Gretchen Mol-related stories
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 1:12AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E17) It's the last episode ever of the American version of this show. I'm not sure if it's appropriate or not, but it happened on April Fool's Day, as well. They certainly took the show to its most literal conclusion possible. As I write this, I'm still processing a lot of the story.
Comparisons are inevitable, and the ending of the British series was hands-down better. However, this one was good for a couple of laughs and wasn't completely outrageous (close, but not completely).
Continue reading Life on Mars: Life is a Rock (series finale)
Posted Mar 26th 2009 1:38AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E16) In our second-to-last episode, we get a few revelations about Sam and the reason behind his trip to 1973. Nothing conclusive, of course, but that's probably been saved for next week. Will Sam get back to 2009? Will he die? Will he get hit by another car and wake up in 1938? The mind boggles.
Sam is really adapting to his environment and becoming more brutal in his police work. Being stuck in a 1973 cop show is really rubbing off on him. On the plus side, even a bullet can't keep Michael Imperioli from delivering a great performance while in surgery. I think I'll miss you the most, Ray.
Continue reading Life on Mars: Everyone Knows It's Windy
Posted Mar 19th 2009 12:31AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E15) Well, that was quite an ending, wasn't it? I admit I wasn't expecting that one. One cannot help but wonder if at that stage of filming, the creators were aware of the cancellation of the series and decided to throw in a few curve balls to create an "anything can happen" atmosphere and keep the loyal viewers on their toes.
Continue reading Life on Mars: All the Young Dudes
Posted Mar 12th 2009 1:06AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E14) The more I watch this show, the more I think Sam is not stuck in the past. I'm not sure where he is. It's definitely somewhere fictional. My guess is some virtual reality thing. However, they further proved how unrealistic the show is by pulling out the old "identical twin from the middle of nowhere" trick. It saves casting time and money by using the same actor or actress for two different roles.
I don't care how similar two people look. There are minor differences in things such as voice and mannerisms that anybody who even remotely knew Valerie would have picked up that Annie was not her. Also, if Valerie was such a loner, how is it that she worked with her two roommates yet supposedly they didn't know her that well? If they saw her both at home and work and didn't figure out the switch, then I'm sorry, but they are a few bricks short of a load.
Continue reading Life on Mars: Coffee, Tea or Annie
Posted Mar 5th 2009 2:27AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E13) Now that it has been made public of
the imminent demise of
Life on Mars, it certainly makes any sort of analysis kind of moot. Hopefully, when the series ends (a mere one episode longer than the series that spawned it), it will offer some sort of satisfying closure to its fans (all three of them).
Tonight's episode was a good one with a twist I didn't see until just before it actually happened. Once again, it focused more on the cop mystery of the week rather than Sam's predicament (which was only touched upon with the strange freeze frames in the beginning). The creators will likely have a hell of a lot of exposition about Sam in the final episode.
Continue reading Life on Mars: Revenge of the Broken Jaw
Posted Feb 26th 2009 3:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E12) To begin, I know exactly where they shot the opening scene for tonight's episode. It was in the
New York Transit Museum. It's an old subway station that was converted into a museum and includes subway cars from different decades. I visited there recently, which allowed me to recognize some of the background advertisements from the scene.
In the original British series, it was determined that Sam was in a coma. In this series, I think he's in some sort of shared virtual reality. This is simply a hunch based on what we've learned so far.
On to the actual episode...
Continue reading Life on Mars: The Simple Secret of the Note in Us All
Posted Feb 18th 2009 11:55PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E11) It's been a while since Sam had his visions. I missed them. However, I think tonight's episode overdid it a little with the
Wizard of Oz references. Sam is over the rainbow. We got it. We just don't know why.
I'm glad the creators wrapped up the Maria storyline as quickly as they did. They could only milk her daddy issues for so long, and Sam and Gene have way too much for a bromance going on of their own to let a little thing like sleeping with the boss' daughter interfere.
Continue reading Life on Mars: Home Is Where You Hang Your Holster
Posted Feb 12th 2009 1:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E10) Every dramatic series has the occasional "comedy" episode, and
Life on Mars is no exception. This one was definitely intended for humor which could be confirmed by the cameo appearance of Wallace "Inconceivable" Shawn, who apparently ran
The X-Files a few decades before Mulder and Scully investigated the paranormal.
