Life On Mars: Take A Look At The Lawmen
By fred | January 29, 2009
(S01E08) After a little break Life On Mars was finally back on TV, and that in its new slot right after Lost. And if you were one of those who happen to have watched the show last year, I believe you were in for some major disappointment. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes one hates TV, or the (main) network at least.
Because if you remember last episode, we left Sam obsessing over numbers of different files he had been working on, we left him entering some old house in the middle of nowhere, answering a phone probably not even plugged in, where a strange voice told him he was doing a good job, and now needed to go to the basement.
And I am sure the writers came up with a follow-up on that one, and if we didn’t get all the answers at least we got some of them, some clues, something, as ambiguous as it may be. But the thing is, we don’t know yet. Nope, because that episode this week, the one ABC decided to air as eighth episode of the season, that’s actually not it. From what I could find, the “real” episode 8 is actually The Dark Side Of The Mook and might be airing next week…
So we might get some answers, we might get to see Sam walking down to the basement and see what’s in there, but it will somehow happen next week! Thank you, morons at ABC who thought this was a good idea. Thank you for disrespecting all the viewers of the show, probably just with the retarded idea that this would make it less confusing for new viewers to the show.
Because if there’s one thing not confusing at all when you watch a show, it certainly must be to see tiny little flying robots coming out of people’s eyes, for sure.
I’m really pissed right now, and disappointed. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise, but one has to wonder when those idiots are going to learn from their mistakes and stop pulling that same sort of crap again. This is just non-sense, pure executive BS crap that won’t help new viewers, but is guaranteed to piss off the old ones, who loved and watched the show every week, but might reconsider still doing so now.
And sadly, this episode was not even good to make up for it. As I said before, the way I watch this show is that I believe Sam is still in 2008, in a coma lying on some hospital bed. This, 1973, that’s in his brain, a way for his mind to survive, somehow. And if the previous episodes actually worked that way and could be interpreted differently than just the boring cop procedural, this one didn’t. (Or, I missed it.)
Last episode was clearly about Sam remembering his father, first the memories are happy, his father being a great hero, and as his mind keeps working at it and remembering more and more, new details are revealed and not everything fits anymore. Eventually, Sam realizes his father wasn’t such a good person after all.
But in this episode, there was nothing. It was just a boring cop procedural set in the seventies, except with a little reference to DNA or cellphones here, and some flying micro-robots coming out of people’s eyes there. It just didn’t do it for me, at all.
But I’m still positive this isn’t really 1973, I mean what was that “attempt at reverse psychology” ?? Seriously, it felt like a bad joke. Okay, I admit, I laughed, but there’s no way this wasn’t coming straight from Sam’s mind! It’s like a fight between cops and the Russian mob, please.
This was just a typical procedural cop-drama, in the seventies, which means that I wouldn’t even be surprised to find out it has been written after ABC planned the schedule move to Wednesdays post-Lost, and intended to be as normal a show as possible to grab new viewers. Because that’s exactly the kind of thing the viewers of Lost are after, boring procedural shows like anything else on TV. Yeah, right.
Hated this episode, and if it wasn’t for Lost I’d say ABC is about the worst net there is right now – so I wouldn’t hold my breathe if I were you, those remaining episodes of Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone or Dirty Sexy Money might never air, you’ll be lucky to get them online…
What did everybody else think of this episode ? Anyone able to confirm when the “real” episode 8 will air ?
Posted in Reviews
Shows: Life On Mars
I have no idea what they were thinking with this episode. Forgetting about everything you wrote about letting us hang with the unresolved stuff (which is just dumb on their part), but this episode was absolutely terrible. I am almost ready to never watch again after this episode (and i actually liked this show). My wife and I fast forwarded thru half of it.
Where to begin:
- the suicide scene. Are you kidding me, reverse psychology? really? and how fat did johnny sack get?
- every scene with the russian mob, culminating with the fight where keitels stunt double does more acting than him. (that scene was just absurd).
- And why did Sam sleep with the daughter? Doesnt he have a gf back home that he supposedly cares about. (my wife was way more concerned with this one than me, but still)
After this episode I have full confidence that I could write a major television show. Words cant express my disgust.
Good review though. Im glad we agree
As far as Sam sleeping with Maria, that was so un Sam Tyler that we’ve seen so far. The Sam that in the second episode was looking at the ceiling on his first meeting with Windy because there wasn’t a naked girl there.
While I’m not shocked that Sam sleeps with someone in 1973 he just doesn’t seem the type to take someone he doesn’t know into the file room. I can only assume that since this is actually episode 11 instead of 8 that somehting happens that makes him believe he’s never getting back to 2008 to his girlfriend. I just assumed it would probably be Annie but that it would be a difficult decision for him.
While this episode did have some funny lines, it definitely fell flat from what I’ve come to expect from this show. This was definitely not the episode that would draw in new viewers if anything it might have turned so off.
Thank you ABC for ruining a great show that you fought so hard to get on the air in the first place.