Life On Mars, episodes five and six
Mar. 15th, 2006 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravenAh, lovely day. The weather is beautiful. It's icy, icy cold and bright and a little windy and everything looks pretty. I went to Southport to meet Claire, who met me with the words: "Oh my god you actually exist!"
I do, 'tis true, and so does she, but I get it. I think of her with a background of Oxford and dreaming spires and the Covered Market, and not, well, Southport. And I know she lives here, but well, I don't know it. But I do now, and we had a nice afternoon wandering aimlessly about, buying CDs and sandwiches and discussing what we would each do if we were queen of the world. She also got some photos developed, featuring the whole gang during eighth week, including a night I don't think I've written about when we all went to the Cellar and got very, very drunk. You can tell this in the pictures. Very drunk. My abiding memory of this night, however, is from before it started, when we were queueing up outside. Sky being Sky got to chatting with someone in front of us, and standing there in the half-light streaming out of the club and down from the sodium lights, I got to thinking idly that the boy Sky was talking to was possibly the most beautiful person I've ever met in my life. He was beautiful. He had lots of thick hair and a cravat and pretty, large eyes swept with eyeliner and, yes, beautiful. After a bit Sky introduced me, and all at once I realised that his name is Patrick, he was in Make Him Cure Me with Sky back at the beginning of term, and he looks so different out of costume that I just hadn't noticed. I aimed a whisper at Pat's ear, but sadly Sky got in the way. "Patrick," he said, directly, "Iona wants to know if you're gay."
"I am, sorry," he said, looking confused.
"I only asked because you're so ridiculously attractive," I said, and promptly started banging my head against the wall due to the whole not deserving to live thing. Later on, when a lot drunker, I grabbed him and apologised profusely, and he said it was quite all right and gave me a hug and kiss. So, there's another one on the pretty-gay-boys-I've-fallen-for list. Siiiigh.
It was rather nice - I'm talking about this afternoon now - but I sitll feel tired in my bones as usual; I think Hilary is just taking time to wear off. I'm off at some unearthly hour tomorrow to Manchester (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
clareyperson, purplerainbow, I'll be at Oxford Road at 10.40), but not as early as Pedar, who's starting at 4.45. That's not morning. That can't be morning. Some nights I haven't gone to bed at that time. It is silly. Anyway. Moving on.
I carried on watching Life On Mars today, and am now on episodes five and six. My opinions of the two are very different, so let's start with the first. Episode five! Oh, so much fun. This one suggests that someone thought, "Hey, you know what would be fucking hilarious? If Sam, Gene and Annie had to run a pub!" And god help us all, it actually works. Stuff I liked:
-the football theme was delicious. I love how it kicks in right at the beginning (heh, no pun intended) - and of course Gene is the sort of person who yells at refs that they're blind! - and oh, poor Chris stuck in the net! So cute.
-Sam and the kid. Awww. I get the feeling of foreshadowing for a lot of stuff about Sam's father, and more than that, I just love Sam as a protagonist. Love him. He's so sweet and sensitiveand so so pretty when he cries and deals with the kid so well.
-the entire scene, every bloody minute of it, when Sam, Gene and Annie are trying to run the pub. First of all Nelson trying to teach them - hysterical - and then the food, omg, Sam can cook and is carping about the lack of olive oil! I love how they're totally unashamed about going for the cheap laughs when Sam puts the chicken in the basket. "It's chicken. In a basket." "Food's off." I love it. Claire has been educating me in the ways of pub food recently, and I bet Sam's efforts are way above average.
And then Gene being pissed - but not! - and then Gene being pissed, really pissed. Again, the cheap laughs are the good ones. I burst into lots of happy giggles when Gene falls off the table and Sam and Annie just stand there, looking smug. It is joyful.
-the detective story. Okay, so I didn't like the detective story. Actually, it's not that I didn't like it as much as I wasn't very impressed by it, because I had it figured out the moment the guy starts wielding his key in the pub. It was a fairly obvious clue, I think. But then again, that isn't the point, is it? Sam, and Sam's various problems, are the point. Still, I liked the excuse for various cracks about Sam's aftershave and lack thereof.
-the bit when Sam's got the real guy - I forget his name, possibly Pete? - on his own in the corner, and is venting most of his own frustrations on him. I suspect, and I may be wrong, that a lot of what he says is in reference to Hillsborough. What he says about "pens" certainly sounds very familiar, and it fits right into Sam's personal timeline. It's nicely written.
-Sam and Gene having a good old bitch about who's right. They both are, bless 'em, but they won't admit it.
-the end. In an episode that is mostly light-hearted, the ending is doubly shocking, if not unexpected; it makes sene, after all, for Sam to see his own baby self going to his last match. Baby!Sam is quite cute, and I was disappointed we didn't see him in the last episode, so it was a nice touch. But chilling, all the same; I liked the way it was included just at the end, with no resolution, because, I don't know, it really works.
