selenak

Loved this week's Life on Mars episode, and as it wraps up something that has been left hanging since the pilot, it leads me to some speculation.

We hadn't really heard from Maya since the pilot, but she was an important part of Sam's 2006 life, and the last time they saw each other (conscious), they had an argument. Now one obvious purpose of this episode is to set Sam's mind at peace regarding Maya (correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he have reason to believe she got assaulted by the 2006 killer?) and his relationship with her; "letting go" as the big theme, with the reassurance that Maya is well, alive and needs to let go. This looks to me like a sign Sam won't end up in 2006 when the show concludes, otherwise making letting go Maya a big issue wouldn't have been necessary.

What is it with Sam and mothers? Last season his own, this season Maya's. He's reasonably well versed in pop culture, didn't anyone show him Back to the Future?

Gene's brother: so, this season we meet Gene's mentor, we hear about his brother, and how come we still haven't seen the Missus? Does this woman exist, or is he making her up so all the manly bonding won't look suspicious?

And on a cross-fandom note: as I'm pretty sure Gene will both survive the show and won't turn out to be figment of Sam's imagination, and as John Simms will appear on Dr. Who: how long before a story about old Gene watching tv, spotting a certain someone and going "what the hell?" gets written?

Now, some Who season 3 speculation:

John Simm so far is listed playing "Mr. Saxon", who is this season's Bad Wolf/Torchwood. Saxon was first mentioned in Love and Monsters, posters for him have been spotted in Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and of course the trailer shows him in front of Westminster. Now, even without both Independent and Sun claiming that the character Simm plays is in fact The Master, it's obvious that Mr. Saxon will be up to no good. Why is he in a position to become Prime Minister? Because the Doctor high-handedly triggered Harriet Jones' downfall. I love follow-up.

Ever since the Doctor said "Gallifrey" out loud and on screen in The Runaway Bride, I wondered whether this could be a signal for the third season featuring one other Time Lord. Now we've got the complete list of episode names for season 3, and the very last one? Is called "Last of the Time Lords". Which is of course the big change RTD made for the Doctor from Old Who to New Who - killing off all the other Timelords and thus changing the Doctor's relationship to his people from rebel and outsider to last of his kind, complete with guilt and angst. And the biggest argument against a return of Romana/The Master/The Rani/another Gallifreyan was always that Davis would have to abandon this crucial change. As with everything, it depends on the execution, but I think the return of a villain (as opposed to Romana, fabulous as she was) is just the necessary irony that makes such storytelling risk worth it. Finding out he's not the last, but the other one is his arch nemesis? Of all the other Time Lords?

Moreover, and speaking of irony:

londonkds was I think the first to suggest that the TARDIS Jack was so joyfully hopping into at the end of Torchwood, s1, might have been the wrong one. We didn't see it, after all; we only heard it. And how is Jack supposed to know there is another Time Lord gallivanting about? This would explain why Jack won't be back on Who until the last episodes of the season, which is when "Mr. Saxon" will make his appearance. And it would fit with the pattern of the Torchwood finale where everyone was tempted by false visions of what they wanted/feared to see.