Review: GHTTB:LoM 2.1 and 2.2

Life On Mars, Series Two, Episode One

"Is this ringing any bells?"
Sam Tyler

Life On Mars returns with an interesting episode that throws us in at the deep end, examining what happens when the ideologies of Hunt and Tyler switch places. It also confronts a question no dout screamed at the television set several times during Series One: why doesn't Sam use his hindsight to catch criminals before they act? On the whole, it's also a lot more fortified and tangible than previously.
     Under the glare of the public eye, Gene and Sam investigate the murder/mugging of a man on a bus. Evidence leads them to casino-owner Tony Crane (Hustle's Marc Warren) whom Sam knows as a crime-lord murderer that Sam put away in the 90s, and whom he believes is torturing him by his bedside in 2006. While Gene is acting By-the-Book for the press, Sam is desperately driven by his conscience to try and find/manufature evidence that will get Crane sent down.
    It's not like it hasn't been done before, but the hindsight-induced characterisation flip between Sam and Gene still makes interesting television. Simm's acting is exemplary here; you can see his sheer desperation and also perhaps his loneliness. This is one of the first episodes, as far as I've seen so far in this marathon, that uses a lot of Chekov's guns to achieve its aims, e.g. Lunatics given no fair trial; Sam's invention, several decades early, of the "stinger" for stopping cars. It also kept very strong ties to the present day, a dynamic that I like. Often Mars feels slightly polarised between its Crime and Sci-Fi genres, and it's in episodes like this one that the two blend perfectly. There are also, finally, hints that Sam may be able to return to the future. A great start to the series.
 

Life On Mars, Series Two, Episode Two
"You don't have to play the clown. You're better than that."

After last week's straightforward tale, Episode Two presents us with a newfound complexity and potency. It also does some more to adress Police Corruption (at least before that topic becomes stale, which it will.) It also, unfortunately, begins to give credence to the Everyone Is Jesus In Purgatory ideas in the Ashes To Ashes finale. Shouldn't bother about that now though. On to the plot.
    Our main plot concerned the capture of "Dicky Fingers," a police witness stolen from under Sam's nose. Under the advice of honoured Superintendant Harry Woolf, Gene goes after gangster Arnold Malone, who tips them off about a bank job he's planned. Dicky, in interrogation, actually gives evidence against Woolf, claiming that he's a crime boss behind the scenes, to Gene's anger and Sam's surprise. Sam intends to take the accusations seriously but Gene, in his love of his Superintendant, tells Woolf everything. Woolf laughs it off, but overnight Fingers disappears. Sam stakes out Woolf but he lets Gene know, leading to some... drastic measures. Fingers is found dead and the evidence stacks up against the superintendant, as doubts start to creep into Gene's mind. They investigate and find firm evidence, after which they confront a gun-toting, desperate Woolf.
     The subplot in this episode covered Tyler's black superintendant, Glenn, who, having died in 2006, appears in 1973 as a young officer. Sam tries to persuade him that he shouldn't play on his skin colour just to survive in the racist world of the time, but is then disappointed when he ends up caught up in Woolf''s corruption. This subplot easily provides the best moment of the episode, in the downright inspirational speech Sam gives to a worrying Glenn.
     This episode is really about idols. Both leads find their idols, their inspirations on the police force, in a disappointing state: Gene with his treasured Superintendant Woolf, and Sam with the now youthened Glenn. It's a fable about how you should never model your life directly off someone elses, how independance is important. Not bad for a small-time crime show, in my opinion.

Thanks.