Category: Life on Mars
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The “Life on Mars” season finale begs think pieces about its failures. Not the direction; S.J. Clarkson does a great job. Not the acting; everyone’s good, though not really great because it’s such a bad story. To wrap up the mystery of whether series lead John Simm is living in 1973 and experiencing hallucinations he’s…
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S.J. Clarkson directs this episode so it always looks good and moves well. The script’s from first “Mars”-timer Mark Greig, who turns in a fairly decent “is the guv a killer” episode. Philip Glenister’s been charged with murder and the evidence is against him; with replacement DCI Ralph Brown in to oversee the case, John…
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It says a little bit too much about “Life on Mars” series two the writer tasked with resolving the “boyfriend in a coma, it’s really serious” arc presumably going on in future with Archie Panjabi, Simm’s girlfriend in the pilot episode who was kidnapped and apparently rescued; it’s been a season and a half and…
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It’s a Matthew Graham episode, where he definitely goes far in showing I was right to dread Matthew Graham episodes. After a delightful claymation opening, John Simm wakes to a phone call from the station. They need him there ASAP. He’s been out a day sick, which we’ll later find out is closer to two…
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So this response is going to be about the importance of show bibles for consistency’s sake, not even continuity. Or at least the first few paragraphs. And I just remembered where I heard of show bibles–“Star Trek.” The phaser rifle was only used in the pilots even though it was in the show bible as…
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New writer (Julie Rutterford) and director (Richard Clark) to the show this episode; they do a fine job, Rutterford even getting to approach some character development for John Simm as far as his relationships with his teammates. There’s not a lot, there’s nothing conclusive, but there’s more to it than usual because Simm’s big mouth…
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Thank goodness for S.J. Clarkson. There’s also a bunch of good acting in this episode, but Clarkson’s direction is what holds it all together because Chris Chibnall’s script certainly isn’t doing the trick. Chibnall has two emphases this episode—first, lengthy exposition sequences with John Simm and Philip Glenister recapping information the viewer has seen play…
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Series two starts with S.J. Clarkson directing, which is good, and Matthew Graham writing, which is middling. Graham’s leaning in on the “present affects the past,” with a villain terrorizing comatose John Simm in the hospital and the only way Simm can save himself is confronting the bad guy in the past. Marc Warren’s actually…
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It’s the season finale, which one would think means some questions are getting answered. It takes about a half hour until everything starts tying together—and it turns out all the season’s recurring “vision” sequences were pointless considering how quickly they get explained (sorry, I’m going to try not to be overly negative but the episode…
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After a couple episodes not dealing too much with John Simm’s Sam Becket-esque attempts to get home, this episode brings that element in partway through an otherwise very straightforward whodunit about a dead prisoner. The script’s from Chris Chibnall, who approaches it with quite a bit of gusto as far as giving the characters all…
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Until now, “Life on Mars” has been a police procedural with some very flat, very hard sci-if garnish about time travel. But this episode is an action episode, starting with John Simm getting a phone call—on a disconnected phone—from his mum in the future. She’s at his bedside, telling him the doctors want to unplug…
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Tony Jordan writes this episode, the last of the three creators to contribute a script (or get a solo credit), and it’s a very different take on the time travel motif. It deals—quietly—with father issues (as opposed to having mum guest star in an episode). John Simm and Philip Glenister catch a case involving a…
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Different writer than the first three episodes—Ashley Pharoah here—and a somewhat different vibe. It’s centered somewhat differently on John Simm, whose time traveller status doesn’t factor into the main plot here, which has him butting heads against local crime boss Tom Mannion. Everyone else in the department is on Mannion’s payroll to some degree or…
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It’s a good episode, with the most impressive element being the introduction of Lee Ross as the jackass cop in charge of anything involving firearms. Meaning Philip Glenister, John Simm, Dean Andrews, Marshall Lancaster, and the other guys without lines in the backgrounds aren’t supposed to be shooting things up. This episode indeed has the…
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Lots gets introduced and resolved this episode, particularly with John Simm and Philip Glenister’s different approaches to police work. It’s kind of like “Pilot, Part 2,” where the gimmick has been introduced and now it’s time to determine what the actual show will be like. Same creative team as last time—Matthew Graham writing, Bharat Nalluri…
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Going back to “Life on Mars,” it hadn’t occurred to me how the “hook” was going to play after not just having seen the series once but also its “way too literal” sequel, “Ashes to Ashes.” “Mars” is about a modern day—2006 so pre-smartphone and some other things—police detective, John Simm, getting hit by a…
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