SYNOPSIS
It’s Stranger in a Strange… no, not “Land” but rather Time.
After a car crash that leaves him unconscious, 21st Century Brit police detective Sam Tyler awakens to find himself back in the 70s. Is he in a dream? Hallucination? Purgatory?
Sam (John Simms) Tyler attempts to regain his footing while searching for clues which might explain his circumstance and return him to the present.
CRITIQUE
In previous reviews I posited a theory that the second season of a dramatic TV show is often its best. There's not a hint of shark-jumping to be found. It's that magical time... when the writers can really explore the world their characters inhabit, and the actors aren't so bored that they start to phone it in.
In fact, my statement is particularly relevant to Life in Mars [Series 2]. Regardless of commercial motivations the producers never intended the show to live past its prime. They purposefully decided that the limitations of a close-ended series would force their creative hand, so to speak, and deliver compelling material with every episode. Which it has done!
While the central storyline continues to reveal Sam Tyler's (John Simm) increasing desperation, the show crystalizes his off-kilter relationships with his Neanderthal boss, Gene Hunt (the brilliant Philip Glenister) and Annie, the bright young WPC (Woman Police Constable).
Annie is far from the typical “romantic interest” role which peppers — and to my mind, has often derailed — far too many TV dramas. In a way, Annie is like Carmela Soprano: the ethical glue which holds everything (and everyone) together.
Walking a delicate tightrope balance with humor, violence and the surreal, LOM2 pays off everything that was established in Series 1 with unexpected panache. The Tyler/Hunt clash dominates (yet, amazingly never trumps) all the procedural crime “B” stories. As they establish an unspoken truce of sorts, both come to tolerate/appreciate each other's wildly differing police techniques. Where an ordinary show would've milked the good cop/bad cop angle to death, LOM elevates it. Because LOM isn't an ordinary show!
Sam's schizoid tendencies come to the fore as mysterious messages and voices suddenly appear with more regularity. There's even an bold episode that unveils (via flashback-within-flashback) what the 1973 cop house was like before Sam's arrival. Ya never saw this on Bonanza, folks.
(MAJOR SPOILER ALERT) It soon becomes apparent that Sam's fate really is a hallucination; a product of his subconscious imagination. His contemporaries in 1973 are actually amalgams of his own personality — or representations of the doctors and family surrounding him as he lies dormant in a coma caused by the 2006 car accident. Key to this interpretation is the introduction of a new character named Frank Morgan. (Wait a minute, let that name sink in. Sound familiar? It's the actor who played The Wizard of Oz.)
Morgan, a Senior Officer from the Hyde (!!!) Division unveils the fact that Sam is on an undercover mission; the target of investigation being the brutal (and possibly corrupt) Gene Hunt. “He's a cancer on the whole department and must be cut out,” reveals Morgan... Simultaneously Sam gets strange radio messages from 2006, where a Surgeon named Morgan is making plans to remove a tumor from Sam's head! So, does Sam need to help Officer Morgan remove the proverbial “bad apple” in order to successfully survive an operation by Doctor Morgan? (END SPOLIERS)
Now, the former spoilers comprise the basic spine of the series... but not until the last two episodes do they take front seat to some really solid crime drama. The info is leaked slowly and inextricably to form a cohesive show which isn't as absurd as it might sound, and it ends on a high note both figuratively and literally. To say any more would be indecent.
The second series consists of eight episodes, presented here on a 4-disc set.
THE VIDEO
Life on Mars is presented in a sharp anamorphic widescreen (1.66:1) transfer; images are composed in a feature film-worthy manner and present the material as it should be: stark and gritty. Color grading leans slightly towards green values... lending a subtle, almost patina-like tint to the action.
THE AUDIO
Life on Mars is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, and also features a 2.0 Stereo track. Only complaint in this area is aesthetic — it would've been really cool to have more retro songs incorporated into the show, which makes the US version superior in one aspect.
THE EXTRAS
There are a few good extras on this set, starting with the documentary The Return of Life on Mars (45 min.) which focuses on the second series.
Also available is a featurette entitled The End of Life on Mars (28 min.) that is worth watching to see true creative minds at work.
And last but not least, there is Behind-the-Scenes footage for episodes 3, 5, and 7 and tour of the set (48 min.)
FINAL THOUGHT
Life on Mars Series 2 offers a strange and satisfying twist on the disparate genres which offered such fare as Serpico, The Time Machine, Memento and The Wizard of Oz. If that sounds like challenging entertainment, you're in for a treat. (Series 1, required viewing!) Definite rental; worthwhile purchase for fans.
