(S01E03) Sam Tyler and company have to investigate a murder at a park in Queens. At least, I'm pretty sure the park was in Queens. Sam said he grew up near there and the Vietnam Vet that died was from Queens, so it's a fair guess.At this rate, "let's get this guy" is going to become a Harvey Keitel/Gene Hunt catchphrase. It's better than his "you're surrounded by armed bastards".Something looked wrong with young Mr. Reeves' Knicks t-shirt. The quality looked too good for anything produced in the 1970's. I recall the t-shirts back then looking quite ragged (a look duplicated for a lot of today's hipster t-shirts). I felt the same way about the photograph that Sam found in the wall of what might have been his old abode. Of course, I am no photography expert. I just wonder if the designers are eschewing realism for better detail.
So Sam finally figured out that his young self is somewhere in NYC with his father. Since this is the plot of the first season of the British version of Life on Mars, it came as little surprise. I'm not sure who the kid was at the end who exchanged stares with Sam, but I assume it was his younger self. If so, the sudden image of his young self at the Knicks game was a nice touch, although the man he was with seemed a little too old to be his father. Grandfather, maybe?
I really like Sam's neighbor Wendy. She's silly and cute. She'll probably end up murdered later in the season, because that's what cop shows do to supporting characters we start having empathy for.
I suppose the sexual revolution wasn't quite in full swing in 1973, requiring gays to still be in the closet. Truthfully, I think there is the same amount of homophobia today, the bigots are simply the ones in the closet now. They only show their ugly sides on Election Day.
After watching this episode, I'm starting to think Michael Imperioli would have made a better Gene Hunt than Harvey Keitel. I did like Keitel's line in response to the term "hate crime": "As opposed to an I-really-really-like-you crime." I think they got that one from the British series.
When that cop was being beaten up by that gang in the park, why didn't he fight back more? Were cops not trained to fight back then? Even Annie started giving some good kicks.
Sam stated towards the end something I was thinking: it's a pretty big coincidence that the gay-bashing gang happened to see the murder they were investigating. On the other hand, such things should be forgiven on any series that uses time-travel as a central premise.
There was a lot of quick cutting for the scenes in this episode. It seemed like nobody spoke two sentences together without a break.
I did enjoy the episode, but not as much as the previous two. It feels as if the series still needs to find its bearing. The creators did plan to break away from the formula of the original show and I'm curious to see how they do it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-24-2008 @ 12:35AM
Ryan S. said...
Mark my words, Wendy is a figment of Sam's imagination, i'll only believe she is real when we see her talk to a character other than Sam.
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10-24-2008 @ 12:58AM
Ed Huang said...
I don't remember what it was like in NYC back in 1973, but there was widespread gaybashing back in 1988-1989 in Manhattan even. The Guardian Angels with their cute berets and t-shirts didn't take off till the early 80's. In the late 80's the Pink Panthers were formed which were anti-gay bashing patrols that would patrol the streets of village in pink satin jackets and aluminum baseball bats.
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10-24-2008 @ 1:49AM
rick said...
Sam specifically tells the son of the victim that he has two memories of his father, one is that he took him to a Knick playoff game and that he held his hand tight because it was his first subway ride. He then mentions his father having a tattoo of a cobra, that was his nickname. The hands of the father and son getting out of the subway were clearly shown clasped and with a cobra tattoo on the father's hand. A reviewer should not have any confusion in making the conclusion that the boy holding his father's hand is the young Sam.
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10-24-2008 @ 4:10AM
Brent said...
Definitely... I'm surprised you missed that.
Anyways, I am really loving this show so far. Tonight's episode has been my favorite thus far... but really all three I could watch over and over again.
Way to be a Debbie Downer saying Wendy will probably be killed... lol. I wonder if he'll go for No Nuts since it seems like she's his GF of past, but thinks that if he does he'll mess things up back in 2008. Or something... I dunno, it's 1AM so yeah, lol.
10-24-2008 @ 7:36AM
Jeff said...
I'm glad Lisa Bonet wasn't in this one. The less we see of 2008 the better. I could do without the spooky visions too -- just Sam as a modern cop dealing with NYC in 1973. I liked the subway entrance showing the (now long gone) AA train -- correcting the street furniture anachronisms is part of the fun of watching this show. More Twin Towers, less Twin Peaks.
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10-24-2008 @ 10:27AM
colby said...
