“Mars” Attacks!
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- November
- 3
In October 30’s “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows?”, Sam was understandably freaked out and blown away when he met his mother, Rose, in 1973. “Sammy” was only about 4 years old back then, and his mama was, out of financial desperation, mixed up with local Mob guy Nick Profaci and his boss Elliot Casso (an excellent Robert Klein). Rose’s hubby, Vic-Sam’s father-wouldn’t be home with some scratch for at least a few weeks. Little did she know that someday he would go away on one of his business trips and NEVER return to them. (Do you also wonder what your parents were like when they were in their 20s and 30s, before they undeniably turned into-the horror!-grownups.)
I laughed out loud when Rose asked Sam his name and he replied “Luke Skywalker.” Other references to the future: Sam’s calling Profaci “goodfellas,” telling singer Jim Croce to stay away from small planes, being in awe of Jets QB “Broadway” Joe Namath, calling Woody Allen’s “Sleeper” “a classic,” and telling a televised Richard Nixon, “Just resign, already. You KNOW you’re going to.” 
Turned out that Lt. Hunt and the rest of the 125 were kind of in cahoots with Casso, because he came in handy as an informant. In the end, though, the gruff Hunt, after learning from Sam that Profaci & Co. had murdered three young women who had been forced to be their “girls on-call,” did the right thing and busted the lot of ‘em. He even tossed rolls of one hundred dollar bills-bribe money from Profaci-into a fire. OK, I can see the principle of his getting rid of the “dirty money,” but instead of burning it, he should have simply given the money away to some needy family or persons. Stoopid! At least put the bad money to good use!
Did you notice that Sam hears the loud beeps of a heart monitor when something from the future-such as the most recent ep’s Nirvana T-shirt-appears to Sam. That, to me, suggests that he’s banged up and in the hospital after having gotten hit by that car in 2008.
Windy had a good theory for Sam and his time predicament when she suggested that the universe might be telling him something. Cop Annie’s theory was icky, though: Sam is projecting desires to sleep with his mother. (But at least Annie got him to dance and smile.) Oedipus complex aside, it must have been so tough for Sam to resist giving his mother a huge, long hug. He knew, though, that his action would have freaked her out, so he showed amazing self-restraint.
One more thing: What’s the meaning behind those tiny robots going into Sam’s ear? Anyone? 
On November 6, in “Things to Do in New York When You Think You’re Dead,” a racial confrontation is triggered between the blacks and Puerto Ricans when a girl’s body is discovered thrown from a rooftop. Working the case with Sam Tyler and the squad is the cop Sam considers his mentor in 2008, a much younger Fletcher Bellow, who doesn’t recognize his future protégé. But in the end, Sam must battle the racial attitudes in his own precinct, most notably those of Lt. Hunt and Det. Carling. An afro-wearing Whoopi Goldberg guest stars as DJ Brother Lovebutter.
(Photos: ABC/Patrick Harbron, Eric Leibowitz.)
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 3:36 pm by Jenny Higgons.
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