Life on Mars is gone. The final episode aired this week.
It’s past 2 in the morning and I’m wide wake. I’m wide awake partly because of how disturbed I am about the final episode. I did not like it and I will say no more about it so as not to spoil it for anyone else.
Perhaps we could say it is a credit to the writers that they have been able to produce a compelling drama series that could both draw me in and, ultimately, deeply disturb me.
While the adventures of Sam Tyler in 1973 have come to an end, immediately after the airing of the final episode, this BBC press release announces a sequel series, Ashes to Ashes starring Philip Glenister as DCI Gene Hunt, now transplanted to the 1980s in London.
I’m already questioning how they’re going to end this one.
Technorati Tags: Blog, Television, UK, Video
I think I know why you didn’t like it; I didn’t like it either. I also think I know what Matthew Graham was trying to do, I just don’t think the writing was clever enough to achieve it and it backfired. In fact I’m sure I know what he was trying to do, because he says so here. I far prefer his original description of how he envisioned the ending, and it fits much better with the first episode and the theme of the series.
I think I know why you didn’t like it; I didn’t like it either. I also think I know what Matthew Graham was trying to do, I just don’t think the writing was clever enough to achieve it and it backfired. In fact I’m sure I know what he was trying to do, because he says so here. I far prefer his original description of how he envisioned the ending, and it fits much better with the first episode and the theme of the series.
Now that my wife has seen the episode, I can express a few more thoughts on this. I suppose this should constitute a potential spoiler warning…
That ending was just “wrong.”
For 16 episodes, Sam Tyler has been fighting against all odds to get back home, and, from everything we’ve seen, Sam is a fighter and a survivor. Anything less and he’d have never made it back home.
At no point did he ever demonstrate the slightest hesitation about his ambition to get home. For him to finally succeed in getting out of the coma, just to turn around and kill himself so he could (maybe) return to his fantasy 1973 is a complete betrayal of the character, and ultimately, the audience that was fighting along with him.
The story almost looks like Sam’s return to 2007 was part of his coma and that his ‘suicide’ was his mind finally deciding to give up the fight during the operation to save him. I don’t think that’s what happened, but if it had, that would still be a betrayal of the character.
Believing that killing himself would send him back to 1973 was insane, and insanity makes for very poor character motivation when you’re trying to relate to an audience of (presumably) sane people.
Why do I say 2007 might have been more of the coma? The world of 2007 was almost surreal in the isolation that Sam was put in. Surely his mother would have been in the hospital when he left it for the first time. Certainly he would have had to undergo physical therapy to be able to walk again. He would have had a lot less hair if he’d had brain surgery. He wouldn’t have gone back to work for a very long time. All these point to 2007 being just a further layer to his coma.
And yet, the recordings he made and sent on to London, which will ultimately set the stage for Ashes to Ashes put paid to that concept.
No. Letting Creepy Test Pattern Death Girl switch off the telly and win just wasn’t the right solution to this show. I feel like I’ve wasted 16 hours of my life.
Now that my wife has seen the episode, I can express a few more thoughts on this. I suppose this should constitute a potential spoiler warning…
That ending was just “wrong.”
For 16 episodes, Sam Tyler has been fighting against all odds to get back home, and, from everything we’ve seen, Sam is a fighter and a survivor. Anything less and he’d have never made it back home.
At no point did he ever demonstrate the slightest hesitation about his ambition to get home. For him to finally succeed in getting out of the coma, just to turn around and kill himself so he could (maybe) return to his fantasy 1973 is a complete betrayal of the character, and ultimately, the audience that was fighting along with him.
The story almost looks like Sam’s return to 2007 was part of his coma and that his ‘suicide’ was his mind finally deciding to give up the fight during the operation to save him. I don’t think that’s what happened, but if it had, that would still be a betrayal of the character.
Believing that killing himself would send him back to 1973 was insane, and insanity makes for very poor character motivation when you’re trying to relate to an audience of (presumably) sane people.
