Reviewed: Life on Mars
Episode One: Out here in the fields.
No…actually, intriguingly weird with a phenomenal soundtrack fits better, spotlighting The Who and The Rolling Stones, especially when most dramas just roll out the latest droll right off up MTV’s TRL top-ten countdown of crapola.
In LIFE ON MARS, NYC Detective Sam Tyler (played by Jason O’Mara) gets hit by a car while investigating the kidnapping of his girlfriend and falls back in time from 2008 to 1973.
Basically, that’s it.
No Flux Capacitors, just BAM! – “Hello, disco and butterfly collars!”
And though it took me a while to get over my “really, that’s it? He just gets hit by a car?” preoccupation, the show has a great combination of cop drama and mystery, revolving around the case and Tyler’s predicament.
The big question with the show revolves around Sam and if he’s really back in 1973, or if he’s just imagining it, and the audience is taken for the ride as well, as “clues” come in the form of an infomercial on late night TV and Sam’s girlfriend’s voice coming through the radio.
At the same time, the show balances the old concept of going back in time, and having lived in the future, being able to change events before they happen…which seems like might become the crux of the show, and I hope it doesn’t it, because there’s a lot more fun stuff going on…especially with the supporting cast.
Harvey Keitel plays the man’s man of cops, just a tone below unbelievable and over the top, and it works. As Lt. Hunt (I know, you’re saying “c’mon, really, a detective named ‘Hunt’ seems a little too on the nose…”), Keitel’s character embraces all those lovely 1970s law enforcement qualities of violating constitutional rights in the pursuit of justice, like denying a suspect the right to a lawyer.
But there’s part of the magic of the show…
It’s not only a clash of generations, but of ideologies.
…Over rights of the accused and limits of the powers-that-be.
…And the roles of women in the workplace, especially an old boys club like the NYPD.
When leading lady Anne Norris (Gretchen Mol) makes her first appearance, we find out she’s commonly referred to as “No-Nuts,” being the only women in the detective bureau. But it’s interesting to find out that she is actually the future of the police work, having studied psychology and applying to help in active investigations.
All-in-all, character-wise, the show looks pretty solid; Lots of room for logical conflict and growth. But I can’t help my hang-up on how someone gets hit by a car, and goes back in time—or if it’s only a coma, how it affects the real world timeline.
I’m not saying it can’t be explained, but it’s going to be a battle to make me believe it.
