Life on Mars Finale Rant
Apr. 14th, 2007 03:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamie_dakinYeesh, it's been such a long time since I did a public post, this feels kind of weird.
Tuesday was the hardest, Tuesday was so many different shades of terrible all at once. I knew everyone was seeing it, everyone already knew what I could not.
I was thankful for every work shift I had this week as it spared me from staring numbly at my laptop, counting blue torrent lines.
Dawn broke this morning during my night shift and I was sitting with my feet on the desk, grateful that I live in the Middle East (and that doesn't happen often) because it means I still get to smoke indoors. I don't remember who wrote a fic that had Sam as an ex-smoker who got tired of 'shivering in doorways' but that thought frightened me as much as it had Gene I suppose.
And I couldn’t get rid of that lump in my throat at the idea of coming home to see it. And the thing is.... this finale isn't like other finales. This could end everything. And not in that stupid - oh, this is how the canon says it ends. But really honestly change everything, every single fic ever written may be reduced to ashes, there may be nothing to write about in the future because none of them may have ever existed in the first place.
But it is actually the idea of fic, and the desire to read everything that had been written since the finale, that compelled me to stop behaving like a child and sit down with a bowl, comfort cereal, milk, a full pack of Luckies and an almost full bottle of Diet Coke. And press play.
Let’s get rid of the obvious first.
John Simm is a god amongst men and I am so very happy that I have no acting ambitions whatsoever because watching him in this episode would have crushed any hopes of ever being as talented. I haven’t cried from a television show since…actually I think it was the first time I heard this rendition of Over the Rainbow, playing softly as a certain Dr. Mark Greene left this earth.
The music was excellent, the camerawork superb, Frank Morgan a godsend of a villain and Chris so fucking genuine in his hysteria.
Now then.
WHERE. THE. FUCK was Gene?
Other than looking particularly delicious all decked out in bad boy black, where was The Great and Mighty DCI Gene-sodding-Hunt in all of this?
Where was even one, tiny, moment between them? We weren’t just invested in Sam Tyler or Gene Hunt as individuals, it was their relationship, their partnership, that kept me coming back. Last episode, that palpable relief that washes over Gene when Sam finally believes in his innocence, because as long as Sam believes him, believes in him…
Because you trust me, like I trust you.
Where was that partnership here? Sam’s objective is to destroy Gene yes? Then why was Gene so removed from this episode? Where was the scene illustrating the magnitude of Sam’s sacrifice? That’s just it really, if he wasn’t leaving anything behind what was it that he wanted so desperately to return to?
Because Annie, however lovely and sweet, has never and does not represent 1973. She doesn’t and they’ve never depicted her as such.
But Gene does. Picking 73’ should have meant picking Gene, picking a life alongside this man, his partner, his DCI.
I’ve sort of said this before once but I think it applies here too. Look, I know that in real life, I don’t actually want the characters I slash to get together. I’m a realist, I know the difference between what I want as a fan and what I want as a fan-fantasist.
But here… I’m not talking about sex. It’s not about that. With Gene and Sam it simply isn’t as basic and simple as that compulsion to pretend that the pretty boys we all love are boinking. The kind of intensity that encompasses Gene and Sam’s relationship… I’ve never encountered before, in any media.
This is exactly what I’ve always said about Brokeback. I just can’t be made to care that they’re actually having sex - because I just don’t care about their relationship. I remember sitting there in the theater and thinking – I just don’t believe they’re in love. Hell, most of the movie I could barely convince myself that they like each other, let alone were so in love/lust that they would take apart their lives to be together.
But in a way I was happy I didn’t like Brokeback. Happy that I recognized it as the emotional pornography that it was. No real heart, just a visual stimulatory production.
And I’m not trying to compare Jack and Ennis to Gene and Sam in terms of a sexual relationship. But rather in terms of the intensity of their emotional connection – their Dorothy Factor if you will. In Brokeback when they looked at each, or kissed or even fucked - I just didn't feel anything. Never gave it a second thought.