Watched the pilot, missed ep. 2 (on vacation), but caught last night's ep. So, here's my $.02 ...
"I think there is the same amount of homophobia today, the bigots are simply the ones in the closet now." -- Great analogy.
Wasn't much of a fan of Imperioli on Sopranos, but I'm loving him on this show.
Loved O'Mara spoiling the end of Soylent(sp?) Green to Imperioli.
I definitely don't mind sacrificing authenticity for detail as long as it's not to blatant.
The only thing that I find a little disappointing in the series thus far is how open the supporting characters are to Tyler's belief that he's from the future. I would assume them to be a bit more stand-offish.
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10-24-2008 @ 10:30AM
Dave said...
I was hoping for more of a time travel show (miss you, Journeyman!). This is mostly a cop show set in 1973. For what that's worth, they do a good job, but it's not what I wanted to watch. I'll watch it if I'm available, but this isn't appointment TV for me anymore.
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10-24-2008 @ 10:37AM
cdawg said...
this is QUICKLY becoming one of my favorite shows on TV right now (after Dexter and the Office I'd say)
This was my favorite episode thus far.
Ryan S. - you just blew my mind. You could be totally right seeing as how we've never seen Wendy talk to anyone else - and knowing that Sam has a habit of seeing (or hearing) things (like Lisa Bonet's voice, the doctors, etc). And her line "what if now is the reality and 2008 is in your imagination" (paraphrasing of course).
I am so happy that he's realized he is there as a kid in 1973.
BEST MUSIC of any show. EVER. (loved Cherry Wine)
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10-24-2008 @ 11:28AM
Allen Mendelsohn said...
great ep, really held my attention this time.
Wanted to chime in and tell everyone Sam's neighbor is named "Windy", not Wendy. Damn hippies ;)
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10-24-2008 @ 12:08PM
Danny Pomeroy said...
The reviewers comments sometimes make me wonder if he even watched the first two episodes. Yes the shirt looks a little to good for 1973 standards and maybe the photo quality was a bit off but is Sam really in the past or is he lying in a hospital bed in 2008? Since this is supposed to be in his head, wouldn't he sometimes see things that don't fit in? Wouldn't he remember things a little different here and there?
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10-24-2008 @ 12:13PM
rtms said...
Colby the supporting characters don't know about or believe he's from the future. The only two people who may believe him are Annie and Windy/Wendy and as someone mentioned she may be in his imagination. Only Annie really knows anything about Sam's predicament hence why he's so open about future things with her.
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10-26-2008 @ 8:26AM
Chuck said...
I can't say for certain, but I don't think that's true. I don't know about all the other characters, but I do know the one cop (can't remember names, but the one with the longer hair and moustache) calls him "Spaceman," which I've always taken to mean him making fun of him for claiming to be from the future.
10-25-2008 @ 1:53AM
Robin Diane Goldstein said...
not sure if everyone else watching the show was a fan of the british
version (or even heard of it), but i had no idea this was an import
until i read about it in the SF paper... as a result, i have no
pre-conceived notions of what any character should be, look like, act
like, etc... and i'm really digging the show... its not like
anything i've seen before, and i find the plot twists (well, they're
twists to me!) to be unexpected and delightful...
brad, i appreciate the summaries, but it seem like each review is
mostly a comparison to the original, and whether you like how the
episode was translated... that's a tough jumping-off point for those
of us who didn't watch the original...
in addition, i don't know how useful it is to try and compare an
import to its parent, except after some time has elapsed and you can
really gauge each on their own merits...
take The Office... if you were a fan of the british version, then
you probably HATED the early episodes of the US version (and perhaps
still don't like the way the US team has strayed from the original
vision)... Michael Scott is certainly no David Brent... he's
missing the 'mean' that was so important to that character, and
substituted a greater dose of naif... and yet the show stands on its
own...
anyway, i dig not really knowing if i know what's going on... kind
of like a thinking-person's LOST... but with better music.
cheers!
robin
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12-18-2008 @ 11:50AM
crash said...
1. Windy has met "No Nuts";
2. Enjoy the show or don't, but don't compare it to another country's show- they look at things differently than we do, in many subjects;
3. Of course some things are going to be more in- or out of-focus, because these are all in Sam's mind, therefore the things that are important to Sam are more in focus to him;
4. When this show is coming on, I'm doing NOTHING else!
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