“Coffee, Tea, or Annie,” the 14th episode of Life On Mars, marks a relatively adventuresome departure from the series’ familiar patterns.  Instead of an amped-up procedural story, the showrunners serve up a comedy of manners that takes liberties with real-world police technique.  The period-thematic backdrop of “Coffee, Tea, or Annie” are two ’70s  institutions that have effectively disappeared in the crushing practicality of the decades since: organized extramarital sex, AKA swinging, and glamourous air travel.

The premise of the episode requires some suspension of disbelief–that is, beyond the suspension of disbelief of the show’s central premise of a detective dislocated in time.  The 125 detectives notice that a murder victim, stewardess Valerie Palmer, bears a striking resemblance to their own female auxiliary officer, Annie. When this kind of peanut butter gets mixed with this kind of cop show chocolate–it’s all but inevitable that Annie must go undercover as Valerie Palmer in order to smoke out the killer.

Annie-as-Valerie becomes immersed in the go-go, hypersexualized lifestyle of Pan Atlantic stewardesses, which is reconstructed in slavish detail for this episode.  Seventies stewardesses and pilots, and indeed, air travel itself, were the ne plus ultra of early 70s chic–those were the days when only an elite few could afford to fly, the industry was still relatively small, and the level of service was still luxurious.  Top designers vied to design the uniforms of airline personnel as well as other accouterments of the passenger experience–such as the china and flatware used to serve in-flight meals.

In those days, stewardesses were fully expected to be sex objects, and pilots were regarded in heroic terms.  Indeed, the recent outpouring of adulation for Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who miraculously crash-landed an airliner in the Hudson River after a catastrophic bird strike, reflects the lingering reverence for the romanticized aviator figure.  The undercover assignment of Annie into this quintessentially 70s scene allows the actress Gretchen Mol to stretch her legs (literally) in the kind of vampy role she for which she is known, and physically suited.

Put another way, anybody out there who has been waiting for Gretchen Mol to do a cheesecake scene in Life On Mars gets their wish with “Coffee, Tea, or Annie.”

A darker, more exotic flavor of cheesecake is also served up with a guest role played by Gina Gershon (cue drooling Homer Simpson: “Mmmm, Gina Gershon . . .”), who plays an oversexed stewardess who hosts car key swinger parties but who is murderously jealous.

(That was a spoiler)

Sam also gets in on the undercover airline act, and assumes the role of Captain Tom Cruise, an alias he obviously makes up on the fly. In past episodes, Sam has trotted out anachronistic pop culture references to great comedic effect, and in this episode he relentlessly works the Tom Cruise references.  At the episode’s climactic swinger party, Sam even spouts Cruise’s filmography in a vain attempt to hit on a swingy, 70s woman spouting New Age jargon. Not surprisingly, she rejects Sam.

In his 70s airline pilot get-up–complete with cheesy Burt Reynolds ‘stache–Sam looks the part of swaggering, swinging 70s guy.  The new setting and costuming for Sam and Annie set the stage for the lighter, comedy-of-manners tone that sets “Coffee, Tea, or Annie” apart from previous Life On Mars installments.  Additionally, certain procedural obstacles to much of the action in this episode–like court orders,  rival cops or Feds–which might have figured in other episodes, are glossed over, much to the benefit of the narrative flow.

In a mild nod to Life On Mars mythology, Sam recalls playing astronaut as a child, and how a Norman Rockwell-esque illustration from Saturday Evening Post magazine depicting an airline stewardess tending to a little boy inspired him.  He later finds a copy of the magazine in the trash–and the stewardess in the illustration is clearly Annie/Valerie. What does this suggest? That Annie has some pre-ordained role in Sam’s life?

Annie’s star turn in this episode extends beyond her show-offy sex kitten persona.  She arguably breaks the case–as she has done in past episodes–and finally scratches up the courage to tell Gene that she wants to be promoted to a full-fledged detective.  Gene does not reject Annie’s request out of hand.

It will be interesting to see in the remaining few episodes how Annie’s increasing assertions of equality will be addressed.  It will also be interesting to see if the creative adventurousness of this episode–the comedic and period dimensions, in particular–will be evident as Life On Mars winds down.

I laughed mightily at this episode, which has character development and period authenticity in abundance, but doesn’t advance the Life On Mars mythology.  “Coffee, Tea, or Annie” gets a respectable 4.6 Harvey Keitel Fists of Fury.