Episode six, though, I didn't like as much, because, well, it's hard to explain. Mainly I think it wastes its set-up. It has a thoroughly brilliant set-up. So brilliant, in fact, that every detail sticks with me, starting from the clock reaching exactly eight, "Wonderful World" playing as Sam enters, the weird, smoky, dim dislocation as he pads about the office, and then the slight touches of humour in the background - the banner reads "Happy Birthday Ray You Poofter", and Chris, passed out on the floor, who asks Sam's feet for "just five more minutes, Dad" - and finally, the creepy echoing phone that's ringing despite not being plugged in (shades of Doctor Who and The Empty Child - the TARDIS phone rings when it isn't plugged in!). And it was heartbreaking, the voice on the end of the phone! I got sort of sniffly as Sam's mum explains there's no brain activity, he's gone somewhere else, they're going to switch him off. Sam yelling and shrieking and throwing chairs is suddenly so scary and claustrophobic and it's such a beautifully played scene.
Up until this point it sounds like I liked the episode, and up to this point I did. When it ties in to the hostage situation and someone dying at two o'clock, I thought it was going to get really good. And somehow it just... doesn't. There's a bit of faffing about with evidence and dressing up in nurses' outfits, and some good lines ("I'm the negotiator." "I'll make you a hat.") but somehow it doesn't gel. We don't even see the hands hit two o'clock, despite the build-up and the faint echoes as Sam's feeding-tubes and catheter are removed. Obviously they can't bring about Sam's death now, but still, it's such a shame to waste this plot. I felt like there was a lot in it - Sam, Gene and Annie in the closet was another choice moment - and they're building up to something, possibly involving Sam's father, but they didn't do enough in the actual episode. Huh. Still, two more episodes to go and we shall see. I still love this show.
Moving on a little further, I have fifteen more icon spaces! This is joy! It's all I need - I don't ever use a full hundred userpics - and I am going to celebrate by uploading a terribly, terribly angsty Life On Mars icon for use in terribly terribly angsty situations. Heee.
Now, I have to go write a CV. Woe is me.
I do, 'tis true, and so does she, but I get it. I think of her with a background of Oxford and dreaming spires and the Covered Market, and not, well, Southport. And I know she lives here, but well, I don't know it. But I do now, and we had a nice afternoon wandering aimlessly about, buying CDs and sandwiches and discussing what we would each do if we were queen of the world. She also got some photos developed, featuring the whole gang during eighth week, including a night I don't think I've written about when we all went to the Cellar and got very, very drunk. You can tell this in the pictures. Very drunk. My abiding memory of this night, however, is from before it started, when we were queueing up outside. Sky being Sky got to chatting with someone in front of us, and standing there in the half-light streaming out of the club and down from the sodium lights, I got to thinking idly that the boy Sky was talking to was possibly the most beautiful person I've ever met in my life. He was beautiful. He had lots of thick hair and a cravat and pretty, large eyes swept with eyeliner and, yes, beautiful. After a bit Sky introduced me, and all at once I realised that his name is Patrick, he was in Make Him Cure Me with Sky back at the beginning of term, and he looks so different out of costume that I just hadn't noticed. I aimed a whisper at Pat's ear, but sadly Sky got in the way. "Patrick," he said, directly, "Iona wants to know if you're gay."
"I am, sorry," he said, looking confused.
"I only asked because you're so ridiculously attractive," I said, and promptly started banging my head against the wall due to the whole not deserving to live thing. Later on, when a lot drunker, I grabbed him and apologised profusely, and he said it was quite all right and gave me a hug and kiss. So, there's another one on the pretty-gay-boys-I've-fallen-for list. Siiiigh.
It was rather nice - I'm talking about this afternoon now - but I sitll feel tired in my bones as usual; I think Hilary is just taking time to wear off. I'm off at some unearthly hour tomorrow to Manchester (
clareyperson, purplerainbow, I'll be at Oxford Road at 10.40), but not as early as Pedar, who's starting at 4.45. That's not morning. That can't be morning. Some nights I haven't gone to bed at that time. It is silly. Anyway. Moving on. I carried on watching Life On Mars today, and am now on episodes five and six. My opinions of the two are very different, so let's start with the first. Episode five! Oh, so much fun. This one suggests that someone thought, "Hey, you know what would be fucking hilarious? If Sam, Gene and Annie had to run a pub!" And god help us all, it actually works. Stuff I liked:
-the football theme was delicious. I love how it kicks in right at the beginning (heh, no pun intended) - and of course Gene is the sort of person who yells at refs that they're blind! - and oh, poor Chris stuck in the net! So cute.
-Sam and the kid. Awww. I get the feeling of foreshadowing for a lot of stuff about Sam's father, and more than that, I just love Sam as a protagonist. Love him. He's so sweet and sensitive
-the entire scene, every bloody minute of it, when Sam, Gene and Annie are trying to run the pub. First of all Nelson trying to teach them - hysterical - and then the food, omg, Sam can cook and is carping about the lack of olive oil! I love how they're totally unashamed about going for the cheap laughs when Sam puts the chicken in the basket. "It's chicken. In a basket." "Food's off." I love it. Claire has been educating me in the ways of pub food recently, and I bet Sam's efforts are way above average.
