Spoilers. The US remake of the BBC's Life On Mars is still alive, back from mid-season hiatus and now partnered with Lost on Wednesday nights on ABC. We left Sam Tyler (Jason O'Mara) in a very exciting, rather surreal predicament last year – having decoded cryptic messages hidden in the paperwork of the crimes he's been solving, he was led to the address of a remote cabin containing a ringing telephone, where the caller cryptically told him to go down to the basement...... and "Take A Look At The Lawmen" totally ignores that cliffhanger ending. If you've spent the past few months wondering what "force" guided Sam to the cabin, who was speaking on the phone, and what was down the basement... I'm afraid you're sore out of luck for answers. Those events aren't referenced, or alluded to! "Take A Look At The Lawmen" is an entirely standalone episode, that was most likely written or conceived before episode 7 aired – which itself may have had its coda inserted at the eleventh hour. Whatever the background goings-on, it's a slap in the face for audiences who have stayed faithful to LOM:US, despite its many problems.
Here, Gene Hunt (Harvey Keitel) and the rest of the 125's detectives investigate the robbery of a Russian bank that falls into the jurisdiction of the rival 144 precinct, headed by Gene's nemesis Lt. Anthony Nunzio (Vincent Curatola). During the heist, the gunman accidentally shot and killed a bystander across the street, whose murder falls into the 125's authority – setting in motion a longstanding competition between the two departments, fuelled by Gene and Nunzio's longstanding hatred of each other.
Sam tries to keep the peace between the two lawmen, and interviews the only English-speaking witness of the robbery – a nine-year-old Russian immigrant, being cared for by an attractive social worker called Maria Bellanger (Maggie Siff), who takes a shine to Sam.
"Take A Look At The Lawmen" heralds a few changes of tone that prove quite welcome. The episode felt more easygoing than usual, thanks to a lighter feel and comical moments – like Gene getting a shy boy to talk by pretending he was the inspiration for Fred Flintstone. Sam also appears to be embracing his new life now – instead of moaning and bitching about their antiquated methods and chauvinistic attitudes (his "I'm Spartacus!" moment even earns a wry smile from Gene.)
A minor theme was the idea that immigrants should try and embrace their new home, and this is reflected in Sam's decision to accept the fact he's stuck in 1973, and just go along for the ride. Most notably, Sam's concerns about cheating on 21st-century girlfriend Maya are forgotten, when Maria makes the move on him that besotted Annie (Gretchen Mol) keeps failing to take.
Incidentally, it's great to see Maggie Siff on the show, too – essentially time-travelling herself, from '60s-based Mad Men to the early-'70s here. Her involvement with Sam also creates a love-triangle with Annie (or love-square if you include Maya), that should give Jason O'Mara a more active stake in 1973-land. Indeed, the last-minute reveal about Maria's true identity will really shake things up in a Ben Stiller/Robert DeNiro in Meet The Parents style.
The story itself was fun but rarely enthralling, with Gene's crew trying to find their bank robber before Nunzio's officers beat them to it. Gene and Nunzio's history together was nicely-handled and written (a feud over an old girlfriend, whom Gene actually married), and marked the first time where Keitel seemed to find something in Gene to play – beyond being a grouchy, decrepit version of Philip Glenister's still vastly-superior original.
Overall, this was a perfectly reasonable and entertaining episode, that just had the bad fortune to follow a major cliffhanger and choose to ignore it completely. Ignoring that gross oversight by the writers, it's nice to feel LOM:US is beginning to find its own identity and will hopefully continue developing Gene into a decent character, and give Sam more facets to play.
The one thing that's still not working about this US remake is the seemingly arbitrary theories about Sam's situation, which we're given nearly every episode. This episode posits something about a '70s-era Russian scientist using miniature robots to go inside the human body and find its soul. Utter nonsense, of course, and Mars' attempts to keep its audience guessing about Sam's reality is a problem this remake will continue to suffer from, until it settles on something.
28 January 2009
ABC, 10pm
Writers: Sonny Postiglione & David Wilcox
Director: Brad Turner
Cast: Michael Imperioli (Ray), Harvey Keitel (Gene), Jason O'Mara (Sam), Jonathan Murphy (Chris), Gretchen Mol (Annie), John Cenatiempo (Sizable Ted), Michael Gibson (FBI Agent), Bernard Hernandez (James), Jessica Maksimov (Yuri's Daughter), Jeff Wiens (Ruben Penzler), Daniel Yelsky (Lexi Voronin), Yelana Shmulenson (Lexi's Mother), Olek Krupa (Vasilli Lukin), Damon Tolstoy (Sasho), Christopher Tschupp (Fucci), Michael Aronov (Yuri Demidov), Joe Badalucco (Carbone), Vincent Curatola (Lt. Anthony Nunzio) & Maggie Siff (Maria Belanger)