The way Sam and Gene look at each other at the bar at the end of 1.4? The unbroken eye-contact during Sam’s near execution in 1.6? The subdued thank you after they lock up Harry Wolfe and the trust speech in 2.7? That Gene would forgive Sam anything, everything, acting like a madman, going to Rathbone with the recording of Ray killing a prisoner, holding a gun to his head … that keeps me up at night.
It inspires me, makes me lose focus as work, it makes me write rants like this and forcibly pimp the series to every poor unsuspecting oaf who happens across my path.
So why do this, why end it like this? I mean, Sam committing suicide? Suicide? Even with John Simm acting the fucking shit out of that scene, out of every scene, I couldn’t believe it.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hmpf was absolutely right. The last ten minutes of the finale were very simply put – fanfic.
And poorly written fic at that because I have been reading ‘professional’ fiction since I learned how to read and ‘amateur’ fiction, fan fiction, since I was 12, and I in no way find the former superior to the latter. To go back to Brokeback for a moment - I read Annie Proulx’s short story right before the film version came out, and all I can say is – Nice, but I’ve honestly read better fic.
When Sam kisses Annie at the end, tethers himself to 73' through her, I wanted to cry and not for the right reason. Like the episode mantra - I didn't feel anything, it wasn’t real. And maybe that was the point but if it was I don’t think anyone gets it.
Who knows, maybe that was the point. Sam going back and everyone being all happy-go-lucky about his horrid betrayal. I kept waiting for that moment with Gene, the one the characters deserve - Thanks for saving my life you bastard, lying, double-crossing shit. Now c'mere so I can shag some sense into you.
Hey, if they’re going to end it like fic, can’t it at the very least be slashy?
I’m thinking I’ll erase that last bit but only because sometimes people interpret it incorrectly. I’m not… I’m not saying that I wanted Gene to replace Annie in that scene. I agree that there needed to be a scene illustrating Sam’s joy, that scene that says - this is what I came back for. In fact, keep the Annie snogging, whatever, but they did a great disservice to one of the most brilliant partnerships in television history by denying Sam and Gene their reconciliation.
Which brings me to the next bit. I know they've been hyping Ashes to Ashes to absolute death, but excuse me if it doesn't sound, word for sodding word, like the summary of a painfully classic Mary Sue self-insert. A sassy female detective from the future magically joins Gene and the gang (minus the already established female lead, of course) and she and Gene have this 'connection'. Sorry, but if before the show starts the creators feel compelled to announce – ‘There is going to be sexual tension between the leads’ - chances are that there won't be. AND, what the fuck are they on about, more tension than with Sam?
I don't see the Telegraph and the Independent writing that they believe any other two male characters were the real love story of any other show, much less asking the star actor if he agrees with their theory…
And when the British press and I agree on anything, that’s got to be worth a drink or two.
To be perfectly honest, for the longest time I wondered if Ashes to Ashes wasn't simply a terribly clever PR-bit. Throw the fans off the scent or something. Because if you want to end this after 16 episodes, be artistic and true to your craft and not overstay your welcome, then fine. Do that. Leave us the Gene we loved and remembered and don't forsake him.
But, in the end, it was a lovely episode and still the best goddamn series I think I will ever have the privilege of watching.
I thank all those who survived till the end very kindly and I thank this fandom in general, what a marvelous honor of an experience this has been.
Tuesday was the hardest, Tuesday was so many different shades of terrible all at once. I knew everyone was seeing it, everyone already knew what I could not.
I was thankful for every work shift I had this week as it spared me from staring numbly at my laptop, counting blue torrent lines.
Dawn broke this morning during my night shift and I was sitting with my feet on the desk, grateful that I live in the Middle East (and that doesn't happen often) because it means I still get to smoke indoors. I don't remember who wrote a fic that had Sam as an ex-smoker who got tired of 'shivering in doorways' but that thought frightened me as much as it had Gene I suppose.
