Life on Mars extravaganza

[dangermousie]

Promise to reply to everyone by tonight!

But now, I bring you a picspam of my new favorite thing: Life on Mars.



LoM is a British, 16-ep show, starring John Simm (OMG), as a modern day Manchester detective, Sam Tyler who, in the middle of a crisis (a serial killer has got his girlfriend), is not paying attention and ends up getting hit by a car. He wakes up in Manchester of 1973. Or does he? Is it time travel? Is he insane and is actually hallucinating modern-day stuff? Or is he in a coma, and this is his mind occupying itself? The show does not pick one, and in fact, there is continued playing with all these possibilities. Meanwhile, Sam has to come to terms with his new environment: an economically falling apart city and job in a police department that is not only without modern equipment, but routinely beats up suspects, is sexist about women and racist about minorities, etc etc.

It's an amazing show. Clever, intense, so well written. And why have I never heard of John Simm before (except for his playing the Master on Who, of course. I was totally inot him there, so wanted to check out this). I know, because I am an American. Oh well. The show is basically all about him, and he is by turns funny, intense, hopeful, heart-breaking. Sam Tyler is amazing, but he is also very human. His determination, no matter what, and all those vulnerabilities are catnip to someone who likes her fiction in a fashion I do.

Anyway, here is the picspam:



Sam Tyler in the present:



Falling apart in the car, after his gf has been taken:







Waking up in 1973:



His 'new' office:





Hearing things (medical monitors, coma talk):



With Annie, who is inspecting for a concussion. She is awesome, and I totally ship them. I love that she ends up liking him because he treats her like a person and not a piece of not too smart meat. And it's not that he is super-sensitive or something. It's just you know, feminism in society. I've forgotten how sucky things were for women back then.





Heh:



Seriously, he is not good-looking, but he is so intense, I don't notice. As [Bad username or site: fire+snake @ livejournal.com] put it, if he is in a scene, whatever is going on screen, you don't pay attention to anyone else.



Annie takes him (to his) home and tries to convince him it's real:





He has these nightmares or are they lucid dreams, about people on TV telling him to wake up, come out of a coma.









DCI Hunt, Sam's new boss. He is violent and sexist and not above planting evidence to convict someone. He is also awesome and marvelous and I love him. Would not want to be within ten feet of him though:



Sam asks Annie her opinion and everyone thinks he has three heads or something:





Some cool shots:







They got the serial killer who, thirty-plus years later, will kidnap Sam's gf. And I love when Sam, scruples and principles or not, tears the paper which would show criminal is insane so will only get thrity years in an asylum and then get out to kill again. This time it's for life.



Sam is planning to jump. That will wake him up, he believes (but we as the audience, of course do not know). And Annie comes to talk him off the ledge. I love that scene.







That is one uncomfortable bed:



One way to interrogate:



Because Sam does the proper thing, the robber is let go, and ends up shooting one of the girls who works in the station. I love how Sam is broken about it, but it's not about him realizing that no, beating up suspects, and framing them is OK, or his boss realizing Sam is right. Sam sticks to his guns. And the boss doesn't mind if it gets results.













Boss demands Sam be the one to clean up her blood because 'it's all your fault.' That was such an incredible scene.













I love how Sam almost bangs his head against the wall. We all felt like it. Plus, for an angst vampire like me! Even boss is taken aback. And then Sam uses his suit jacket!









In one of the most awesome sequences, in ep 4, Sam meets his much younger mother. He seeks her out because he misses her, but of course, she doesn't know who he is.









Comforting her about rent troubles:











Agreeing to help an abused woman. But it's a trap by the kingpin who runs the area, and who Sam crossed.



Oh, God. I love him.



He hides her in his house and wakes up drugged and in such a way :P



And Annie sees:



Discussion:



I squeed during this scene. He is trying to apologize and she is being sweet but noncommital (because it's not his fault, he got drugged and cuffed and other things, and they aren't even dating, but if I were Annie, I'd still be not happy :P)









*meep*











And I love how his sheer decency got the framing girl to burn the blackmail negatives (her own initiative). Except now she is dead. And he loses it.







Boss and Sam discuss corruption and bringing in the kingpin who bribes everyone, including Boss (who hates it but takes it) for murder.





That's one way to get a confession of a flunkie:



I cheered during this scene, they walk the Kingpin out through his club:



Next up: picspam of last three eps of S3 of Doctor Who. And LoM meta.

Comments

[thelana.livejournal.com]

I love that she ends up liking him because he treats her like a person and not a piece of not too smart meat. And it's not that he is super-sensitive or something. It's just you know, feminism in society. I've forgotten how sucky things were for women back then.

There's a really disturbing HBO show about this, Mad Men (short for Madison Avenue Men). It's about the advertising business in the 60s, but really mostly about how the people were back then, both with women and with other races. Disturbing. Out of this world disturbing. And I haven't even seen a whole episode.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I’ve heard of the show, and heard that it’s good but I stayed away because of it. It’s so easy to forget how recent what we consider the basics of civilized, egalitarian society are.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

Since it was before my time it was still reasonably enough news to me, but whoa, I didn't even make it through a whole episode. There is this girl who just moved into the city to be a secretary who sees a doctor about the pill (which let's face it is reasonable since the secretaries are considered pure meat by all the men in the building) and it goes into this disturbing long drawn out scene about the (not particularly old) doctor preaching to her and warning her and insinuating all kinds of things about her sex life while she is in the gyno chair.

