(no subject)

[frelling_tralk]

Questions about Life On Mars ending (and BTW I never expected to love it as much as I did. It was awesome!)


Okay so Maya was originally in danger when Sam went into the coma, and it's a big plot of the first episode that Sam manages to catch the serial killer in 1973, and change the future in that respect.

I was expecting Sam, back in 2006, to look into what happened with Maya. And to check out whether Gene Hunt and Annie ever existed. But if he did do so, they never let the audience in on it :/ I find it hard to believe that the entire 1973 world was all just in Sam's head, especially as some of the stuff he didn't seem aware of (like questioning is heroin a new drug for example). He wouldn't have known that much in-depth about 1973 to think up an entire world like that.

I saw it as Sam being in a coma, and actually being in 1973 for real at the same time. I'm not sure how that would work, but it's what makes the most sense to me... Although the episode where Sam is OD'ing, sees the case come together through the television, and finding out in the end that it really did happen that way, doesn't quite fit with that. Just because of the info that Sam didn't have (like the father being a photographer), so it's hard to see how he could have pictured the case being solved correcetly, unless the 1973 world was all in his head. I'm so confused!

I wondered if Sam had even woken up though, because it seemed a bit strange for him to just walk out of the hospital/go back to work, after having been in a coma for months, and going through brain surgery.

Comments

[fahrbotdrusilla]

It makes the most sense that it was both real and a coma, to me anyway...

I wondered if Sam had even woken up though, because it seemed a bit strange for him to just walk out of the hospital/go back to work, after having been in a coma for months, and going through brain surgery.

2006 in the last episode seemed less real than 1973, I don't think he did 'wake up' John Simm said he didn't think he woke up either... but the spin off says the chick was going over the tapes before she goes to 81...

I actually liked that he wanted to believe it was real and didn't really care if it was or wasn't... he might have checked on things, but it would have been boring to waste time on it story wise.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I see it as all three kind of lol. Sam in a coma, back in time in some fashion, and also a bit mad. To be fair, I don't know what's the correct way to respond to what happened to Sam :P But still he seemed close to losing it on occasion. More so in season 2 actually. Episode 1 of season 2 when he was telling that villain that I'm in a coma, and you're trying to kill me back in 2006, he was acting totally mad. Or when it's like "Frank, I'm in a coma". From the way JS played it, Sam seemed a bit maniac/not quite all there at those times.


Oh I wasn't sure what to think of Sam being willing to betray Gene either, especially when Frank ultimately convinces him to do it just to get back to Hyde, a place he doesn't even remember :.


it would have been boring to waste time on it story wise.

I think a quick scene of him looking into past police files to establish whether Gene ever existed or not, would have been cool though. Oh another thing that confused me. If it was all in Sam's head, how does he know that committing suicide will get him back to exactly the same 1973 world? Wasn't it just as likely he's start dreaming about something totally different? He never seemed to have that much control over where his mind went anyway

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

I had exactly the same thoughts. It kinds implies there might be some sort of outside agency controlling it all, but there's no foreshadowing of something like that at all.

Gene, Chris and Ray are all supposed to be in the sequel with a woman officer who knows all about Sam's case going back to 1981, so there's even more intrigue there.

I like the ambiguity, but my dad hated the ending so much, he refuses to watch the series again!

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Hee oh dear. Because of not getting an explanation at the end, or because of Sam jumping?

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Lack of explanation. My dad likes things clear cut, bless him.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I kind of know how he feels *g* I mean everything the writers were doing, points to them wanting us to see it as a clear-cut example of Sam just being in a coma. But there's stuff that doesn't seem to fit.

Do you know when the spin-off starts?

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Autumn?

[mkitty3.livejournal.com]

Hey sugar, this has nothing to do with your post...but are you still making Smallville vids? I'm totally craving a Lexana vid to Sweet Sixteen (http://download.yousendit.com/730F864327A62984) by Billy Idol and thought of you:)

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I'm a bit sick of SV at the moment. I mean back in the early days, I loved Clex. When there was less Clex, I switched to shipping Chlark and Lexana, so the show still appealed to my sense of squee.

But after Promise, it seems the only ship being pushed any more is Clana, and even I can't get any pleasure out of that lol. So I don't know about me and SV at the moment. But thanks for the song link, maybe in the future I might vid them again :)

[xwingace]

I'm currently choosing to believe a very depressing version of one of my fics (which has Sam waking up and finding the people were real, but also that he doesn't fit in anymore in 2006) happened, and that when he jumped, he *didn't* get back to 1973, but that that was the first time he really did go into his own head and nowhere else. This is the best way I can fit the finale with my own interpretation of the rest of the canon.

XWA

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

That's what confused me as well. If the 1973 world was all part of the coma hallucinations or whatever, that Sam was in, then you'd think it would all be lost to him as soon as he comes out of the coma. How does throwing yourself off a roof bring you back to exactly the same coma induced dream that you were having before? Even if you want to return to a dream, it's almost impossible to control where your mind takes you to that extent.

And wow yes, your interpretation is depressing *g* The audience were never let in on it, but presumedly Sam would have been able to look up past police officers, and confirm whether his going back in time was real or not. In which case, his jumping in the hopes that another coma would bring him back there, does make some sense. I guess. But then wasn't there the very high possibility of dying right away from that, how does he know he's even going to go back into the coma, let alone that the coma will be able to recreate exactly the same world that he was in before. I guess it was a leap of faith *ponders*

[grapefruitzzz.livejournal.com]

I think he finally woke up in 2007. It was a cute detail, because they very carefully showed him hanging round a little bridge by the train station that hadn't been built in 2006. Well, I thought it was cute.


I am watching the repeats now, and it seems almost unbearable that Chris and Phyllis aren't real. They must be real! Somewhere...

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Ah see, I missed that detail *g*

[hoshi-reed.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm a weirdo but I always saw it as he was in his own little heaven. (But I believe we all go to our own version of what we think is the best place for us). It represented a simpler time for him, he was important in his own way, etc.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I can definitely see that as well because that would fit more with Sam jumping meaning he was suddenly able to get back to exactly where he was, and heroically rescue everyone. And then the kiss, and the final scene with them all driving off in the car was again quite idyllic