Life on Mars - end of series one

[watervole]

That was one of the best episodes of anything that I've seen in a long time. Spoilers follow. Crossposted to lifein1973

I spent the whole episode trying to decide if Vic was innocent or guilty, but although he did a very good job of acting innocent, I began to fear that Gene had the right of it. And he did, of course.

Sam was wrong to let his dad go, but I'm not sure I'd have done any differently in his place. Vic's dangerous though. And the parallel with the last time Sam nearly got shot in the head was scary - given that he was thinking of his dad at the time.

Interesting that Sam's memory as a child was of Annie.

Interesting too that Annie finally snaps and wants him to see a psychistrist.

I just loved Gene's response to Sam calling him an overweight, middle-aged, homophobe with a fixation on male bonding! (I must listen to it again and get the entire quote. I have an urge to use it as a sig file).

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

The episode has, almost inevitably, wrecked my writing urge in the immediate short term. Too many things to make me reassess the way I see the characters, too much fine detail of the background. I need to internalise them and rework some of the ideas I had.

Sometimes, the way Gene talks to Sam, it's almost as though Gene is a voice in Sam's head. It's the way he says "You're here because you want to be here." and I don't get the feeling that he's talking about Manchester.

I'm glad there's a second season, but I hope they resist the temptation to go for too many seasons. I don't want to see this show drag out and die or wear the idea too thin.

Comments

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I knew Vic was guilty when Sam phoned that number and heard himself answer the phone, but Sam was so desperate not to believe it that I kept hoping for his sake.

Ironically, the music is almost totally unfamiliar to me - my parents simply didn't listen to popular music and I wasn't into teenage culture when I was a teenager. I think I was a bit of a loner in many ways.

I want to get copies of some of the music, but I'm not really sure where to start.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I thought the big giveaway was Sam's blind insistence on Vic's innocence! Particularly after the little scene where he watched Vic playing Chris by letting himself be caught out with the card trick. "Never try to outsmart a copper's mind", forsooth.

It would be good if they released a soundtrack album, but I think they've already said that's not planned. Maybe if there's a real clamour.

[dev-iant.livejournal.com]

I grew up listening to enormous amounts of pop - had the radio on at every opportunity, but 1973 is the year I really started to listen and it's my favourite year for "pop" music - everything from Stairway to Heaven (which I did not hear at the time) to Bobby Goldsboro, although it's the glam rock I'm most fond of (Blockbuster, which was featured in LoM, David Bowie etc.) This isn't to say I wasn't a loner, just one who liked pop music.

You may get stuff on a 1973 compilation CD - such things do (did?) exist; I know: I've got a couple :-)