Nothing deeper really happened but it was still really nightmarish to watch. I'm guessing because the doctor so obviously considers her beneath him and yet she still has to go to him because she needs this from him. And anywhere else she tried to get it she would still be treated the same way. Disturbing.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Even reading about it makes me feel sick.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

I still remember having this conversation with my mom about the pill and when it was introduced and I said "I bet my (very religious) grandmother freaked and was totatlly against it".

And she was like "No way, it was the grandmothers who stormed those things from the beginning". Because before that my grandmother had to lock my grandfather out when he wanted something because she didn't want more than the 8 kids she had already (three from a previous marriage). It's kinda disturbing how one doesn't even realize just how important these things are that one takes for granted. Even if one does subscribe to the "one soulmate and only within marriage" concept.

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

This looks like a great show! Where did you find it? The amazon.uk site that's been enticing you?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I dled it. Should I post a locked post with url for it?

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

That would be great if it's no trouble!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Will do!

[mycenae.livejournal.com]

The Gene Genie! I love Life on Mars.

Seriously, he is not good-looking, but he is so intense, I don't notice.

This is pretty much how I felt when I started LoM (the first thing I'd seen John Simm in) but by the end of the show I was basically convinced he was the hottest thing ever. He's just that good.

If after finishing LoM you want more John Simm (and who wouldn't?) I've got to suggest The Lakes. It's a 14-episode late 90s drama about a 20-something deadbeat compulsive gambler (Simm, obviously) from Liverpool whose parents finally kick him out and he heads up to the Lake District looking for a fresh start. Drama ensues. And angst. Lots of angst.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

He is getting exponentially hotter every moment I watch. He just keeps dragging you in.

I definitely want more John Simm after this. I have put The Lakes in my amazon.co.uk basket. Angst and neat storylines and John Simm? How much better than it get?

[fivil.livejournal.com]

LoM is a British, 16-ep show
This is one of the reasons why British TV occasionally exceeds American telly. There's an ending! Even if some of my favourite British shows jump the shark at some point, they rarely do it as drastically as American shows, and usually go from "brilliant" to "not brilliant, but still good" as opposed to brilliant -> utter crap.

This sounds awfully bashing of American TV, which hey, I can also appreciate. But right now, I'm all about teh British, too. :D

[mycenae.livejournal.com]

You're right. It's unfortunate that the current business model for TV in America mostly precludes limited run series. If it's a hit show, they want to milk it (and the ad revenue it brings in) for years to come, not have to try to find some new show that will pull the same numbers just a year later.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I know why they do it (and don’t blame them, either) but it gets very frustrating. Something like a sitcom can run forever but most shows run out of steam a long time before they get cancelled. Except those that get canned too early (how do they even get anyone to invest in a new show when there is such a huge chance it will get cancelled?)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

You are absolutely right. That is the reason I watch so little American TV. People who get intensely invested in US shows, in most cases, it’s triumph of hope over experience. The show is either going to get cancelled in mid story or go on for so long as to suck. There are few exceptions, but in majority of cases, this is definitely the truth.

[thelana.livejournal.com]

The show is either going to get cancelled in mid story or go on for so long as to suck.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[hippiebanana132.livejournal.com]

I don't remember half this stuff. Wahey, an excuse to rewatch LoM!!

And yay, another Sam/Annie shipper!! Aren't they adorable? =D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They are incredibly adorable together. It also feels so real: sweet, and hopeful and tentative but not cutesy or strung out, so over-dramatic.

Where have all these awesome British series been all my life?

[katranna.livejournal.com]

Well written? Except the part where he supposedly meets Marc Bolan. Because that part makes NO SENSE. Ugh ugh ugh. They're British. They should have done Marc better.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heh. I saw that bit and thought of you.

[fire-snake.livejournal.com]

I am not sure if I would vote for Saxon, but I would definitely vote for John Simm, aka Sam Tylor:)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

‘He will clean up your city!’ ‘He will take down crime!’ ‘He will wear mauve pants and still look manly!’

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

Urghh, this was one of those shows I missed in the transition of moving from the UK back to New Zealand and the travelling in between. I've only ever managed to catch a couple of episodes, and it frustrates me because I really want to see it. I know when the DVD set comes available I will buy it, because hell... John Simm is awesome, and I've never met anyone who has seen this show and didn't love it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful. I have bought the sets from amazon.uk but they aren't here yet. I obtained it elsewhere :)

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I have to import a lot of the stuff I want too because they aren't released here, or they aren't planning to be. Ridiculous! Is one universal release date too much to ask?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup. A lot of British and Asian stuff I love is never imported. I caved and bought an all-region DVD player (I will never undestand why they need to break things into regions, anyway).

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

All New Zealand DVD players are region free, which is one blessing. You can walk into a shop, and every single one plays every single disc. Amazing! Then you go buy a computer and they all have region specific DVD-Roms which makes no sense at all.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Here in the US it's all region coded. Because of course, we Americans don't need any other 'furrin' entertainment, when we got such stellar stuff on our own. *roll eyes*

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

Well, New Zealand apparently doesn't think we have any needs at all, as they don't even bother to release stuff on Region 4 half the time. No S3 or S4 of Coupling, no Green Wing, no Casanova, no ITV Austen adaptions, the list is endless. I've lost count of the number of DVDs I own that I've had to order from overseas sources.