'Life on Mars' flies the friendly, sexy skies
After a bunch of made-from-scratch episodes, we had another close translation of an original British episode of Life on Mars. A decent ep -- I mean, how can you go wrong with key parties and Annie kicking ass? -- but disconcerting the way it was placed. You've only got a few episodes left, guys -- why waste it on a retread that doesn't advance the US version of events? A woman's body is found in a dump site that is the regular haunt of a homeless guy prone to spewing hibernation facts. That's not the weird part, though. The weird part is she looks exactly like Annie. The dead woman, Valerie Palmer, is the second flight attendant from this airline to be offed. Annie is freaked out, but she decides to be proactive -- she'll go undercover as Valerie in hope of flushing out the killer.
Things seem to go well -- she even fools Valerie's roommates -- but the only weird thing in Valerie's room is the profusion of David Cassidy posters. Oh, that and the envelope full of cash that Annie finds hidden in the ceiling. Valerie's datebook has an entry highlighted for the next day 00 the flight and seat number of a passenger. Annie will keep that meeting -- and Sam and Ray will be along for the ride. Sam poses as a deadheading pilot, which means he gets to be in the employee lounge before the flight. He meets Ronald Harris, a pilot, and Ron's wife, Rita, a former stewardess and real looker. She seems fine with the idea of Ron ogling every stewardess on the plane. Hey, whatever works.
On the plane, Annie meets Valerie's contact, Lincoln Hart, and he seems sweaty and agitated to see her. He asks if she has what he wants, and she says yes. Later, Lincoln grabs Annie, and the men come running. They think he's been using stewardesses to smuggle drugs, but a search of his apartment reveals a cache of lacy undergarments. He'd been paying stewardesses for their underwear. OK then -- whatever turns you on...
Speaking of which, the squad figures out that Ron was the last person to see Valerie alive, and send Annie to reel him in. A bit of flirting, some sexy talk involving ice cream, and bingo, Annie/Valerie is re-invited to Ron's regular party. But she has to bring a date -- it's a key party. Those dates are made for swapping!
Sam gets enlisted as Annie's date (much to Ray's dismay), which makes Sam uncomfortable as hell. He keeps giving Annie self-defense tips -- go for the trachea! Or the groin! -- but Annie is getting into the undercover life. That shows at the party, where she willingly goes off with Ron, leaving Sam to Rita's tender mercies, and Gene -- who crashed with "a hooker I know" -- to another sexed-up attendee. Rita tells Sam to relax -- the only rule is not to fall in love. Other than that, anything goes. It sure does! Exhibit A: A closet full of bondage toys. Exhibit B: Annie in her underwear whipping a bound Ron. Sam and Gene send Annie out so they can interrogate Ron, who denies all wrongdoing. They're interrupted by Ray and Chris, who heard Annie screaming for help on the radio. It seems Rita isn't as sanguine about her hubby hooking up with other women as she appears. She saw that Ron was getting close to Annalise and Valerie, and she killed them. She's more than happy to kill Valerie again. But Annie remembers Sam's advice and gets Rita in the trachea. Another case close by Annie!
Back at the precinct, Annie talks about how much she identified with Valerie -- they both decided to pursue their dreams, but those dreams went sour. Valerie ended up dragged into sex parties, and Annie? Well, being "No-Nuts with the Donuts" wasn't how she expected her policing career to go. So what are you going to do about it? Sam asks. Annie marches into Gene's office and announces she's a good -- no, a great! -- cop, and she's ready to be a detective. What's more, she deserves it. She leaves Gene to ponder that. Will he let it happen?
Highlights, thoughts and odds and ends
- Annie doesn't take well to Sam's response to finding a dead woman with Annie's face. "Don't try to overthink it," he says. "I'm just sorry the crazy is rubbing off on you." "You don't get it!" Annie replies. "This isn't about you. This is about me, my life.... How can you just stand there and insist this is just some puppet show being performed in your head?"
- Sam and Annie spar over flight attendant vs. stewardess. In the future, the word stewardess will be seen as demeaning, he says. "Will the same thing be said for seamstress and princess in this magical word of yours?" Annie replies.
- Sam responds to the news that Valerie's room is plastered with David Cassidy pics. "I Think I Love You!" "Excuse me?" Annie replies. "That Partridge Family's greatest hit," Sam explains, hitting himself on the head. Heh.
- Leslie, one of Valerie's roommates, on Ron: "He's like a sculpture of Tom Jones made out of cream cheese!" Then, on undercover Sam: "He can put my tray in the preflight position..."
- Ray, on the plane, tells Annie/Valerie he has a problem: "I got no nuts. Can you help me out with my no nuts situation? Because I really hate no nuts!" That qualifies as witty banter from Ray. ;
- Annie gives back, when she's cozying up to Ron: "You're not like most mustached men I know," she coos for the benefit of the listening cops. "Always compensating for something...."
- New euphemisms I plan to work into conversation: taking Herman to the circus, torturing the tentacle, choking Kojak, playing tug of war with the Cyclops, and paddling the canoe.
- Annie bemoans Valerie's fate -- falling in with a fast crowd, "with the sex parties and terrible turtlenecks..."
