rionaleonhart | DI Tyler Thinks He's From The Future. Cuckoo.

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life on mars

DI Tyler Thinks He's From The Future. Cuckoo.

I loved that it said "And now, Life on Mars. In colour." before the episode. Hee!

OH MY GOD, SAM IS INSANE. (Well, we knew that already, of course, but he spent this episode being even more insane than usual.) I thought it started slowly at first - at the beginning, I was thinking 'oh no, do I not love Life on Mars any more?' - but then oh my God, I was absolutely hooked.

It's very different to the last time Sam had a very personal interest in a case (Episode Six in the last series, the case parallelling his mother's decision to have his life support turned off): there, he was being especially cautious for fear that somebody might die; here, he is being especially ruthless for fear that the suspect will get away. It was interesting to see Sam and Gene being, essentially, completely reversed. And then, of course, they eventually joined forces and were awesome, as always.

I somehow managed to find "we thought you'd like to die together" adorable, which is weird, frankly.

I loved it when Sam came out of the car, and he stumbled and collapsed and told Gene to go after the criminal, but instead Gene came back and helped him up. The Sam/Gene is still alive and well in this series, obviously.

And Gene respects Annie now, which is really rather lovely.

THERE WAS, HOWEVER, NO WALLSLAMMING. HOW CAN THERE BE NO WALLSLAMMING? DID GENE PHYSICALLY ATTACK SAM AT ALL? HOW CAN THERE BE AN EPISODE OF LIFE ON MARS WITHOUT GENE PUNCHING SAM IN THE GUT OR SLAMMING HIM AGAINST A WALL?

I was not able to watch Episode Two tonight, so please don't spoil me for that.

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*covers eyes* WHERE IS THE TORRENT?! Damn my not living Britain-ness!

It was BRILLIANT! X3 I'm absolutely hooked, yet again, can't WAIT for next week! :D

It's taking all my willpower not to watch Episode 2! ^-^'

It is probably a good thing my parents took over the TV at ten, because otherwise I would have greedily watched Episode Two and then cursed myself for my impatience next week.

(I was, by the way, sorely tempted to tack an 'In unrelated news, I very much want to snog the Jeremy from

mad_lemming_89's schoolboy AU' onto the end of this post, but, er, I decided against it because almost nobody would understand it, and the few who did would probably think I was insane.)

Lol! To be honest, I couldn't be bothered to go into the other room to change the channel. ^-^' I'm such a bad fan!

*blush!* Hehe - you'll have to get in line, there's a long queue to get your hands on that boy at the moment! XD

It filled in a section of Sam's character for me perfectly. Sam is a humourless twerp - the sort of man you might work with and get on okay with in a "morning" in the kitchen type way but not a bloke you went down the pub with (maybe you'd find yourself in the pub with him once a year) and he's a classic up and coming young cop, but one reason he's a po-faced humourless utterly uptight git is that he's fundamentally amoral.

Sam has little or no emotional morality with regard to his job in many ways - he substitutes an intellectual morality in its place. Sam is, in many ways, a clinical psychopath - he has little empathy, instead he opts for intellectualising the situation (as many clinical psychopaths do in real life to cope with the absence of empathy in their makeup and sometimes do so well that they're actually *better* at conveying empathy than people who have messy feelings getting in the way).

Sam did alarm me quite a lot in this episode, and you've just put why into words and made me even more afraid of him. A lot of my reactions to the episodes last year were along the lines of 'SAM IS ADORABLE IF INSANE,' but this episode has made it clear that I'm going to need to consider him more seriously.

Well, Vic Tyler is clearly a psychopath. Dunno if it can be inherited, but I have seen it run in families to a certain extent...

Agreed. My complete adoration of him has sort of turned to complete adoration with a sideorder of FEARRR. Having said that, think about his surroundings; I'd like to see someone who could cope with that without going somewhat ... mental.

I'm not totally sure I agree with regards to Sam having little emotional morality, though; on the contrary, he displays a sense of it pretty often. I would say his reaction was understandable(ish) in the ways the Crane case was personal to him and the position it placed him in, no?

I dunno. The fact is that modern policing *is* about intellectualising things, not handling things on a more gut level, and has Sam lost that empathy?