Why do I say 2007 might have been more of the coma? The world of 2007 was almost surreal in the isolation that Sam was put in. Surely his mother would have been in the hospital when he left it for the first time. Certainly he would have had to undergo physical therapy to be able to walk again. He would have had a lot less hair if he’d had brain surgery. He wouldn’t have gone back to work for a very long time. All these point to 2007 being just a further layer to his coma.
And yet, the recordings he made and sent on to London, which will ultimately set the stage for Ashes to Ashes put paid to that concept.
No. Letting Creepy Test Pattern Death Girl switch off the telly and win just wasn’t the right solution to this show. I feel like I’ve wasted 16 hours of my life.
Here’s one aspect of why I don’t like the ending: Sam Tyler was an independent, capable, yes somewhat repressed but likeable individual, perhaps even a role model. Yet he chose fantasy over reality. He gave up his life, not for some noble cause, but to “rescue” the imaginary people in his head.
Here’s another one. Gene Hunt is a mysoginist, homophobic xenophobe. Sam Tyler was the “moral compass”; it was through his eyes and with his disgust that we saw Hunt’s actions. This was important, because Hunt’s actually portrayed quite sympathetically, and the setup in the opening episode (“what happened to gut reaction, Sam?”) show that Sam has something to learn from him, too. I expected, dammit I required the finale to demonstrate Sam taking gut instinct, that sense of purpose, and trust of fellow officers, into 2006. Instead, he gives up his moral stance on police accountability in favour the gaudy colours of 1973, largely, I suspect, because the writers found the audience responded better to great music, fast driving and kicking down doors than responsible policing.
Here’s one aspect of why I don’t like the ending: Sam Tyler was an independent, capable, yes somewhat repressed but likeable individual, perhaps even a role model. Yet he chose fantasy over reality. He gave up his life, not for some noble cause, but to “rescue” the imaginary people in his head.
Here’s another one. Gene Hunt is a mysoginist, homophobic xenophobe. Sam Tyler was the “moral compass”; it was through his eyes and with his disgust that we saw Hunt’s actions. This was important, because Hunt’s actually portrayed quite sympathetically, and the setup in the opening episode (“what happened to gut reaction, Sam?”) show that Sam has something to learn from him, too. I expected, dammit I required the finale to demonstrate Sam taking gut instinct, that sense of purpose, and trust of fellow officers, into 2006. Instead, he gives up his moral stance on police accountability in favour the gaudy colours of 1973, largely, I suspect, because the writers found the audience responded better to great music, fast driving and kicking down doors than responsible policing.
I’d call that one of the definitions of insanity. 🙂
I’d call that one of the definitions of insanity. 🙂
Yep. Is this the biggest TV swindle since Pam woke up in Dallas?
Yep. Is this the biggest TV swindle since Pam woke up in Dallas?
Quite possibly.
So, I’ve just started watching Matthew Graham’s The Last Train, should I be worried about a naff ending there, too?
Quite possibly.
So, I’ve just started watching Matthew Graham’s The Last Train, should I be worried about a naff ending there, too?
Oh my god, I remember that! Was that Matthew Graham too?
Well, i don’t actually remember whether I watched the end, but certainly first few episodes were solid 100% naff. It had the wonderful Nicola Walker in it, didn’t it? I loved it, what I saw of it, but even better was Nancy Banks-Smith wonderful review of the opener.
Oh my god, I remember that! Was that Matthew Graham too?
Well, i don’t actually remember whether I watched the end, but certainly first few episodes were solid 100% naff. It had the wonderful Nicola Walker in it, didn’t it? I loved it, what I saw of it, but even better was Nancy Banks-Smith wonderful review of the opener.
Did you finish The Last Train? Do you remember what you made of it?
Did you finish The Last Train? Do you remember what you made of it?
I never actually finished it. I think I got through the second episode where the boys mother died and the dogs were eating people.
I never actually finished it. I think I got through the second episode where the boys mother died and the dogs were eating people.