Life on Mars re-watch: Series 2, Episode 6

Contains spoilers up to and including the episode discussed, but is spoiler free for subsequent episodes of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.

Episode 5 post

“Yeah, well, you know, you’ve got to let them go, haven’t you? You got to let them, when it’s time. Isn’t that right, Maya?”

“Thanks for letting me go, Sam. Goodbye.”

The seemingly drug-related murder of the Asian owner of a record shop drags to the surface the simmering racial tensions of 1970s Manchester, but Sam’s more concerned about the messages he’s hearing from 2006: his girlfriend, Maya, still loves him, but she can’t continue to wait for him to come out of his coma. As Sam gets closer to the girlfriend of the murdered shop owner, his two worlds become intertwined in a way he could never have imagined.

This episode of Life on Mars is clearly designed to tug at the heartstrings, as Sam furiously tries to talk to Maya and stop her from ending their relationship, sure as he is that he’ll get back. Certain scenes work brilliantly, particularly Sam seeing Maya in a Bollywood film that’s being projected at the local community centre, and Archie Punjab (now famous for her Emmy award-winning role in The Good Wife), makes the best of the little chance she has to give real life and longing to Maya’s words. Layla being revealed as Maya’s mum nicely tied the two storylines together, even if Sam did have to push it a bit too far.

But, ultimately, I found I didn’t care as much as I thought I should. If this storyline had happened in the first series, I could have believed that Sam was heartbroken at the idea that Maya would leave him, although having it too early would have made her seem like a heartless cow. But, as far as I can remember, he hasn’t mentioned her for a long time, meaning I wasn’t emotionally invested in their relationship at all. In fact, the fact that he seemed to have forgotten allowed me to be even more invested in his burgeoning relationship with Annie, and his final, short scene with her in the hospital worked for me much better than any of the scenes about Maya and her mum. At least going into the final two episodes, he can allow his feeling for Annie to develop without feeling any guilt.

• Alternative line of the episode: “You know there’s bad, there’s nasty and there’s evil? This is all three.”
• Funniest 70s vs 2000s moment: “You know Starsky and Hutch have got a lot to answer for.” “Who?”
• Loveliest Chris moment: Textbook clueless Chris tries to decipher the clues at the scene of the crime, but Gene puts him in his place: “I wonder what killed him.” “That’ll be the bloody enormous hole in his chest where the bullet went in.”
• Best song: The various uses of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Whiskey in the Jar’
• Moment of the episode: By far the most affecting element of the episode was a rare insight into Gene Hunt’s past, as he told Sam about his abusive father and the brother who was lost to him when he became a drug addict. Like most of the best scenes in Life on Mars, the magnificently understated performances from John Simm and Philip Glenister make something special.

Next time: In the penultimate episode of Life on Mars, Gene calls on Sam’s help in his darkest hour.

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