I think one thread should be enough to cover the series... But beware - from the first episode there seems to be an arc that will be played out over the course of the series. Good thing the series will be all of eight episodes long, but there may be spoilers in this thread as a result.
We're back into the thick of things! The first season didn't really address why Sam was stuck in 1973, but did more or less conclude that he WAS in a coma in 2006. So, either he is dreaming all of this up (which he has trouble believing, due to the detail of everything), or he has somehow been projected back in time. And even if he's been projected, he still looks like himself and his name is his own.
This is all cast into doubt with this episode, and made even more nebulous. Here, he is desperately trying to catch a criminal who by 2006 he's since caught - and who has apparently now found him and is killing him slowly. By putting the man away in '73, he apparently saves teh day and himself, suggesting that he IS somehow in the past.
Stranger yet, a man from Hyde calls him up and tells him flat out that he's in '73 for a reason, and that he has to see it through to get back. This stranger will apparently recur through the season, and be instrumental inSam's return to the present day.
I'm a little concerned about the reason Sam's in the past - this doesn't seem the kind of show that will suddenly offer a time travel / conspiracy / Deus-ex kind of solution at the end of the run. There IS a reason he's back in time... I just wonder if anyone would be satisfied with what it is.
And for those of us watching the limited actor pool in England, the bad guy in this episode was on "Doctor Who" last season as the friendly bloke who gets concrete blowjobs. Meanwhile, his mistress / wife / turncoat is played by the hot tree in "End of the World" in the first season.
Mark
Posted by speedingslug (Member # 1966) on :
I think the series is spot on for the way of life in Manchester in the 70's. It is a break through that Sam makes contact with the 'future' lets see how it pans out ?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"...suggesting that he IS somehow in the past."
Of course, if it is all in his head, then even the things he hears going on in his 2006 hospital room are suspect.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
quote:Stranger yet, a man from Hyde calls him up and tells him flat out that he's in '73 for a reason, and that he has to see it through to get back. This stranger will apparently recur through the season, and be instrumental inSam's return to the present day.
It's Future Guy!
I'm sure every possible Quantum Leap reference has been made by someone somewhere...
Posted by Johnny (Member # 878) on :
It is a bit Quantum Leapish, even having the main character being called Sam and getting a guy from his time telling him that they don't know why he's there yet.
I liked the first episode of this new series, although I felt it went a bit too far into the questions of whether he's in a coma or not. It was as if they got loads of negative comments in the first series about not revealing enough, so they went OTT in this ep and dealt with it more than was necessary.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
They probably felt the need to re-establish the concept as well as a couple new ideas. Most importantly, I think they felt the need to cast doubt on the whole "he's just in a coma" thing, which is extended in the second episode.
Speaking of the Man From Hyde (MFH, as they're starting to call him), it seems like hi's IN the past...
Mark
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
The Man From Hyde (what next? A Person From Porlock?) could be a red herring. The 1973 Sam Tyler could actually an Internal Affairs-style mole, undercover to bring down Hunt and his team for their dubious methods and associations.
Posted by Johnny (Member # 878) on :
Well tonight is the last ever episode. I'm surprised they decided to bring such a successful series to a close so quickly, but I suppose it's better than dragging it on.
Tonight we find out if Sam's mad, back in time, or in a coma. And a tantalising clue is that they're commissioning a spin-off called "Ashes to Ashes".
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Yay! Ambiguous yet totally clear endings ROCK!!
Very, VERY well done. We knew it was going to be a tragedy in one of the past or the present, and he made the choice that the series had dictated to him. Was it the right one? Was it the tumor speaking? What about his mum? Ah well. It ended as it should have.
Mark
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I suppose the choice was always going to be obvious, given that his 2006 existence was all cool-trendy-but-flat washed-out colour, while his 1973 one was bright and vibrant. And that in the end he'd choose those few objective minutes (but subjective how long?) of love and excitement, before Test Card Girl metaphorically turned off his TV.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
I liked the ending, but there were a few points that I think should have been picked up on.
When 1970s Morgan was telling him that he was undercover and his mind had created his memories of the future, why didn't he question how detailed his memories were and how he could know that various people would later turn out to be criminals(as happened in a few episodes).
When he came out of his coma, why was his mother so silent? And why didn't he track down Mia, who'd decided to stop visiting him only a couple of episodes ago? There were still possibilities for him to feel "alive" in our time.
Oh well, at least this means we'll see more stories set in 1973. The ending of Life on Mars explains why the new series is called Ashes to Ashes. I wonder if he'll be contacted by dead people and such, or if he'll be totally immersed in his 1973 visions.
EDIT: Okay, reading that blog article, Ashes to Ashes sounds fantastic.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
The point reinforced through this last episode is that Sam was being forced to question whether the reality he'd been seeing was being tempered by madness - that his knowledge of IRA bombings and his future boss and Robocop's Prime Directives were all manufactured in his mind. He had been freaked out previously that it was all too real to be an hallucination - but that this could likewise be the result of insanity.
