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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 knew you were a complete nut job the first time that I saw you. But at least you’re a nut job that might be on my side for a change.”
Ray gets injured in the explosion from a bomb that was supposedly planted by the IRA. Sam’s sure that the terrorist organisation can’t be behind the bombings as it doesn’t follow their normal patterns, but the rest of the team continue to target the Irish community.
As you would expect, Gene gets some great lines at the expense of the Irish. Two of my favourites are
“A regular Karl O’Marx by the looks of it.”
“Phyllis, Phyllis, it might be an idea if they go through all the O’s in the phonebook.”
Not to be outdone, Sam replies to the last by saying, “Hey, I tell you what. While we’re at it, why don’t we pull in that well-known terrorist suspect Dana? How about Val Doonican?”
These jokes mask a real contempt for the Irish immigrants that was prevalent in places such as Manchester at the time that is effectively highlighted by Life on Mars here. In general, they badly treated by many already, and the rise of the IRA only compounded the problem. When Sam tells Gene that beating up O’Brien in the cells and abusing the Irish as a whole will only recruit more members to the IRA, the strong acting from John Simm and Philip Glenister saves it from being one of those clunky “I’m giving you advice because I’m from the future!” moments.
Even though she’s featured prominently in many episodes, I haven’t had much of a chance to talk about the Test Card girl. But I really couldn’t avoid it now: she’s creepier than she’s ever been as she haunts Sam over his indecision when it came to cutting the wire of the bomb. The little girl playing her is truly exceptional.
I love how all the other police officers are fully aware that Sam and Annie fancy each other. Her psychology skills came to the fore again in this episode as she talked Miller down, once again reminding us that she can run rings around most of the men in that police station.
Next time: Annie is put in danger as she goes undercover – how will Sam manage to mess it up with her this time?
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