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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.
“Tell me this. If everything is so wonderful in Hyde, why are you hanging around my department like the smell of last night’s haddock? You could’ve gone back any time you fancied. The truth is, you like it here. You just can’t bear to admit it.”
Gene might be wrong about Sam being able to leave any time he wanted, but he is right about something – Sam’s starting to like it in 1973.
From the moment Billy dies, this the darkest episode of Life on Mars since Episode 4. In that episode, the conflict between Sam and Gene resolved to the extent that they combined their styles worked together to get a result. Here, it’s something quite different. Throughout the episode, Sam’s differences from the rest of the team are continually heightened and emphasised: Ray never liked him, and is even more open about it than ever, but even Annie and Chris, who were always on Sam’s side, beg him not to investigate.
After experiencing two simultaneous deadlines in the last episode, Sam seems even more convinced that it’s his actions in this world that will bring him back to the present day; he thinks that if he can find out the truth in 1973, it will take him back to the present truth. When he does discover the truth, his hesitancy to hand them in shows just how much he’s come to feel connected to certain people in this world. The fact the tape is ignored by the superintendent when Sam does bring it to him might show the depths of the corruption in this police force, but it also felt like a bit of a cop out – have Sam do the right thing but avoid any long-term consequences. However, that's a small quibble in an episode that's most certainly up to the high standard that Life on Mars has set.
Perhaps the most significant element here is the fact that Gene wants Sam to investigate – Gene always deals with these things internally, and Sam is the only man he trusted to do an open and fair job. The moment that Gene admits he lied to Sam about wanting to discuss policy because his wife is away and he didn’t want to eat alone is funny, but it also indicates a deepening in their relationship.
Sam might not want to feel connected to this world, but, against the odds, he’s getting to this world – and it’s most certainly getting to him.
Next time: The first series comes to a close as Sam tries to change history and get back to 2006.
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