And I couldn’t get rid of that lump in my throat at the idea of coming home to see it. And the thing is.... this finale isn't like other finales. This could end everything. And not in that stupid - oh, this is how the canon says it ends. But really honestly change everything, every single fic ever written may be reduced to ashes, there may be nothing to write about in the future because none of them may have ever existed in the first place.
But it is actually the idea of fic, and the desire to read everything that had been written since the finale, that compelled me to stop behaving like a child and sit down with a bowl, comfort cereal, milk, a full pack of Luckies and an almost full bottle of Diet Coke. And press play.
Let’s get rid of the obvious first.
John Simm is a god amongst men and I am so very happy that I have no acting ambitions whatsoever because watching him in this episode would have crushed any hopes of ever being as talented. I haven’t cried from a television show since…actually I think it was the first time I heard this rendition of Over the Rainbow, playing softly as a certain Dr. Mark Greene left this earth.
The music was excellent, the camerawork superb, Frank Morgan a godsend of a villain and Chris so fucking genuine in his hysteria.
Now then.
WHERE. THE. FUCK was Gene?
Other than looking particularly delicious all decked out in bad boy black, where was The Great and Mighty DCI Gene-sodding-Hunt in all of this?
Where was even one, tiny, moment between them? We weren’t just invested in Sam Tyler or Gene Hunt as individuals, it was their relationship, their partnership, that kept me coming back. Last episode, that palpable relief that washes over Gene when Sam finally believes in his innocence, because as long as Sam believes him, believes in him…
Because you trust me, like I trust you.
Where was that partnership here? Sam’s objective is to destroy Gene yes? Then why was Gene so removed from this episode? Where was the scene illustrating the magnitude of Sam’s sacrifice? That’s just it really, if he wasn’t leaving anything behind what was it that he wanted so desperately to return to?
Because Annie, however lovely and sweet, has never and does not represent 1973. She doesn’t and they’ve never depicted her as such.
But Gene does. Picking 73’ should have meant picking Gene, picking a life alongside this man, his partner, his DCI.
I’ve sort of said this before once but I think it applies here too. Look, I know that in real life, I don’t actually want the characters I slash to get together. I’m a realist, I know the difference between what I want as a fan and what I want as a fan-fantasist.
But here… I’m not talking about sex. It’s not about that. With Gene and Sam it simply isn’t as basic and simple as that compulsion to pretend that the pretty boys we all love are boinking. The kind of intensity that encompasses Gene and Sam’s relationship… I’ve never encountered before, in any media.
This is exactly what I’ve always said about Brokeback. I just can’t be made to care that they’re actually having sex - because I just don’t care about their relationship. I remember sitting there in the theater and thinking – I just don’t believe they’re in love. Hell, most of the movie I could barely convince myself that they like each other, let alone were so in love/lust that they would take apart their lives to be together.
But in a way I was happy I didn’t like Brokeback. Happy that I recognized it as the emotional pornography that it was. No real heart, just a visual stimulatory production.
And I’m not trying to compare Jack and Ennis to Gene and Sam in terms of a sexual relationship. But rather in terms of the intensity of their emotional connection – their Dorothy Factor if you will. In Brokeback when they looked at each, or kissed or even fucked - I just didn't feel anything. Never gave it a second thought.
The way Sam and Gene look at each other at the bar at the end of 1.4? The unbroken eye-contact during Sam’s near execution in 1.6? The subdued thank you after they lock up Harry Wolfe and the trust speech in 2.7? That Gene would forgive Sam anything, everything, acting like a madman, going to Rathbone with the recording of Ray killing a prisoner, holding a gun to his head … that keeps me up at night.
It inspires me, makes me lose focus as work, it makes me write rants like this and forcibly pimp the series to every poor unsuspecting oaf who happens across my path.
