But until that happens, the following applies to these eight episodes of season two: if you appreciate intelligent, exciting, amusing and gripping TV entertainment, you should definitely grab this one!!!

Picture + Sound: The technical implementation of the individual episodes is on a good to very good TV level. The picture is absolutely clean, the overall sharpness can convince, only in the representation of smaller details and in darker scenes, there are slight point deductions here. The sound, which is in stereo, shows off both the dialogue and the great soundtrack to good effect, although the English soundtrack sounds a little more harmonious and not quite as front-mixed as the German soundtrack. Good.

Extras: Unfortunately, the second season has no bonus material on offer.

Conclusion:The second season of the crime-mystery series Ashes to Ashes - Back to the 80s lets the extremely entertaining series finally step out of the shadow of the predecessor series Life on Mars. Good actors, exciting stories, a great 80s set, the matching soundtrack as well as the engaging mix of suspense, humor, fantasy and mystery make the series a real must for all fans of British TV entertainment. Despite the lack of bonus material, this is definitely one to recommend!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp