MovieChat Forums > Life on Mars (2006) Discussion > Great series; not so great ending (spoil...

Great series; not so great ending (spoilers)

posted 15 years ago by rios_119
20 replies | jump to latest

I loved, loved, loved this series! Just finished watching it a few days ago. After thinking about the ending -- and reading all the explanations by the authors, news articles and bloggers -- I've decided I do not like the ending. I hate that Sam committed suicide and it makes absolutely no sense that he killed himself in order to return to his "better life in 1976." You don't jump off a building to kill yourself so you can end up in another coma. There are no coma options when you jump off a building. There is only ONE option: You die. Period. Sam was written as an intelligent person. He would have known better. I can understand his choosing suicide because he was unhappy with his 2006 world, but not that he jumped to go back to 1976. While I liked the depiction of the fantasy "romantic" return to 1976, and his reunion with Annie after the jump, it doesn't make any sense. The only truth is that our hero ended up dead. I'm not happy with that. If someone can give a plausible explanation for Sam's choice -- and the series ending -- I'm all ears.

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[–] gregstar 15 years ago

I think Sam thought 1973 was real and 1996 was not. He was alive in 1973 but not alive in 2006. Committing suicide in 2006 was his way of returning to reality.

[–] lordrosemount 15 years ago

In that event, how do we account for his accurate knowledge of modern policing techniques?

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[–] Breast_in_Pieces 15 years ago

i enjoyed the show - but it had been built up by a friend who *really* liked it - and it fell short of MY expectations.

it's good - but you're right about the ending - it was pathetic, even if it was NOT commiting suicide but trying to get back into a coma, it ruins his character that was pining for home - what happened to all those "waiting for him" - Aunt Heather ??

only his mum was left - and she was sitting at home ?? surely she'd have been informed of the DAY of the operation and that she would have been present for it.

anyway, there's NO plausible explanation - it simply FELL FLAT.

infact, it had begun falling after the first series - i really didn't like the premise that it was "all in his head" - Bobby's dream in Dallas, anyone - but the plot was good - a childhood memory being the catalyst for his 'imagination' was just perfect and, as you say, makes sense.

so they "fixed" this in the second series, introducing *feedback from Hyde* - was it a sci-fi mission after all ??

*NAAH* - just a case of too many cooks spoil the broth - no one writer taking charge but everyone just 'working to keep the horse flogged' despite... being in a coma

the series was GOOD to interplay the 70s with current worldviews in terms of race and women, but romanticising it to the point that Sam "feels more alive" in 1973 is BAD (for me).

i happened to watch Milk (Sean Penn) after this, and now Sam Tyler is just "that guy who looks just like Evan Handler" ! (right down to the mannerisms !!)

He was going for the Tim-Tams

[–] mungreluk 14 years ago

Thats a very good point about the bit where he awoke in the hospital bed.

We'd been led to believe that he was desperate to wake up again in the present day, and it all seemed such a let down as the only people there at his bedside were Dr Morgan and an older woman who I think was his mam.

As somebody else has asked, where was his auntie Heather and why didnt they spend a bit more time showing us further examples of why he didnt like this version of 2006 ?

[–] christoferj86 14 years ago

My understanding was that he was in a coma all the time.

When he went back to 2006, it was just his brain creating that scenario. He didn't wake up. He just really wanted to 2006.

Then he thought well 2006 sucks and this feels unreal. So he jumps(still in coma) and chooses 1973 and by that action he also gives up on waking up from the coma.

I state this because noone of his friends or family except mother was there when he woke up or after.

The whole 1973 was clearly made up, the ending just made it even clearer that 1973 wasn't the real deal.

When he got back to 1973 after jumping the radio said something like "there is no respons anymore", which atleast for me points that this isnt a new coma its still the same exisitng coma.

Also that creepy kid where on the streets. The real world would never have any creepy kids in it.

Also this ending is the only one making sense.

[–] Buffy5X5 14 years ago

Life and happiness is all about perception and Sam's changed. When he arrived in '73 he had so much to lose by not getting back. He was also confused and frightened because he didn't know what was happening to him. But he made meaningful connections and unintentionally built a life. He didn't realize that he was happy there until after he came back to the present. I think losing Maya was the turning point. He didn't have someone to go home to and he was falling in love with Annie, and let's face it, "Love makes you do the wacky."

____________________________________

"I've made a huge mistake."

[–] royfinkle 14 years ago

Actually, the end of Life on Mars is brilliant and makes complete sense, but you have to watch Ashes to Ashes to be able to understand it. They couldn't reveal all the answers in Life on Mars because they had to make a spinoff in order to be able to finish everything properly and answer all the important questions, so the end of Life on Mars simply wraps up Sam's story (but not completely), and the end of Ashes to Ashes wraps up Alex's story and Sam's story and all the important questions about both series, such as whether the place is real and where it came from, and whether the other people in that place are real or imaginary.

[–] catspajamas55 14 years ago

Please please please do not think you have to suffer through Ashes to Ashes to understand the ending of Life on Mars. A2A made a hash of the whole thing. Let LoM stand on its own and not be burdened with Ashes to Ashes.

Reading royfinkle's post made me throw up a little in my mouth.

[–] Hermitage171 14 years ago

Well, it's tricky. What I was expecting is that Sam would end up back in the present, thinking it was all a coma, but then realize that all of the events that happened were real, possible meet a 60 year old Cartwright, etc. I'm not sure that this would have been better, but it's what I thought was going to happen.

