US Life on Mars’ finalé: a small step for Gene Hunt, a giant stretch of credibility
Spoilers ahead. [PS.: in fact, if you scroll down and don’t want to know, be warned: there are humungous pictures from the last episode. So shut your eyes as you scroll.]
Well, I was totally wrong about why American Sam Tyler got to 1973.
But when they showed the scene of Sam waking up, I instantly figured it out what had happened and was right. I guess this particular outcome must have been at the back of my mind if I could see it all in a second. A few weeks ago, my father did say, ‘He better not have been dreaming for the whole series.’ Sorry, Dad.
No, I didn’t think it was a good ending. At least not when compared with the original. I expected something much cleverer, more mythological.
There were some cheeky aspects to it, with the ‘Special Guest Star: Lisa Bonet’ credit inserted just to keep us guessing—and because one of the producers let slip that Ms Bonet wouldn’t be in the finalé.
But to have Sam Tyler—Spaceman—wake up in 2035 on a Mars mission, having lived in some virtual-reality world as part of the deep sleep needed for the long trip to the red planet, seemed a farce to me and a let-down. In fact, all I could do was laugh as the final few minutes unfolded. It was, let’s admit it, stupid.
I imagine that if the series had gone on for another season and there were more “trip to Mars” clues, then it could have been more fulfilling. After 16 episodes, this wasn’t cool, and akin to Pam waking up in Dallas.
It’s still hard to process because most of those clues littered throughout the series meant very little—especially those that were quasi-religious.
It seemed like it would explain more, with Sam arriving in Hyde—something a few of us speculated with the original series in 2007. It added to the mystery to learn that Sam was conceived there. Another good part was Rose Tyler (I still can’t get over this name) recognizing that ‘Det Skywalker’ is what she expected her son to grow up to be like. But so what? It all gets undone in the final scene.
Highlight of the episode was Sam visiting an elderly Annie in 2010, a scene that some of us expected to see in the original as we speculated what had happened to the original Sam Tyler. That would have been brilliant as an outcome had Sam woken up in 2009. We also saw Sam and Annie finally kiss—a scene many of us waited for. But it’s all for nought: Sam doesn’t find 1973 more fulfilling and he and Annie wake up as colleagues on the mission, she having had no experience of falling in love with him.
You get the feeling that it was a case of “all that work for nothing” and now that Col Annie Norris (‘I just pretend it’s far, far into the future, and they work for me’), Major Tom, Sam, Chris and Ray have got there, thanks to Frank Morgan at Mission Control and Windy the computer, the question remains: so what?
The only consolation is the white shoe of Philip Glenister—well, Harvey Keitel, but in tribute to the original Gene Genie—reaching the red planet.
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Comments
It did seem rushed. While the US producers said this was the ending they had in mind all along, the Aries spaceship set was cheap compared with how realistic the 1973 ones looked. Everything up to the moment when Gene says, ‘I’ll miss you most of all, Scarecrow’—as with the original there are a lot of Wizard of Oz references, and this was the last line in “1973”—indicated that the finalé would be brilliant, with Sam and Annie kissing, Annie getting promoted to Detective, Third Class, and Sam telling his mother his real name.
I loved the British ending, not because Sam had to suicide to be with Annie, but because it was so brilliantly made. I guess if this finalé had some decent money thrown at it, and the Americans had a full 59 minutes rather than 42 to tell a story, it might have worked.
Just a few notes, and I know they aren’t relevant as you haven’t seen it, but I have to record these for myself: finding out Gene’s name is Major Tom—there’s a scene where Sam asks why everything must relate back to David Bowie—was on reflection a funny touch. There is a lot of ambiguity: does it mean Windy the computer has a romantic streak, feeding these ideas into Sam’s head?
I now wonder if Ray’s apartment number corresponds with his pod number on the spaceship.
There are too many thoughts to process! Bedtime!
What was interesting with the US version, and the casting of Harvey Keitel, was that Gene was a father-figure all along. In the British one there was a hint that Gene Hunt was the dark side of Sam, and for him to wake up, he had to destroy Hunt. Here, the dark side was Vic Tyler, which is cleverer as an idea, but there was a part of me that wished that was better tied to Sam waking up.
Still, I am glad the US producers took the tangent they did, and this was probably the best freshman series that the American networks turned out in 2008. I have a small feeling the 17 weeks’ investment was a tad wasted but on the whole I enjoyed the episodes.