Move to “Marsâ€
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- November
- 3
You know how “Life on Mars” asks us to believe that it takes place in 1973? Well, I’m going to ask the same kind of thing of you. Please pretend that it’s October 23, the day after the airing of “My Maharishi is Bigger Than Your Maharishi.” Cool? Thanks!
Sam got a kick out of seeing the “Counter Culture” preaching peace and love. (Little did they know that a war just like it—the one in Iraq—would take place three decades later.) Sam and his 125th coworkers worked on the case of a murdered Vietnam vet, the kind of crime that makes Lt. Hunt REALLY mad and obsessed with finding who did it.
Thank goodness for Windy, the gentle free spirit who’s a pal to Sam, makes him laugh, kind of keeps him grounded and listens to his apparently bizarre rants about his life in 2008, which, to anyone living in 1973, must have seemed like a zillion years away. Policewoman Annie Norris is also a great psychological help to Sam, listening to what many would consider the ravings of a mad man. 
Some of Sam’s references to 2008: “Might as well be living in Iran,” “gaydar,” Rock Hudson’s being gay, “gaybashers,” Sam spoiling the ending to the movie “Soylent Green” by saying, “The crackers are made out of people.†Remember when you and your classmates would do what Annie did? Enjoying the intoxicating smell of the pieces of paper she had just run off the 1970s version of a Xerox machine? Too young to remember? For us “mature” viewers, that scene was a groovy blast from the past.
The beauty of “Life on Mars” is that it perfectly blends absorbing crime stories with Sam’s trying to blend into and figure out his inexplicable new retro-life. The cast and the stories are just as coarse and first-rate as they were on, say, “NYPD Blue,” except that “Mars” has a fascinating added twist and some humor.
Imagine how the flashbacks of his life as a child psychologically torture poor Sam. Most people would throw in the towel and run to the nearest psych ward. What was with the guru and the triangles on his forehead being as the ones on the building? And why did Sam find the Thom McCan box in which he kept his G.I. Joes and then it contained photos of another family? The box was in the apartment his family lived in and the EXACT hiding spot that Sam used!
I’m afraid to admit that there are some elements of this show that I don’t understand. Maybe we viewers aren’t expected to understand so we can sympathize with the confusing occurrences that Sam is experiencing?
Too bad the show used a “fake” version (hello, last summer’s “Swingtown!) of the song “Reflections Of My Life” by The Marmalade. The tune played such a large part of the episode’s soundtrack that it would have had more of an impact to hear the original. Then again, a portion of the viewers who weren’t even familiar with the show didn’t even the difference. But they can’t fool us who are from “back in the day.”
Didja notice the caveat in the commercial for the medication Triaminic? A warning at the bottom read:Â “Don’t use to make your child sleepy.” Parents across America cringed with guilt.
(Photos: Courtesy of ABC.)
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am by Jenny Higgons.
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