Life on Mars S2 finale thoughts

[hazelk]

I’d been enjoying this second series. It’s felt more polished, the “issue” episodes less potentially preachy and better integrated with Sam’s emotional arcs. On the other hand some of edginess of the first series had been lost. Basically Gene Hunt had stopped being scary (and if you want to remember just how scary he was at first, I recommend re-watching Too much light in this bar by absolut3destiny). However, since part of the point this time around was that Sam was becoming more comfortable with the 1973 world, I didn’t really have a problem with it.

Sam wasn’t the only one getting complacent because the finale caught me completely by surprise so many times at the end I felt like I’d been in a car crash and gone back in time myself. From the physical shock of the testcard girl at the door, to Morgan’s alternative coma explanation, right up to that final leap of faith/despair at the end. According to interviews with the writers 2007 was real and Sam’s jump was suicidal but that doesn’t quite work for me, I think because we hadn’t seen enough of him in 2007 to justify his preferring death to staying in it. I’d rather think that his waking from the coma was illusory, a dream within in a dream. It makes the leaping from tall buildings as a mechanism for travelling between worlds more symmetrical with the scene in the first episode and the whole thing gentler and better in keeping with the overall tone. Not trying to say that modern life is hell, just that nothing we do as adults has quite the intensity of childhood.

Comments

[ninerva.livejournal.com]

Sam wasn’t the only one getting complacent because the finale caught me completely by surprise so many times at the end I felt like I’d been in a car crash and gone back in time myself. From the physical shock of the testcard girl at the door, to Morgan’s alternative coma explanation, right up to that final leap of faith/despair at the end.

I couldn't agree more. It's a long time since I watched a show which made me lean forward and back to often on my sofa. I nearly fell off altogether when he jumped.

I like your alternative scenario. I like to think he went back out of love, loyalty and a more defined sense of right and wrong, all the things he learned from 1973. I tend to think he missed DCI Hunt more than Annie though. ;-)

LOVE the vid btw. :-)

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Definitely, I mean Annie was cool (and reminded me of my sister-in-law) but Gene Hunt was just such a force of nature. One other thing I liked a lot was how it was such a beautiful day when he jumped, it did make it seem less as if he were running away from his real life and more choosing what he found in the fantasy world. The whole thing worked really well emotionally even though my literal self is still puzzling it out.