“My name is Sam Tyler. I had an accident and I woke up in 1973. Am I mad? In a coma? Or back in time? Whatever’s happened it’slike I’ve landed on a different planet. And maybe if I can work out the reason I can get home.”

This week’s ep pulls the dysfunctional relationship of Sam and Gene to the forefront as the murder of a shady boxing manager begins, with the prime suspect being none other than DCI Gene Hun himselft. It brings all kinds of questions to Sam’s mind: Is Hunt lying? Is he on the take? Did he really commit murder?

Now if this was your average, everything will be back to normal by next week police procedural the answer to the questions above would be a resounding no. But Life On Mars isn’t your typical police procedural is it?

So Sam investigates the crime under the watchful eye of replacement DCI Morgan, who like Sam, claims to be from Hyde, and there is something very uncomfortable about this character, almost everything he says can have a double meaning, one bearing on 1973 and the case, or to Sam and his plight. It’s kinda unnerving.

So much so that Sam dials the Hyde phone number he scratched down earlier in the series, and has a conversation with… Sorry I don’t really do spoilers
The worst part about the entire ep is that watching I knew that there was only one left after this.

There was so much good in this episode, the creepy “Hyde” connection with DCI Morgan, Gene’s cunning disguises to get into CID and into the training gym, Annie’s assignment to Road Safety, Sam’s nightmares of a ceaselessly ringing phone and the cries and screams on the other end when he picks up, Gene’s literally slimy lawyer, his reconstruction of the night of the murder “Visions of the future” and “Niagara Falls”, the tender moments between Sam and Annie (which always seem to get spoiled), the moments between Sam and Gene as you realize they may never be real friends, but there is genuine respect and loyalty there and the final moments of the episode with DCI Morgan and Sam (what the hell is that about?).

I really don’t want to see the show end, and it’s sequel Ashes to Ashes is still too far away!

Sigh. There’s always DVD right?

Life On Mars airs Saturday afternoons on Showcase.

This post was Authored by TD, Our Resident Authority on all things BBC

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 at 8:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.