I have watched series 2 of A2A numerous times but I still do not fully understand the Martin Summers story.
He ended up in 1982 because of operation rose but he never actually did anything there but antagonise Alex. Was he all part of Alex's imagination or was he like the others?
Sorry this is kind of vague but I would really just like to hear others opinions on Summers.
Thanks :)
Summers was, apparently, like Alex in that he was a copper who was at death's door but had issues from his past / present to 'resolve' before 'moving on' so found himself in limbo / purgatory / Gene's world. The difference was that Summers knew exactly where he was and what the rules were.
He did, in a hugely convoluted and unnecessary way, stop Operation Rose from being a success and ensured that the bent coppers were caught red-handed, thus resolving his issue of having turned a blind eye to the whole thing in the real world. I think we're supposed to believe that as Summers died with Gene present he also 'moved on' to a better place, not that Keats was around to take him elsewhere at that point...
That's about as far as I like to take it. When I dig any deeper, it starts to make less sense.
Ivan, it might be simpler if you just reverse all your 1970s preconceptions.
Operation Rose was his pivotal moment in his life. As a young police officer he witnessed the massive act of police corruption and it ruined his idealized view of the police and he points to this incident as the source of him going from being a good officer to a corrupt one.
I'm not sure why he wanted to make Alex corrupt though.
David Tennant will ALWAYS be my Doctor.
http://i29.tinypic.com/i259ht.jpg
He didnt. If you watch the last scene he pretty much confesses that he knew exactly what she was going to do, he basically sought redemption through forcing Alex's hand, by making her remember the hiest and by stopping Operation Rose.
I taught you everything you know, but not everything I know.
The cold-blooded way he shoots the security guards seems to nullify any redemption he achieved. While he may have had the same goals as Sam and Alex in that world, he was so much more ruthless in the way he set out to reach them.
Alex and Sam seemed to care about the people of 'Geneworld', while Summers treated them with callous disregard...even his younger self.
Definitely a slightly confusing storyline.
Having watched it a few times, I've come to the conclusion that while he was keen to deliver some vengeance on the bent coppers behind Operation Rose, he also wanted to get his jollies from the new reality he found himself in. He was happy to kill and torture during his time there, and although he was giving Alex clues to catch him and Operation Rose, he wasn't exactly making it easy for her. I get the impression he would probably have been just as happy to get away with the gold to live a life of luxury while tipping off the police to the other conspirators.
There's even the possibility that he had no intention of stopping Operation Rose at all at the beginning, and that it was only when he couldn't corrupt Alex to join him that he then considered using her to bust the conspirators.