In Conclusion
We were supposed to go out last night to see the Rich Kids (1977 band formed by Glen Matlock after he left the Sex Pistols and featuring Midge Ure, Steve New & Rusty Egan), do a reunion benefit gig for New, who's been fighting cancer, but the roads round here are way too icy to risk driving and we didn't fancy our chances on the trains much either
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I finally made it to the end of Life on Mars S2 last night. My sister gave me S1 for Christmas, so I rewatched that, then ordered S2. It's been a long while since my first watch of S1 that a lot of it was new again, but I also saw so much more detail this time. So much detail in that show!
I am slightly embarassed to admit that I watched many episodes with the subtitles on. ::blushes:: Gene's dialogue was so fast and furious and his accent so thick that I just couldn't keep up. And I wanted to get it all, 'cause what a brilliant show! I don't know how they packed so much into two short seasons: plot, character development, romance, angst, comedy, social commentary on then and now... I know I'll be rewatching the entire thing again.
But didja notice that the overall plot was the same as Avatar's? With the added twist that 1973 Sam had amnesia. How very odd.
On another note, I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY KILLED SCOFIELD!!!!!! I did NOT see that coming until he got that last nosebleed. ::weeps:: I still haven't seen the post-series movie--is it any good?
I'm now working my way through S1 of Supernatural. It's fun!
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I think Life On Mars is an absolute masterclass in How To Do It Right. The actors and writers just nail it, on every conceivable level. The S2 finale caused a lot of waves in the fandom, because some people really hated it. I wasn't one of them :-) I thought it was perfect -- I was amazed that they had the chops to go there, to finish a wildly successful primetime BBC drama with the suicide of the lead character. It was a brave, ballsy storytelling decision that was bleak, breathtaking and a mindfuck to the end -- just like the show itself. I understand why people had a problem with it, but for *my* Sam, my selfish, damaged, crazy Sam, it made perfect sense.
It shows, I think, just how perfectly the stars aligned in the making of that show when you watch the US version. It's... kind of cute in a rather bumbling sort of way. I love Michael Imperioli as Ray, and I'm looking forward to the car crash of a finale with masochistic glee, but I only ever half pay attention - it's background TV only. From identical DNA, they produced... well, the runt of the litter :-)
(Haven't seen Avatar - is it worth it?)
RIP Michael Scofield, indeed. We miss you still :-)
With you on the final nosebleed revelation, when your heart just *breaks.* I didn't watch the movie for a long time (because until you've seen the final scene it's not over, right?) but I eventually had to cave and yes, it is good - worth seeing.
I recently started a rewatch of Supernatural S1 too! Where are you up to? It kind of surprised me to realise that it was actually such a good show, right from the start. Are you a Dean girl or a Sam girl? *g*
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I need to watch the series about 12 more times to get everything out of it. There's so much in there. You could write several theses on it.
Do you think Sam was selfish? They say that people who commit suicide are selfish. I don't think it was ever made clear which world was the real one, honestly. That scene at the end where Sam is in the incredibly dry and boring meeting where policy buzzwords are flying around like a swarm of gnats--which is more ridiculous: that world or 1973? Certainly, Gene would have listened to that conversation, scoffed loudly and rudely at the thought that that was policing, and declared it proof of insanity. :-)
If it was all about Sam being in a coma, how did he apparently change the future world in at least two ways? When he had his accident, Maya was missing and in the hands of a serial killer. After they discover who the original killer was in 1973, someone tells Sam that Maya's in the room and she's safe. How did that happen?
And then there was the fellow who Sam had sent to a psychiatric facility instead of jail (as had happened in the history of his world), and that patient came into Sam's coma-room and tried to kill him. Was he always in the psych ward, or did his timeline change?
Was Sam somehow changing history? Did he somehow make his mentor (the black fellow--names fail me) what he turned out to be?
So many questions!! I want more seasons.
Yes, Avatar is worth it. Not the most breathtakingly original plot or the most amazing character development, and it bugged the hell out of me how they portrayed research scientists ("I have to get samples!!!") (which is also why I can't watch Bones), but it's a marvellous film just to watch, an exciting ride, and comes with a feel-good ending. I'm pleased that it's knocked Titanic from its #1 spot. I'm one of the few who thought that Titanic was overdone and schmaltzy. I also HATED The Piano, when every other woman on the planet thought it was the most romantic thing ever, and I loathed Bram Stoker's Dracula (just because it's a long film with poor lighting does not make it profound). I'm weird that way.
See Avatar in 3D if you can--it's fun.
I will have to order the Prison Break movie then. I've read that it confirms Michael's death, although I'm not entirely sure I want it confirmed any more than it already is.
I'm on Disc 3 of SPN. Last night's episode was the faith healing one (with Darla!). It's pretty solid for a first season, although the bug episode was a bit lame. So far, it's mostly been monster of the week stuff, but hints of long-term plots are starting to come up.
I dunno yet if I'm a Sam fan or a Dean fan. I like Dean's in-your-faceness, and I'd probably like Sam more if he got a haircut. Time will tell. Which are you?
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I think Sam's worldview was very much It's All About Sam All The Time --although you have to forgive him for that in the '73 world since well, it actually kind of was :-) The people who hated the ending had a problem with what it would have done to Ruth, which I can see -- there, I think, is where the 'suicide is selfish' idea lives.
I personally believe that the actual reality is ambiguous, too. I think there's validity for that reading in the show, although I understand that the writers (initially, at least -- I gather there's supposed to be some kind of definitive explanation coming up at the end of Ashes to Ashes) stated for sure that he was in a coma, 2006 was real and 1973 was a hallucination.
If you work from that point, then everything that Sam experienced in '73 -- including the glimpses of 2006 -- was false. So the things that led him to believe events had changed (hearing about Maya, Tony Crane escaping & trying to kill him in the hospital) never actually happened. Everything in '73 is completely self-contained, and didn't affect the 'real' 2006 at all.
I can see that works, but I don't like it, because that means Gene & the others never had any independent reality at all -- and that is just not acceptable :-) My personal canon is that Sam was supposed to die in the car accident and be non-linearly reincarnated, but the wonders of modern science kept his body alive and so that's why he 'flitted' between realities. He ended up waking into a world he wasn't supposed to be in any more, and couldn't connect with. When he jumped, it put things back in order and he could live properly in '73. Or something like that, anyway *g*
I'm a little torn on Avatar. I want to see it for the experience (clearly a TV viewing is never going to cut it) but there was an ep of South Park that spoofed it so well (Cartman living with the Smurfs) that it's made it very hard for me to take it seriously :-)
I hated Dracula too, haven't watched The Piano and have actively avoided watching Titanic. Guess we're both weird!
The Darla ep of SPN is great! I'm just a few ahead of you, I think. The bug episode is FAMOUSLY appalling, and the racist truck was pretty hilarious, but on the whole the MOTW eps are good. Once the arc plot kicks in, it kicks in big time, and they do a very good job of blending the early stuff in. It's HUGE fun.
I expected to be a Sam!girl (he's definitely the Michael of the two, heh) but no, it ended up being Dean all the way for me. I shall await news of your allegiance in due course *g*
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