Life on Mars 2.1 and 2.2
Feb. 18th, 2007 12:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakSomething awaiting when I came back from Venice: a great import from Britain. So, the Mancunian cops are back.
I must say, though, the first episode had a bit too much Sturm und Drang. Not to mention that the first series did the "Sam and Gene switch positions/Sam might die in 2006" already, and better, in the finale, no less. Speaking of the first season finale, I was a bit annoyed that there weren't any references, neither in 2.1 and 2.2, and there were plenty of opportunities where they would have made a lot of sense. For one thing, saving Annie in the finale proved to Sam he can indeed change the past he remembers (as his father killed her in his memories), for another, shouldn't Gene remind him of his behaviour when the whole "by the book" topic comes up? There is a similar emotional disconnect between episode 2.1 and 2.2; moreover, I remain disturbed by the solution of 2.1 and I'm not sure I'm meant to by the show. We the audience know that Sam does indeed know Tony is going to kill Eve and a lot of other people, and yes, him going to extremes in order to prevent that from happening makes sense. But Gene & Co. don't know that. They do know Sam has occasionally acted very irrationally. (Most recently re: Victor Tyler.) So, using the possibility to lock Tony up as insane when he repeats Sam's accusation to them doesn't signal "yay, murder prevented! buddies rally behind Sam!" as much as it does those many cases when inconvenient people, often women, were locked up as insane to get them out of the way.
Add to that that a hugely interesting ethical dilemma is barely scratched at and otherwise ignored - do you have the right to punish someone for a crime he hasn't yet committed? they probably didn't want to do Minority Report, but I'd have liked to see Sam think about this - and I'm left with Annie's promotion as the best thing about the episode.
2.2, on the other hand, felt like wearing comfortable slippers again. It was written by Chris Chibnall, which reminds me both that I liked his episode on Life on Mars last season and that his Torchwood episodes were, shall we say, not exactly the best that show has to offer, which is unfortunate, since he's the Torchwood headwriter. Considering he's really good at writing the Life on Mars ensemble, I wonder whether he's one of the types that just do better with other people's characters and in a subordinate position? Anyway. 2.2 was about mentors and protegés, which Chibnall wasn't exactly subtle about, as is his wont, but as opposed to his Torchwood eps the point was made in a very entertaining and genuinenly touching way. I could have told you Sam would end up inspiring the younger version of his old hero and that Gene's old hero would end up having taken corruption too far, but neither hero came across as a cliché or one dimensional. The episode went to some lengths to make Harry Wolf likeable, so we knew what Gene saw in him, and to make young Vimes, err, Sam's old hero (sorry, that plot just irresistably reminded me of Night Watch) someone who originally copes the Sammy Davis Junior way, i.e. making all the "black" jokes himself before the white boys can make them, instead of being the cop version of Martin Luther King right from the start.
Most importantly, the interaction between Sam and Gene was fabulous again, and our mystery of the season - last season's was the context for those few images Sam saw during his accident, which we only could place in the finale - is genuinenly intriguing. So, is the person in "Hyde" (seeing it spelled out that way as opposed to Hide, I immediately thought of Dr. Jekyll, of course) Sam can talk to on the phone someone in 2006, 1973, or both at the same time? (Bilis Manger! Argh, Torchwood won't leave me alone....) Hmm.....
In other news, I feel underprivileged again for not being able to read the newest AXM and shall dive into the fanfiction goodness written while I was gone instead. Apparantly, Valentine's week became Emma Frost fanfiction week. Yay! (Also, am proud to have started this trend by posting on Monday.)
I must say, though, the first episode had a bit too much Sturm und Drang. Not to mention that the first series did the "Sam and Gene switch positions/Sam might die in 2006" already, and better, in the finale, no less. Speaking of the first season finale, I was a bit annoyed that there weren't any references, neither in 2.1 and 2.2, and there were plenty of opportunities where they would have made a lot of sense. For one thing, saving Annie in the finale proved to Sam he can indeed change the past he remembers (as his father killed her in his memories), for another, shouldn't Gene remind him of his behaviour when the whole "by the book" topic comes up? There is a similar emotional disconnect between episode 2.1 and 2.2; moreover, I remain disturbed by the solution of 2.1 and I'm not sure I'm meant to by the show. We the audience know that Sam does indeed know Tony is going to kill Eve and a lot of other people, and yes, him going to extremes in order to prevent that from happening makes sense. But Gene & Co. don't know that. They do know Sam has occasionally acted very irrationally. (Most recently re: Victor Tyler.) So, using the possibility to lock Tony up as insane when he repeats Sam's accusation to them doesn't signal "yay, murder prevented! buddies rally behind Sam!" as much as it does those many cases when inconvenient people, often women, were locked up as insane to get them out of the way.