So why do this, why end it like this? I mean, Sam committing suicide? Suicide? Even with John Simm acting the fucking shit out of that scene, out of every scene, I couldn’t believe it.
hmpf was absolutely right. The last ten minutes of the finale were very simply put – fanfic. And poorly written fic at that because I have been reading ‘professional’ fiction since I learned how to read and ‘amateur’ fiction, fan fiction, since I was 12, and I in no way find the former superior to the latter. To go back to Brokeback for a moment - I read Annie Proulx’s short story right before the film version came out, and all I can say is – Nice, but I’ve honestly read better fic.
When Sam kisses Annie at the end, tethers himself to 73' through her, I wanted to cry and not for the right reason. Like the episode mantra - I didn't feel anything, it wasn’t real. And maybe that was the point but if it was I don’t think anyone gets it.
Who knows, maybe that was the point. Sam going back and everyone being all happy-go-lucky about his horrid betrayal. I kept waiting for that moment with Gene, the one the characters deserve - Thanks for saving my life you bastard, lying, double-crossing shit. Now c'mere so I can shag some sense into you.
Hey, if they’re going to end it like fic, can’t it at the very least be slashy?
I’m thinking I’ll erase that last bit but only because sometimes people interpret it incorrectly. I’m not… I’m not saying that I wanted Gene to replace Annie in that scene. I agree that there needed to be a scene illustrating Sam’s joy, that scene that says - this is what I came back for. In fact, keep the Annie snogging, whatever, but they did a great disservice to one of the most brilliant partnerships in television history by denying Sam and Gene their reconciliation.
Which brings me to the next bit. I know they've been hyping Ashes to Ashes to absolute death, but excuse me if it doesn't sound, word for sodding word, like the summary of a painfully classic Mary Sue self-insert. A sassy female detective from the future magically joins Gene and the gang (minus the already established female lead, of course) and she and Gene have this 'connection'. Sorry, but if before the show starts the creators feel compelled to announce – ‘There is going to be sexual tension between the leads’ - chances are that there won't be. AND, what the fuck are they on about, more tension than with Sam?
I don't see the Telegraph and the Independent writing that they believe any other two male characters were the real love story of any other show, much less asking the star actor if he agrees with their theory…
And when the British press and I agree on anything, that’s got to be worth a drink or two.
To be perfectly honest, for the longest time I wondered if Ashes to Ashes wasn't simply a terribly clever PR-bit. Throw the fans off the scent or something. Because if you want to end this after 16 episodes, be artistic and true to your craft and not overstay your welcome, then fine. Do that. Leave us the Gene we loved and remembered and don't forsake him.
But, in the end, it was a lovely episode and still the best goddamn series I think I will ever have the privilege of watching.
I thank all those who survived till the end very kindly and I thank this fandom in general, what a marvelous honor of an experience this has been.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:47 am (UTC)You hit the nail squarely on the head of why A2A concerns me more than excites me. You're totally on - it's exactly what it sounds like.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:53 am (UTC)I have other issues with the finale, but yes, Gene was a big one :(
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Date: 2007-04-14 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:49 am (UTC)You speak the truth, you certainly do speak the truth.
*claps*
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 01:12 am (UTC)I think this was the most OOC show I've seen in this series, and it was a horrible ending, IMO. I still feel more than a little betrayed :(
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 01:25 am (UTC)Btw I wanted to say that I completely agree with your (far more eloquent and collected) review. I read it at work (hence the lack of signing in and commenting) and kind of felt like Sam for a moment, murmuring yes, that's it, exactly, that's right at an inanimate object.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 01:21 am (UTC)Hey, where the fuck WAS Gene? Damn you, show, for blinding me with emotion!
After the inital "OMG he totally stayed!" fangasm, I'm starting to feel ever-so-slightly cheated. Especially after, as you pointed out, the slashy goodness of 2.7...
That said, I still forgive the episode everything for that shot of Sam jumping off the roof. Come on BAFTA, you belong to John Simm...
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 01:45 am (UTC)It's ok, I only just joined the club too. I'm thinking of having jackets made...