And then Gene being pissed - but not! - and then Gene being pissed, really pissed. Again, the cheap laughs are the good ones. I burst into lots of happy giggles when Gene falls off the table and Sam and Annie just stand there, looking smug. It is joyful.
-the detective story. Okay, so I didn't like the detective story. Actually, it's not that I didn't like it as much as I wasn't very impressed by it, because I had it figured out the moment the guy starts wielding his key in the pub. It was a fairly obvious clue, I think. But then again, that isn't the point, is it? Sam, and Sam's various problems, are the point. Still, I liked the excuse for various cracks about Sam's aftershave and lack thereof.
-the bit when Sam's got the real guy - I forget his name, possibly Pete? - on his own in the corner, and is venting most of his own frustrations on him. I suspect, and I may be wrong, that a lot of what he says is in reference to Hillsborough. What he says about "pens" certainly sounds very familiar, and it fits right into Sam's personal timeline. It's nicely written.
-Sam and Gene having a good old bitch about who's right. They both are, bless 'em, but they won't admit it.
-the end. In an episode that is mostly light-hearted, the ending is doubly shocking, if not unexpected; it makes sene, after all, for Sam to see his own baby self going to his last match. Baby!Sam is quite cute, and I was disappointed we didn't see him in the last episode, so it was a nice touch. But chilling, all the same; I liked the way it was included just at the end, with no resolution, because, I don't know, it really works.
Episode six, though, I didn't like as much, because, well, it's hard to explain. Mainly I think it wastes its set-up. It has a thoroughly brilliant set-up. So brilliant, in fact, that every detail sticks with me, starting from the clock reaching exactly eight, "Wonderful World" playing as Sam enters, the weird, smoky, dim dislocation as he pads about the office, and then the slight touches of humour in the background - the banner reads "Happy Birthday Ray You Poofter", and Chris, passed out on the floor, who asks Sam's feet for "just five more minutes, Dad" - and finally, the creepy echoing phone that's ringing despite not being plugged in (shades of Doctor Who and The Empty Child - the TARDIS phone rings when it isn't plugged in!). And it was heartbreaking, the voice on the end of the phone! I got sort of sniffly as Sam's mum explains there's no brain activity, he's gone somewhere else, they're going to switch him off. Sam yelling and shrieking and throwing chairs is suddenly so scary and claustrophobic and it's such a beautifully played scene.
Up until this point it sounds like I liked the episode, and up to this point I did. When it ties in to the hostage situation and someone dying at two o'clock, I thought it was going to get really good. And somehow it just... doesn't. There's a bit of faffing about with evidence and dressing up in nurses' outfits, and some good lines ("I'm the negotiator." "I'll make you a hat.") but somehow it doesn't gel. We don't even see the hands hit two o'clock, despite the build-up and the faint echoes as Sam's feeding-tubes and catheter are removed. Obviously they can't bring about Sam's death now, but still, it's such a shame to waste this plot. I felt like there was a lot in it - Sam, Gene and Annie in the closet was another choice moment - and they're building up to something, possibly involving Sam's father, but they didn't do enough in the actual episode. Huh. Still, two more episodes to go and we shall see. I still love this show.
Moving on a little further, I have fifteen more icon spaces! This is joy! It's all I need - I don't ever use a full hundred userpics - and I am going to celebrate by uploading a terribly, terribly angsty Life On Mars icon for use in terribly terribly angsty situations. Heee.
Now, I have to go write a CV. Woe is me.
no subject
on 2006-03-15 10:11 pm (UTC)Re: Chicken in a basket, I have a feeling there was a further joke beyond the obvious one there but I don't remember where I read that so I can't repeat it
*knows not why she is continuing to write this sentence*Re: Episode 6. I found it similarly lacking, as much as there was joy for Sam and Gene being handcuffed together overall it didn't seem as fulfilling as other episodes. The strange caretaker person didn't draw me in - he was the 'villan'/'antagonist', but I never particularly felt for him one way or another.
no subject
on 2006-03-15 10:16 pm (UTC)I want to know what the further joke beyond the obvious is! Go on, you know want to tell me....
Yes, absolutely, it's the antagonist who doesn't do the trick. He's just... meh.
no subject
on 2006-03-15 10:52 pm (UTC)I can't remember it, sorry. It may have been something I dreamed as searching the internet and the place I thought I read it have provided no results except I now know what 'Chicken in a basket' means in 60's US slang and it doesn't shed any light on the phrase in the UK's in the 1970's but makes me go O_o anyway.
no subject
on 2006-03-15 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2006-03-16 10:47 pm (UTC)And what, pray tell, does "chicken in a basket" mean in sixties US slang? *g*
no subject
on 2006-03-16 11:22 pm (UTC)"A young man available for sexual favours, usually anal intercourse. US gay slang since the sixties."