Alas, Life On Mars, we hardly knew ye.
When the U.S. version of Life On Mars kicked off last autumn, it was already off to a troubled start. The original pilot, helmed by the zeitgeist-attuned David Kelly, was by all accounts a disaster, because Kelley was attuned to a zeitgeist shared only by himself and other [...]
“Everyone Knows It’s Windy” picks up where Life On Mars 1.15, “All The Young Dudes,” leaves off. Detectives Carling and Skelton are being rushed into the emergency room after having been shot by the vile gangster Jimmy McManus, while Boss Detective Hunt and protagonist Sam mount a manhunt for McManus. Scarcely a commercial or two [...]
For the second week in a row, Life On Mars gets adventurous with departures from previous narrative formulas and two-fisted character development. And after a relative dry spell in Life On mars mythology, the mystery of Sam Tyler’s dislocation in time and unanswered questions from his childhood take center stage in “All The Young Dudes.”
The [...]
“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 [...]
When I saw the preview for “Revenge Of Broken Jaw,” episode 13 of Life on Mars, I thought that we might be subjected to another dopey treatment of late 60s/early 70s political radicalism, much like the lamentable “Things To Do In New York When You Think You’re Dead” episode that awkwardly soldered together white cop/black cop buddy [...]
Episode 12 of Life On Mars defies expectations again when a case that protagonist Sam Tyler worked in 2008 surfaces in 1973. While the episode gives the audience more character development, Life On Mars mythology is left more or less out.
When the U.S. version of Life On Mars hit the airwaves last fall, I pessimistically anticipated the [...]
Episode 11 of Life On Mars gives us more mythology and more character development, lightly dampened by family and romantic melodrama. More excellent glam rock lends authentic 1973 atmosphere.
My own memory of 1973 is remarkably clear about a few things: UFOs and other space stuff, and a style of pop music I would later learn is called glam rock. I was a huge fan of all those things, in that way a second or third grader is allowed to be a huge fan.
That [...]
Just when ABC’s Life on Mars appeared to have settled into a predictable groove–police procedural with a little existential twist–”The Dark Side of the Mook” blasts off the launch pad with engaging plot and character turns. This, the ninth episode of Life on Mars, makes a decisive break from previous episodes, going full throttle into [...]
Life on Mars returns after the holiday hiatus with a journey into the broken-hearted past of boss detective Gene Hunt (Harvey Keitel) and 9 1/2 Weeks-style quickie sex in a 125 Precinct closet, by way of an impromptu reunion of fattened Sopranos veterans.
The episode opens with Hunt, Tyler, Carling, and the 125 homicide posse at [...]
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