If, for example, I was punched in the face and wound up in the police station giving a statement, I'd certainly choose to have the professionalism and the indepth rigour that should be applied to the case, but frankly, I suspect I'd kill for a cup of coffee and a "poor you".

It's a very simplistic analogy - but I think it's part of what they're getting at. Maybe all of Life on Mars is actually a recruitment campaign for Freudian psychologists?

Ah, I'm with you, sorry, misinterpretation. And yes, you're right; while the majority of Sam's actions are morally sound, there's something in his attitude about dealing with it all that's very sort of antiseptic, and business. But from Maya's comment in the first episode I think he used to have that impulse, and the manner of handling things on a gut level, like you said, but something significant caused him to change. I just really hope they'll revisit what.

Now I'm going to disagree with a lot of the foregoing - though I haven't seen the first episode of the second series! Sam showed quite a lot of empathy throughout the first series - for example, in his dealings with Leonard in the 2nd episode, with Joni in the fourth, with Ryan in the 5th, with Billy Kemble's sister in the 7th episode. Maybe he reins in his feelings so tightly because he's scared of what what would happen if he lets go?

(And from the spoilers I've been reading, it sounds a bit as if that is what happens here!)

It was a repeat, Miss Evans. Meaning that I was right and it was on last week and YOU MADE ME FEEL TERRIBLE FOR NOTHING.

...mew.

It was not a repeat, Miss Haberberg. Present your evidence!

EXHIBIT A: I refer Your Honour to last Tuesday at about six, when there were adverts for the Life On Mars episode showing that night, and to my subsequent panic at about ten when I realised I'd forgotten to go and watch it.

EXHIBIT B: The little "r" next to the episode name on the Homechoice TV guide when I turned on my TV to watch it tonight.

OH YES.

EXHIBIT A: The defendant would like to show to the court this week's copy of The Times' 'The Knowledge' television guide, in which there is clearly no 'r' next to Tuesday's airing of Life on Mars.

EXHIBIT B: She would also like to point the court towards the official site, on which the airdate next to 'Episode 1' is quite clearly '13th Feb'.

EXHIBIT C: She would, furthermore, like to put the following question to the jury: why has nobody on the Internet mentioned seeing it when it was allegedly aired last week?

EXHIBIT C: I refer your honour to the posters stating that there was something Life On Mars-related on on February 9th.

EXHIBIT D: This person does not pay attention to what TV shows people discuss on the Internet, unless it is posted on this Livejournal.

EXHIBIT E: ...I HAVE MORE PIECES OF EVIDENCE THAN YOU. SO I WIN.

REBUTTAL OF EXHIBIT D: The accuser's failure to pay attention does not constitute evidence.

REBUTTAL OF EXHIBIT E: Due to above awesome rebuttal of D, this exhibit is no longer valid.

EXHIBIT E: Meaning that you only have three exhibits, whilst this makes five. So I win. MAN, I'M AWESOME.

...hmm.

Actually, if we're going to be technical, your rebuttal of Exhibit D does not invalidate Exhibit E, because your Exhibits C and D were not, in fact, solid evidence. They were a question put to the jury and a statement of belief, respectively.

So if my Exhibit D doesn't count as evidence, no do your C and D. Meaning that I have four exhibits and you have three, or we've both got three. Depending on how it works.

Perhaps I have another dimension of the BBC open to me?

Exhibit D was a statement of fact, sir.

Perhaps I have another dimension of the BBC open to me?

I don't even understand what that means THE ACCUSER MAY NOT SHIFT DIMENSIONS. IT IS UNFAIR TO THOSE OF US WHO ARE UNABLE TO ESCAPE OUR THREE-DIMENSIONAL EXISTENCE.

Exhibit F: The defendant would like to refer the court to the Febuary 9th entries of

lifein1973, a Life on Mars fan community with over six hundred members. Do the good people of this court really believe that, if the episode aired on that day, there would not be a single post regarding it?

Exhibit D was not a statement of fact, madam. Facts are supported by evidence. There is no evidence, save that propagated by mass opinion, that repeating something at the same time a week after it was first shown is daft. It was a statement of opinion, and therefore has no place in a court case such as this.

