TV episode review
US airdate: 1 April 2009

Sam's younger self is kidnapped by his father – and Sam learns the truth about why he's back in 1973...

WARNING: Contains spoilers if you haven’t seen the episode!

There comes a moment when you can stop watching this episode, and believe that that's the cliffhanger for the end of the first season. It comes about 50 minutes in, roughly at the point where Sam slams down the phone having decided to stay in 1973, and just before the whole show goes off the rails.

Up to then numerous plotlines get sorted. Sam keeps his younger self safe, and his new father figure, Gene Hunt, deals with his less than salubrious real dad. Annie Norris gets her well deserved promotion. Windy seems to be a figment of Sam's imagination...

And then it goes loopy. Sam is actually an astronaut from 2035 on a mission to Mars and has been in a virtual reality program that went wrong and combined 2008 and 1973 memories (how the computer got the 1973 details isn't explained). They're on a gene hunt led by Sam's real father, Major Tom. The other characters are part of the mission...

It's an ending that's been slammed by the show's UK creators but, given that there have been hints through the last half dozen episodes, this is clearly where the US producers were heading all the time. The problem with it is the same as with a TV adaptation of a Leslie Charteris Saint story in the 1960s: the short story took its name, The Spanish Cow, from a phrase meaning someone who does something badly. The TV episode featured a horrible woman who was Spanish... Just because the show was named Life on Mars didn't mean it was about life on Mars!

The worse thing is, when this version moved away from the UK original, it was turning into an intriguing blend of sci-fi and detective work. Michael Imperioli gave Ray Carling an edge that made him a nastier character than his UK counterpart. Jason Meara worked well as Sam. Gretchen Mol was a wonderful Annie. Even Harvey Keitel, though far too old for police work – and far far far too old to play an astronaut on what's clearly meant to be a pioneering mission to Mars! – gave an effective take on Gene Hunt.

Whether there was enough life in the show for the five seasons originally planned, who can tell? Maybe David E. Kelley's take would have been better – certainly Colm Meaney was a better fit for Gene. One thing's for sure: Ashes to Ashes won't get a US counterpart. An interesting experiment, but ultimately a failed one. Paul Simpson

VERDICT
This episode: 3/10. The series overall: 6/10