jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2007-09-05 12:41 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote2007-09-05 12:41 pm
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"Life on Mars" season 1 review
Having had the opportunity to watch LoM recently, I'd like to share my thoughts on it.
Well, I think I liked it but I certainly didn't love it. John Simm is quite good, and the concept is interesting, and I *am* interested but...I'm not invested.
I think it's because I'm a little unclear on what the story is *about*. Is it a guy solving things/coming to terms with things/putting things right while he's in a coma and maybe out of time; or is it a guy having to cope with being a 2006 man in 1973? Those are two different, each interesting ideas, but I'm not sure which one the show is really about
I also think it would have worked better as a single season show and at the end, one way or the other, resolved the coma/out of time plot, even if it was never actually answered (i.e. something like he dies in both worlds and we don't know exactly what was real) although answered would be good by me. I don't know how the second season goes, but for now I feel like I'll get a bit frustrated carrying on the unresolvedness of how/why he's here. Also, having handled so mch with his childhood they'll probably lose a lot of that touchstone in season two, and that was an important part of the story.
So I guess as much as the concept is interesting, it's also where I have the most problems. I like the plots that sort of connect the two worlds, which have Sam responding to real world (2006) stimuli. I also like the plots hat deal with him as a man and police officer from 2006 trying to handle life in 1963. And I like the plots that echo his childhood. But those plots don't seem to work well in the same show because the concept gets muddled and never handles why is he here.
And being iffy on what the show is about makes it hard for me to say what I liked exactly. I like the idea that this is some kind of predestination paradox, that by being here he causes things he remembers from childhood to happen, but that doesn't work as well with also liking the episodes where what is going on with Sam-in-a-coma directly influences 1973-Sam or he uses it to try and get out of the coma.
Even the other characters it's hard to say, if they're people he invested to play off of in his fantasy world I feel differently than if they're real 1973 people. But I do like Sam, he's as confused as I am about what's going on, and seems to vary about as much on what he thinks is going on, and that helps. He's trying to do his best if it is real, but he also doesn't really think it is and that dichotomy is interesting.
I'll probably see if I can find season two at some point, but I'm not in a rush.
Well, I think I liked it but I certainly didn't love it. John Simm is quite good, and the concept is interesting, and I *am* interested but...I'm not invested.
I think it's because I'm a little unclear on what the story is *about*. Is it a guy solving things/coming to terms with things/putting things right while he's in a coma and maybe out of time; or is it a guy having to cope with being a 2006 man in 1973? Those are two different, each interesting ideas, but I'm not sure which one the show is really about
I also think it would have worked better as a single season show and at the end, one way or the other, resolved the coma/out of time plot, even if it was never actually answered (i.e. something like he dies in both worlds and we don't know exactly what was real) although answered would be good by me. I don't know how the second season goes, but for now I feel like I'll get a bit frustrated carrying on the unresolvedness of how/why he's here. Also, having handled so mch with his childhood they'll probably lose a lot of that touchstone in season two, and that was an important part of the story.
So I guess as much as the concept is interesting, it's also where I have the most problems. I like the plots that sort of connect the two worlds, which have Sam responding to real world (2006) stimuli. I also like the plots hat deal with him as a man and police officer from 2006 trying to handle life in 1963. And I like the plots that echo his childhood. But those plots don't seem to work well in the same show because the concept gets muddled and never handles why is he here.
And being iffy on what the show is about makes it hard for me to say what I liked exactly. I like the idea that this is some kind of predestination paradox, that by being here he causes things he remembers from childhood to happen, but that doesn't work as well with also liking the episodes where what is going on with Sam-in-a-coma directly influences 1973-Sam or he uses it to try and get out of the coma.
Even the other characters it's hard to say, if they're people he invested to play off of in his fantasy world I feel differently than if they're real 1973 people. But I do like Sam, he's as confused as I am about what's going on, and seems to vary about as much on what he thinks is going on, and that helps. He's trying to do his best if it is real, but he also doesn't really think it is and that dichotomy is interesting.
I'll probably see if I can find season two at some point, but I'm not in a rush.