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Contains spoilers up to and including the episode discussed, but is spoiler free for subsequent episodes of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.
“I am policing in the full glare of the public bloody eye, and the Chief Super is taking a personal interest, and we also have no flipping evidence. And I can’t believe I just said that!”
Like the opening of a new series of any established programme, this episode on Life on Mars has the main function of re-laying the ground work to remind old viewers and bring any new ones up to speed.
The start of the episode once again sees Sam stressing the need for evidence. It’s mostly hilarious and offers some sweet moments, like his happiness at seeing Annie has put up a police cordon without him having to ask. And John Simm is given some great deadpanning opportunities with the lines, “I weep with happiness every morning, sir” and “Oh, you’re going to bang heads? Let joy be unconfined.” The fact that Gene wanted to plant evidence might be a bit of a backtrack for the character, but this firm re-establishment serves a purpose beyond reminding the viewers of the ground rules here.
They meet Harry Crane (a wonderfully creepy Marc Warren), the man that Sam will later meet as a master criminal who murders his wife. His two worlds are intermingling more and more (Crane seems to be trying to kill the future, in-a-coma Sam), so Sam decides that putting Crane in prison in the 70s is the only way to save himself in the future. This means that all his rules go out the window, and he finds himself turning into the sort of 70s copper he detested. The fact that the media are watching Gene and so he insists on things being “by the book” is a clever twist, and allows for Sam’s change to be all the more apparent.
Bar a slightly weak conclusion to the mystery (Sam pretends Crane is mad to get him locked up for longer), this episode is standard Life on Mars – witty, entertaining and engaging. And the phone call Sam receives at the end sets up the arc for the whole series beautifully.
Next time: Sam gets locked in the trunk of a car and Chris is generally clueless and adorable.
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