"Maybe this is the reason why I'm here: to figure out whathappened to my family… and to prevent my father from leaving."
-- Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara)
Another week, another remake. Interestingly, this seventh episode tackles the season 1 finale of the BBC series, which guarantees some big answers for fans, despite how premature it all feels…
In one of the minor changes, "The Man Who Sold The World" revolves around the kidnapping of a baby (instead of the murder of a bookmaker's clerk), but it still results in the apprehension of Vic Tyler (Dean Winters) as the prime suspect. Of course, Vic is actually Sam's (Jason O'Mara) father, the man who notoriously abandoned his family on Sam's fourth birthday. Is it a coincidence that Sam's birthday is just days away? Sam doesn't think so, as he begins to suspect he's been sent back in time to 1973 to change history and ensure the Tyler family stay together.
Like the original episode, the story is the crescendo to an assortment of motifs from the preceding episodes -- particularly Sam's dreamlike glimpses of a woman in a red dress walking through a forest, and his coincidental brushes with his mother Rose (Jennifer Ferrin). Sadly, LOM:US has been so crowded with fantasy fripperies that the bread crumbs that led us to this point have maybe gone unnoticed. I certainly don't think Sam's suppressed memories of a red-coated woman have been a particularly memorable visual of the series.
And, of course, with this storyline intended as a big climax for Life On Mars originally, it's merely an important stepping stone for the US remake. Indeed, the final moments deviate from LOM:UK in how Sam deals with the news his father is a villain, and dives deeper into the rabbit hole when Sam realizes his case-files contain clues that lead him to a mysterious house…
As usual with LOM:US, some of the changes to the story were welcome and certainly more dramatic -- the baby kidnapping premise was an improvement; Vic is shown to be a genuinely nasty scumbag, not a sympathetic baddie; and I'd be lying if I said the cliffhanger didn't leave me desperate to watch episode 8. Although, I'm still struggling to imagine how the US producers can possibly concoct an all-encompassing solution to Sam's time-slip that doesn't copy the British ending.
Guest star Dean Winters was great as Sam's shady father, even if he's yet another character with an odd tolerance for Sam's nonsensical ramblings. Speaking of which, why doesn't Sam give Annie (Gretchen Mol) irrefutable proof about his time-travelling story? Does she still think it's coincidence the Tyler family have a son called Sam, and he knows intimate details of their lives? It never happened in the UK series either, but I wish Annie would be persuaded to believe Sam's story and help him get him back to 2008. Seeing her grapple with the possibility she's just a figment of Sam's imagination would also be fun.
This episode fumbled some classic moments from the UK series, too: the father/son basketball scene didn't click like the original's joyous football kickabout; the moment when Young Sammy tugs on the trouser of his adult self was badly inserted and limp; and the reveal that the woman in the red dress was Annie didn't provide the intended punch.)
Still, the sweep of the storyline was fun, the "daddy issues" gave O'Mara some interesting stuff to play, it provided a few answers for those who've been paying attention, and the sidelining of Gene (Harvey Keitel) was appreciated. It seems crazy to be saying this, but I hope LOM:US kill Gene and replace him with someone closer in temperament to Philip Glenister soon. Gene's younger, sexier brother Jim Hunt?
Overall, "The Man Who Sold The World" is a decent episode that suffers when compared to the original (a la every episode of LOM:US that uses a UK episode as its basis.) I'm hoping the strange cliffhanger will be answered in a manner that send LOM:US spinning into fresh territory -- although the arrival of a telephone caller who can communicate with Sam suggests to me they'll simply start remaking LOM:UK's season 2 scripts. At time of writing ABC have ordered four more episodes, due to air at the end of January on a Wednesday night partnership with Lost.
I still think LOM:US has the potential to be a great show, but success will only come when they run out of episodes to copy and find their own voice -- as the American version of The Office discovered in season 2.
20 November 2008
ABC, 10/9c
Writers: Meredith Averill & Phil M. Rosenberg (based on a script by Matthew Graham)
Director: Darnell Martin
Cast: Jason O'Mara (Sam), Gretchen Mol (Annie), Jonathan Murphy (Chris), Michael Imperioli (Ray), Harvey Keitel (Gene), John Cenatiempo (Sizable Ted), Lee Tergesen (Lee Crocker), Jennifer Ferrin (Rose Tyler), Dean Winters (Vic Tyler), Alex Cranmer (Karl Kreshpane), Matthew Cowles (Cowboy Dan), Teddy Coluca (Uncle Butchie), Diedre Goodwin (Nurse), Christian Wallace (Young Sammy), Caleb Wallace (Young Sammy) & Tricia Paoluccio (Janice Kreshpane)
