TV News and Reviews

*SPOILER ALERT* Tonight’s series finale of Life on Mars, “Life Is a Rock”, gave us a suitably sci-fi ending that tied up loose ends, answered our questions, and totally threw us all for a loop. I’d be really surprised if anyone saw this one coming. Not that it was a sucker punch, however–it fit the clues that had been given all season and even gave us a reason for Sam’s journey.

The whole episode was rather spastic and began with dream imagery that had 1973 characters in Sam’s 2008 apartment. Then Sam (Jason O’Mara) wakes up in 1973, much to my relief. And that’s what made the surprise ending of Life on Mars so bittersweet — I’d come to love these 1973 characters and Sam’s relationship with them so much that I didn’t want him to go back. I mean, we had the tough but fair Gene Hunt, who became like a father to Sam. We had the young and sweet Chris (Jonathan Murphy), who looked to Sam as a role model. Even the chauvinistic, grumpy Ray (Michael Imperioli) had his charms, because underneath all that 70s macho was a basically good guy.

And then there was Annie (Gretchen Mol), Sam’s trusted, intelligent, feminist, sexy, gutsy confidante. No matter what crazy notions Sam told her about his mysterious journey to 1973, she helped him, protected him, and eventually believed him. In return Sam supported her at work, respected her, and listened to her. Their love was based on a good and true friendship, something really nice to see on network TV.

So now we have the finale, and we end up on…Mars. In 2035. I really hadn’t seen that one coming at all. I think everyone expected some sort of coma or death scenario, which wasn’t exactly wrong–Sam had been in an induced coma for a two-year-long journey to Mars. Turns out an asteroid field had jolted his planned dream sequence as a cop in 2008 to one where all his mission cohorts were cops in 1973. That’s right, Annie, Ray, and Chris are all astronauts, and Ray still calls Sam “Spaceman”. It’s particularly funny as Annie is in charge, something 1973 Annie told Sam’s mother Rose that she’d dreamt about to keep her going through all the chauvinistic treatment at work.

The added twist was that they are all on a “gene hunt” on Mars, and his Lieutenant Gene Hunt? Is actually his father. And that’s where the second part of Sam’s dream journey ties in–he was reconnecting with his father. I really liked that aspect of the finale, that while Ray was dancing on an island with a thousand girls, Sam was using his dreams to explore his relationships with those around him.

What this finale allows us is to have our cake and eat it, too. Had Sam merely stayed in 1973, it would have meant he didn’t care about his former fiance or any of his family and friends. With this solution, the 2008 relationships were all a dream, and the family he blended in with in 1973 turned out to be the actual family he had in 2035. It’s a good compromise. We get the chance of a Sam/Annie relationship, the gang’s still all together, and we get an ending that came straight from Mars. Way to go, Spaceman.

PHOTOS: Jason O’Mara as Sam Tyler, Gretchen Mol as Annie Norris, and Harvey Keitel as Gene Hunt, Life on Mars screencaps, c2009 Kudos Film and Television, ABC Studios.