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 03:33 am (UTC)now, i am very happy with the finale. i'm cool with it being open-ended. i enjoyed it but of of all the things, i so wish they hadn't gone there. NO GENE & SAM? WHERE WAS THERE LOVE? do they realize that most of us are more emotionally invested in their bond with each other than with any of the other characters? the whole annie being suddenly thrust into the picture (love her! btw) and there being basically NO gene..no gene and sam moments...it just didn't feel right. i kept thinking about why this particular episode felt a bit off-kilter and then i realized that the writers totally ditched the gene & sam element to catch up on annie/sam and quickly conclude that. i wouldn't mind if they even did that right, but they didn't. it felt so forced/rushed. so, not only did they not give us the gene/sam reconciliation(hello, the emotional core of the show), they also managed to reduce annie/sam into a cliche.
anyway, i enjoyed the finale but i agree 100% when it comes to this.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 05:42 am (UTC)Muchos love,
Ella
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 11:42 am (UTC)Me casa, su casa, me computer, su computer, me bed... well, you get my drift... hooray for shacking up in fangirl sin!
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Date: 2007-04-14 08:38 am (UTC)It takes a few days for me to catch the reason why I'm so unhappy with it.
I want to write so much more, but sorry, my english isn't good enough...
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 09:22 am (UTC)I wrote a similar (shorter) rant on it here:
http://echo-voice.livejournal.com/662.html#cutid1
if you're interested.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 09:38 am (UTC)Don't get me wrong, I love Life on Mars more than words and I'm still genuinely happy with the that resolution we got - completely! - but that one thing still really bothers me. You know?
Also, "Thanks for saving my life you bastard, lying, double-crossing shit. Now c'mere so I can shag some sense into you." = well THERE'S a fic just waiting to be written. *Opens MS Word, etc etc*
Plus, I was nodding my head furiously over all your points on the finale, so when you reached A2A I thought it might actually drop off: the problems you have with it, love, are exactly the problems I have. I read it and basically thought, well, they're trying to re-create Sam and Gene's relationship with a woman so that all that UST will be socially acceptable. I really hope we're wrong.
In short, thank you for putting all of this into words, and you are the awesome.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 11:50 am (UTC)Hooray for silver linings! If cascades of fic are the result of our frustration than it shall become infinitely easier to bear, go forth and write people!
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 10:07 am (UTC)Introducing sexual tension? You're joking. I don't think anyone can match the tension Gene had with Sam - and that's not just the slasher in me talking. What got me hooked way back in the first season was the way the two of them interacted - Best relationship I've ever come across in television.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 10:10 am (UTC)And the interesting thing is, I bought the 'official companion' book yesterday, and on page 31 is an interesting quote that I'm wondering if the writers may regret putting in there what with A2A being confirmed and all sorts...
"Without Sam, Gene doesn't make sense; without Gene, Sam just wouldn't be interesting enough! They compliment one another perfectly"
Without Sam, Gene doesn't make sense. They admit it themselves. So what do they do? Throw him into the 80s without Sam and chuck in a replacement.
Hmmmm. I'm dubious. Much as I want to love A2A... I'm dubious.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 10:55 am (UTC)I can see the point of Sam/Gene (which I can see, in my slashy little heart, as erotica) because I feel it was a happy accident: the intensity, emotion, tension, 'sexiness' doesn't feel 'carefully written in' and isn't to do with ideals of beauty or heroism.
What I've seen written about A2A so far sounds awfully like: Hey, This Worked: Let's Try To Push All The Same Buttons Again On Purpose.
Both Sam and Gene in LoM have the freedom to be a complete arsehole if the plot or characterisation calls for it. The writers have dealt with the Sexism Problem basically by idealising Annie and making Phyllis a 'battleaxe' character who has to be as tough as the men (and isn't on stage very much).
Making the hero a heroine is very likely to mean the writers don't feel quite as free to send her up or embarrass her or show her as uptight or driven as they did with Sam.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:41 pm (UTC)Which is exactly why trying to say that the future where she comes from is some pink, fuzzy realm of perfect equality is going to be a huge (and somewhat sexist) mistake on their part. Women are still so grossly underrepresented and poorly presented in television that we (myself included) honestly can't seem to buy into a woman being Sam's replacement, much less his equal.