The world's media seems to be conspiring to convince me it was on last week. The accuser sees nothing against dimension-switching in any laws laid down by the British government.

AND I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE SO HA. I refer your Honour to a Mr Christopher Ham(m)er, who recalls seeing a trailer for something Life-On-Marsy last week.

The defendant would like to point out that she is the only person who has actually provided links to back up points of evidence, whilst Miss Haberberg has given us only her word. Miss Haberberg clearly believes that she is actually from a week in the future, and that we are figments of her imagination. Can her word really be trusted?

The accuser would like to point out a certain inconsistency in the case of Miss Evens - she referred to the accuser as "sir" in one post, and is now calling said accuser "Miss" Haberberg. The accuser has enough gender-confusion problems without this sort of thing.

Miss Evans is warned against making further unfounded statements of opinion. They are irrelevant to this trial and could provide unfair bias towards her opponent.

And believe me, I'd be doing better on this if it were possible to take screenshots of Homechoice.

(Also, you have KEPT ME UP. DAMN YOU. I have to get up tomorrow morning =( )

(Also, it's spelled February.)
(Also, it's totally unfair that you get to be the judge in this.)

(And I'm aware that your name is spelled Evans. My apologies. Although I do feel kind of spammy now.)

(I am not the judge! I am the defendant! I have referred to myself throughout as the defendant, and your calling me 'your honour' only goes to show that you are mentally unfit to bring forward a case. SO HA.

Can't we just accept that obviously you hallucinated these alleged announcements about its airing, because there is no reference anywhere to its airing on the ninth?

Also, I am sorry that I kept you up, and I hate myself for misspelling February. STUPID SUPERFLUOUS 'R'. Although at least I have not spelt anyone's name incorrectly, ha!

I AM NOT GOING TO APOLOGISE FOR GENDER-CONFUSING YOU BECAUSE NOW I HAVE NO IDEA WHETHER MY NAME IS SPELT WITH AN 'A' OR AN 'E' AND IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT.)

EXHIBIT D: Airing the same episode at the same time exactly a week later would be daft.

Oh, I wasn't able to watch the second episode either. I'm never able to watch anything on BBC 3/4 because I have a family that hogs the television. I was equally unable to watch the Sunday episodes of Torchwood when it was on. And hey, because although I watched the last season, I never exactly went and looked for fandom-y-ness on LJ, I am so happy to know I'm not the only person who sees Sam/Gene. Also, because I feel the need to prove that I do in fact watch the show, Sam Tyler is claiming to come from Hyde. The number the person at the end of the episode was calling from was Hyde 2612, Annie called herself 'Nancy Drew' when she noticed the inside of the inhaler, and Gene called Sam Gladys and Daphne in this episode. That probably just proved that I'm very odd. But nonetheless.

Gene called Sam Gladys and Daphne in this episode.

He did! I sincerely hope I wasn't the only person whose mind leapt immediately to Dr. Cox. Although now it's gone to Daphne of the Mystery Machine gang, due to the close proximity of this observation to the one about Nancy Drew. Which is daft.

Oh, my mind went straight to Dr. Cox too. I squealed a little at the insane-ness of it. Given that you hadn't noticed it before, I'm presuming it's a new thing, because I was slightly worried that I'd just densely failed to register such things last series. And then I also thought about Scooby Doo. It is a great relief to know I am not the only person who thinks in such ways.

Askfjdslkfj wasn't it fantastic? Oh, I'd missed them all so much. Despite the fact that Sam = scarily unhinged. Obviously, the storyline was great, and I loved, as you said, the sense of role reversal, but I got the impression that maybe the episode should have come a little later in the series? Just so we could get a feel for Sam's character as he is usually, before introducing a factor to ...make him go loco. Same goes for the Sam/Annie near-kiss - way too soon. But then again, they're both rather boring me these days.

The lack of Sam/Gene wallslamming was distressing indeed, but don't worry, the second ep makes up for it. (If you've seen the advert, I need only say the word 'boot'.) And plus, there was so much flirting at the start of the ep, eee!

Also, is it bad that Sam/Tony Crane is my new on-crack hatesex OTP?

I definitely felt that it could have been better later on. It was certainly a very good episode to draw me back in very fast, but it probably wasn't great if there were any new viewers watching.

