LoM again
...god. It's so good to watch Life on Mars again, but it also breaks. My. Fucking. Heart.
Just... gah. For every bit of joy and triumph--they catch a baddie and Gene doesn't want to punch Sam's lights out for once--wham, we get back to Samangst, something that really kicks you in the stomach, and still kicks you when you're down like a claymation Gene Hunt. Yet they don't overdo it. Ok, there were a few tiny weak moments (hello, Chinballs, I'm looking at you), but... gah. And you know what? I think it was the beautifully done angst that got me hooked in the first place. If the series had gone on longer it would've not worked. Two series--compact. Enough to tell a good story. Enough for the test card girl still to be one of the most frightening things ever (as if she wasn't already--there's always something about test pictures and clips and things that somehow have no life yet are staring at you when the programming's over and fuck, augh)... and for the angst to work.
I mean, as much as I'm leching this time at Simmarse and howling with laughter at the Sam/Gene and their "dirty little secret"s and things (AHAHA HE APOLOGISES TO GENE FOR NOT BEING CHAINED UP IN BED THIS TIME)--I just fall apart when it comes to Sam. Just... gah, I'm in pieces. Like I said earlier, his pain touches me like Vila's does. Somehow. And he's crumpled up in a heap and crying his eyes out and I just want to hold him, and you know that's not going to make things any better, yet it's beautiful and he keeps on fighting until the end in a world that's far more real than where he's come from... gah. I just rewatched the fourth episode and ok, ok, handcuffs--nggh, but the mum angst (uh, except for the fact that he gets visions of his mum when he's being handcuffed and fucked--how disturbed is that?!?), the dead girl, Sam's ideals coming down--he cries FOUR TIMES during that episode and still manages to choke me up. It'd be so easy to get sick of that and scream CHEER UP EMO COPPER but it's balanced so beautifully with the silly shit--"thou shalt not suck off rentboys", the Grand National bounciness, the roffleworthy cheeky banter in the freezing slaughterhouse complete with funny hats, "OMG MARC BOLAN"... HOW DO THEY DO THAT? Can someone please teach Rusty to write like that? (I don't care if Fear Her was disappointing despite the wonderfully creepy idea of kids' drawings coming to life and eating children, I still think the main writers should write for Who because they've made me care far more about Sam than Ten, who I just want to punch most of the time).
In conclusion, I am grateful to the timecock action (the irony! Let's get ANOTHER great character actor to pull fucking stupid faces and play a big kid, then have some homoerotic tension with our lead and people will go back and check OTHER SERIES where there's way more hardcore pwnage and tightly-written, well-acted drama--not panto!) for making people finally see the light and watch this series. It's fucking great telly. Just... classic stuff. Right up there with the best TV They Used To Make In The Good Old Days, and I say this as a hardcore vintage telefantasy fan. You don't get stuff like that any more.
Just... gah. For every bit of joy and triumph--they catch a baddie and Gene doesn't want to punch Sam's lights out for once--wham, we get back to Samangst, something that really kicks you in the stomach, and still kicks you when you're down like a claymation Gene Hunt. Yet they don't overdo it. Ok, there were a few tiny weak moments (hello, Chinballs, I'm looking at you), but... gah. And you know what? I think it was the beautifully done angst that got me hooked in the first place. If the series had gone on longer it would've not worked. Two series--compact. Enough to tell a good story. Enough for the test card girl still to be one of the most frightening things ever (as if she wasn't already--there's always something about test pictures and clips and things that somehow have no life yet are staring at you when the programming's over and fuck, augh)... and for the angst to work.
I mean, as much as I'm leching this time at Simmarse and howling with laughter at the Sam/Gene and their "dirty little secret"s and things (AHAHA HE APOLOGISES TO GENE FOR NOT BEING CHAINED UP IN BED THIS TIME)--I just fall apart when it comes to Sam. Just... gah, I'm in pieces. Like I said earlier, his pain touches me like Vila's does. Somehow. And he's crumpled up in a heap and crying his eyes out and I just want to hold him, and you know that's not going to make things any better, yet it's beautiful and he keeps on fighting until the end in a world that's far more real than where he's come from... gah. I just rewatched the fourth episode and ok, ok, handcuffs--nggh, but the mum angst (uh, except for the fact that he gets visions of his mum when he's being handcuffed and fucked--how disturbed is that?!?), the dead girl, Sam's ideals coming down--he cries FOUR TIMES during that episode and still manages to choke me up. It'd be so easy to get sick of that and scream CHEER UP EMO COPPER but it's balanced so beautifully with the silly shit--"thou shalt not suck off rentboys", the Grand National bounciness, the roffleworthy cheeky banter in the freezing slaughterhouse complete with funny hats, "OMG MARC BOLAN"... HOW DO THEY DO THAT? Can someone please teach Rusty to write like that? (I don't care if Fear Her was disappointing despite the wonderfully creepy idea of kids' drawings coming to life and eating children, I still think the main writers should write for Who because they've made me care far more about Sam than Ten, who I just want to punch most of the time).
In conclusion, I am grateful to the timecock action (the irony! Let's get ANOTHER great character actor to pull fucking stupid faces and play a big kid, then have some homoerotic tension with our lead and people will go back and check OTHER SERIES where there's way more hardcore pwnage and tightly-written, well-acted drama--not panto!) for making people finally see the light and watch this series. It's fucking great telly. Just... classic stuff. Right up there with the best TV They Used To Make In The Good Old Days, and I say this as a hardcore vintage telefantasy fan. You don't get stuff like that any more.