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Life On Mars

The Simple Secret of the Note in Us All

Season 1, Episode 12, Aired Feb 25, 2009

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The detectives at the 1-2-5 investigate the murder of newspaper journalist Joey Conway. Sam is convinced the killer is the same criminal from a case in 2008. He is motivated by flashbacks to the case, which puts him at odds with his coworkers who think someone else is guilty.moreless

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Cast & Crew

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GUEST STAR
Fred Dalton Thompson

Chief Harry Woolf
GUEST STAR
Kerry Bishe

Eve Flannery
GUEST STAR
Chris Bowers

Tony Crane

Jason O'Mara

Detective Sam Tyler
Harvey Keitel

Lt. Gene Hunt
Michael Imperioli

Detective Ray Carling
Jonathan Murphy

Detective Chris Skelton
Gretchen Mol

Annie Norris

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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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Police work in a cartoon of 1973.

8.0

"Great"

By Dark_Father, Mar 26, 2009

Although the trivia for this episode mentions Mapp as a reason why a character serving a search warrant could not get material not covered by the warrant, the Supreme Court understanding in 1973 was that the exclusionary rule mostly was applied to fruits if the poisonous tree, ie. bad warrants.

In the case of this episode, a murder weapon found when serving an unrelated warrant would be admissible, and in 1973, only gross misconduct would remove it from evidence.

While the series definitely goes overboard in showing shoddy police procedure (by 1973 police in New York, after the Onion field, were using basic arrest tactics not shown in the show, police abuse was present but more rare than shown, and warrants more loose than they were) it does show the factors of discrimination, lack of police transparency. Oddly enough, it does not show the widespread corruption present in the NYC police departments at the time, even though it would provide interesting story lines for the show. Likely the series producers are trying to maintain an image of imperfect angels for the cast regulars. Another thing present in 1973 was nearly unrelenting sexual harassment, which is barely shown at all.moreless
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It's tough to knock any of the episodes because they are all so engrossing and well acted and the basic story is fascinating. The reason I gave this episode a 7 was because it was like looking at a ferrari with hubcaps - it was almost there!moreless

7.0

"Good"

By oldsleuth, Feb 26, 2009

Remember in Back to the Future, when Doc tells Marty - be careful with contacting those you know because it could alter the 'time continuum'? This idea seems plausible but obviously does not apply to this show. Sam is successful in getting Tony put away but we have to assume that he must get out of jail in the future to be able to commit murder in 2008????
I really like Harvey's character, but unless he's been working out at the gym lately and proud of his biceps, what is the deal about sitting in the office after hours in a wife-beater slammin down the sauce?
For those that may think that I'm blasting the show, I'm not - I am totally captivated by it and until recently, snapped to the fact that there are over 8 contributing writers to the show, which surprises me that the show has as much continuity as it does. If I had a wish list, it would be Sonny Postiglione, Tracy McMillan & David Wilcox writing every episode (WOW!).If ABC were to get those three writers together in a private room with an espresso machine, we could see some storyline that would blow alot of shows away.
Another message to ABC would be to incorporate a little more of the music from 1973 (there were tons!)with songs like Right Place, Wrong Time (Dr. John), Reelin' In The Years (Steely Dan), Ramblin Man (Allman Bros.), The World's A Ghetto (War). This show has so much wide-open potential it staggers my imagination. Every time I watch an episode, I feel like I just had a fantastic visual steak dinner but did not get the promised dessert. I also realize that this is just 't.v.', but with a little more fine tuning for next season this show could be just 'incredible t.v.' - BRING IT!!!!moreless
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Progression!

10

"Perfect"

By Nikkles, Feb 26, 2009

Life on Mars took a really big step forward in this episode, not in the plot but in the story telling. The episode was just really well written and made me chuckle out loud a couple of times. I also think the writers have found the right balance between making Sam a good and valuable cop and making him seem completely crazy. I think this is really the key to the show not to let Sam get too comfortable, but not to make him complain and focus all his attention on getting back home. Overall, I think this episode really shows the potential of the show and demonstrate that its moving in the write direction.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- When trying to find evidence on Tony Crane for murdering Joey Conway, Annie goes to the art gallery with a warrant for a drug inspection, but finds the murder weapon instead. She takes the murder weapon, which violated the 4th Amendment regarding illegal search and seisure. Under the Supreme Court Case Mapp v. Ohio (1961 before the time period in which this episode takes place), her warrant did not specify searching for a murder weapon. What Annie did would not have been allowed and Crane's attorney should have known this.
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QUOTES (0)
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NOTES (3)
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- Music: "It Don't Come Easy" by Ringo Starr "Lux" by Traffic Sound "Isn't Life Strange" by The Moody Blues
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- The title of this episode was taken from a lyric in the song "Pure and Easy" by The Who, which was recorded in 1971 and intended for the "Who's Next" album, but sat unreleased until the compilation album "Odds & Sods" which was released on September 28, 1974.
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- The time for this episode was 10:06 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. due to a special episode of Lost.
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- The newspaper Gene Hunt was reading featured an article written by Joey Conway titled "Rogue Lieutenant." This possibly alludes to Harvey Keitel's movie Bad Lieutenant.
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