This was a good episode and served several purposes. The first of which was to determine that whatever happened to Sam is not any sort of alien-related experience, thereby getting the most silly and cliché theories out of the way. My only question at this stage is whether the explanation for Sam's predicament is going to be scientific, magical or a combination of both (technomancy, perhaps?). The episode added to the confusion about this by nicknaming Wallace Shawn's forensic investigator "The Sorcerer."
Continue reading Life on Mars: Let All the Children Boogie
Posted Feb 5th 2009 4:39AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E09) Finally, we get a continuation of the cliffhanger phone call ending from November! Mind you, it was kind of weird (notice that the song about the white room with black curtains played while Sam walked into a white room with black curtains). I wish they showed this episode first, as it was the better episode of the two and really showcased Michael Imperioli's talent as Detective Ray Karling.
Gene Hunt seems to be a big fan of 70's pop culture, as he keeps referring to it in his interview. Ray, on the other hand, keeps using the pseudo-profanity that Disney only permits. Ray also thinks of very colorful and amusing metaphors. It becomes cartoonish after a while. The episode also prodigiously used the slo-mo effect to the point where I thought they must have had to fill time.
Continue reading Life on Mars: The Dark Side of the Mook
Posted Jan 28th 2009 11:55PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E08) This show has found a new directive. That directive is: deviate from the original British series as quickly as possible. It was bound to happen. I just didn't think it would happen so soon or to such a large extent.
To begin: WTF??? When we last left Sam Tyler, he was answering a mysterious phone call. Now we have a jump in time out of
Lost and he's at the scene of a suicide in mid-attempt. That's page one of sloppy serial storytelling.
Continue reading Life on Mars: Take a Look at the Lawmen
Posted Nov 21st 2008 12:54AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E07) In what would have been the season finale if this were the British version of the show, Sam finally meets his father (and talks to himself as well, in an amusing timey-wimey sort of way). Originally, his father left him on his fourth birthday right after the party. Now, something else happened.
On a tangential note, I do wish this show had theme music of some sort. Preferably something akin to the style of '70s police television dramas. The opening montage seems to go too quickly. At least, this is what I thought while listening to the '70s-style music during the opening chase scene.
Life on Mars does has a slower pace than most of the other shows on television. Fortunately, it is kept interesting by being filled with eye candy such as wide shots and different colors. The shirts and the wallpapers alone fascinate me. I even got a laugh from Gene Hunt's loafers.
Continue reading Life on Mars: The Man Who Sold the World
Posted Nov 14th 2008 1:00AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E06) Gotta love that old school funk that the episode started with. I've been constantly commenting about how similar the individual plots and characters are to
the original British version of the show (which has been noticed in the feedback), but in this episode I saw a lot of the show coming into its own. Some of the plot differences even make more logical sense that the original version.
The attention to detail from the entire series is superb. Little bits like Sam's frustration with using an old style typewriter add to the flavor of the show. As usual,
Michael Imperioli gets the best lines. It wouldn't surprise me if he got a best supporting actor Emmy nomination for this role, despite its cartoonish nature.
Continue reading Life on Mars: Tuesday's Dead
Posted Oct 31st 2008 9:27AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E04) "Just resign already, will ya?" - Sam, after seeing Nixon on TV
Well, it's probably not the main reason, but it looks like Sam finally figured out one the reasons he's in 1973 - keeping an eye on his mother. Last week, after Windy mentioned to Sam that maybe 2008 is the dream and 1973 is reality, it got me wondering if any of Sam's family would be around. Of course, that was quickly confirmed when Sam saw his father (Cobra!) and his young self heading off to a Knicks game at the end of the episode. Now, I'm no expert on the whole space-time continuum thingy... but isn't the world supposed to blow up or something when you see your past self?
Continue reading Life On Mars: Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows
Posted Oct 24th 2008 12:03AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(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".
Continue reading Life on Mars: My Maharishi's Bigger Than Your Maharishi
Posted Oct 17th 2008 12:31AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Life on Mars
(S01E02) I said it before and I'll say it again:
Life On Mars has a fantastic soundtrack. They also continue their use of yellow filter to simulate the dirtiness of New York City in the 1970's. When they go to scenes from 2008, the filter becomes blue. I wonder if the creators intended a deeper significance with that?
Continue reading Life On Mars: The Real Adventures of the Unreal Sam Tyler
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