- Sam's undercover identity: Tom Cruise. That sort of backfires when the woman who would become Gene's "date" asks what he's about. "I'm about risky business with the color of money and a few good men." That last bit is less than enticing to her. "I didn't mean - I got all the right moves!" Sam sputters. Heh.
- The only time-travel bit we got with Sam was a story he told Annie about being a kid and playing that a refrigerator box was a spaceship. He took a magazine in with him, which featured a stewardess taking care of a young boy on a plane. That magazine, that picture, became his protector, his sentinel, his talisman. At the end of the episode, he finds a copy of that magazine -- and it's Annie' s face on the stewardess in the picture.
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I'm ****ed. This show is hitting it's stride, and it's canceled. I actually like the placement of this show. I think it was meant to show character development, with Annie, with Sam settling in. It's not bad ... I don't think they planned this episode near the end, but then they got the axe. In the scheme of how their episodes have run, I liked it.
My favorite moment? Sam threatening to tear the place down if she got hurt (as they were changing), and Annie having a smirk on the face, knowing how he felt about her.
I'm ****ed. The "Life's" (this and Life, which I sort of wish zap2it covered) look to be/are both coming to an end, and I think both shows were hitting a good stride. These were procedurals that had good serialized aspects to it, not like your usual CBS/Law and Order stuff.
"Terrible turtlenecks" was funny, but what really made me crack up was the Tom Cruise movie roundup... "I got all the right moves!!" *lol*
I really love this show and will miss it when it's gone. =( It's so sad.
I hate that ABC is killing yet another wonderful show. It's been a banner year for them. That trophy wall must be getting mighty full... *sigh*
its the way these days get you hooked and drop the show. i am buoycotting abc shows
Another great show bites the dust of networks pandering to the ADD afflicted American audiences who still can't get enough of crap like Dancing with the Stars & The Bachelor!
God forbid we actually hold onto a series like Life on Mars or Journeyman where the major plot outline and character development might actually take a couple of seasons.
Originality really doesn't have any place on TV any more. I'm not quite sure what the point in getting invested in a quality new show is since it will inevitably get cancelled so that crap like According to Jim and Wife Swap can continue to make viewing audiences dumber by the episode!
Great review but I agree with your opening paragraph. While I enjoy the remakes, there were some good US-only stories (such as the Aries Project one) that took Life on Mars in a new direction. Yet that direction has been seldom taken since then. My concern is episode 17 will have all the plot lines rushed to a conclusion because they've dragged their heels for too long by not advancing the 'myth' behind American Sam's journey to 1973.
Magazine aside, the part where Sam sees planet Earth outside his plane window was weird. In his head, something connected with cosmonauts putting rockets into space, or was he really miles above the Earth?
I really love this show and all the characters, love the fact that it's something my husband and i can both watch and enjoy....and as Tony pointed out 1st, Life as well. Both great shows...we know LOM is going by the wayside (b/c ABC SUCKS), but i'm sad to hear that Life might be next....
I can't believe there's absolutely no mention of Chris' date where, on the guys advice, he plies her with alcohol and has more than his share of drinks, starts to put the moves on her AND THEN PUKES ON HER FACE - EVEN GETTING SOME IN HER MOUTH!!! That had me laughing and recoiling in horror at the same time - and then she went out with him AGAIN!!! That's so gross on so many levels...but I did like that Chris went to Sam for better dating advice, which was to be yourself and respect the girl - do not refer to her as a "twirl." And the advice worked for Chris - their first date can be a story for the grandkids some day : )!
Also, as a David C***idy/Partridge Family fan, I just knew they would play "Point Me in the Direction of Albuquerque" - Valerie was from that city and she loved David. Very cool to hear the song as the show was ending, with the pointed lyrics, "point me in the direction of albuquerque - I want to go home, I want to go home." That could apply to all 3: Valerie, but she had no one in Albuquerque anymore, Annie in some respects as she was feeling unfulfilled as "No Nuts" and definitely to Sam.
And, I knew that Rita (Gina Gershon, who looked amazing in her '70s outfits, was the killer. Way too hard to believe that she was okay with her husband flirting and fooling around with all those other women...
I thought this was a well-placed episode as it showed the progression of the relationship between Sam and Annie - particularly in the scenes where they were talking on the walkie-talkies and as mentioned, when he was being so protective of her. Even Gene is making progress in his suspended disbelief of Sam's story.
I'll be sorry to see this show go.
i hate that LOM is over. I love all the characters Didn't watch the BBC series so am really interested in how this ends ... am hoping for alien intervention. i am not watching any of the "new" series as a boycott. it is just too discouraging to get interested in a show and then....zap....they're gone. i'm still miffed over Invasion.
p.s.....is anyone watching Ashes to Ashes?
I've been a big LOM fan, and am glad to have stumbled upon this site. That said, I thought last night's episode was rather weak, mainly for the reason you said about it not advancing the plot very far. That part in the end with the magazine was cool (and, of course, so was the first "pilot's lounge" scene), but I thought the resolution to the murder mystery was obvious and sloppy. You mean to tell me after the gang barged in and ID'd themselves as cops, the wife still kidnapped and tried to kill Annie? Anyhow, there were a few laugh out loud moments and I'm still looking forward to the last few episodes.