Holz wrote:
The scene at the start of 2.1 when Alex tells Gene that she's going home, and Gene turns round and says she's not going unless he says so, for some reason gives me a really strange feeling. The first time I saw it, it just felt very odd to me, but I concluded it was just because it was the first time I'd seen any new Ashes scenes in over a year, and it was just that. But even watching it now, I still get the same feeling.
I can't really explain it, it just feels a bit... false? I don't mean acted because unfortunately I'm fully aware that it's not real (more's the pity), but there's something about the whole scene that just doesn't sit right with me. Gene's grin throughout it I think is big part of it, and it's not just what he says, it's HOW he says it. The lighting seems really odd as well, as does the entire conversation really. I mean Gene's saying one thing, but his face is showing entirely another. It's clearly not poor acting because that grin isn't accidental, and unless they accidently editted a not-too-important rehearsal into the final episode by mistake, everything there is as it was meant to be. It's just... I don't know. I know it's been said before but the whole "you're not going anywhere until I say so" line seems to be kinda of crucial. I mean other than that one line, and a bit showing Gene being lonely, what really is the point of that scene?
It reminds me of a moment in 2.7, at Viv's birthday party, just after Ray makes the joke about Gene bleeding on the guy until he begged for mercy, and Phil did that odd grin, almost like he slipped out of character. And what had been happening just before that point? Once again Alex had mentioned leaving.
Anyway I was just wondering if anyone else has found it odd, or am I just going mad?
Has someone switched your GALEX radar off!??
I presume when you say the beginning of 2.1 you're talking about the scene where Bols enters Luigi's with Gene's boots and heads to the table, where they then talk. I think this is an utterly gorgeous scene. It's a brand new series, one of the opening Ashes scenes, people had been waiting months and months and I see it that they just put in a sweet little opener for the viewers, and also to show the evolved and ever blossoming relationship between Gene and Alex. I think on the commentary Matt/Ash said it was meant to be one of those "misty eyed" moments between the two, and Gene especially certainly has that in abundance! Their banter is pretty light-hearted and very smiley all the way through...no flirtation necessarily, no fieriness, just "fluffy" really (but in a very good way) to match the misty eyedness. If I didn't love it so much, or if the scene was somewhere else in the ep I s'pose I might say, "'Ang on, have Alex n Gene stepped it up a gear!?" but as it's an opener and a reintroduction to these two characters and their relationship, I think it's beyond perfect! The dialogue you mention isn't so fluffy, granted, though said in a fluffy way. Yes, it probably is important as it's a line that has been said - however it's worded - throughout both series and once again the writer's have put it in there to remind us of it's importance. I think the way Gene says it, compared to WHAT is actually said isn't ill-fitting. He was saying it in an amused but meaningful way, perfect for the scene. Also, this is an introduction to the evolved "series 2" Alex who out of all the characters has evolved most of all. She is enthusiastic, all smiles and seems only too happy to go over and talk to the Genie, and it gives her instant warmth. Shes doesn't have the fiery prickly layer she had sometimes in S1 (which I LOVED personally, though I know some didn't). She's a softer, more motherly, more relaxed Alex in S2 and this scene sets the tone for that.
(Have I even got the scene right that you were on about?? I can't think where else you'd mean, unless my memory's completely kaput. Apologies if this has nothing whatsoever to do with what you were on about!
)
Anyway, soz for the ramble, I know it makes no sense.
As for the Viv party scene, I don't think Phil slipped out of character at all. I think that scene was equally perfect. It was pure GALEX! It happened just after that "moment" between Gene and Alex, i.e. those brooding stares of Gene's and the "so, skimpy enough?" from Alex, and the look they then gave eachother after he replied "It's a start"...he was smiling - if not so much with his mouth, but with his eyes - from that sentence onwards, and then came the team, Ray and Chris, and they had that humorous dialogue with all four of them, then both Gene and Alex shared a grin! I don't see what's not to get!? Perhaps it was a more "barriers down" than normal Gene, and that's because he was a in a relaxed situation, had had the Galex moment and was having nice, normal, humorous conversation with his team after the day's events.
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