11 April 2007
HYDE 2612 - NO RETURN
Well 2612 was just a room number and not "too sick, want to" as I thought for about 10 minutes during last night's final installment of Life On Mars. Hopefully I have an OTT Review forthcoming, but in the meantime scratching round the Internet today I have been surprised to see there is no real consensus on actually what happened in the end.
To me, I thought it was all very explicit - Sam woke up from his coma (he must have actually been awake as the series' creators needed him to document his experiences so that the upcoming lead character in Ashes To Ashes can read them before she too plunges into a coma). Upon realising that his "life" in 1973 was far more vivid and enjoyable than his real life, he decided to try and return to "1973" by jumping off the top of the Police Station.
The bit with the test card girl switching our telly off at the end was just a bit of extra fun, that didn't really have any bearing on the denouement as a whole.
Now is this correct, or is there anyone out there who thinks something different happened? And more importantly was this a good finale for Sam?
To me, I thought it was all very explicit - Sam woke up from his coma (he must have actually been awake as the series' creators needed him to document his experiences so that the upcoming lead character in Ashes To Ashes can read them before she too plunges into a coma). Upon realising that his "life" in 1973 was far more vivid and enjoyable than his real life, he decided to try and return to "1973" by jumping off the top of the Police Station.
The bit with the test card girl switching our telly off at the end was just a bit of extra fun, that didn't really have any bearing on the denouement as a whole.
Now is this correct, or is there anyone out there who thinks something different happened? And more importantly was this a good finale for Sam?
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James the Blue Cat has the bastard version:
http://jamesandthebluecat.blogspot.com/2007/04/so-end-of-life-on-mars-then-includes.html
"Apparently you can hear the flatlining on the radio, which means the end bit where the girl from the screen card turns off the telly signifies that Sam really is dead, The End.
The short version: Sam never left his hospital bed, and emerged from his coma only briefly, only to die when the operation to save him failed."
Personally I'm going with the far simpler version you've described. Otherwise its the climax of 'Quantum Leap' all over again when a simple caption created one of the biggest downer endings in the history of tv.
http://jamesandthebluecat.blogspot.com/2007/04/so-end-of-life-on-mars-then-includes.html
"Apparently you can hear the flatlining on the radio, which means the end bit where the girl from the screen card turns off the telly signifies that Sam really is dead, The End.
The short version: Sam never left his hospital bed, and emerged from his coma only briefly, only to die when the operation to save him failed."
Personally I'm going with the far simpler version you've described. Otherwise its the climax of 'Quantum Leap' all over again when a simple caption created one of the biggest downer endings in the history of tv.
The Manchester Evening News has a long interview with Matthew Graham, discussing at least one alternative and the BBC's concerns with having John Simm leap off a building. Which is where, in my opinion, the episode should have stopped, instead of the soppy baked beanery that followed:
http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ianwylie/2007/04/life_on_mars_the_answers.html
http://blogs.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ianwylie/2007/04/life_on_mars_the_answers.html
# posted by 
: 5:29 PM
: 5:29 PM
Matt Graham gave an interview to the Manchester Evening News, which is now online I think. It backs up your version of the ending pretty much exactly - even down to the Test Card girl being just a bit of fun at the end.
Great ending, I thought.
Great ending, I thought.
# posted by : 5:32 PM
: 5:32 PM
I was worried that Sam was going to choose to stay in "1973" without ever waking up in 2006, so I was pleased we got a bit of "the 21st century isn't so great after all" before he took the leap back to "life" again.
Now we realise why we had to have the "I'm going to stop coming to see you" episode. Should've seen it coming from then. Shame for poor old Mrs Tyler, though. She's had a tough deal in 1973 and 2006.
Now we realise why we had to have the "I'm going to stop coming to see you" episode. Should've seen it coming from then. Shame for poor old Mrs Tyler, though. She's had a tough deal in 1973 and 2006.
I was... perplexed by the ending. It wasn't what I expected, which is good in a way, of course. It wasn't exactly satisfying, but I'm pleased that it was suitably memorable and thought-provoking without a happy-ever-after cop-out. Kudos to the producers for making a "He woke up, and it was all a dream" ending that actually isn't a total letdown. To quote the Simpsons: "I'm confused. Is this a happy ending or a sad ending?" "It's an ending, that's enough."
The ending was appropriate. He didn't like 2007, preferred life in 73 where he felt 'alive', so made it happen that he went back there.
If only we could really do things like that...
If only we could really do things like that...
Nope, I reckon you have it correct there, Jack. It was never a mystery: the stall was set out from the beginning, but the enigmatic way it was played out had people reading far more into it than was perhaps intended by the writer, methinks :-)
If Sam was from 1973, how would he have known all those cultural references: e.g. calling himself 'Tony Blair' and calling Hunt 'Gordon Brown' in that wife-swapping episode, for example?
It's fair to say the the radio in the car being switched off, rather than the TV at the end, gives it away: 2007 Sam is dead. Long live 1973 Sam. He made a conscious decision to reject life in 2006.
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If Sam was from 1973, how would he have known all those cultural references: e.g. calling himself 'Tony Blair' and calling Hunt 'Gordon Brown' in that wife-swapping episode, for example?
It's fair to say the the radio in the car being switched off, rather than the TV at the end, gives it away: 2007 Sam is dead. Long live 1973 Sam. He made a conscious decision to reject life in 2006.
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