Lle Llywela

Follow the link to the recap:
"What are you, the Dog Whisperer now?"

Life on Mars 2.06 – The One with the Race Relations

Seems like we're steaming toward the end of season now. Although LoM is always fab, I didn't like this episode as much as last week's. Some of the characters felt a bit off – mostly Gene, I think. He seemed more OTT than he should be by now, like he'd regressed to how he used to be before a few layers were peeled back by Sam's influence. But then later it seemed like that was the whole point; he was reacting that way for a reason. So maybe I just need to watch it again. Or maybe things, people, really are starting to take on a harder edge than we're used to because Sam is starting to move toward his exit from 1973, the fantasy beginning to break down...? I dunno. It makes my brain hurt trying to figure it out, because I can argue different angles around in circles for hours and still not get anywhere!

I've been wondering for, like, a season and a half what had happened to Sam's girlfriend Maya. After all, when Sam lost contact with the 'real world' in the first episode, a serial killer had just abducted her and her future looked grim! In this episode she finally made her reappearance in Sam's dreams – but only to tell him that she can't visit any more, that she has to let go. And, as always, you have to wonder what's feeding what? It usually seems clear cut enough on the surface, although the show likes to play with our minds by building in elements of doubt. Sam's dreams or visions always come before the case of the week gets underway, so...it's not the case feeding the dreams, or psychosis. It generally seems more like he occasionally achieves a certain element of awareness in his coma, enough to know that someone is there, speaking to him, and that awareness filters back down to his 1973 reality in the form of a case that somehow incorporates that person, or an issue relating to them.

Or maybe not. The writers like to mess with us, so that what seems to be happening might not be what actually is happening. Who's to say? With only two episodes left, chances are we'll find out in a couple of weeks.

I can see myself adding this to my list of shows I want to recap in detail one day when it's all over, so I can go back through, episode by episode, with the advantage of hindsight, and really examine all the clues from the vantage point of knowing what the heck is going on!