Life On Mars: Coffee, Tea Or Annie
By fred | March 12, 2009
(S01E14) I’ve said it before, many times, but this show doesn’t interest me if it’s only a cop-drama set in 1973, and sadly for the most part this is exactly what this episode was. Now, that doesn’t mean it was just that, of course they added Sam seeing the Earth like he wasn’t on it here, and him passing as Tom Cruise, very much into risky business, there, and that’s funny, but not enough.
In case the name of the episode didn’t make that clear, this one focused on Annie. And yes, she’s pretty amazing, and she’s pretty, pretty sexy even when she feels like stepping out of her uniform, but that’s not enough to make a good show, or episode. It’s fun to see her and Sam fall or one another and they can be cute together, but that has to be part of a bigger thing, something about Sam and his condition, why him, why here, what/where is here, all of that.
But this episode wasn’t about that, at all, instead it was nothing but a new case, and it happened in 1973. Except that that isn’t enough to justify such a crappy plot, I mean it’s not simply that the idea of the identical twin coming out of nowhere is just a cliché from bad soap operas, but also that it made no sense at all. I’m sorry, but whether or not they were close is irrelevant : Valerie’s roommates should had seen this wasn’t her.
Maybe they look exactly the same, but they don’t sound the same either, and even so, Annie had no idea how Valeria was, what she used to do, how she behave, what she knew and didn’t, what she liked or not, there are lots of things like that, mannerisms, habits, and simply past events that she couldn’t possibly know, and that would give it away to anybody who was used to see her every day, whether or not they were close.
Just like it made no sense that they all engaged in a sexual experiment without having any clue at all if it was really connected with the murder of Valerie. Turned out to be, but they had no guaranteed at all that would eventually be the case…
Same could be said about how they could do this, put people on a flight and get away with it. Didn’t they need authorizations for pulling such a thing, and turn a plane around, even in 1973?? Of course the idea here, is that it made no sense because it’s not real. Sam isn’t really in 1973, but in a coma. Yeah, I’m still thinking this is it, and it makes sense, that was the whole idea of the episode : explain where Annie comes from.
Sam, as a kid, did have this magazine he always took with him, featuring this lovely stewardess on the cover whom he looked up to, who was watching over him. This was an important figure of his childhood, and so when his mind created a world, when he needed to imagine the perfect girl, the one who would be there for him, believe him, support him, help him, and whom he could easily fall for, of course his brain went right back to that idealized woman on the cover of the magazine, the one who was there, for him, in 1973, when he was a kid.
It’s not that the stewardess on the cover looked a lot like Annie, but the other way around : Annie looks like her, because that’s where she comes from. At least that’s how I interpreted this whole thing, which – still going with Sam in a coma – does make sense. But the problem is that I could like that point being made, and like Sam & Annie getting closer and cute together, if that was only a small part of an otherwise filled episode.
But to require to go through one hour of a standard case, which, again, barely makes sense, only to come to that conclusion, that’s just too much. That’s way too long, one hour of non-sense just to make that simple tiny argument in the end. It’s not like there isn’t potential here to do something, but it seems they always refuse to fully go at it for some reason, probably willing not to reveal too much too soon, and banking on typical case of the week plot that could last for years and years.
As a result, the show isn’t as good as it should or could be, and it’s already canceled. I guess we’ll have either an extremely packed final episode, or one that barely answers anything. I feel it might be disappointing either way, though I do hope for answers & explanations, or that’d be very frustrating as well. I’ll be there, because I went all this way I can go though a few more episodes, but I wish there was more to look forward to…
What did everybody else think?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Life On Mars
