Ashes to Ashes II Episode Eight on BBC One

An explosive, gun-toting, shoot-'em-up of a finale to the second Season of Ashes to Ashes. It was all rather violent, really. So that was nice.

Finally, the mysterious Operation Rose is revealed – and seems much more low-key than expected. So much for the corruption running all the way up to the top of the Met, and the deep-rooted rot that needed purging. So much for the Masons, as well. Where were they after Episode Two? Aside from Ray's (Dean Andrews) throwaway suggestion this week, they've gone. No doubt the Operation is bad for the Met, but hardly seems worth all the fuss there's been up until now.

Speaking of operations, the Alex (Keeley Hawes) in 2008 is now fighting off an infection with the aid of 'superantibiotics', more than 50ml of which will apparently be enough to finish her off completely. Is there really such a thing as a 'superantibiotic'? I know we've superbugs now, but 'superantibiotic' sounds a bit far.

Not as far as the rescue (and redemption) of Episode Seven's traitor in Fenchurch East CID, DC Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster). The minor plot snags leading to his redemption and readmission into the fold can probably be overlooked as necessary to the story – both that of the episode and of the CID team. But the moment when he's rescued from almost certain death at the hands of a bent copper...? It's a beautiful moment, but beautifully silly in the way it's reached.

What it helps lead to is the sincerely beautiful, almost angelic final time we see the CID team, while a bleeding Alex lies on the ground (victim of a remarkably stray bullet – remarkable because the gun in question was clearly pointing far above her head). They fade away into white light, staring on as they recede back into the subconscious, or wherever it is they're from.

Or, perhaps, they're fading to where Alex is from. Who knows? Who can tell any more? With Summers (Adrian Dunbar) dead, the only link between the eighties and 2008 has gone, and suddenly, when you might be forgiven for expecting a Sam Tyler-style revival, boredom, and eventual decision to return to the 'coma'...the whole thing gets flipped around...again! Life on Mars was happy to toy with the idea that Tyler (John Simm) was actually from 1973 and had imagined the future – suddenly, it looks like something similar might be true of Alex Drake. Unless she's just deeply unwilling to let go of Gene Hunt.

Then of course, there's Gene Hunt. Philip Glenister. The lynchpin around which the series revolves, and the keystone around which the entire spin-off has been constructed. Interesting as Alex is – and brilliantly as Hawes plays her, especially this week – Glenister's Hunt is what Ashes to Ashes is about. It's his world; he's the constant. His policing, unconventional by today's standards, is old-fashioned and hardy, and effective. He is cantankerous, bigoted, alcohol-addicted, crass and insensitive, with a craggy face. Oh, and he does Jackanory.

That climax may be violent and noisy, but once again, this season finale allows the silences of Hawes and (especially) Glenister to speak volumes and shout out their characters. Season Three? Yes, please.

Ashes to Ashes II Episode Seven on BBC One

Ignore this week's drug story. Ignore Dorian Lough's building site foreman with the greasy hair. Ignore the Polish man in the pit of concrete. Don't, whatever you do, don't ignore the close of this Ashes to Ashes episode.

You can ignore the criminal goings-on outside of CID this week, because what they provide this week is an examination of Gene Hunt's (Philip Glenister) team itself. Their racism and their bigotry, perhaps most of all their humanity. What Lough's Lafferty does help to reveal is the mole within the team – the person that has been leaking information out of Fenchurch CID for some time. The atmosphere of distrust spreads outward from the Manc Lion himself, and infects each of the team. The final – distressing – revelation is the episode's second chance to leave a character standing in tearful shock as the world slowly rearranges around them, former events and possible future ones reorganizing into a whole new pattern. Disconcerting.

The first time that happens is on the return of Martin Summers (Adrian Dunbar) – Mr. 'I Can Help You, Alex'. Having brought the exact nature of Alex's (Keeley Hawes) eighties' world into question, he blows a new hole in any theory yet developed about it – not to mention into his younger self's head. Poor Gwilym Lee (the second man in the pit of concrete), his uncanny resemblance to Dunbar doesn't save his character from itself. Alex is also left reeling, but at least she's still standing.

As of now, Gene Hunt is Judge, Jury and Executioner for his team. Anyone steps out of line: he's the solution. Anyone has a problem: he's the solution. Anything at all: he's the solution. His sentence on the team's mole is eye-wateringly good – to say nothing of said mole's reaction (Hunt clearly knows the shame – and his own disappointment – is the worst punishment possible here). While in Life on Mars, Hunt excelled at pithy one-liners and put-downs, this episode demonstrates his silences are infinitely more powerful – layered and complex, as you see the emotional currents under the frozen lake of his face.