Add to that that a hugely interesting ethical dilemma is barely scratched at and otherwise ignored - do you have the right to punish someone for a crime he hasn't yet committed? they probably didn't want to do Minority Report, but I'd have liked to see Sam think about this - and I'm left with Annie's promotion as the best thing about the episode.
2.2, on the other hand, felt like wearing comfortable slippers again. It was written by Chris Chibnall, which reminds me both that I liked his episode on Life on Mars last season and that his Torchwood episodes were, shall we say, not exactly the best that show has to offer, which is unfortunate, since he's the Torchwood headwriter. Considering he's really good at writing the Life on Mars ensemble, I wonder whether he's one of the types that just do better with other people's characters and in a subordinate position? Anyway. 2.2 was about mentors and protegés, which Chibnall wasn't exactly subtle about, as is his wont, but as opposed to his Torchwood eps the point was made in a very entertaining and genuinenly touching way. I could have told you Sam would end up inspiring the younger version of his old hero and that Gene's old hero would end up having taken corruption too far, but neither hero came across as a cliché or one dimensional. The episode went to some lengths to make Harry Wolf likeable, so we knew what Gene saw in him, and to make young Vimes, err, Sam's old hero (sorry, that plot just irresistably reminded me of Night Watch) someone who originally copes the Sammy Davis Junior way, i.e. making all the "black" jokes himself before the white boys can make them, instead of being the cop version of Martin Luther King right from the start.
Most importantly, the interaction between Sam and Gene was fabulous again, and our mystery of the season - last season's was the context for those few images Sam saw during his accident, which we only could place in the finale - is genuinenly intriguing. So, is the person in "Hyde" (seeing it spelled out that way as opposed to Hide, I immediately thought of Dr. Jekyll, of course) Sam can talk to on the phone someone in 2006, 1973, or both at the same time? (Bilis Manger! Argh, Torchwood won't leave me alone....) Hmm.....
In other news, I feel underprivileged again for not being able to read the newest AXM and shall dive into the fanfiction goodness written while I was gone instead. Apparantly, Valentine's week became Emma Frost fanfiction week. Yay! (Also, am proud to have started this trend by posting on Monday.)
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 02:23 pm (UTC)I'm intrigued and concerned that Sam can dial an all knowing voice in Hyde. A voice that claims it can and will fix the problem. I think I imagined Sam's condition to be the result of an unseen force in the universe. But the voice suggests that someone is in charge of something. I'm not sure if this will work.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 02:35 pm (UTC)Or at least someone pretends to be in charge.
Anyway, I have no idea about what kind of an ending would be satisfying. Sam waking up in 2006 with everything having been a dream or Sam being in 1973 for good, with the 2006 world gone forever are both not what I want....
no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 01:11 am (UTC)We know what we're doing.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 02:45 pm (UTC){LOL}
no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 03:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 09:44 pm (UTC)It might be worth making a locked post to
no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-18 11:49 pm (UTC)Yes, this makes me unconfortable, and I haven't even seen the episode yet. :-(
It's also one of the clearest indications I've come across that there is a part of Sam who is Vic Tyler Jr....
no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 06:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-19 12:05 pm (UTC)Now I want to read that AU, wherein Sam's cousin Rose and her mother Jackie also make an appearance!
Methos
Date: 2007-02-19 03:15 am (UTC)We've never communicated before, but I feel almost as though you are an old friend; I read some fic of yours a long time ago. I just found your ff.net works, and joyfully got re-aquainted with the dynamics of Garak and Bahshir. Wonderful, you reminded me of just what a seductive character Garak is, and why G/B was my first fandom.
Also, I'm writing because after a computer crash, I lost all my fanfic, and today had a craving for Methos. Your series, colcluding with 'Out of Nature', came to mind, but it does not seem to be on the web page I originally found it on. I wonder would you consider posting it on ff.net? I miss those Methos and Cassandra stories, they were such ture classics of Highlander fandom.
Thanks,
Joanne
Re: Methos
Date: 2007-02-19 06:27 am (UTC)The Methos and Cassandra stories are here (http://users.erols.com/darkpanther/HL/selena.html)!
Re: Methos
Date: 2007-02-19 10:48 pm (UTC)Yup, that's the site. It looks like the links to the stories are borken - at least they're not working for me. Are they anywhere else? :/
Joanne
Methos and Cassandra - found at last!
Date: 2007-03-08 01:50 pm (UTC)Here (http://www.seventh-dimension.com/stories/Selena/)