Life on Mars – Summer DVD Review – Tuesday’s Dead

life on mars

Life on Mars
Tuesday’s Dead

Original Air Date: Nov 13, 2008

Sara M. – TwoCents Reviewer
sara@thetwocentscorp.com

When you think you’re dead, you become a bit reckless. Sam thinks that he’s either dead or about to be. Although, to be fair, hearing the voices of loved ones saying “We’re going to pull the plug tomorrow at 2 o’clock” will do that do you. Recklessness can be a tricky thing when dealing with an angry, armed assailant holding an entire mental ward hostage.

But before we get into all of that, lets go back to the beginning. Ray’s birthday in the squad room. A party where the music is loud, the whiskey flows freely and no hooker spends the night in lock up.

The party is loud enough that Sam is driven to working in a storage closet, trying to finish typing a report. Annie is also there against her will, being the unfortunate soul having to work the front desk. She already received two visits from Rabbi Levy, complaining of noise, public drunkenness, and lewdness… all against the 125 detectives. The two spend a few minutes mocking their rowdy co-workers before deciding to join in. Sam introduces 1973 to the moonwalk and the robot. When the morning comes there are hung-over cops asleep on practically every surface.

The harsh ringing of a phone is loud enough to wake Sam. He staggers to his desk and picks up; only realize that the phone isn’t plugged into anything. Still he hears his mother voice, apologizing. The doctor is going to pull the plug on his life support at 2 o’clock. The phone only works one way, so his pleas go unheard. All of this becomes less important when Gene enters. There’s a hostage situation at a hospital and they caught it.

At the hospital it becomes clear that Gene isn’t known for his negotiation skills. Despite that, he takes over communications and puts Ray in charge of the swat teams. Sam is less than supportive about this decision and tries to circumvent Ray where he can, using Annie and Chris to get things done. He even goes far enough to communicate with the hostage taker on the phone. The man holding the psych ward hostage has demanded a surgical nurse and a machine that reads brainwaves. When the opportunity presents itself Sam makes a run for it, getting into the building.

Once inside he’s ordered upstairs, arriving in the psychiatric ward. When Gene calls to make sure that he’s in all right, Sam is able to let him know how many hostages and in which area they are through code. The man in charge, Michael, is not completely horrible. His intentions aren’t malicious, he’s there to force the head doctor, Swann, into performing a surgery on his already brain dead brother. Michael was also equipped with more than just his gun. While moving the hostages Sam catches sight of what’s beneath his jacket, explosives and lots of them. Not just that, the entire building is rigged to blow.

Again, Sam doesn’t give it too much consideration, as he believes himself to be dead as soon as the clock strikes two. Apparently there’s no time difference between reality and an alternate universe in your head. Sam also manages to look like he belongs in the psych ward when he looks up at the TV to see that the two actresses on the soap opera are actually Mya and his mother at his bedside. He begins to talk to the TV, forgetting about the people surrounding him. The patients get rowdy and are locked up, only Sam is left out and then a male orderly. The police have agreed to his demands and a nurse is on her way up with a machine.

The orderly decides to make a break for it, he grabs a scalpel and goes after Michael. Without missing a beat, the gun is fired. For a moment Sam thinks that he has been shot. But it was the orderly, while Sam tries to save him he gets pistol whipped and knocked out. When he wakes up Annie and Gene are there in hospital uniforms. Michael finds the guns, rigs Annie up with explosives and uses her to make his intentions perfectly clear to the cops below. He wants a bus to take him, his brother and the hostages to the airport.

When it comes time to leave Michael bounds and gags everyone, covering his or her heads so one can’t be told from the other. He then dresses Sam in his own clothes, duck taping a gun to his hands. The group is ushered out, Annie and Gene throwing themselves down on Sam to keep the snipers from shooting him. Michael meanwhile has taken his brother and gone to the basement, where there’s a tunnel leading to the train station. This was his plan all along, to blow the hospital and escape with his brother, grab a train to Canada. But as his brother can’t be cured, he’s going to blow the place with both of them in it.

Sam manages to get back in, convincing Michael that his brother is still alive in his body somewhere. He pulls the gun on Sam, telling him to get away from the bomb. Glancing to the side, we see a clock, it’s 2 o’clock. He stops, closing his eyes, thinking back to his happiest memory, the day he met Mya. Sam smiles. Suddenly he hears his mother’s voice. “He’s smiling! He’s smiling!” She won’t let them pull the plug. Ray, Chris, Gene and a few other detectives rush the place. As they tackle Michael, he manages to get one shot off, hitting Gene. The bullet however is stopped by one of his three flasks.

The detectives of the 125 hit a police bar to celebrate. Gene and Ray let Sam know that he is part of the group, for better or worse. And that he’s “Not so special. Every cop goes crazy at one time or another because he cares about what he does.” But they keep each other sane, that’s why they’re different than the people in the mental ward. All in all a sweet ending, a bit surprising for Gene and Ray. As Sam is walking home he stops at a TV store, in the window a set is playing that same soap opera from before. They’re gong to keep him on life support, but Mya also decides that she can’t put herself through this any more and breaks up with him. Telling him it’s time to move on with their lives, the last part is said directly to the camera instead of the comatose body.

One of my favorite episodes. Annie stops encouraging the delusions of Sam’s mind. The hostage situation is reminiscent of a cop show from the 1970s. A great episode for music, in particular during the birthday party (American Band and Sweet Lucy).

Your thoughts? Anyone buying the coma or do you think it’s something else? For those who watched the show the first time around, weird watching it again and knowing what the outcome is going to be? Share your TwoCents below. Ya dig?

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