I think that by making her a mother they were trying to add an automatic artificial character layer to her, but in a lot of ways it also automatically makes her journey much less interesting than Sam's because we know she doesn't only want to go home, she needs to go home. Sam's final decision was fascinating because he was a free agent in the universe whereas Alex or whatever they decide to call her, is a mother and therefore quite doomed - she can't decide to stay in 81' no matter what because then she'll be a bad mother and if there's one thing the audience can't handle it's that.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 11:05 am (UTC)Ray, Chris, even bloody Phylis got a kind of closure conversation with Sam, but Gene was left hanging in the wind. It annoys me, greatly.
Thanks for articulating what I obviously couldn't.
x
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Date: 2007-04-14 11:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 12:19 pm (UTC)I too am very worried by the press release for A2A and the things they felt they had to say. Bleah.
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Date: 2007-04-14 01:53 pm (UTC)*sighs* I'm pondering one whether I really did like the ending like I said I did :\
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 01:58 pm (UTC)It would have taken so very little. Ideally, a good hefty trust scene which causes Sam some proper angst. But a little bit more on the train when Gene finds out what Sam is would have done. Even, if they were really pushed for time, a ten second non-verbal exchange. eg:
Sam looks through the blinds into the CID room. "None of you are real. And Gene Hunt is a tumour in my head etc etc". Continues to gaze at Gene. Gene, feeling the eyes upon him, looks up and locks stares with Sam in an intense and meaningful way. You know the sort of thing. Sam is finally forced to look away, tormented as he is by the knowledge of his impending betrayal. Few more secs of Sam running hands across face, being torn apart by the cataclysmic decision he's facing or other such Simm specials. Job done.
Not much to ask, really.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-14 02:09 pm (UTC)Brilliant, exactly, that's exactly how it should have been done.
And you're right about the second viewing, now I can watch it without looking desperately at the minutes quickly dwindling and that horrid realization that there isn't going to be time for a Sam/Gene exchange.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-26 08:03 pm (UTC)Now...yeah. As for how I viewed this episode, I felt like it was a first draft. Too many ideas shoehorned in sideways and not enough editing. And completely tragic. I had been avoiding spoilers and TRA and reading things on
And so, was totally flabbergasted when I came back and read people's opinions and saw that a lot of people thought it was a happy ending. I seriously didn't understand. WHAT?!?
Mind, I wasn't totally dissatisfied with it, either. I'm fine with a tragic ending. I'm even actually fine with him jumping; but I'm not fine with what led up to it, and even though prior to this episode I hadn't been unhappy with the idea canon might end up Sam/Annie, in this whole episode they were just...wrong. It was all wrong. You're right, John Simm acted the hell out of it and even though I dearly hate the graveyard scene, that one face he makes when he sees his own gravestone...oooooh. Just the way his face changes in that one scene is amazing. He can do so much just using his face it totally floors me. Nothing but love for the actors; they did the best they could with what they were given.
But you're totally and completely 100% right. WHERE THE HELL WAS GENE? And we were meant to believe, ESPECIALLY after 2.07 when Sam was the only one who seemed to believe Gene was innocent, that he'd SO QUICKLY follow Morgan and betray Gene? Even if he did think it was going to bring him home? I could buy the idea, but not how they sold it to us.
The thing is, I could buy many of the ideas. I think that's where my struggle has been. I just don't like how they were sold to us, and I'll never be convinced it was a happy ending. It's a complete tragedy, which I have no trouble with at all...except the execution was a lot sloppier than it deserved to be.
I've discussed this elsewhere, too. This episode should have been longer than it was; perhaps then, some rather gaping holes in logic (and plot) could have been filled in. Though ideally, other things could have been more cohesively strewn about throughout the show to add up to something at the end.