I cannot believe that that didn't occur to me (I DO NOT DESERVE TO CALL MYSELF A SLASHER), and now I think that it may be mine as well.

Ahaha, my mother is one of said new viewers and she did nothing but sit there looking dumbfounded, questioning everything that was happening, proclaim her extreme dislike of "the crazy one that thinks he's from the future" (cue my indignant squeaking) and then eventually giving up and just cooing about how they've done it so well and it's all so very 70s. No, really?

Oh my god, I can't believe I didn't mention - EVEN MORE USAGE OF GIRLS' NAMES ASJFDSDJFKJSDLF. Daphne! Dorothy!

Thus begins my campaign to make you write it, you do realise?

Sam is extremely nuts isn't he? You'd think he'd try to reign it in a bit after that guy was dragged of to the funny farm for saying, y'know similar things.

The Hungarians were, well sort of impossible not to like in spite of everything just because they were so dim. That one probably would have held on to Chris forever if someone hadn't told him to let go.

Gene did knock down his door, and they did do a synchronised punch again.

Chris is even more brilliant and ZOMG plot bomb at the end! I was going to post about my theories, but now they are all turned on their heads.

I'm amazed at Annie's willingness to put up with Sam, although she did get a promotion out of him. I haven't watched much House but I have to wonder if she's got some sort of Cameron thing going on.

I so expected Sam and Insane Man to bond, or at least for Insane Man to be relevant in some way, and then Insane Man just vanished and was never heard from again! (Um, unless he turns up in a future episode, but the episodes are generally pretty self-contained, so I think that's unlikely.)

Hee, I did like Chris and the Eternal Headlock. Nobody did anything about it!

I don't think Annie is really very Cameron-ish at all, but I may only be blinded to their similarities because their accents are so different.

Insane man appeared to be just a plot point "This is how we deal with crazy people in 1973." and a as a sort of freaky parallel thing, Sam, this could be you! I wonder what he thought was going on though? "It's all just a BBC TV show! In the future! I thought it was over, but now they're doing another series! All those people, watching us!"

It's mostly just the 'sticking by people even though (because?) they're hopelessly doomed/insane' thing.

Oh god, now I'm thinking about House-Life on Mars crossovers.

I somehow managed to find "we thought you'd like to die together" adorable, which is weird, frankly.
Oh my god, thank you, I feel slightly less insane now. I had exactly the same reaction, and then was amazed at my own weirdness.

I actually did not notice the absence of Sam/Gene wallslamming/violence in general, but now you mention it--good point. Where did that go? I am resting my hopes on the shutting Sam in the boot/Sam punching Gene from inside the boot sequence next week, even though I have no idea what it is about, because I'm sure it will be brilliant.

Gene going back to help Sam up and drag him away, though? I honestly nearly clapped out loud with joy.

I love your icon! I very nearly had a fit when I saw the Radio Times cover, because oh my God they could not possibly have been unaware of how homoerotic that was.

I am absolutely certain that the boot thing will be glorious. And I am also very glad that someone else shared my "awww, dying together! ...wait, what?" reaction.

This is the truth. Look into Sam's eyes. They are not the eyes of someone about to be beaten up. They are eyes of seduction. I can only assume that the advertising campaign is trying to appeal to the niche slasher market, which is absolutely fine by me. I had to go out and buy the RT specially, because we don't get it, and then I couldn't even open it for ages. I just stared at the cover.

I watched this! For the first time! There was confusion!

And lots of exclamations, apparently. Ohh, but I really liked it. So much slashy goodness! And Sam went blind and I cared, even though I'd never seen the thing before.

And Gene helped him up. It was brilliant.

Although, to be fair, you've pretty much got me hooked as a viewer when you start the episode by having one half of a male police team kick the door down to the other's flat/house/bedroom/whatever and the rudely-awakened one acting like it wasn't that huge a deal. *brain goes boom*

Yay! I love it when people get into my fandoms.

This isn't a great one to start with, really, because you haven't really got to know Sam yet and in this episode he's behaving somewhat unusually due to the urgent circumstances, but I am very glad that you enjoyed it!

Sam and Gene are so insanely slashy. It is glorious.

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DI Tyler Thinks He's From The Future. Cuckoo.

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