Life On Mars Series Finale

The Cast of Life on Mars

So, if you haven't watched this series you have missed quite an event. One of the most refreshingly original shows on television in ages! As I sort of expected, it only made it one season here in America. But then it was set up in the UK as a limited run series anyway. I think that's the way to go with something like this. Compare this to Lost and the way it's been stumbling around for going on five years now. Only after season 2 did the writers of that debacle decide they needed to script ahead and limit the series to 5 seasons. If they did that in the first place maybe things wouldn't have gotten so muddled and stupid.

Life on Mars was well written, well-conceived and superbly cast - even though it did take them two tries to get the casting down. It's smart television and don't read any more after this paragraph if you haven't seen it and plan to eventually. Knowing the ending could spoil the fun. Then again, knowing the ending, I now feel like I want to go back and watch every single episode again to see it in context. So many different meanings can be applied to the things that have happened to Sam Tyler in 1973.

SPOILER WARNING! DO NOT READ PAST THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW!




The finale left me so stunned and happy it was beyond belief! I think perhaps being canceled was good for the artistic integrity of the show. I know we Americans want to hang on to things like this long after they've started become stale and repetitious, but this was a fitting ending. So much happened in such a short time. We jumped from 2009 to 1973 to 2010 back to 1973 and then to 2035 all in one short hour. It was mind boggling but not confusing like Lost.

The end was HUGE! We discover Sam Tyler is an astronaut in 2035 on a mission to Mars who is awakening from a cryogenic sleep. His crew mates are his 1973 squad members led by Colonel Annie Norris! I loved that. lol

We also get the shocking revelation that Gene Hunt is Sam's father. Now that one threw me for a loop! But in a good way. It explains the father issues Sam has in his 2008 and 1973 incarnations and the love/hate relationship he seemed to have with Gene.

So much symbolic stuff to think about I can't get it all in with one post. I may just re-watch all the episodes again and write up something for each with the new perspective of knowing who Sam really is and why he's back in 1973. It's sci-fi disguised as a cop show and it pulls it off so well I don't believe I'm saying that it's probably in a position to topple Six Feet Under on my list of best television shows ever in the history of television.

All the glitches, the bleed throughs where time fluctuates. Sam being stuck in 1973 but seeing things from the future breaking into his reality are now perfectly understandable. I want to see this entire series again and I want to own it. I hope ABC will put out a series DVD.

One of my favorite things was the song they played for the last ten minutes or so of the show. My most favorite Elton John song EVER. Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters. So fitting and just perfect! I was truly in viewer heaven.

Oh and Annie and Sam! That was handled beautifully as well. Don't know if they have the same 'shipper vs. non-shipper' issues on that relationship as they do on LOCI with Goren and Eames, but this one was handled so well I doubt LOCI will ever be able to handle an ending for Goren and Eames as well as Life on Mars did for it's lead male and female characters.

Something for everyone. Sam and Annie fall in love and kiss in 1973. But in 2035, she's his boss (kind of like Eames is Goren's boss with her being senior partner and all), and they're just colleagues when Sam awakens. Though in his memories during cryosleep, he definitely did fall in love -as he admits to the 2035 version of Ray Carling.

Kind of makes everyone happy. People who don't want them as a couple and people who do! Not an easy feat and accomplished very well here. Don't know if that's what they were trying to do but it was the end result. LOCI has a handicap there because it has to deal in realities and you should see the bitching that ensues when they try to employ either 'flashbacks' or 'memories' so I can imagine a dream sequence would send people right over the edge.

I loved that Gene ended up being Sam's father! Again, so much is explained with that little tidbit of information. I was floored when Sam went up to Gene after he awakened from his sleep - a bit later than the others - and told him he didn't want to fight with him any more and referred to him as 'Dad'. Wow. We had to back it up and watch that again after it ended.

So we left Sam, Gene, Annie, Chris and Ray stepping out onto the Martian surface to begin a new journey.

Part of me wants to follow them further and see what happens but another part of me says all series have a shelf life and because of the premise of this one, it ended at the appropriate time.

I believe all shows tend to have a shelf life of 5-6 years. After that it gets a little shaky if it goes on much longer. Even Homicide: Life on the Street got bad in it's seventh and final season.

Six Feet Under, the show I keep lauding as the best show ever on television, ended at a good time. By season 4 it was getting so dark and depressing it was hard to watch. Still done very well, though. I think if it had gone on it would have been too much.

ER ended last night. I watched a bit of it but haven't really been into it since Anthony Edwards left the series. It was a great show, no doubt. But after a while it all feels recycled. It's hard to keep things fresh like that.

Another show that should stop is the original Law & Order. Great show. Superb cast, great writing but deadly dull to someone who saw the first five seasons, bits of the sixth and pretty much an episode or two over the next several years. I suppose it can limp along for a while longer just so Dick Wolf can break Gunsmoke's record.

I'm for the 'leave while you're on top' mindset. Limping to the finish - which sadly is what the show seems to be doing - is just sad.

Now I'm hoping my beloved LOCI having new writers will be rejuvenated. But already I find myself anxious to move on to new things. Like the show that's taking Life on Mars' spot on ABC. The Unusuals. It stars Amber Tamblyn - I've watched her career from General Hospital to Joan of Arcadia to this new series and I think she's a joy to watch. Also co-stars Terry Kinney, the ex of my favorite actress, Kathryn Erbe.

So goodbye to Life on Mars, a series that will live on fondly in my memory and on my DVD player. :-D If you didn't watch it, try and make efforts to find episodes to watch. It's really a marvelous show.

[NP: Elton John - Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters (had to pull it up and play it again this morning!)]