So, what did they actually have in mind? 1973 world is a kind of afterlife? If so, doesn't that kind of negate a lot of the action of the show, in which they're zooming around being police and trying to save people's lives and such? That's kind of pointless if everyone there is already dead.

Or, does Sam just have the magical property of waking up in this other (equally real) time period whenever he's dead or in a coma... more like straightforward time travel? That kind of works a little better for me, dramatically, though it's certainly an odd plot.

[–] Cobram 14 years ago

The series just finished up on PBS where I'm at, and the ending seemed rather clear cut (pun intended.) When he finds that he stabbed himself and doesn't feel anything, he realizes that the world he's in isn't the real one. Jumping off the roof would have no real consequences, because he wasn't alive in that world, he was alive in his world, where he could feel Annie's slap.

Unlike most opinions I've read in this board, I loved the ending, I thought it was genius, and can't remember the last time a series ending left the audience feeling so good. Life is what we perceive it to be, do we take the bluepill or the redpill, Sam opted for the.....

Man without relatives is man without troubles. Charlie Chan

[–] captkirk_4 14 years ago

I thought the last episode hinted that true reality was much more complex than we had been led to believe with the simple coma explanation. Sort of like the recent movie Inception where there are layers upon layers of realities, or the Star Trak Next Generation Episode where Riker keeps waking up from illusions thinking it is real only to figure out he's still being mind controlled. I don't think the 2006 world he woke up in was real; he was sitting there with a full head of hair right after brain surgery? I thought in the tunnel he was in sort of a netherworld and his glimpse of 2006 was sort of like "Pottersville." He then chose 1973, seeing the way he set things right in the past, at times during the series I had wondered whether he was going to turn out to be an angel of some sorts?

[–] captkirk_4 14 years ago

Well, it's tricky. What I was expecting is that Sam would end up back in the present, thinking it was all a coma, but then realize that all of the events that happened were real, possible meet a 60 year old Cartwright, etc. I'm not sure that this would have been better, but it's what I thought was going to happen.

Had it all been an illusion in a coma it wouldn't have been satisfying, the characters were too real in the past to not exist. Had he ended up in 2006 in order for the show to be worthwhile he would have to really have been there in the past to have set things right, and the people he met all had been real.

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[–] saratastic 14 years ago

here's one of the biggest problems with the ending (maybe somebody can shed some light on it). this ties in with "ashes to ashes," which i haven't seen yet, but i've read about it. so, for anybody who has seen it, maybe you can clear this up. **spoilers below**

from my understanding, the 1973 world that sam tyler was in was the afterlife for dead police officers. but, even if that wasn't the case, let's just say that the 1973 world was all part of sam's imagination. in "ashes to ashes," a 2006 case file revealed that sam in fact committed suicide. if that was the case, then that means sam was in a coma and woke up from it before jumping off the building. however, while sam was in a coma, he somehow imagined the same exact image of the surgeon in 2006 as frank morgan in the 1970s. given that sam was in a coma, how did he ever know what the surgeon looked like? remember, the surgeon and frank morgan were the exact same person/image, but morgan was imagined.

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[–] rochey_1 13 years ago

Not a lot of people know this but they were trying to get 'John' to sign on for a 3rd season of 'Mars'...but he thought he'd taken the character of 'Sam Tyler' as far as he could go....and wanted to try other things.

If he signed The 3rd season 'Ashes to Ashes' outcome would of been 'Life on Mars's' Outcome...'Gene' would of taken Sam to the Pub at the end.

When 'Sam' jumped, he didn't return to his coma...He DIED...the writers made that clear on the DVD...'Life On Mars' hinged on the most important conversation in the show:

Nelson: I see a darkness in you, Sam.
Sam Tyler: Oh, you can see into me, can you, Nelson? Well, Come on then. Am I mad? Huh? Is this real? Come on. I just want to know the truth.
Nelson: We all want that, Sam. What's real. What's not. I see folk who walk about in a sunken dream, 'cause they feel nothing. Are they alive?
Sam Tyler: I wake up every morning and I tell myself I am alive.
Nelson: When you can feel, then you're alive. When you don't feel, you're not.

And that all came full circle at the end when Sam cut himself in the real world and couldn't feel it....And the irony of it was, Sam has spent all his time in 1973 wishing for Home....but he was home.....That's why i loved the end...It was poetically beautiful <33

Living in the 'Romantic' 1973....he came to realize, that it was a simpler happy time....Less rules...more freedom compared to the stuffy...monotone...boring Real world....and we wanted that for him cause we cared.

Yes he committed Suicide, and in Reality that' appallingly sad, but it's a TV show, and we saw what he had left, and we missed the gang and cared for Sam so it was Ok for the fans in general...Just cause a TV show/Movie does something doesn't mean we have to follow...It was incredibly bittersweet and Perfect IMHO.

It was then followed by 'Ashes to Ashes' IMHO - A good, but inferior show which brought 'Alex Drake' and 'Sam' full circle and explained even more, which was excellent for both series's...But i think of how much more love i would have for 'Ashes' if It was Sam and Gene in the 80's.....I could not warm to 'Alex Drake's' character at all, and constantly missed Sam, therefore loving season 3 cause lots of Sam references and Keats :D