So more than a little overdue, here is my analysis for the fifth ep,
which focuses on football. Now I don’t really give much of a shit about
football, to be honest, but as far as storytelling goes, like many other
subjects that bore me, a number of layers can be given. One is the obvious, the
focus of the crime: hooliganism. However, as Sam points out, hooliganism
shouldn’t be the only thing to focus on. Another thing is how people can bond
over a simple pleasure in life just as much as they can ruin the enjoyment of
it by taking things too far – in this case, watching a simple game. Once again,
we’re given another contradiction of life: something that can make people happy
can also make men fight and hate each other.
Among all of this, we also learn more about Sam. Naturally
continuing a theme from the last episode, we specifically find out more about
his early life with his parents: in the previous episode, it was his mum, in
this, it’s his dad, despite the fact that we never see him in this ep. We just
learn a lot about him, including that he wasn’t around much, which meant that
the time they did spend together was really important to Sam, and that Sam
doesn’t know where he is. I can’t tell you how much I love that that’s exactly the way Sam phrases it – no dodging
the issue, no getting angsty about it when he’s asked, it’s just something he’s
just had to live with for nearly his whole life. That lets us know a lot more
about Sam in just one line that a lot of tv shows take an entire episode to
flesh out. It gives us reason to wonder why he became a cop, and I mean really became a cop instead of letting a
childhood dream die, that he might just have had a deeply personal reason to do
it. Not that its stated in the episode, it’s really just a theory, but it’s one
I genuinely believe the writers have given us, purely because, unlike so many
other series I’ve watched where similar revelations are given but in a much
more “dramatic” way, one that tries so hard to exploit so much drama out of it
that it all eventually becomes sickening, in this series the writers assume
we’re not idiots and just let us form our own theories based on one line.
Have I mentioned how much I bloody love this show yet?
Another aspect I love is how football is used. As I've said before, I’m not the
biggest fan of football, but football hooliganism is a great subject to tackle
when done right, and…well, no surprises that the writers handled it completely
right here. Because we see clearly that there’s nothing wrong with the game itself,
in fact it’s something great that can bring people together. But like many
great things, all it takes is a few stupid people to ruin it for everyone else.
We see how this affects Sam more than anyone, as he knows what’s coming, and
how much worse it’s going to get. It’s bad now, with a boy’s father ending up
dead, but it’s gonna get so much worse, and a lot more innocent people are
gonna end up dead by the hands of not gangs, but police, because of what's happening now. It’s interesting that
there’s nothing directly personal to
Sam in this story, like Sam stumbling across the body of a father of someone he knew as a kid or some bullshit like that, and yet it still affects him on multiple levels – as a
policeman, as a fan of football, as someone who lost a father at far too young an age. Wonderfully
complex and emotional writing of the character that avoids being exploitive.
But it’s not all serious drama - it is Life on Mars, after
all. One thing I have to mention is the excellent comedy writing given to us
this ep by Sam and Gene working undercover in a pub, where Sam expects to
easily talk to the customers but of course, even with his love of football,
finds it difficult to blend in, while Hunt unsurprisingly blends in perfectly.
Actually, thinking about it, there’s really nothing different about that: Sam
has been, and will continue to be, the outsider in this world. The one who finds
it difficult to talk to people, to blend in. Even (or should that be “especially”?)
as the professional, undercover work in this world isn’t exactly his specialty.
So, at the end of the day, we’re given an ep that uses
football as a perfect way to explore how something that brings people together
for the best reasons can also turn people against each other for the most
stupid of reasons, both on society as a whole and, just as importantly, on our
main character Sam. It’s a testament to Life on Mars really that it’s not one
of my personal favourites and yet it’s still something I can find huge
enjoyment in both watching and exploring its multiple layers.
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